The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley

You may not know the British author L.P. Hartley, but you are probably familiar with the opening line of his 1953 novel The Go-Between.

“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.”

(A fabulous opening line surpassed only by the first line of Pride and Prejudice!)

I was prepared to hate this book—you know how I feel about a coming-of-age story–but I was pleasantly surprised. That being said, I don’t recommend it unless you are a serious student of mid 20thC British literature.

When he is awarded a scholarship to a posh boarding school, young Leo Colston, a middle-class British lad, is introduced to the completely unfamiliar life of the aristocracy. In the summer of 1900, he is invited by a wealthy school chum to spend a few weeks with the boy’s family at Brandham Hall in Norfolk.

Acutely self-conscious of his clothes, his accent, and his manners, Leo struggles to fit in. Eventually he finds his niche delivering messages between the Maudsley’s daughter, Marian, and a (gasp!) farmer. Marian is engaged to Lord Trimingham, recently returned from the Boer War, who is staying at Brandham Hall as well.  The reader knows the messages  are love letters, but Leo is blissfully (mostly) ignorant. You know where this is going. When Marian and her unsuitable young man are finally caught, tragedy ensues. Although the unwitting (mostly) go-between, Leo is traumatized for life by the “revelation in the outhouse.”

It is hard to sympathize with Leo, who is rather a wet noodle, but Marian, who knows that Leo has a schoolboy crush on her, behaves badly, bribing Leo with new clothes and attention. They are an unfortunate pairing–Leo is very young and Marian very selfish.

This tragic and biting novel about class, boyhood, and sexuality is compelling in places but is wordy and meandering.   Thematically there was plenty to discuss at book club, but all agreed that The Go-Between was a bit of a slog.  

(A 1971 Joseph Losey/Harold Pinter film based on the novel stars Julie Christie [Marian] and Alan Bates [farmer]).