My rating: 4/5
Goodreads Synopsis: A rising star in the London arts scene of the early 1970s, gifted composer Ralph Boyd is approached by renowned novelist Edmund Greenslay to score a stage adaptation of his most famous work. Welcomed into Greenslay’s sprawling bohemian house in Putney, an artistic and prosperous district in southwest London, the musical wunderkind is introduced to Edmund’s beautiful activist wife Ellie, his aloof son Theo, and his nine-year old daughter Daphne, who quickly becomes Ralph’s muse.
Ralph showers Daphne with tokens of his affection—clandestine gifts and secret notes. In a home that is exciting but often lonely, Daphne finds Ralph to be a dazzling companion. Their bond remains strong even after Ralph becomes a husband and father, and though Ralph worships Daphne, he does not touch her. But in the summer of 1976, when Ralph accompanies thirteen-year-old Daphne alone to meet her parents in Greece, their relationship intensifies irrevocably. One person knows of their passionate trysts: Daphne’s best friend Jane, whose awe of the intoxicating Greenslay family ensures her silence.
Forty years later Daphne is back in London. After years lost to decadence and drug abuse, she is struggling to create a normal, stable life for herself and her adolescent daughter. When circumstances bring her back in touch with her long-lost friend, Jane, their reunion inevitably turns to Ralph, now a world-famous musician also living in the city. Daphne’s recollections of her childhood and her growing anxiety over her own young daughter eventually lead to an explosive realization that propels her to confront Ralph and their years spent together.
Masterfully told from three diverse viewpoints—victim, perpetrator, and witness—Putney is a subtle and enormously powerful novel about consent, agency, and what we tell ourselves to justify what we do, and what others do to us.
Mad. Anxious. Sad. These are just a few feelings that I experienced while reading this book. This is a very difficult book to read. I’ve never read a book that truly shows how easily it is for an adult to manipulate a child’s life and mind. I’ve never read a book that shows how difficult it can be to recognize abuse even if it’s decades later. I think Sofka Zinnovieff told an incredibly difficult story that reflects how abuse not only effects someone in the short-term but the lasting effects it has over the rest of that person’s life.
The story is told by Ralph, Daphne, and Jane. I frequently became enraged while reading Ralph’s chapters. I still get mad thinking about it now. The fact that he could so easily justify his thoughts and actions to himself is just so infuriating. His manipulation over Daphne is even worse. Daphne’s chapters were just heartbreaking. To read this child’s perspective as she tries to make sense of things and how she believed she was in love….ugh, it’s so upsetting. Her parents were basically clueless to the fact that this man had an interest in their child beyond just being a friend of the family. Why did no one ask any questions? Why did no one notice how much attention he paid to this child? I wanted to just grab Daphne and get her away from the situation immediately. Jane, Daphne’s childhood friend, is the only one that sees the problem with the whole situation. She sees how it effects Daphne both as a child and as an adult. She makes it her goal to help Daphne realize that what happened to her was not “special”, it was abuse and Daphne needs to confront this man who has gotten away with it all these years.
As you can probably already tell, this book is not for everyone. I found it very difficult to read and felt very uncomfortable through most of it. However, it is an important story about how at any point, whether it’s a couple of years or decades down the road, to speak up about abuse. Daphne had every right to confront Ralph about what he did to her regardless of the fact that he was 70 years old, a well known musician, and worried about his reputation. I hope that if there are some that do pick up this book and have similar experiences with abuse recognize that they are not alone and have every right to speak out.
Thank you so much to Harper Books for my free copy and including me on the blog tour.
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