French Braid is probably the 10th Anne Tyler book I’ve read and the American bestselling author never disappoints. Her stories have a depth of characterisation that I’ve rarely seen equalled and while it often seems like nothing much happens, in reality, everything does.
Set primarily in Baltimore, as with many Anne Tyler novels, French Braid is a tale of family life told over several decades. After an introductory chapter set in 2010 that signals fractured future relationships, the book reverts to 1959. That’s the year the Garret family go on their first holiday to a cabin by a lake. A trip that has repercussions on relationships for years to come.
French Braid is a return to the classic family saga that Anne Tyler is known for and that I so enjoy. Though I must admit her last book, Redhead by the Side of the Road, which veered away from the genre, is one of my favourites. While that novel focused on the life of a middle-aged man working in IT, French Braid is a multi-generational story packed with believable characters, who sometimes do pretty unbelievable things.
At the heart of French Braid is one of my favourite of these unbelievable things, detailing how Mercy Garrett leaves her husband Robin without him or anyone else noticing. The descriptions of her activities to slowly move from the family home to her art studio are both funny and sad. The latter because she doesn’t seem able to just up and leave despite her desire to walk a different life path once her youngest child David has left for university.
David’s trauma and distance from the family is another story thread in French Braid that stems from an incident during the lakeside holiday when he was just seven years old. And while it might not seem an overly dramatic scenario, Anne Tyler shows how even a relatively small incident can lead to deep-seated resentment. It also spotlights the different expectations that fathers of that era had on their sons versus daughters.
Because as well as David, the Garrets have two daughters, Alice and Lily, who are teenagers when they’re introduced to us at the cabin and who couldn’t be more different to each other. Through the decades those differences mean their relationship ebbs and flows in the realistic way that sibling relationships often do.
And that’s really the beauty of an Anne Tyler novel. Her characters feel real and relatable, their stories are often simple but absorbing and engaging. That’s why I enjoyed French Braid and why I’ll keep working my way through the rest of her back catalogue. And it’s why I hope that the 83-year-old author keeps them coming!
I was given French Braid as a gift but you could support your local library by borrowing it from there, or try an Oxfam shop or the charity’s online store.
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