The Newspaper of Claremont Street

Sometimes I get a huge surprise from a book! Found this buried on a shelf in a Street Library. I knew nothing about it, only recognising the author name. Once I started to read, I couldn't put it down. Beautifully written, great characters and a poignant story. This is a story about life, normal, everyday boring life full of people who have no importance to anyone, but it shines!

First published in 1981 The Newspaper of Claremont Street is classic Jolley: it features a lonely character alienated from and yet trapped in the society around her; a resilient character who transcends the expectations that the reader forms about her fate.

As I said in the Sensational Snippet that I posted last week, it is an elderly cleaner who is the ‘newspaper’ of Claremont Street. Her real name is Marguerite Morris, but everyone in the street knows her as ‘Weekly’ because she shares the news from up and down the street: everything from the state of Mr Kingston’s health to Leila Chatham’s wedding presents and the fragile bride’s premature return from a honeymoon.

"On her way home from work, she went in the shop at the show more end of Claremont Street and sat there, taking her time, seeing who was there and watching what they bought. No one needed to read anything, the Newspaper of Claremont told them all stories and kept them up to date with the news. No one needed to bring a shopping list because Weekly knew what they needed to buy." (p.12)

Weekly is an uneducated charwoman who has never married and her life is lonely and hard. She has watched the people of Claremont Street grow old as she has, and she sees the chasm between their lives and hers.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/06/04/the-newspaper-of-claremont-street-by-elizabe... show less