(Penguin 2004)
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Synopsis
Gert Hardcastle is thirty-something and unlucky in love. But now she thinks she's found 'the one' in enigmatic Eva, who works in the museum cafeteria where Gert catalogues Egyptian relics. Hoping to lay the ghosts of her own past to rest, Gert is trying to understand her difficult childhood: her relationship with her obsessive twin, Frank; her father who vanished to Africa to run a crocodile farm; and her vain, neglectful mother who still sends her begging letters. Can Gert somehow come to terms with her traumatic upbringing and make a new life with Eva? Or will she once again be unlucky in love? Crocodile Soup is a wonderfully engaging debut from a terrific writer of women's literary fiction - funny, original and heartwarming. Crocodile Soup was Longlisted for the Orange Prize.
Biography
This
is Julia Darling's first novel which is being reissued by Penguin at the
same time as the paperback publication of The Taxi Driver's Daughter which
was published to great acclaim and was on the long list for the ManBooker
Prize 2003. Julia Darling is also a poet and playwright who has written
plays for the stage and radio.She was awarded the Northern Rock Writers'
Prize in 2003. Julia Darling died in April 2005.
Contributors Testimonials
Gert
Hardcastle, a thirtysomething museum curator, is trying to come to terms
with her traumatic childhood. Her neglectful mother Jean, 'quite oblivious
to the fact that she [is] a mother', hounds her with begging letters throughout
the novel, while her father George runs a crocodile farm in Africa and
her obsessive twin brother is institutionalized. Eccentric characters
populate the book, all having an impact on Gert's life.
Gert falls in love after spotting Eva, the museum's tea-girl, doing a
solitary tango in the stuffed bird room, and believes she is the One.
Will this be the turning point in Gert's life? Darling handles Gert's
sexuality with both sensitivity and humour; 'I must be the only person
in the world who came out before I came in,' is the way Gert puts it.The
quirky characters, off-beat prose and delightful humour will make you
laugh, cry or just leave you wondering, and wanting more.
Wendy MacDonald
In
this, her first novel, Julia Darling tells the story of Gert Hardcastle’s
pursuit of happiness. Gert is a lonely museum curator who has, as she
always expected, managed to ‘end up working in a quiet place, trying
to be invisible. Afraid of everything.’ Her early family life marked
her out from the beginning as one different from the others, a lost cause,
but the arrival of the lovely Eva to work in the museum canteen promises
to change all that.
The two narratives intertwine with each other. The tragic story of Gert’s
formative years is hilariously told and will strike many satisfying chords
with anyone who’s ever felt ‘a bit different’, invisible
or even ‘the devil incarnate’. In the present, Gert’s
tentative pursuit of Eva is punctuated by letters from her estranged mother
and weird telepathic messages from twin brother Frank.
This book is very moving and terribly funny. The reader is never quite
clear what is real and what is not. Comedy and tragedy are so firmly entwined
you don’t even notice them strangling each other. Yes everything
about this book was brilliant – the humour, the narrative, the characters
and even that rare quality – a satisfying plot structure.
Jan Whalen
I
was hooked from page one by the quirky humour and odd-ball characters.
I was particularly drawn to the wonderfully eccentric main character,
Gert Hardcastle - the lonely museum curator who refuses to grow up. Her
pursuit of canteen assistant Eva and the flashbacks to her bizarre childhood
create much hilarity, but tragedy is never far away. Julia Darling skilfully
captures that slightly surreal inner life of a child trying to make sense
of the baffling adult world around them.
Crocodile Soup is a sure sign that lesbian and gay literature has reached
maturity. It doesn’t attempt to explain or justify the sexual preferences
of its heroines - we can take them as read. It’s not out to make
a point, merely tell a good story.
Sue Fletcher