Trespass reviewed by Penelope

I really loved Rose Tremain's last book The Road Home so I was thrilled to read her new one Trespass which has been longlisted for the Booker- she is a fine writer, who like Muriel Spark, has a beginning, middle and end in each of her novels, therefore this promised to be a fine safe read. When I began reading though, I was slightly disappointed as the point of view began with another voice of a child, although a third person narrative, and having just finished Room, I was not sure this was what I wanted - but then it switches to several other characters who all are unlinked at first sight, but then in the end you realize the beginning of the novel is the end, and it hangs clearly together. I wont give you the plot. The novel was both a happy and unhappy read for me. Happy, in that it took place in the South of France, happy, because she writes elegant page turners. An unhappy read because it turns out to be a thriller, or a mystery written by someone who is not a thriller or mystery writer but a novelist. But this book is also about boundaries and property, but the crime in this book - interwoven as one of the stories is I think too large, too frightening, not quite believable or fitting into the story. Tremain writes outside of the drawing room, but her books are wonderful because she makes you feel like you are in the drawing room. There is more in it than I realized. Worth reading, if you don't like the story, as I didnt, at least the writing is good.