I appear to be in a Transita-ional period at the moment with three of the Transita list read and tucked under my belt this week. I will write about all three over the next few days, work, commute and total knackerhood permitting. First up is An Old Fashioned Arrangement by Susie Vereker. The book starts with Kim, her heroine, being informed that her husband, Richard (a slightly dodgy salesman) has gone down in a plane crash in the Indonesian jungle. The house she is living in is rented and paid for by her husband's firm who are not too happy with the way Richard has carried out his business transactions, and they inform her that they will cease paying the rent by the end of the month. Further investigations reveals that her worthless other half has taken the money out of their joint savings account, there is no life insurance etc etc. In other words, Kim is penniless save for her small earnings from teaching English in Geneva, where they are situated.
An unlikely saviour appears in the somewhat rounded shape of her landlord, Henri who is a lover of 
women, wealthy, has always had mistresses and has had his eye on Kim for some time. He makes her an offer. He will let her live in the house rent free, he will pay for her son's school fees and make her an allowance in return for which she will visit him every Thursday for dinner and love. Kim really has very little choice as her situation is desperate and so she accepts. It is inevitable that as the story progresses she meets a man to whom she is enormously attracted, Mark, and the feeling is mutual. Further complications set in when it appears that Richard might be alive after all.
How the tangle is resolved and brought to a conclusion makes for an interesting and thoughtful read. Susie Vereker's style is elegant and graceful and flows along nicely, but I feel that the fact that there is a real moral dilemma here, could be overlooked, precisely because it is such an enjoyable story.
Back in the late 80s there was a film called Indecent Proposal starring Robert Redford, Demi Moore and Woody Harelson. Redford played the part of a millionaire who offered the married couple of Woody and Demi a million dollars if the wife would spend a night with him. At first, they laughed and were outraged but then they started to think. They were poor, not much money in the bank, they could do with the million dollars. What to do? Now, as a life long adorer of the aforementioned Robert Redford I very flippantly opined that I would be happy to sleep with RR for $1,000. One reviewer remarked rather waspishly that she wondered if the decision would have been any easier if the millionaire had been played by Woody Harelson (not the most charismatic man on the planet) and not Robert Redford, as that would have made the dilemma more realistic.
And here we come to the crux of it, in my opinion anyway. In An Old-Fashioned Arrangement, Henri is a sweetie. He may be somewhat rounded and not in the first flush of youth, but he is charming, sophisticated, a connoisseur of women and knows how to treat them, even if it is somewhat cavalierly. Kim finds his love making enjoyable and becomes very fond of him. BUT, what if her landlord had been a deeply unpleasant, unattractive and lecherous person and what would she have done if he had made the same offer? Would she have accepted so easily? and would her friend, who approved of the arrangement and said it gave her a nice 'glow' have been quite so understanding?
What would we do if we found ourselves in this position? Read the book and let me know. I am certainly not judging Kim here, any mother knows they would do what is necessary to look after their child and, after all, this review is from the woman who said she would spend the night with Robert Redford for $1,000 not a million.
Who am I kidding - old and baggy as he is now I would probably still do it for $1.....
