Heading for a bit of sea and sand? Don’t forget to take this along with you
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Royston with his latest release
It is an absolute treat to be given the chance to read anything by Royston Ellis – so I picked this book up eagerly when it landed on my doormat. For those who may not know, Royston is probably our most distinguished foreign resident. A former beat poet in the London of the Swinging 60s, it was he who gave the Beatles the distinctive spelling of their name; they in turn returned the compliment by writing their famous song ‘Paperback Writer’ about him. When Cliff Richard came to Sri Lanka a few years back, it was Royston he took out to tea at the Galle Face Hotel. Charming yet reclusive, he adds a certain gravitas to our literary world here, the way Arthur C. Clarke did before him.
But this book is authored by not one but two people – the other being Ruth Smith, Royston’s neighbour from his childhood days, whom he hasn’t met for over 70 years!It was Royston’s idea to write these stories jointly, by email, each author adding 500 words in turn to the on-going story. So who got to decide in which direction the story might go? Who decided on the ending? Wasn’t there a very real danger that the styles of these two different authors might clash? That there would be changes of pace and tempo, vocabulary and turns of phrase that would drag the reader uncomfortably down a road that was alternately smooth and bumpy? These were the questions that preoccupied me as I sat down to read.
Well, I have to admit the authors had me beaten right from the start. It was almost impossible to tell who had written what! The stories unroll seamlessly from beginning to end. Their sheer range –geographically, culturally, emotionally – leaves you breathless; and try as I might, I couldn’t spot the seams in the tailoring, so expertly were the sections stitched together. The style of writing is not literary: but then it does not set out to be. These are, after all, stories to be read at the beach, under an umbrella with an arrack cocktail by your side.
Having said that, they are far from being mere pulp fiction. Many – particularly the ones set in Sri Lanka – will give the reader a lot of food for thought, dealing as they do with themes of class and race and exploitation (in both directions!). At their best (as in Mr Frobisher’s Hobby) they rival anything Roald Dahl might have written – superbly witty, and quite black enough for my rather jaded palate. Yet others, like A Perfect Match, are sufficiently meaty to fashion a very decent television series out of. (Netflix, are you out there? Can you hear me?)
And of course, these tales have that quality so essential to a good short story: the ability to transport you with a few skilful sentences to another time, another place: be it a remote village in North Wales, a tropical island paradise, or even a nineteenth century English country house. As a reader I found myself wishing I could stay in that other setting for just that little while longer – please? – for just a few more paragraphs. But as a writer I knew only too well that the very essence of a good short story is its brevity; any unnecessary padding only serves to take away from its power. The job of the writer is to know when to stop; to know when just enough is more than enough. And these writers were experienced enough to know the precise tipping point.
All in all, I found Beach Shorts a hugely enjoyable and absorbing collection of stories. And I have only one criticism: there simply aren’t enough of them! Like the arrack cocktail, they go down so smoothly, so easily, that you are greatly tempted to finish them at one sitting. But please don’t. Because Ruth and Royston may not have started on their next collection yet.
“Beach Shorts” can be ordered through Vijitha Yapa or Barefoot bookshops, or online from the publishers at https://olympiapublishers.com or www.amazon.co.uk
| Book facts | |
| Beach Shorts by Ruth Smith and Royston Ellis Reviewed by Ashok Ferrey |