Thorns and Roses

 Review by Ronica Wahi

 

Melita

By Gill D. Anderson

First published: July 16, 2020, InHouse Publishing.

Kindle Edition Pages: 165. 

ASIN: B08D66WSBF

While there is a plethora of written work being produced on the corona pandemic and the imagined post-COVID world, Gill D. Anderson has come up with a novel where this unprecedented challenge faced by the human race plays the role of a catalyst in resolving strained relationships by drilling home the uncertainty of life and the necessity of holding close the ones who matter the most.

Melita is the story of Melita and her daughter, Emily, and as the dedication says, is written “For mothers and daughters everywhere.”. Melita and Emily have not shared a close bond and the ties have been weakened over the years, with the relationship having reached “an impossible stalemate” by February 2020. With the mounting fear and restrictions on movement, regrets over what was not done to bolster their relationship seep in. In playing an essential role in the plot, the pandemic almost acquires the dimensions of a character.

The story starts in July 1967 in Saint Paul’s Bay, Malta with sixteen-year old Melita Galea hoping to be unfettered of patriarchy and the conduct rules of ideological apparatuses – specifically, her family, religion, and school, and to become one among those women who would in the future subvert long-established gender hierarchies. Her dissatisfaction with the limitations on herself is transposed onto the place itself, which she finds “godforsaken”.

Tragically, the hopes are dashed as her fate leaves her stranded a single mother in a foreign place – Edinburgh in Scotland - with little support from anyone. Melita, who had once been so unhappy with the stilted life of her mother, ends up dragging an existence that makes her bitter and cold. The unfortunate series of events, added to the familial pattern that had been on repeat mode, negatively impacts the mother-daughter relationship. Though resentment brews on both sides, Emily tries justifying Melita’s offensive behaviour to herself and to others, but Melita continues to act in the same strain. In Chapter 2, encountered are these telling lines:

“Melita considered appeasing her daughter for all of a few seconds, but somehow she simply couldn’t bring herself to be nice. It looked like Emily was about to live the happy life she should have had. It simply wasn’t fair.”

The novel is not structured chronologically. It oscillates between the past and the present, slowly unravelling things as they occurred. Various characters are introduced to the reader such as Ross, Eddie, Clara, and Catherine who are shaped well. The entire action is spread across locations – Malta, Scotland, and Canada. As physical distance increases between Melita and Emily after the latter moves to Canada, the emotional distance grows.

Anderson deals with the psychology of Melita well. She had been very young, with half-formed ideas of feminism and power when her fate took a turn for the worse. Anderson shows how certain scars though invisible can remain unhealed and so last a lifetime, and in thus existing, can twist the life of not just the one at the receiving end of those scars. Melita adopts ways at self-preservation that her psychological make-up dictates to her. Melita both enrages the reader and evokes pity. Emily’s viewpoint too is explored well – she both resents and loves her mother, and she too, at certain points in her life, commits acts to spite Melita in order to gain attention.

Melita, as a teenager, had learnt from her neighbour Josie about the suffragette movement, and as a tribute to Emmeline Pankhurst had named her daughter “Emily”. The streak of feminism persisted, though Melita’s ideas remained half-formed. What she had understood in her young age is what she held on to, often equating not being too feminine with being a feminist and seeing not needing a man too as being a feminist. Though unable to live as she had hoped for, it cannot be denied that Melita is indeed a courageous woman for some of the decisions she takes, the sacrifices she makes, and the very way she manages to survive after and with what she endures.

The decisions, the traumas, and the apprehensions can be acutely felt, particularly considering that there are many emotionally charged passages, especially in the final pages. The everyday aspect of the language aptly suggests that the experiences and the relationship troubles are not so uncommon. To add to the authenticity, Anderson brings in a bit of Maltese, and the Edinburgh lingo and accent too. Though there are some twists and turns, the complete story is not too unique nor is the plot too unpredictable. But the novel wins in how it touches hearts, for it is deeply human.

There is friendship, love, yearning, betrayal, abandonment, tragedy, and death. There is sexual assault, and the sense of betrayal and distrust that such assault not infrequently brings when it comes from the one you love. There is regret and a sense of irrevocable loss as some characters reach ripe ages and dwell on the actions not taken to sort their lives out. Readers who like to read emotional stuff, and delve deep into how tragic events can drastically impact futures will enjoy this book. It is likely to resonate more with women for it talks about many of the trials women face.

As the pandemic drives home essential truths about existence and instils fears of “running out of time”, Melita and Emily begin to introspect where they have faltered. As the Prologue was filled with the ardent hopes of young Melita, the Epilogue is filled with hopes of a better relationship of Melita with Emily. This day of hope is the Easter Sunday of April 2020, the day on which the narrative closes. In this new world faced, there are new things to look forward to, a new beginning to chase. The last line, as whispered by Melita, is a key takeaway of this tale:

“ “Carpe diem,” she whispered. It was now or never…”

Amazon India link for Melita (Kindle): https://amzn.to/3zOi1aq

Also check out my review on Gill D. Anderson's crime thriller Primed for Vengeance:

https://ronicawahi.blogspot.com/2021/09/a-jolting-thriller.html

Do watch Gill D. Anderson talk of how she shapes her novels, what is her approach to writing, and how her own experiences helped her write Melita:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2bhnD9NKdM

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