BOOK REVIEW

DAMIEN WILKINS

MAX GATE

MANY of us locals know that Dorset's most famous son Thomas Hardy has his heart buried in Stinsford churchyard near Dorchester and his remains in Westminster Abbey.

But is will come as a surprise to some to learn that the placing of his remains sparked a tussle between literary figures and local people, with both laying their own claim to the author, who had achieved celebrity status at the time of his death.

Antipodean Wilkins sets his book in Max Gate and imagines the scene at the Dorchester house as Hardy lay dying.

The story is told from the perspective of housemaid Nellie Titterington.

This is a short read but it's an evocative one, with Wilkins placing us in the somewhat austere-looking brick home, satisfying our curiosity about what it would have been like in Hardy's day.

His second wife, Florence, is brought to life with subtle strokes, as she struggles to keep a lid on her underlying jealousy towards Hardy's first wife Emma.

While the characters literary agent Sydney Cockerell and Peter Pan author J.M.Barrie seem more like caricatures, the real warmth of Max Gate comes from Nellie and her relationship with local reporter Alex Peters.

Max Gate is an absorbing read and a must for anyone who has visited Max Gate and thought about what it was like in Hardy's day.

JOANNA DAVIS