In and out of the church

Press, 4 April 1987, Page 23

In and out of the church

Foreign Land, A Novel. By Jonathan Raban. Picador/Pan, Ittt, tltM (paperback).

(Reviewed by

Ray Crawford)

'Jonathan Raban is the author or “Old Glory,” about a solo trip down the Mississippi from Minneapolis. Like the river, it does go on rather, not very excitingly. "Foreign Land,his first novel, is another matter. It is a minor masterpiece, questionably suitable tor a substantial proportion of the Inhabitants of Fendalton. I could scarcely bear to put it down. It is about the return to his native land of an Englishman of 60 who has lived for many years in a small West African country that was originally a Portuguese colony, involved in the business of getting tankers in and out of the port He has long been estranged from a wife some people would bluntly describe as a prize bitch.

His daughter, to whom in childhood he was affectionate, he has not seen for years. She has grown up and is living with a chap, the way they do now. Our hero, George, is the son of an arid ass of an Anglican rector who quoted Greek to his congregation. The wedding of George and Angela, about 1940, is superbly done. To come out of the church seven times so that George’s rich father-in-law could get his cine shots is a neat touch, with a delicious coda in which George’s father got three “takes” while robed in gold striding through the nettles.

I was vastly amused that the wedding present of seveoty-flve guineas from George’s father was about typical,” especially ah the cheque came from Lloyd’s Bank aod not the bride’s family’s snobby Coutfs, as last year 1 had to collect some transferred cash at the Lloyd’s In Pall Mall, where I found that It was the old CoUtt's and, although my New Zealand bank had got my initials wrong, I was treated with great courtesy though in no way resembling a cavalry officer.

Coming out I' was nearly knocked down by the New Zealand High Commissioner's car, with its vulgar number plate NZI, emerging from the basement of that nasty box of a building. (The loos are excellent, handy in a city where they are now distinguished mainly. by their absence.) l '

The story interweaves George's adventures in England with those with women In West Africa, his wartime naval experiences, and sailing his yacht from Cornwall up the Channel with all his savings on board in notes. That and his sunburnt complexion" arouses great suspicion in the mind of the Customs officer at Strand Wharf, who is convinced that George could not have navigated from the Solent by night to the Thames and must surely be bringing in illegal immigrants. The. book is very entertaining and is - exceedingly convincing in .■< its' descriptions.