Undercurrents [Hardcover]

Frances Fyfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 19, 2001

Undercurrents blends the best of Minette Walters and Daphne du Maurier with an alluring mystique to create a haunting and unforgettable book that is uniquely Fyfield. For twenty years Henry Evans has been haunted by a blurred but shining memory of his lost love, Francesca Chisholm. Now this shy American has come looking for her, in her hometown on the English coast. What he finds there, is not what he expects....

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Building suspense bit by exquisite bit, Fyfield (Staring at the Light) turns out another masterwork, this one about a man's search for a lost lover. American pharmacist Henry Evans has been obsessed for 20 years by the memory of Francesca Chisholm, a young beauty he met while backpacking during his youth in India. He finally travels to the English coastal town of Warbling, a strange little place where Chisholm had told him she was going to live. It's cold and very wet and Warbling's populace is decidedly unwelcoming, with the exception of two homosexual men who rent Evans a room in their peculiar lodging house. When he begins asking around about the whereabouts of Chisholm, Evans can't get a straight answer. A lawyer finally tells him to regard her as dead. A year earlier, it turns out, Chisholm was sentenced to life in prison. Her crime: murdering her five-year-old son, who suffered from a form of cerebral palsy, by drowning him in the ocean. Despite her unequivocal confession, Evans can't believe his former lover would do such a thing. He looks into the matter, but is stymied at every turn by Chisholm's friends and family. Ultimately, Evans discovers that the truth is far more tragic than the lie. Dark humor occasionally flashes through the narrative, but Fyfield's latest is primarily a grim, tense story about regret, loneliness and leaving well enough alone. In Warbling, she's created a memorable setting. It's a harsh, foreboding town, populated by people disappointed, judgmental, distrustful who deserve such a place. (Apr.) Forecast: While this book moves a bit more slowly than some of Fyfield's previous psychological thrillers, readers will recognize and appreciate her deft touch. An eight-city author tour will afford the London-based writer extra U.S. exposure. This could be Fyfield's biggest yet.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

British author and criminal lawyer Fyfield has set aside her popular Helen West series for this fine standalone suspense novel (her second after Staring at the Light), with its wonderfully human characters. Twenty years ago, Henry Evans left the English girl he fell in love with on a backpacking trip in India, and he has regretted it ever since. So he leaves Boston to find Francesca Chisholm, only to learn that she is in prison for killing her son Harry, a five-year-old with cerebral palsy, a year earlier. But the facts of the murder don't add up for Henry, a man of science, who seeks the truth from those closest to Francesca: her cousin Maggie, who defended her in court; her best friend Angela, mother of the tantalizing young Tanya; Angela's ex-husband Neil, who once hit Harry; and Tim and Peter, gay proprietors of a shabbily genteel rooming house, who are visited by Harry's spirit. In the end the truth is revealed, and a final twist rounds things out. A particular pleasure for Fyfield's fans and for readers of Ruth Rendell and Minette Walters, this is recommended for all fiction collections. Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (April 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670896365
• ISBN-13: 978-0670896363
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,376,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Undercurrents, May 25, 2001

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Undercurrents (Hardcover)

"Undercurrents" by Frances Fyfield is a rather difficult book for me to write about, mainly because all the reservations I had about this novel stems from my disagreement (with the authour) with the manner in which matters were left. If I were to voice my opinions openly, then that would be giving away plot resolutions, and that would be totally unfair to those who have not yet read this novel. But I'm going to try without giving too much away, and I apologise in advance if this review comes across as not being properly balanced.

Twenty years ago, Henry Evans walked away from the love of his life, Francesca Chisholm. His father's recent death however has brought Henry to the crossroads of his life sotospeak, and so he makes for the English coastal town of Warblings, to try and find Francesca. The England of his fantasies and England in reality are two very different things for this very shy American, and definitely the natives take a little getting used to; and while Henry didn't expect for his quest for Francesca to be incredibly easy, he didn't expect to discover that Francesca was in prison for having murdered her five year old son either. All his memories about Francesca, as well as his gut feelings tells him that she cannot be guilty of such a crime, in spite of her confession of having performed the deed. And so Henry, with no real skills in investigation, decides to try and discover what really happened that fateful day, a year ago. But he finds it rather stiff going: few want to talk about what happened, and Francesca's friends and family seem openly alarmed and hostile at his attempts to ferret out information. Henry must balance his memory of the girl of his dreams with what happened, and discover if his Francesca was indeed capable of so foul a deed, or if she is covering up for someone else.

To begin with this novel makes for some really compelling reading. At the heart of this novel is the characer of Francesca Chisolm: how she touched so many lives, and how she became the mainstay of so many people. Could a woman of such seemingly goodness be capable of so brutal and heinous a crime? Fyfield handles this concept in a really brilliant manner by interposing the chapters that deal with Henry's seemingly inept investigations with Francesca's own prison writings. This really made the novel a lot more intersting, because you got to know the real Francesca from her writings, instead of being limited to other people's views of her. And the fact that I didn't really like anyone in this novel except for Francesca, didn't detract from my enjoyment of "Undercurrents" at all. Henry Evans is an improbable knight in shinning armour, mostly because I couldn't fathom how a successful 40 year old could be so ineffectual most of the time. I think Fyfield did this novel a great disservice by making Henry so feeble for the first half of the book. Also the reader is not given a very clear idea as to why Henry walked away from Francesca all those years ago, and I for one found this really frustrating. However he did pull up his socks towards the end of the novel, so all was not lost. My main reservation with this novel is in the ending, when you discover what really happened on the pier that fateful day. It makes for poignant reading when you realise that one character's firm resolve dictated the outcome of Francesca Chisolm's fate; and it was chilling to realise that a police investigation could be expertly sidelined. However I strongly disagreed with the manner in which things were left, and foresee years of therapy for certain characters in the future!

"Undercurrents" is a riveting read -- the plot is a clever and interesting one, and all the characters are well depicted and portrayed. Fyfield's view of a small, insular English coastal town seen through the eyes of an American were both funny and breath taking in turns. And though I didn't agree with the manner in which the novel ends, I can still recommend this novel as an excellent read.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The editorial reviews know best!, November 24, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Undercurrents (Paperback)

This book is way, way better than the readers' reviews here suggest. It is beatifully written with unique characters, rich and captivating atmosphere, striking observations, and some moments that make you laugh out loud. I did figure out the mystery partway through but had to keep reading to be sure, and there was one big surprise I never saw coming at the end. The beginning is mezmerizing and intriguing, not sleep-inducing or dreadful as one reader suggests, and I didn't even notice the swearing. Far, far above the norm, especially in the elegance (as so many critics said) of the writing and the emotions it evokes.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written atmospheric book but not a mystery, March 11, 2005

By 

M. C. Crammer (Decatur, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Undercurrents (Paperback)

Not really -- more of a love story or a novel with some mystery to it. The story involves an American returning to a small coastal town in England to look up a lost love, who he had met and loved in India. She returned home when her father died, leaving him in a pique. He ended up back in the US where he got a PhD and has had a successful career but has not settled into marriage or a relationship -- he has been kind of carrying a torch for Francesca. Arriving on a stormy February night unannounced in the seaside town she was from, he discovers first that the hotel he planned to stay at is flooded -- so he is forced to seek accommodations elsewhere and ends up in an eccentric household -- and then that Francesca, the woman he loved, went to prison a year ago for murdering her 5 year old son. He can't believe she'd do it, so he starts poking around, trying to find out if she did it (she confessed immediately to the crime) and why she would confess if she didn't and if she didn't, who did?

None of the townspeople (all of whom are quirky) are all that helpful, and some are downright unhelpful. But he does find one woman who ends up helping him in her own indirect way.

This is kind of a Ruth Rendell sort of psychological book. I thought it was too slow, but it was definitely worth reading. If you're looking for an action-packed thriller and your idea of a greater mystery is the Bourne Conspiracy, this is not the book for you.