Review: Diving Belles by Lucy Wood
About: Diving Belles is a short story collection that was written by Lucy Wood and published in 2012. All the stories in this collection have the location of Cornwall in common. They all also fall into the genre of magical realism and take inspiration from various Cornish legends.
Did I Like It?: Yes! I liked the way this was written and the melancholic and magical tone of the stories. The setting of Cornwall and the use of Cornish legends was wonderful. These stories mostly all had a sad tone of the past woven through. I could only read one at a time. It was nice to read them that way because they stood out in their own right, but they also could suck you into their poignant and sad vibe. Diving Belles, Countless Stones and Lights in Other People’s Houses were all great stories that had to do with failed relationships. In Diving Belles an old lady hires a service that offers to catch husbands that have strayed and been lured into the sea. In Countless Stones a woman is slowly getting turned into a standing stone during a day when she is trying to help an ex-boyfriend who she keeps in her life, find a house. In Lights in Other People’s Houses a couple is driven apart by the ghost of a ‘wrecker’ that keeps haunting them. All three stories were very vivid and had fantastic imagery of the emotions and situations they were trying to bring to life. Of Mothers and Little People and The Wishing Tree were two pretty good stories that dealt with mother daughter relationships. In Of Mothers and Little People the daughter goes home to visit her mother and she realizes that there is a magical little man that has been following her mother around and is in love with her, where as before she had always thought her mother had been lonely ever since her dad left her. The Wishing Tree deals with a mother and daughter on a trip and the daughter is trying to come to terms with the fact that her mother is ill. Beachcombing was about a grandmother and her grandson who collect things on the beach. She is trying to keep despair at bay as she lost her husband and son at sea. Notes from the House Spirits was one of my favorites and chronicles a certain house and the spirits that inhabit it as they experience various inhabitants come and go. Blue Moon was about a rest home for witchy people. Magpies, The Giant’s Boneyard and Wisht were forgettable for me and probably my least favorite in the collection. The last story Some Drolls Are Like That and Some Are Like This wasn’t my favorite, but wrapped up the collection nicely. It was about an old storyteller trying to give a couple a tour, but he has trouble remembering all the stories. Overall this is a collection I am glad to have read. It was very cohesive. This was Lucy Wood’s debut and I believe she has a couple of novels out now, which I am eager to check out.
Do I Recommend It?: Yes! If you’re looking for a good short story collection and the setting of Cornwall, Cornish legends and magical realism seem like your cup of tea I would recommend checking this out.
~Katie
