"Summer`s End" by Francis Irwin

The novel "Summer`s End", written by Francis Irwin and published in 2010, purports to tell the story of Francis Lovell`s life from the end of 1467 to his death. It`s written in the first person, and is framed as Francis, shortly before his death, narrating his own life story. This setup could have given the novel the chance to be something rather unusual, illuminating the events of the Wars of the Roses from a perspective that is explored less and giving historical characters who are often only mentioned in passing or ignored completely some spotlight. 

Sadly, however, this is not what this novel does. In fact, the narrative does not even seem to dwell long on the actual events in Francis`s life, and most of the people we have evidence he was close to,  he actually cared about, are not mentioned a lot, instead having to yield the bulk of the narrative to a person we have no evidence he was close to or cared about: Anne Neville. The longer the book goes on, the more it feels like it is meant to be a description of how perfect Anne Neville was and how wonderfully she coped with having the most tragical life in 15th century England, rather than the story about Francis Lovell`s life. 

This focus on Anne Neville is achieved by portraying Francis as being one-sidedly in love with her. While there is absolutely no evidence for him even liking her, and in fact some cirumstantial evidence that both he and his wife didn`t, this would not necessarily have to be a problem. There is little enough evidence about any relationship they may have had to not make any changes to it jarring, and fiction is naturally free to make changes to historical fact to create a compelling story. However, in this case, the storyline of Francis being in love with Anne Neville, who is blissfully in love with, and married to, his best friend and does not know anything about his feelings, goes absolutely nowhere. There is no indication anything has changed from the moment Francis first mentions her in 1467, to the moment he dies, there has been no character development resulting from it and no actual conflict resulting from it. The result is that Francis`s long and often tedious exultations of Anne feel like character shilling, and Francis like a mouthpiece to beat the reader over the head with Anne Neville`s perfection.

Over the course of the novel the reader is told Anne is very kind, very brave, very frail (and bravely bearing this), in a marriage of unheard of bliss with Richard of Gloucester, very kind, very brave, very frail, in a marriage .... None of this, however, is really shown. It`s mostly simply told by Francis, who it appears has little else to do but be hopelessly in love.

Most of the events of Francis`s life are referenced, but given rather little spotlight, especially in comparison how much spotlight events he`s only indirectly involved in, such as Richard of Gloucester and Anne Neville`s wedding - where he`s a guest - get. A typical example for this is his elevation to viscouncy, to which only half a page is devoted. The actual ceremony is not shown, and Francis shows so little interest in it that the reader might be forgiven for thinking such an elevation was no more than a common Christmas present. Other notable events in his life not involving Anne Neville in some way, or to a lesser extent Richard of Gloucester, get dismissed just as much. 

This impression of Francis`s own story not really being the centre of the book, or even of much interest to the story it tries to tell, is reinforced by the fact some of what is know about his life is portrayed incorrectly, for no narrative reason. It gets the year he was knighted wrong, makes his sister Frideswide several years older than she really was, and most jarringly, gets his reaction to a pardon by Henry VII`s government completely wrong. While the actual Francis rejected a pardon, choosing to place his loyalty to his fallen friend and king over a quiet life under the victor, in this book he is portrayed as not being offered a pardon and wishing he was.

This is not only insulting to the real man, as it denies him some of his most remarkable traits and decisions, it is also not even portrayed consistently, as Francis also claims to never want to come to terms with Henry VII when in an argument with his wife. Maybe this is because Anne Neville is dead by that point in the narrative and therefore it has lost its centre and has less interest in what happens, maybe it is meant to be a sudden change of mind which is, however, never explored, or maybe it is just an easy excuse for an argument between Francis and his wife, who spent most of their time together in the novel arguing. 

Because the novel is so utterly preoccupied with having Francis borderline obsessed with Anne Neville, it sadly misses its chance to shine some more light on the less famous people in Francis`s life. This really feels like a pity, for it could have done really well. The groundwork is there, such as a nice scene in which Francis talks with one of his associates, Edward Franke, about dogs - but it is not followed up on, and he, as well as most other characters, remain pale. Others, such as his brothers-in-law Richard and George, do not get mentioned at all.

The notable and praiseworthy exception to this is Francis`s mother-in-law, Alice FitzHugh, who is given a sympathetic and rounded portrayal. Her daughter, Francis`s wife, is not quite so lucky. Though nowhere near as badly portrayed as in many other novels about the time, she still has a distinct feel of second-best to her, starting with her name. Inexplicably, she is called Anna, a name often used in fiction but incorrect. Why a book about Francis could not name his wife correctly or, potentially to avoid confusion since readers are used to her being named thus in fiction, at least say "Anna" is a nickname is a mystery.

The incorrectly named Anna seems to be the aware of the medium, and resenting it. While all other characters display a hugely unrealistic tendency to mention, adore, worry about and comment on Anne Neville in any and all situations, or perhaps Francis simply stops listening when they do not, she is the only one who points out the ridiculousness of this, and especially Francis`s complete preoccupation with her. 

This is perfectly understandable and echoed my thoughts as reader more than once, but tellingly, it is meant to be a bad character trait, and one she eventually regrets, though thankfully she never quite gives into the worship many other characters and the narrative afford Anne. Though this is not meant to be sympathetic, it most definitely is, as she is a constant victim of supposedly unflattering comparisons to Anne Neville, during which the latter always is meant to come off better.

One typical example of this is when Francis thinks that "Anna, tall, independent, strong-willed Anna, was the exact opposite of the kind of woman who attracted me". While there is absolutely no evidence the actual Francis found his wife, who genuinely appeared to be indendent and strong-willed, unattractive and he seemed close to her, there is nothing wrong with him thinking so in fiction, and again, it could make for some drama in the narrative. It doesn`t; instead, it is followed up by what is clearly the actual point of this sentence, when Francis thinks "wistfully of my gentle, sweet Anne."

The worst about this is that the narrative is clearly not only sympathetic with this but agrees, trying to make the reader resent "Anna" for being independent and strong-willed, not character traits that are typically seen as bad, and generally committing the crime of not being exactly like Anne Neville. It´s not presented as Francis feeling bad for loving Anne Neville or wanting his wife to be her carbon copy, it`s presented as Anna being in the wrong for not being Anne Neville.

The novel alludes several times to the fact that Francis neglects Anna, so that she really has no choice but to be independent, and that she really cares for Francis, but this is another maddening instance, as with Edward Franke above, where groundwork is laid for something that is not followed through, nor even used in the narrative to treat the character more sympathetically. This is mainly because her husband, providing the first person point of view, is uninterested in anything but what Anne Neville does, how she looks, what she says, and how much in love she is with Richard of Gloucester. 

In fact, this often makes Francis display a complete lack of empathy, and makes it a miracle that Anna still manages to show any loyalty to him. One such case is when Francis dismisses his own sister Joan`s death in six lines without apparent emotion, only to then immediately segue into a far longer, very emotional description of his horror at seeing Anne not look too well. Both the narrative and Francis clearly think Anne Neville looking unwell is a far greater horror than Joan Lovell actually dying. Not that it would have rung as realistic, in this novel, if Francis had been horrified at his sister`s death, for despite the evidence showing the two being close in real life, his interactions with her maybe fill one page taken together, and she is never developed beyond a throw-away comment at the beginning that she is more sedate than Francis`s other sister Frideswide - which is never shown in any way.

This fate she shares with several characters. Richard of Gloucester, arguably one of the, if not the most, important person in Francis`s life, remains curiously pale as well. Francis does mention several times "how much I enjoyed Richard`s friendship", but there is no sense as to why. The two rarely speak from person to person, and one of those interactions is Richard screaming at Francis for no good reason when he tries to offer his condolences for the loss of his son. Another is Richard info-dumping what happened to his famous nephews, the so-called Princes in the Tower. This may be the scene in which the two are shown to be the closest, and Francis barely gets a word in edgewise. Perhaps the greatest show of friendship between the two actually being of any importance in the novel is Richard, age 15, sending a puppy to Francis, age 11. However, naturally, it is then stressed in the immediately following scene how much fun Anne and Francis have playing with the puppy, and it is a sentence from her that names the dog, so that even this gesture feels as if it is far more about Anne than about Richard, Francis, or their friendship. Actual signs of friendship between the two are either not mentioned - such as Richard giving Francis the privilege of knighting two other men after knighting him - or mentioned in a half-sentence. Even Francis being made lord chamberlain is treated like this. He mentions it once, in another argument with his wife, and then it`s promptly forgotten and none of Francis`s actions are in any way informed by it.

Apart from his friendship with Francis, Richard of Gloucester`s actions, much like Francis`s, are referenced without generating much interest, except when Francis can gush how lucky he is that he has Anne Neville and how much in love they are and that there is no one in the world but Anne Neville. Absolutely everything in this book is about her, and only her. Francis explicitly says that his friendship with Richard would most likely not have become as it was had they not both looked for Anne when she was hidden away by her brother-in-law George of Clarence in a cookshop. After Richard`s coronation, which is again not shown, his foremost thought is that "it was a wonder the queen had made it through the day so well". Even the put-upon Anna finds herself referencing her when airing very private worries about her childlessness, commenting, for no good reason, on how Anne has a child and has therefore done her duty as wife better than she, despite the fact "everyone thought she was too frail to carry a child to term". 

Anne`s frailness and her supposed immense tragedy are huge parts of the book as well. Everything is tragical for her. She, in Francis`s words "endured [her coronation] without complaint", rather than being happy at being queen or seeing it as something to celebrate, as it was a huge honour and put her above all other women in the realm. She is not just put into a cookshop "in the disguise of a kitchen maid" by George of Clarence, something that was claimed by one source over a decade after the fact and is doubtful if it ever happened, she is said to have had to work very hard there, and George is literally said to have wanted to murder her. Anne`s first husband Edward of Lancaster was "hateful" to her. Anne`s inability to have more than one child gets more sympathy than Anna`s - and Francis`s own - complete lack of children. According to this book, Anne is perfect, kind, a perpetual victim - but has no other character traits. Despite the fact that large bits of the novel treat Francis as a vessel for her worship, after reading it there is no sense of what Anne enjoys doing, what she likes, dislikes, what amuses her, or even why Francis is so focused on her.

In fact, not even Francis himself is a very engaging character, since, as stated above he seems more concerned with summing up what is happening to him rather than showing it happening to him. The fact that his own relationships have so little colour and that the one which has any depth, with Anna, is him mostly arguing with her, does not make him particularly sympathetic. In fact, the most sympathetic characters in the novel are Alice FitzHugh and Anna. If Francis had been shown to be close to them, as he actually was, this book could have been great.

It is really a shame that the book does not make more out of its premise. Some characters were very promising - but the promise was not fulfilled.