Attend by West Camel

Sam is a gay man coming to terms with his sexuality. He’s just moved to London and is new to Deptford, an outsider. In a chance encounter he meets Derek, a local hardman and they fall for each other. Anne is a recovering heroin addict, Deptford born and bred. She is estranged from her family but is trying to make amends and rebuild bridges. These two separately meet Deborah, an old woman and seamstress. While the rest of the city’s denizens seem to not notice Deborah, she seems to be everywhere that Sam and Anne turn. Deborah has a beguiling knack for spinning a flighty yarn and soon has them mesmerised by tales of her youth and how she got to be where she is today, living in a strange tumbledown house amongst the warehouses by a creek on the Thames.

Attend is a beautiful tale that is difficult to categorise. There are elements of many a genre here - touches of crime, romance and magical realism. But at heart this is a literary novel of self-discovery. Both Sam and Anne start the novel unsure of what they want and where they’re going, and through Deborah learn much about life. Another feature of the novel is the interconnectedness, how all the characters’ lives are weaved together like threads on a rich tapestry. 

The novel takes place in Deptford and is rich in local history and folklore. I’m not sure how much of this is true and how much are imagined, whether for example, the earth under these South East London streets is actually riddled with forgotten tunnel systems, but it all makes for a beautifully and beguiling tale.

Attend isn’t my usual type of read, personally I opt for grittier fare, but I knew this was going to be good, published as it is by Orenda, a benchmark in publishing quality. I wasn’t disappointed; this is a thoughtful and haunting tale, one that makes the reader think about the invisible web of connections that run through communities and between people, and consider that perhaps there is more occurring around, and perhaps even beneath, us than we were aware.

4 out of 5 stars