How
coincidental to find myself with not just one fellow solicitor’s published
writing for a holiday reading session, but three. All of which were well worth
it.
First up,
retired solicitor Richard Wrenn and “Trust Betrayed”. As the Law Society Gazette
asked, “is it possible to write
a highly readable novel in which the central premise is breach of the
Solicitors’ Accounts Rules in 1982? Surprisingly, the answer is most certainly
yes.” Just take an ambitious young law firm partner, his older colleague
whose flexible financial practices are about to catch up with him in telling
fashion, and the younger partner’s fiancée – coincidentally, the older partner’s
daughter – and imagine the dynamics when the attempted cover up only makes the
original deceit far worse and its repercussions worse still. Never a dull moment, and the backwater
setting only adds to the intrigue.
A completely
different theme, however, for Geoff Steward’s “In Search of Nice Americans” – a
US road trip with a musical undercurrent, enabled by a three month sabbatical
from the law, and guaranteed to strike many right notes. The Nashville stretch
brings back my own fond memories of the Opry, Lower Broadway and the Hermitage,
alongside the author’s sadly fruitless trip to the Bluebird Café inspired by
the characters of the Nashville TV drama including “that bitch Juliette Barnes”
(hint: book online for the evening performances a week ahead – I managed it
twice). So how many nice Americans did the search reveal? Read it and find out,
and don’t miss out on a trip to Savannah just because the Forrest Gump bench is
no longer in Chippewa Square – there’s a replica in the History Museum.
What about
the dilemma that every solicitor in private practice may encounter at some
stage in their career, namely whether to strive for partnership rather than
settle for a lifetime of employee status? Well, Tom Vaughan MacAulay’s “Being
Simon Haines” takes the former to extremes – the quest for that ultimate prize
at the City boutique firm Fiennes & Plunkett takes the form of “The
Campaign”, where the hope of the single glittering prize pitches rival
candidates against each other in a remorseless grind of 24/7 client work.
Quality of life? Short pause for laughter, please. Or more accurately, short
pause for a long awaited break in Cuba for Simon as the partners assess his
Campaign performance alongside the efforts of his rivals, despicable Angus
Peterson and sensible Emma Morris. (Tom’s presumed happy personal experience of
Cuba is in marked contrast to my own from 8 years ago, but that’s another story…)
So what made
“Being Simon Haines” a particularly appealing read? In my own debut, “Hatred Ridicule
& Contempt”, recently elevated law firm partner Alex Harris found himself
with unexpected enemies – his own fellow partners – who were looking for
convenient scapegoats when their law firm ran into difficulties. He had arrived
at his destination. What would he, and indeed what would Simon Haines, think of
Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous words of wisdom from Virginibus Puerisque in
1881, “Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a
better thing than to arrive”? That is the question.
Before I
forget, a resounding five stars for all three.
