By its Cover: Lamb in Love

By Its Cover is a series of posts wherein I read a book based solely on my love of the cover. No reading the jacket, no checking reviews!

I have no idea why, but I initially assumed the figure on the cover of this book was a satyr, half-man, half-goat, because I thought it had hooves. It wasn’t until I really paid attention that I realised that they were simply shoes and this was just a man.

Having read the book, I’m no wiser as to what the cover represents but the quirkiness energy of the man with his umbrella, set against that pastoral setting reminiscent of a Constable painting, seems fitting somehow.

What lies within is a quiet and beautiful story set in Hursley, a small town in the English countryside. It’s a tale which is in no hurry to go anywhere, much like the village in which it is set, meandering lazily along country lanes to its resolution.

On the night that man lands on the moon in 1969, Norris Lamb is out for a late night stroll when he spies Vida, dancing with abandon around a fountain under the moonlight. And love strikes Norris like Cupid’s arrow, swift and unexpected, despite the fact that the two have lived together in the same village for their entire lives.

Norris is the middle aged village postmaster. Vida, at 40, a good 15 years younger than Norris, has spent the entirety of her adult life as nanny to Manford, currently 20, yet with the mental capacity of a five year old, having suffered from brain damage during the birth which took the life of his mother. Vida has devoted her life to her mute charge, taking care of him and attempting to protect him from the unintended yet nevertheless cloddish insults of the other villagers, in the process, leaving no time for herself.

What follows Norris’ moonlight awakening is a clumsy attempt to woo Vida. He drops little gifts in her path and enlists the help of an out of the country friend to send her love letters from exotic locales, posted with love stamps from his own collection.

And because Norris, shy, unassuming and completely inexperienced in the ways of courting, doesn’t understand boundaries, one night he creeps into Vida’s bedroom while she is out and lays a nightgown he has chosen for her, out on her bed. For Norris a romantic gesture, for Vida a rather unsettling occurrence, which leaves her wondering if she is being stalked, and not pursued by an admirer.

With time though, Norris plucks up enough courage to talk to Vida (although she remains ignorant to his wooing strategy)  and along the way unexpectedly makes a connection with Manford, forging a friendship which takes them both by surprise.

I don’t think it’s coincidence that this novel starts on the day of the moon landing. While this simple fact plays no further role in the book, it also seems representative of the themes running throughout: setting foot on territory beyond our horizons, opening our eyes to the things surrounding us that have never been noticed before. For this, ultimately, is what happens, not only to Norris and Vida, but to several of the villagers, in small but significant ways.

It’s a timeless story. Gentle and compassionate, it is filled with a quiet, subtle humour that never stoops to laugh at its characters for their awkwardness and inelegance. And while I will say that it does feel rather slow at times, the writing can be gorgeous and poetic. It seems quite the perfect story to read with the arrival of spring’s playfulness, nudging us all to once again open our eyes to the new and the fresh in the world.