The Hamlet by Joanna Corrance (book review).
‘The Hamlet’ is another book in ‘NP Novella set 2’, distinguished from ‘NP Novella set 1’ by their smaller size, so Newcon Press is saving trees. Chapter One is a prologue setting the scene: ‘It was an unusually hot day in early spring when all the screens turned black and the radios went silent. After a few moments, an announcement was made. A warning.’
Everyone has to go home and stay inside. With the screens blank and the radios silent, I’m not clear on how the announcement was made, perhaps by the new mobile phone alert service we have in the UK now. The story is set in a small rural community in Scotland, an idyllic location between the forest and the sea, with a mix of characters. In the subsequent chapters, we follow their individual stories, all interlocking and overlapping.
Beth is practically a recluse even before the event, ordering her shopping online and keeping herself to herself. When the plumbing goes wrong, she tries to fix it but somehow enters the pipes. At this point, you realise we’re in ‘New Weird’ territory. To be fair, the book is advertised as such.
Polly is a little girl with bad parents, whose life gets better when a wizard climbs out of her toybox. Helen McIvor is the perfect suburban wife and mother for whom everything must sparkle and she makes videos to show everyone how. Eve is a smart, wealthy businesswoman who retreats to the hamlet by instinct when the bad thing happens and moves in with her tenant, ‘Matthew the pest’, with unfortunate results. Robyn is a lady who loves small works of art and makes a dollhouse that gets complicated. This clever chapter was one of my favourite segments in the book. Not quite last, there’s Jeannie, who is so charming that she gets the perfect job and the perfect husband and a lovely house in the hamlet without really trying. There’s more to her than meets the eye. The last character would be a spoiler, so I won’t mention him.
In the ‘New Weird’, magical things happen without any explanation and it can get peculiar indeed, as it does here. But the strangeness is used to good effect to show character and every person in this story is a three-dimensional, real and memorable human being. There’s a dash of humour, too.
I’ve read short stories in this genre that made me throw the book across the room in exasperation because you get roped in, ride along eagerly and it suddenly stops with no conclusion because it can, because it’s New Weird and the author can do whatever they like. AAAAAGH!
Happily, that’s not the case here. It is all fantastic and there’s no explanation for any of it, but the clever interlocking stories and the real characters combine to make a charming little read. I rather enjoyed it and will look up the author’s other books, especially as, like Robyn the dollhouse maker, she specialises in small works of art. Small, intricate, polished and nearly perfect. Recommended.
Eamonn Murphy
May 2025
(pub: NewCon Press. 120 page A5 paperback. Price: £ 8.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-917735-00-1)
check out website: www.newconpress.co.uk
