The Legacy Of Hartlepool Hall by Paul Torday (From The Northern Echo)

Book Review: The Legacy Of Hartlepool Hall by Paul Torday (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £12.99)

4:09pm Monday 9th January 2012 in Fiction

RIDING high on the success of Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, which has been made into a film starring Ewan McGregor for release on March 9, Northumberland-based Paul Torday turns his acerbic style of storytelling on the last remnants of a land-owning family on the border of Yorkshire.

Thirty-something Ed Hartlepool returns from self-imposed tax exile in the South of France to face the financial music after his father dies, leaving him with a country house in need of maintenance and debts into the millions.

An unusual woman by the name of Lady Alice is living in the house and his childhood friend, Annabel, is desperate to introduce him to her property developer boyfriend.

The narrative plods along fairly predictably until a bizarre and macabre turn of events halfway through, which just serves to further alienate the reader from characters they already felt little empathy for.

It also feels as though Torday is writing deliberately for the US audience, labouring some of his references to traditional country pursuits.