Our Family, by Victor Pemberton: A Review of a Moving Autobiographical Novel

Our Family is an autobiographical novel based upon the family history of author Victor Pemberton. I was initially familiar with Pemberton from his work as a writer and script editor on Doctor Who in the late 1960s, and for his sci-fi radio serial The Slide. In fact, Pemberton has had a very diverse career in television, radio, and documentary films. Among his numerous credits was serving as the producer of the British version of the Jim Henson-created television series Fraggle Rock. As someone who was a big fan of the American version growing up, it was quite a thrill to find that out!

In 1978, Pemberton wrote the ninety minute radio drama The Trains Don't Stop Here Anymore. The radio play, starring Nerys Hughes, Nigel Anthony and Wendy Richard, was inspired by the lives of Pemberton's parents. The play was followed up in 1987 by two additional installments, Don't Talk To Me About Kids and Down by the Sea. Together, this trilogy came to be known as Our Family. In1990, Pemberton was asked to write a novel of the Our Family radio dramas. That book became the first of 17 historical novels, which Pemberton refers to as his "London saga."

Our Family opens in London during the early days of the First World War, as young Letty Edgington meets Ollie Hobbs, a soldier who has been wounded on the French battlefield. Letty and Oliver fall in love and, despite their very different socioeconomic backgrounds and the objections of their families, the couple decides to wed. The novel follows the story of their marriage over the succeeding decades, through good times and bad.

Pemberton invests his characters with real humanity. They are very much living, breathing, feeling individuals. No one among them is all good or all bad, and Pemberton succeeds in finding redemptive qualities in even those people who at first glance would seem completely unlikable. Pemberton delves deep into their minds and souls of Letty, Ollie, their families and friends, revealing what motivates their actions, giving us a real understanding of who they are.

One of the most striking aspects of Our Family is the section set during World War II. I am Jewish, and so know a good deal about the Holocaust. Additionally, in college my minor was in History. So from my classes on European history, I have some knowledge of various other events of the War. But I never truly understood the horrors experienced on the Home Front in Britain until now. Pemberton's depiction of the Hobbs family's struggles to endure through five long years of almost-daily air raids by the Nazi Luftwaffe and subsequent rocket attacks on London, seeing their beloved city turned to rubble, watching helplessly as innocent civilians die in the terrible bombings, is incredibly powerful. Pemberton communicates all of this in a way that the matter-of-fact paragraphs and still photographs of a history textbook can never achieve. I was left with a profound admiration for the British civilians who endured half a decade of the horrors of war.

Pemberton tells the story of Letty, Ollie, and their children up until the late Twentieth Century. When I reached the end of the novel, it was a sort of bittersweet experience. Throughout the course of the book, I had gotten to know the characters so well, and I was almost reluctant to part company with them. I almost felt like I knew these people personally. Pemberton achieves a definite emotional resonance in his writing.

Our Family is a rich, stirring tale that left me deeply moved. I highly recommend this novel. It can easily be purchased at Amazon.Com. Pemberton's second book in the London saga, Our Street, is another moving, inspiring story, whose protagonist is based on Pemberton himself. Although it is not quite as easy to find a copy of Our Street here in the United States, it is definitely worth tracking down that book, as well. A number of web sites have used copies for sale.

Having enjoyed both Our Family and Our Street, I look forward to the opportunity to read additional books in Victor Pemberton's London saga.