Crossing Over by Anne Morgan

 

Crossing Over by Anne Morgan.

Published 26th April 2023 by Renard Press.

From the cover of the book:

Edie finds the world around her increasingly difficult to comprehend. Words are no longer at her beck and call, old friends won't mind their own business and workmen have appeared in the neighbouring fields, preparing to obliterate the landscape she has known all her life. Rattling around in an old farmhouse on the cliffs, she's beginning to run out of excuses to stop do-gooders interfering when one day she finds an uninvited guest in the barn and is thrown back into the past. 

Jonah has finally made it to England - where everything, he's been told, will be better. But the journey was fraught with danger, and many of his fellow travellers didn't make it. Sights firmly set on London, but unsure which way to turn, he is unprepared for what happens when he breaks into Edie's barn. 

Haunted by the prospect of being locked away and unable to trust anyone else, the elderly woman stubbornly battling dementia and the traumatised illegal immigrant find solace in an unlikely companionship that helps them make sense of their worlds even as they struggle to understand each other. Crossing Over is a delicately spun tale that celebrates compassion and considers the transcendent language of humanity.

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Edie lives alone in an old farmhouse on the clifftops, and now in her eighties is starting to lose her grip on the world around her. Words do not come easily to her anymore, and she is often confused, but she is determined to hide her deteriorating faculties from the do-gooders in the village.

Jonah has made the long and perilous journey from Malawi to Britain, looking for a better life for himself and his family. Not all of the people he has met along the way have survived, and he is haunted by the things he has seen. Having completed the final terrifying stretch of the journey across the Channel in a small boat, his goal is to head for London where he can get lost in the crowds. In the meantime, he finds refuge hiding in Edie's ramshackle barn.

When Edie comes across Jonah unexpectedly, she is thrown back into her past, confusing him for someone who was once very dear to her. Jonah, terrified he will be captured, and dogged by PTSD reacts violently at first, but over time they fall into an unconventional relationship with Jonah taking on the role of Edie's carer. Both of them are afraid of the outside world, and are plagued by their past experiences, and somehow they forge a connection.

Crossing Over is a deeply affecting story about the collision of two very different lives, when a desperate young man from Africa finds himself living with a confused and reclusive old woman. Morgan has written this story with the intention of confronting people's notions about the differences between refugees and economic migrants, and she does an excellent of job of exploring how difficult it is to draw a line between the two when the experiences of people distressed by poverty can be very similar to those who have suffered the fall-out of war.

Throughout the story Joshua expresses his bewilderment at the things people in this unfamiliar country take for granted, and recalls incidents from his past to illustrate the stark differences between the life he has left behind and the place he now finds himself. There is such poignancy and pain in his narration, but there are also darkly funny moments, especially when his illusions about Britain are burst by the reality he sees around him.

In parallel, Morgan does an astounding job of portraying the fear and confusion of a woman succumbing to the ravages of dementia, especially in the way Edie gets lost in the past and struggles with aphasia. It is Edie's side of the story where the biggest secrets lie, and the truth about why she is so taken with Joshua is revealed slowly over the course of the novel - through bits and pieces of her scattered memories, the heart-rending jottings Joshua discovers in her notebooks, and from letters she has received but not read.

The two threads of the story weave around each other as Morgan teases out experiences on both sides, and for the most part this flows well, although Joshua's story is clearly the dominant one given Morgan's intent. However, there are times when it feels like she is attempting too much with Edie's story in pursuit of common ground, and this distracts from the message of the book. I enjoyed the look back in time to Edie's wartime experiences, but parts of this storyline feel out of place with the overall themes, and the sexual awakening element of the tale is handled somewhat clumsily given the deft way in which the more impactful plotlines are wielded.

Nonetheless, this is a book that is intended to elicit an emotional response straight out of the gate, and it does that in gut-punching style. It is not a warm, fuzzy read about a cosy relationship between an elderly woman and her carer, although there are moments of wry humour and touching compassion. There are multiple episodes that are distressing to read on both sides of the story, and I especially struggled with several of the scenes where Joshua acts with cruelty towards Edie, even though they develop an understanding over the course of the story. I would advise caution if you are navigating caring for a loved one with dementia or a degenerative condition, or if your feelings in this regard are raw, as these scenes are extremely upsetting. 

There is no doubt that this is a powerful book, and there is a lot to talk about in terms of the themes Morgan forces you to examine around humanity, immigration, prejudice, and racism, as well as in connection with the care of those with dementia. This novel is unashamedly thought provoking, which makes it an ideal candidate for book clubs and reading groups who are open to having their boundaries pushed.

Crossing Over is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats.

Thank you to Renard Press for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Ann Morgan is an author, speaker and editor based in Folkestone. In 2012, she set herself the challenge of reading a book from every country in a year - a project that led to a TED talk and to the non-fiction book Reading the World: How I Read a Book from Every Country. 

Her debut novel, Beside Myself, has been translated into eight languages. Crossing Over, her latest novel, draws on her experience living just a few minutes from where many of the small boats crossing the Channel land. 

She is Literary Explorer in Residence of the Cheltenham Literature Festival for 2022 and 2023.