Review: Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey
In this tale of mystery and suspense, a stranger enters the inner sanctum of the Ashby family posing as Patrick Ashby, the heir to the family’s sizable fortune. The stranger, Brat Farrar, has been carefully coached on Patrick’s mannerism’s, appearance, and every significant detail of Patrick’s early life, up to his thirteenth year when he disappeared and was thought to have drowned himself. It seems as if Brat is going to pull off this most incredible deception until old secrets emerge that jeopardize the imposter’s plan and his life. Culminating in a final terrible moment when all is revealed, Brat Farrar is a precarious adventure that grips the reader early and firmly and then holds on until the explosive conclusion.
Review:
Dear readers,
I read this book for one of the book clubs I belong to and I really enjoyed it. After I finished the book I actually went to check the Wikipedia entry, because I wanted to double check something – for some reason I was not sure whether the story takes place in 1920s or 1940s. I am not sure why. In any event, I decided to copy the part of the plot summary directly from Wikipedia, because while the blurb is correct I think that summary needs more details.
“The story is about the Ashbys, an English country-squire family. Their centuries-old family estate is Latchetts, in the fictional village of Clare, near the south coast of England. It takes place in the late 1940s, after World War II.
The Ashby family consists of Beatrice Ashby (“Aunt Bee”), a spinster of about 50, and the four children of her late brother Bill: Simon, 20; Eleanor, 18–19 and the twins Jane and Ruth, 9.
Bill and his wife Nora died eight years earlier. Since then, the Ashbys have been short of money. Bee has kept the estate going by turning the family stable into a profitable business and combining breeding, selling, and training horses with riding lessons. When Simon turns 21, he will inherit Latchetts and a large trust fund left by his mother.
Simon had a twin brother, Patrick, who was older than him by a few minutes, but soon after Bill and Nora died, Patrick had disappeared and left what was taken to be a suicide note.”
And as the story begins we meet Brat in London and someone confuses him for Simon Ashby and that someone decided to take advantage of the fact that Brat looks so much like Simon Ashby. Why not coach a stranger to pretend to be Patrick Ashby who died seven – eight years ago from alleged suicide and pretend that Patrick came back.
Brat does not agree right away, but eventually he does agree to play part in this lie and spring himself on Ashby family, especially since Brat loves horses so much and the business will be his since he was older twin by few minutes.
This book was a wonderful example of how a good writing can convince me of almost anything. In the vast majority of the situations I would have hated a character like Brat, who participated in the deception like that – to pretend that he was a dead brother who came back from the dead. You are a liar, a cheat and a fraud man. But this author made me like him and I have no idea how she did it. Was it because of his constant doubts? Was it because he very quickly started to like the Ashbys (most of them anyway)? I mean, no! Even that normally won’t be enough – more often than not I would be screaming you belong in jail man. I can understand if I started liking Brat closer to the end of the story, because I certainly liked what he was doing at the end, but I already liked him *much earlier* than that, so I can only credit very persuasive writing for having sympathy for the main character.
The Ashbys (mostly) were very likable bunch who worked with horses to make money but also because they loved horses. I loved that Bee cared so much about her nieces and nephews, I loved that they (mostly) cared about each other as well. I wanted them to be happy.
The book is also a suspense story, because the true story of Patrick’s death does come to light and because of that some lives get to be in danger. While I think it worked well as a suspense novel, I thought the mystery element was too obvious and the final reveal at the end was too neat, but it did not stop me from enjoying the book a lot.
Grade: B+/A-
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Oh, Brat Farrar! I like this one, too, also in spite of it being an imposter story. In my case, I may have been influenced by having first seen the BBC miniseries so when I read it I knew he’d end up not being a bad guy. But you’re right that he’s written very sympathetically. IIRC, he was a jockey who was crazy about horses but couldn’t ride professionally any more because of an injury. So, he does it not for the money but for the horses
This is one of the books I discovered as a kid by reading movie credits. I was always checking if they were “based on the book by.” I listened to the audio version fairly recently and enjoyed it.
Reading movie credits is also how I discovered Mary Stewart, from the credits for The Moon Spinners (which is not much like the adaptation).
@MaryK: A friend of mine loves this book. I’m going to have to check it out.
Meet New Books blurbs it like this:
“A beautifully written, quietly suspenseful classic that’s more about belonging and identity than just solving a crime. Perfect for fans of traditional mysteries who love strong characters and rich atmosphere.”
As a teenager, I read everything I could find by Josephine Tey, including BRAT FARRAR, yet I remember nothing of the story. Obviously it’s long past time to re-read it. Thanks for the reminder, Sirius.
I read this several years ago for a book group and also enjoyed it. Thanks for your review, Sirius.
@MaryK: Reading movie credits is also how I discovered Mary Stewart, from the credits for The Moon Spinners (which is not much like the adaptation). — About the only thing they have in common is the title and the setting. I was a Haley Mills fan girl back in the day, and the Moon Spinners was my first Mary Stewart book (from a book spinner in the back of my 6th grade classroom), so I cut the movie some slack. But I haven’t seen it in ages, whereas I reread Stewart every few years. And circling back around to Brat Ferrar, Stewart was apparently influenced by that book when writing The Ivy Tree. Both were probably based in part on the Tichborne case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tichborne_case.
@MaryK: Are the series worth watching?@MaryK: I love the blurb you quoted.@Sandra: I have not read Mary Stewart at all, really should try. I think about it every time her books come out in the conversation.@Darlynne: Of course :)@Jayne: I think you should :)
Jo Walton has said she was inspired to write the alt-history Farthing by wondering when Brat Farrar was set.
I listened to the audiobook in 2017, as my review on audible.com.au tells me. I loved the characters and the whole world of the novel. Carole Boyd’s narration is perfect for it.
@Sirius: I’ve been tempted to try rewatching it myself, but it seems like it’s only available in a scattered way on YouTube. I’d hate to start it and then find parts are missing. It’s been decades since I saw it so I have no idea what the quality is like.
@MaryK: Looks like there are two different uploads of the mid 80s TV production. One is divided into three parts and one into six parts.
@Etv13: I have not read anything by Jo Walton but I love how writer’s inspiration from another book may work.@MaryK: @Jayne: Found it thank you both, going to try three parts.@oceanjasper: Thank you.