Sleep Before Evening is Magdalena Ball’s
debut novel. It is a beautifully crafted piece
dealing with rejection and betrayal. Those of us who
have felt that someone we loved deeply betrayed us,
will form an immediate bond with the main character.
Marianne is a vivacious nineteen year old, full of
life and a brilliant scholar. She is at the peak of
her powers when life decides it will test her
character. Eric, her much loved grandfather and
mentor, is suddenly struck down by a stroke. His
death begins a series of events that takes Marianne
into a world of darkness, filled with drugs and
depression.
Hurting to the core about the loss of Eric, and
the fact that she was denied the chance to say
goodbye, Marianne hates the world. She also starts
to hate herself and seeks solace in the arms of
Miles. He is a struggling musician who for a time is
the maestro who conducts her life.
Lily, Marianne’s mother, also has her own demons
eating at her. She is so wrapped up in her struggle
to find happiness and fulfilment, that she cannot
see what is happening to her daughter. It is a flaw
that many parents are guilty of, not through an act
of selfishness, but one brought on by their own
struggle to survive.
Confused and angry Marianne deteriorates to the
stage where fantasy, reality and pain are so
intermingled within her, that she loses contact with
her real self. She was entering the stage of what
the noted British psychiatrist Hall called, drifting
back to the time before you are born. It is a stage
along the path of mental recovery, where one’s mind
is in an infantile state, as it retreats from the
hurt it finds itself in. Then when it feels strong
enough it comes forward again, out of the darkness
and into the light. This usually brings with it a
positive change in an individual, making them
mentally stronger and enhancing their creativity.
This is a good story that makes the reader feel
the highs and lows of Marianne as if they are their
own. It reminds me of the style adopted by the
Russian writer Dostoyevsky. He had the ability to
get the reader to feel exactly what his characters
felt; a gift Magdalena ball has too.
Sleep Before Evening is a well written insight
into human suffering. The author shows an in-depth
knowledge of how to hold readers attention, and make
them eager to know more. This is a debut novel that
shows the author has many more novels inside her,
which will provoke strong emotions in readers of her
work.
