A Vision of Loveliness

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One of the things I really love about this book is that each chapter has a little “helpful tip” that seems to have been lifted from one of Jane’s etiquette books, things like: Aside from Deloume, most of the narrative voices belong to the road's residents, during a late summer in the 1990s. Initially their lives seem unconnected – a Ukrainian butcher who struggles both with English and his eyesight, an ageing Native American artist, a pregnant Korean widow, and a mentally disabled young boy. But history brings them together. sight, view or vision? View is more literary than sight or vision. It is the only word for talking about how well you can see: I didn’t have a good sight/​vision of the stage. Vision must always be used with a possessive pronoun: my/​his/​her, etc. (field of) vision. It is not used with the prepositions in, into and out of that are very frequent with sight and view: There was nobody in vision. • A tall figure came into vision. Patterns

This is biting social satire, drenched in extravagant shoes, jewellery and clothes. Levene has a pitch-perfect ear for dialogue, and while her two young heroines are vain, materialistic and manipulative, she deftly illuminates the psyche of this era – when women who wanted to "better themselves" had to make themselves appealing to men, married or otherwise. Money was rolling in, more so when the parade of random strip acts was ditched in favour of a Broadway-style show, complete with a story. But the business was growing too far, too fast and bigger personalities than even Banerjee wanted in on the action. This was not going to end well for some. Louise Levene’s cinematic satire brings sunshine and glamour … There’s pace and plenty of wit to keep you entertained until the credits roll’ Western MailHaving very much enjoyed this author’s book ‘Ghastly Business’ I decided to try ‘A Vision of Loveliness’. It is a completely different novel set in a different era but just as enjoyable. Jane James and her sister were taken in by their aunt Doreen when they were orphaned during World War II.

I loved the writing style in this book. There is a dry wit with some fantastic descriptions and one-liners of people and situations. A walk-on character is described as ‘some old trout called Felicity in what looked like a short-sleeved stair carpet . . .’; Jane is described when talking to Henry, Suzy’s lover, as ‘[making] no effort at all at normal conversation- as if she’d taken her batteries out to save power. . .’ Jane is not always a terribly likeable character but she does have many good points and I found myself sympathising with her because she wanted to make more of her life in an era when it was very difficult for a young woman to get anything like a well-paid job.Jane James knows that she must have been born to better things than a dingy bedroom in her Aunt Doreen's house in Norbury and evenings spent eating gala pie and Heinz tinned potato salad in their 'sitting-cum-dining room'. So, armed with her well-thumbed copy of Lady Be Good, she practises her French turns, her killer smile and precisely how much thigh to show when crossing her legs, and dreams of a time when she can be a part of the world she glimpses through the Mayfair windows of the cashmere shop where she works. Blurb - Jane James knows that she must have been born to better things than a dingy bedroom in her Aunt Doreen's house in Norbury and evenings spent eating gala pie and Heinz tinned potato salad in their 'sitting-cum-dining room'. So, armed with her well-thumbed copy of Lady Be Good, she practises her French turns, her killer smile and precisely how much thigh to show when crossing her legs, and dreams of a time when she can be a part of the world she glimpses through the Mayfair windows of the cashmere shop where she works. When she finds a crocodile handbag left in a pub, it leads her to Suzy St John, a girl-about-town with the glamour, the confidence and the irresistible allure that Jane has been practising for so long. Suzy takes Jane under her wing, and Jane becomes Janey, a near carbon-copy of her new best friend and a delighted adventurer in an easy, sleazy, sixties West-End world of part-time modelling and full-time man-trapping. To audiences the club was sold as a product of the women’s liberation movement. Women who worked all week could now follow the example of the men and go out in groups to have a good time, no harm done.

A Vision of Loveliness takes place in 1960’s London and follows a social climbing Jane James as she gets her first foot hole into the life she so desperately wants through Suzie, a young girl about time whom she looks strikingly similar to. Jane, now Janey, has been practicing for this life, knows what she wants and is unapologetic in getting it.I raced through A Vision of Loveliness, taking great delight in its sharply resurrected period detail... It's a delight - funny, sad and clever' Barbara Trapido Directed by Alice Johannessen, the ghosts of Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies inevitably haunt proceedings, but this is a story with a style and substance all of its own. So good, reader, I bought the book. Levene’s prose is so fresh, so enjoyable that you can’t help reading snippets out loud' Daily Telegraph These tiny details of personal grooming might appear mere trifles when taken one by one. But add them together and they can make the difference between rich and poor, married of single, happy ever after and a miserable broken home.