Idle Grounds, Krystelle Bamford
Nowadays, the thought of a group of ten children setting off by themselves to look for their missing cousin is something that would fill many of us with dread. Yet when I grew up in the late 70s, disappearing with a group of friends until lunchtime and out again until teatime was just how it was, which was why I was intrigued by Idle Grounds by Krystelle Bamford.
Set in New England in 1989, the action takes place over one day. A family has gathered together at their Aunt Frankie’s house to celebrate a birthday, and also to remember Beezy, the overbearing matriarch of the family who Frankie looked after until her death. As you would expect, when a family comes together there are tensions and shared experiences, but there is also a feeling from the start that this family has borne witness to things they perhaps shouldn’t have.
Distracted by their own emotions and their need to make sure their voices are heard, none of the adults notice that the children slip away when they realise the youngest cousin Abi has disappeared from their group. There is something about the writing that adds a layer of intrigue and tension to their expedition. The narrator is an adult, but was one of the children in the group, and as the day unfolds, we follow them through the grounds of their aunt’s home as they search for Abi. What makes this novel feel almost otherworldly is the way in which we see the mundane world through the children’s eyes - they are already anxious as they know what trouble they will be in if Abi is lost yet are compelled to keep moving forward. It seems that something is with them in the forest, which adds a sense of foreboding, coupled with our knowledge of how the eldest, Travis, has behaved in the past towards his sister Abi.
Idle Grounds is a difficult novel to categorise, but that is what makes it so enjoyable. The prose is thoughtful and languid at times, and there is almost a feeling that the children are dislocated from the real world. What becomes evident is that the rules they have followed as decreed by the adults become redundant in an environment where they are completely alone. It’s unsettling, primal and visceral, but is layered with a sense of nostalgia for a time when children had the space to explore their world unencumbered by adults.
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