We walked on.
I was thinking about everything that had happened, my head spinning like a sixpence: all the stuff that Doctor Todd had said about me and Alice; and then when I’d gone to Kirrins’. And after that when I’d got to the school assembly and everybody was shouting at me. And Anna-Marie in the car park. And me running after her. It was like everything had happened at once. And then we’d started walking the lane: Anna-Marie, Tommie and I, just like we’d always—
‘I wonder what’s going to be at the end,’ said Tommie.
I shrugged. I didn’t know.
‘I think it’s probably going to just turn into this big road or maybe even a motorway. It might be like the motorway that my dad and I go on when he takes me to London. Sometimes we stop at the big service stations and have fish and chips or sausages or something.’
Well, I didn’t really know but I could imagine my disappointment if he turned out to be right.
‘It’s the only thing that makes sense,’ he continued. ‘People don’t just build lanes for no reason—I mean, any kind of road—all roads go somewhere. Nobody would build a road for no reason. What would be the point? Why would anyone do that?’
I didn’t know that either but it sounded like the kind of thing that Mrs Carpenter would say. ‘Maybe there isn’t any point,’ I protested. ‘Maybe there doesn’t have to be one. Maybe the lane just comes to an end because whoever built the lane in the first place just stopped because they couldn’t decide where the lane should go.’
As we walked I began to wonder what other feet had passed this way before us; what wheels had gouged deep ruts in the wet mud; what hooves had clattered upon the dry, baked earth. It was easy to imagine the shadows of the past sprung suddenly to—
‘But that would be stupid,’ said Tommie. ‘Who would start building a road without knowing where it was going?’
I thought about the roaring motors, bright lights and pumping fumes: Tommie’s motorway. I didn’t like the idea at all. ‘Maybe it’s just a normal road, then, with a few cars and bicycles,’ I said.
Tommie grunted. ‘Maybe, but I bet that ends up being a motorway.’
He was right of course. I know Kat had said that there was real magic but could that really be true of a road, no matter what its name was? Suddenly I wasn’t so sure.
Once—it seemed such a long time ago—we’d wondered whether Everlasting Lane might be true. And then we seemed to have grown up so much that we thought its name could only be pretend. But then I’d thought, what if, after all, it was true? What if there wasn’t an end? What if, maybe, it wasn’t like a story with a happy ending all tied up in bows? Maybe Everlasting Lane was more like that programme Coronation Street, just endlessly unwinding and never reaching an end and never meaning anything; I mean anything that mattered. And, anyway, which would be worse: getting to the end or never getting to the end. I didn’t even know.
But I was going to find out.
‘Bill and Ben the flower-pot idiots,’ said Anna-Marie. ‘Flob-a-lob. Honestly, you two give short planks a bad name.’ Tommie and I each caught the other’s eye and blushed as if we’d been caught telling lies in class. ‘It’s typical,’ she went on just like she was a teacher or something. ‘You’ve been walking along, wittering on about what you’re going to find at the end and you haven’t even noticed what’s going on around you now.’
‘What?’ twitched Tommie his head switching from side to side. ‘What’s going on?’
Anna-Marie shook her head in despair. The fairy was hung from Tommie’s chain wrapped two or three times around her gentle throat. ‘Come on,’ said Anna-Marie, ‘and, this time, at least try and pay attention.’
We walked on.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my love and gratitude to the following in the hope and expectation that they will know why:
Dennis, Valerie and all at Melville House.
Eloise, Sam and all at Galley Beggar Press (UK). And Henry.
The ladies at EDGE: Ruth, Kathryn, Nikki, Bev and Rachel.
Keith, Paul and Tim.
The siblings: Iain, Harry, Paula and Brian.
Caren.
My boys: George, Charlie and Harry.
My patient and ever-loving wife, Kate.
And Carole and Wynne: Mum and Dad.
Four Questions
for Andrew Lovett
How did you come about writing Everlasting Lane?
The original inspiration was my relationship with my mother. It broke down when I was in my twenties and I needed to try and make sense of what had happened. I was also moved by the story of a little girl in the school where I was working with whom other parents wouldn’t let their children play – she was the inspiration for the character of Anna-Marie. The title itself came from a residential road in the town where I lived. “Everlasting Lane” sounded so fantastical I couldn’t resist pinching it.
Would you tell us a little about what it’s like to write a child protagonist?
Childhood innocence is such an extraordinarily precious state, but, as Anna-Marie suggests, trying to capture it successfully on the page is like the difference between a picture of a tiger and the tiger itself.
I’m not sure I see Peter as being so very different from the average adult (by which, I suppose, I mean me). We all like to think we understand the world better than we do when in fact we’re neither less confused nor less desperate for guidance than the average child.
Or is that just me?
What was the most challenging part of writing this book?
Digging deeply into childhood memories was a mixed blessing: sometimes beautiful, sometimes traumatic; always emotional.
The weaving of many disparate memories into a coherent whole drove me to distraction, but the fact that much of the book was written in the early kid-free hours or late at night probably didn’t do much to help my mental state.
Writing the book was a doddle, however, compared to endlessly rewriting and editing it.
Who are the writers who inspire you?
My first literary hero and biggest inspiration was J. D. Salinger, the writer who made me want to be a writer. Others who influenced Everlasting Lane in some way were James Joyce and Christopher Isherwood. I like Orwell, Austen, Steinbeck and Updike. Paul Simon is a great short story writer who, unfortunately, has never written prose. A contemporary inspiration is Aimee Bender.
Reading Group Guide
1. In the beginning of the novel, Doctor Todd gives Peter a watch as a present, to help Peter organize himself. After receiving the watch, Peter destroys it. What might Peter’s destroying the watch signify? Is this action a reflection of his feelings towards Doctor Todd? Is it something more complicated?
2. Peter’s mother suggests she and Peter play a game in which Peter pretends she is not actually his mother, but his Aunt Kat. She insists he call her “Kat” for the rest of the novel. What might her reasoning be behind this? Do you think it’s directly related to Alice? Why, or why not?
3. How do you feel that Peter calling his mother “Kat” instead of “Mummy,” or “Mother,” changes their relationship? Is it for the better or for the worse?
4. This is not the only time games are played in order to mask something more serious. Can you think of any other noteworthy examples in the novel when games are played? And why are games used in this manner?
5. What does Peter learn about the consequences of actions? The notion is first brought up by Anna-Marie in reference to a game. Are consequences a game to Peter? Give a few examples of where such consequences play a significant role in the text.
6. In a general sense, what does Peter learn from the Scarecrow Man? Think about their first few encounters.
7. When Mr Merridew says there is “no difference” between a good man and a bad man, what is he alluding to? What does Peter learn from this conversation?
8. Memory plays an important role in this narrative. What were the most pivotal moments in this
story, where memory changes your understanding of events, or the characters’? See, for example, this page, this page and this page.
9. Why do you think Peter’s memory is so hazy and uncertain? Is it because of something significant that happened to him, or is he simply forgetful?
10. On this page, Anna-Marie tells Peter that his “grip on reality seems so … tenuous.” Do you agree? Why, or why not?
11. The setting of Everlasting Lane is at once new and familiar to Peter. How is the setting a largely important aspect of this story? How does it feed Peter’s unique imagination?
12. Peter’s father is explored significantly in the novel’s very beginning, as well as its end. How do you read this relationship? How is it an important relationship in the story?
13. Throughout the novel, there are moments when Peter is baffled by the adults around him. Sometimes their advice to him is contradictory. What lessons do you think Peter learns from these interactions? To trust grown-ups, or to trust only himself?
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