[.ca] The Night Climbers: A Novel (ISBN 1416948694)

There's two sets of rules, the ones you follow and the ones you make...:
This elegantly written novel is all about the tragic sacrifice of devotion and the ensuring complications of a friendship that sets in motion of a series of events which finally roll to a halt a decade later in the snowy streets of suburban London and Cambridge. Central to the story is that of the wealthy lawyer James Walker and his reflections of his life at the prestigious Oxbridge college in Cambridge. Raised in the school of hard knocks and coming from a rather poor social vantage point, James is a trifle awed at having the opportunity to attend such a prestigious school. Cut off almost completely from his peers and not really knowing whom to approach, James welcomes the arrival of Michael Findlay, who erupts into his life along with his group of glamorous, rich friends called the Tudor Night Climbers, who get their kicks out of climbing onto rooftops and leading a pleasure-seeking lifestyle. The head of the group is the seductive and hedonistic Francis Manley who entices the impressionable James with his tales of his life in Zimbabwe and his aristocratic pretensions, particularly that of his father Lord Soulford who is currently trying for nomination as the local Conservative candidate. Soon enough, life for James has taken on the seductive glow of possibility and the promise of fulfillment, with Francis his only link to the shadowy and glamorous world of fox hunting afternoons, clandestine boxing matches, and drug-fuelled parties. To James, Francis is "a fighter," the embodiment of all that James wishes he could be, and someone who has been raised all his life in the midst of a fortune the likes of which James had only encountered in books and glossy magazines. As his friendship with Francis develops, James becomes ever more carried away with the joy of total superiority, while also falling under the spell of the beautiful Jessica Katz who becomes his partner in crime and also a type of co-protector for the reckless Francis. As James falls under this group's spell, the spires and turrets of Oxbridge College provide a glamorous backdrop to all of the unfolding events. It is here on the roof of Tudor Court, with Cambridge bathed in a watery winter sunshine and everything appearing in extraordinary detail, that James sees Francis for who he really is: a conflicted young man who makes you want to suspend disbelief so you can drink more of his magic while also fooling you with his financial and romantic intrigues. Francis earns most of his money from his fighting, but he spends it and he's always in trouble with the bookies, and a whole host of creditors. With his father threatening to cut off his inheritance, and rather than drag his friends through the depression and despair of having no more money, Francis hatches a scheme to forge a Picasso currently owned by Oxbridge College. James, Jessica, and Lisa, the fourth member of the group, conspire to help their hero pursue his outlandish scheme, even as they risk becoming embroiled in theft, tax evasion, and the inevitable intimations of blackmail. As James looks back on all of these events, he releases both memory and a longing to probe once more into the volatile passions that once surged beneath Francis's façade. When Francis's true nature begins to protrude, a hard seam of self-destruction starts to assert itself that endures long after the excitement and zest through which it had run has worn away. Author Ivo Stourton writes passionately about the bonds of friendship and the price of being misunderstood. Much of Francis's later life is shaped by the vulnerable impressions that he once formed of his best friend, and in the end even Jessica realizes that she's invested too much of herself in the risky enterprise of Francis. Both are more than willing to hold up a spiritual candle and a type of allegorical shrine to Francis's long-suffering existence. Obviously your enjoyment of this novel will depend on how interested you are in experiencing the trials a group of the risk-dependent college kids and the feelings of a vulnerable young man who tries to live vicariously through them even when he's in danger of collapsing into a quagmire of moral certainty. Although Stourton's characters are mostly self-absorbed and habitually unsympathetic, and not that particularly likable, there's still much entertainment to be had in the author's inventive storyline and also his willingness to portray the seamier and more decadent side of upper-class college life. Mike Leonard October 07.