Sweet Tooth [Hardcover]

I wasn't convinced by McEwan's attempt at humour in Solar and this is very much a return to what I think he is good at. The story of Serena Frome (rhymes with plume!) and narrated by her, it tells of her progression from studying maths at Cambridge (whilst nurturing her real passion for literature) to her recruitment by MI5 in the early 70s. MI5 at that time is very much a male-dominated organisation and the women recruited are given mostly admin tasks. Serena has left a relationship with an older married man at Cambridge (who groomed her for MI5) and is attracted to Max, a senior colleague at work. But her life changes when she is given a real assignment - managing a young author, Tom Haley, who MI5 believe to have the right (sic) tendencies to write the type of thing they like i.e. anti-communist essays and novels. Serena persuades Tom to accept funding (with its real source hidden) to support his work, but things are (somewhat predictably) complicated as she is immediately attracted to him and vice versa. From then it's only a matter of time before things start to unravel and although the novel is not exciting as such, the prose is extremely taut and is fairly un-putdownable.

I was concerned early on in the book that there was a lot of writing about writing going on, something I detest. And there are a lot of references to books and authors - there is even a very famous author who has a part in the book, although we never "see" him directly. But eventually I was won over by how McEwan meshes the plot, discussions about literature and even some short stories (including one about the Monty Hall problem (worth googling) and how it might - and might not - be the source of a short story about infidelity. The sense of the early 70s is well done and it there are fairly obvious points made about global financial crises then and now, although done implicitly and handled well. I couldn't spot many anachronisms and even if I could these could be explained away by the fact that Serena is narrating this from the present day.

I was a bit concerned about whether the author's voice was convincing as a woman in her sixties remembering her life in her late teens and early twenties and I have to say that I am sure this book will be up for a Bad Sex Award next time they are on. But it's certainly a page-turner and the final quarter of the book is extremely well handled and manages to throw in a twist or two. I don't think this is as good as, for example, The Innocent or The Child In Time (my favourite McEwan book) and it doesn't have the ability to shock like his early works (e.g. The Cement Garden) but it's very well done and certainly worth a read.

It is the early seventies, and Serena Frome, the very attractive daughter of an Anglican bishop, is working towards a degree in mathematics at Cambridge, after being coerced into studying maths by her quietly ambitious mother, instead of studying English as she would have preferred. Serena, who has always been a compulsive and voracious reader, finds herself struggling with the standard of maths expected of her at Cambridge and looks elsewhere for her enjoyment, burying herself in her books and looking for romance. In her final year, she meets Tony Canning, her boyfriend's tutor, a much older, married man and they enter into a short, but passionate affair, part of which involves Tony grooming Serena for the intelligence service.

Serena manages to get through the screening process for the British Intelligence Service and starts working for MI5 in a very junior position; however she is keen to improve her prospects and when, through her knowledge of literature, she is assigned to an operation called 'Sweet Tooth' she is eager to prove her worth. Serena learns that MI5 have set up a cultural foundation to secretly support writers who speak out against communism and she is to act as a representative of the foundation. In her pose, Serena is to encourage a young writer, Tom Haley, to leave his post in academia and be supported by the foundation to enable him to write full time, but he must remain unaware that the funding is coming from MI5. Serena is initially successful in her mission, but when she becomes intellectually, physically and then emotionally involved with Haley, she finds leading a double life is much more difficult and less exciting than she had imagined and she also discovers that this is where the lines between truth and fiction become blurred. And this is true not just for Serena, but for the reader also.

This story is not so much about spying, but about deception, duplicity and the manipulation of truth. And, not least, it is about the power of literature. Peppered with references to life in the early 1970s, with terrorist threats, strikes, power cuts, three day weeks, mini skirts and sexual freedom, this cleverly written, multi-layered novel is full of stories within stories which will set you thinking, especially when you get to the twist at the end, where you might just feel like turning back to the first page and starting again.

4 Stars.

Sweet Tooth is the story of Serena Frome, a young lady living in 1970s Britain, who after a sheltered upbringing as the daughter of a Bishop, embarks on a Maths degree at Cambridge, where becoming involved in a short lived affair with one of the college tutors, is groomed by him to enter a career in MI5 . Serena is low in the ranks, however, and her life fairly mundane both in and outside of the office; that is until being an avid reader of fiction, she is assigned to a secret project, code name Sweet Tooth. M15 wishes to counter Communist propaganda by offering financial assistance to up and coming young writers who display in their work an anti-Communist slant, albeit of course covertly. Serena is to handle a promising young writer of short stories, Tom Haley. Matters get complicated, however, when Serena finds herself becoming romantically embroiled with Haley. How long can she keep up the double life, how thin is the line between truth and fiction, and in this murky world of intelligence, does Serena really know who she can trust?

This makes for an absorbing and intelligent read, with an abundance of ideas thrown at the reader, yet all elegantly and quite superbly crafted together. McEwan recreates the atmosphere of the early seventies exceedingly well, with its strikes, energy crises, political unrest, threat of terrorism and air of impending emergency. The shadowy corridors of MI5, the office politics and bureaucracy are also well described; and there is an undercurrent of tension, of not knowing who to trust that lurks throughout the novel.

However, Sweet Tooth is not the typical espionage story; if anything it is more to do with the process and culture of writing. There are stories within stories, as many of Tom Haley's fictional works are incorporated into the writing; both enjoyable in their own right, and raising questions of what motivates a writer's ideas, how much you can glean of an author from their work, and also what the reader expects or hopes for.

The writing itself is a joy to read, the central characters well created, and it is clear the author is having fun in telling the story, which has a dry sense of humour throughout. The twist at the end was absolutely fantastic, and throws a whole new light on the entire story; to the point where I was compelled to go back to the beginning and read it again, knowing what I now knew. Yet I didn't feel cheated as can sometimes be the case with suprise endings; rather it felt right, the entire novel making more sense in view of it.

Overall this is a very clever story, with interesting central ideas and themes that are well explored, characters you feel invested in, and a central romance that is involving. Well worth a read, and then a re-read!