"The Balcony," by Jane Delury

The inside cover teaser prose about “The Balcony” (Little, Brown, 2018), a book of connected short stories by Jane Delury in her debut book, promises revelations set in “a French village,” which attracted my attention. Like so many of us, I easily fall for the fantasy of a lovely, blissful life in a gorgeous house in a beautiful setting in the countryside of France (but near a charming village with nice cafes, outdoor markets, and wineries). The author immediately, in the first story, breaks that bubble and tells us that the village of Benneville is – despite what readers, and the character visiting from the United States, might think – NOT the vision we have of a “village of church bells and cobblestone streets.” Instead, it is “an industrial wash of smokestacks and faceless apartment buildings that ringed a center of ratty stucco storefronts.” However, the stories are actually set in a “manor” and accompanying “cottage” a five-minute drive from the village, nestled in a sort of forest. The stories range throughout the years that the estate has been there, from the late 1800s to the present. Although each story is a stand-alone, there are mentions of characters and scenes from other stories in each as well, although not at all in chronological order, and readers can start to discern the history of the place over the years. Although the place is in some ways idyllic, many of the stories deal with pain, discomfort, self-questioning, alienation, wartime suffering, and other difficult situations and emotions. Children feel lonely, couples are unhappy together, people have affairs, people suffer from political and economic events in the larger world, some experience mental illness, others realize the sting of prejudices. Some love the estate as it is, and some are constantly changing or “improving” it. Delury is particularly good at drawing child characters, as well as at portraying the varieties of women’s dissatisfactions. There are some characters from the United States, and some experience the conflicted feelings of those who belong partly in two or more places and partly nowhere at all. But there is also love, loyalty, decency on the part of many characters. Human nature in all its variety is on display. Delury’s stories are well written, and each one has a “bite” or “charge” of some sort.