Blurb
A listless aristocrat, Lord Jones, finds himself in London during the Blitz, attending to insurance matters. A zebra and her foal, having escaped from the London Zoo during a bombing, cross his path, and he decides to take them back to his estate in Pembrokeshire. Little loved by his fascist-sympathiser parents, something in Lord Jones softens, and he realises he is lost, just like these zebras.
The arrival of the zebras sparks a new lease of life on the Pembrokeshire estate, and it is not only Lord Jones but the families his dynasty has displaced that benefit from the transformation. Full of heart and mischief, The Zebra and Lord Jones is a hopeful exploration of class, wealth and privilege, grief, colonialism, the landscape, the wars that men make, the families we find for ourselves, and why one lonely man stole a zebra in September 1940 – or perhaps why she stole him.
Review
I’m a big fan of Anna Vaught’s writing, and I’ve reviewed her novel Saving Lucia and two short story collections, Famished and Ravished on the blog in previous years. I was thrilled to be invited to take part in the blog tour for her latest novel, The Zebra and Lord Jones, which is being published with one of my favourite indie publishers, Renard Press.
While I relish the darkness of Anna Vaught’s short fiction, what I loved about Saving Lucia was the thread of joy and generosity running through it. That same energy seems to flow through the veins of her new novel – there is a lightness, a kindness, a delight in language and a sense of mischief that makes the book a pleasure to read.. The subject matter is not light – we have war and death and trauma here, and there is a depth and a breadth of references that feels encyclopaedic – I love the footnotes and the end matter, as well as the way the whole text is steeped in natural history and some of the most thorough zebra-research you’re likely to come across! But despite the backdrop of war, and the reminders of the awful things people do to each other and to the natural world, the overwhelming feeling is of a beautifully choreographed spectacle, a cast of delightfully eccentric characters lovingly assembled for our enjoyment.
The characters really are the stars of the show in this book, from Lord Jones and his gradual transformation to the fiercely blazing Anwen, guest appearances from figures such as Haile Selassie, characters that will capture your heart like Ernest the evacuee and Talbot the dedicated zookeeper, and of course, Mother and Sweetie, our striped equids, who bring the whole story together. But there is another character, and it’s one that is something of a stylistic trait of this author’s writing – the narrator of the story takes an active role on almost every page. We see the strings being pulled, the material being shaped, the careful weighing up of what to include and when, and it is this, I think, that gives the writing its classical feel. There is something about the confidence it displays in the power of storytelling that makes you feel as if you’re being grabbed by the hand and led on a huge adventure. It is a voice at once wise and childlike in its sense of wonder, and there is a lovely kind of breathlessness to the excitement at each new tidbit of information, each historical anecdote, each tasty morsal offered up for the reader to savour. The glee the narrator takes in knowledge, I think that’s what really struck me with this book, as it’s such a wonderful gift to be curious, and we often forget to be.
There are so many delights woven into this rich narrative – I love the ‘blasted owl’ and the vindictive ghosts, and the playful way the zebras communicate with the humans. I’m not sure I could give you a very precise summary of the plot, because I don’t think the plot is the thing here, so if you’re a stickler for a neat story this may not be your bag. But if you like literary fiction that’s going to both tease and comfort you, that’s going to offer an almost maternal reassurance that there is beauty and goodness and humour left in the world, and that, above all, is going to gently urge you to be constantly, delightfully curious, then you’ll find much to enjoy in The Zebra and Lord Jones.
About the Author
Anna Vaught is an English teacher, Creative Writing teacher, mentor, editor and author of several books, including Saving Lucia, Famished, Ravished and These Envoys of Beauty. Her short creative works and features have been widely published, and she has written for the national press and has had a column with The Bookseller and Mslexia. In 2022 Anna launched The Curae, a new literary prize for carers. Anna is also a guest university lecturer, a tutor for Jericho Writers, and volunteers with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. She is the mother of three sons, comes from a large Welsh family and lives in Wiltshire. The Zebra and Lord Jones is her third novel and seventh book.
The Zebra and Lord Jones by Anna Vaught is published by Renard Press and is available to pre-order here.
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