Speak to Me, the second novel from British author and Guardian journalist Paula Cocozza, is presented as a love triangle for the digital age. Susan, a 50-year-old librarian who is the first-person narrator, offers an explanation of her marriage to Kurt: “We have a modern version of a long-distance relationship. We share a house, but live in different historical eras.”
It is not another woman who Susan competes with for her husband’s attention, but rather his phone, a device that she has christened Wendy. She slowly discovers it may be “easier and more practicable to separate from a partner than it is to separate a partner from a telephone”. This is a sobering revelation that will make for uncomfortable reading for many inflicted with a similar addiction to Kurt’s.
Not only does Susan’s husband appear lost to her, she is also grieving the loss of an old chest full of love letters from her youth. She is obsessed with finding this portal to her past self as she desperately needs to reconnect with before times in order to move forward.
Susan tries to unravel the tangled narrative of her life by writing it all down for the reader. The character is creative, wry and articulate with a unique capacity for an interesting turn of phrase (which is to say, Cocozza herself is all of these things). It is this capacity for exquisite self-expression that elevates the prose, from what in another’s hands could be streams of consciousness in a journal, to truly great literature.
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Occasionally, however, Susan’s scattered thinking makes the jumps in space and time difficult to follow. In the earlier part of the novel, there is also a tendency towards repetition of thought and feeling but, just as impatience is creeping in, Cocozza seizes control and Susan surprises. It is worth persevering through any initial hesitation as the novel comes together so satisfyingly by its conclusion that there is deep pleasure in its resolution.
Ultimately this novel is a spirited and thoughtful meditation on loss and hope. In a world where we fixate on the cult of youth, this “coming-of-middle-age story” is refreshing and provocative. Cocozza has a rare talent for writing about nostalgia for our past selves without slipping into mawkish sentimentality. Susan believes “loss becomes finite only when you give up hope”. This wonder of hope infuses the text in a way that is transcendent. A remarkable novel with quiet power, this work will resonate profoundly with many readers – and maybe even speak to them.
