Amgela Tomaski’s debut The Infamous Gilberts is a kind of dark Downton Abbey. The story of a wealthy British wealthy as it fades away through the twentieth century. Tomaski uses more than a little bit of gothic styling to deliver her tale as a kind of tourist’s view of the grand but crumbling house and the sordid, difficult histories of its residents.
The Infamous Gilberts opens as a tour of Thornwalk, ancestral home of the Gilbert family, now sold to a luxury hotel chain which has plans to convert it. The narrative is by a character called “Maximus”. As the tour goes on, Maximus points out various rooms, features and objects that will play a part in the story of the five Gilbert children – Hugo, Lydia, Annabel, Jeremy and Rosalind – and their mother. Their story will start quite innocently but very quickly descend into mental illness, forced marriages, violence and exploitation.
The Infamous Gilberts starts promisingly. Tomaski gives a real sense of the crumbling grandeur of Thornwalk and the way in which Mrs Gilbert is trying to hold on to the traditions and class distinctions of the past. But before long the story starts to become depressing. Most of the characters are either mentally ill (Rosalind and Hugo), grasping (Lydia) or damaged (Annabel). Jeremy is the only one who seems to come out positively and that’s because he essentially runs away from home. Even the narrator is not really sure why they are dubbed the “infamous” Gilberts by the press as most of the issues that readers learn about are internal. The “sad Gilberts” or “the decline of the Gilberts” might have been more apt title but probably would not sell as well.
The narrative style itself eventually becomes tiresome – constantly directing readers to look at this particular room or feature and either be told a tale about it or be directed to remember it for later as it will be important. Probably the most egregious of these is when we are told to notice a particular knife and then are told that it is not the knife that was used in a particular tale, just a knife that happens to be like it. And then there is the issue of the whole tale being told in a fairly chronological order except for one specific aspect that the narrator turns away from and then keeps the details as a kind of cliffhanger.
The narrator, Maximus, claims to be a good friend of Hugo Gilbert but rarely, if ever actually features in his own recount of Hugo’s life. So that he feels like a cipher or a plot device to enable the story to be told rather than as someone who would have access to all of the detail that he claims to have.
The Infamous Gilberts is part of a British literary tradition that chronicles the fading of the aristocracy. Tomaski uses a unique and engaging narrative hook and a cast of diverse characters to get readers invested in the story. But unfortunately this approach palls after a while, as will reader interest in this group of entitled, coddled, deluded and often mentally ill cast of characters.
The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski
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