Mr Rosenblum's List

Synopsis: List item 2: Never speak German on the upper decks of London buses. Jack Rosenblum is five foot three and a half inches of sheer tenacity. He's writing a list so he can become a Very English Gentleman. List item 41: An Englishman buys his marmalade from Fortnum and Mason. It's 1952, and despite his best efforts, his bid to blend in is fraught with unexpected hurdles - including his wife. Sadie doesn't want to forget where they came from or the family they've lost. And she shows no interest in getting a purple rinse. List item 112: An Englishman keeps his head in a crisis, even when he's risking everything. Jack leads a reluctant Sadie deep into the English countryside in pursuit of a dream. Here, in a land of woolly pigs, bluebells and jitterbug cider, they embark on an impossible task.

Review: A very enjoyable read and a great mixture of comedy and tragedy. I really, really took to Jack Rosenblum, he infuriated the life out of me and I couldn't believe what he was willing to risk in order to become the perfect (in his eyes) English gentleman but he was so well intentioned and naive that I couldn't dislike him. Likewise poor Sadie who never quite settles in her adopted home and misses her family terribly to the point of seeing visions and trying to re-create the scents of her mothers kitchen by marathon baking.

They're both at times extremely irritating, Jack is stubborn and obssessive and Sadie is resentful and unsupportive but there's something undeniably likeable about the pair of them. Jack is determined to become a very English Gentleman, he's written a list on the subject, and so far he's done well. He has set up his own very successful carpet business, he reads The Times, buys his suits from Savile Row and knows how to adjust his hat to the correct angle. The one thing he hasn't yet managed to do is become a member of an English golf course, however much money he makes, or whoever nominates him, his requests are always refused.

Daunted but undeterred Jack decides that he will build his own golf course in the grounds of his new house in Dorsetshire and have a grand opening on Coronation Day. Sadie finds that this new home deep in the countryside reminds her even more of her native Germany and she begins making a list of her own, a list of things she must remember in order to keep the past alive.

I loved the description of the Baumtorte which is a sort of remembrance cake, made by ladling the batter into the tin one layer at a time and grilling it before adding the next layer so that your finished cake resembles the rings of a tree, each layer representing the memory of a loved one or special occasion. Sadie makes a spectacular version of this, several feet high, in order to remember her loved ones but all this reminiscing is making her sadder and more isolated. Jack is so obsessed by his golf course that he doesn't notice just how lonely Sadie has become. He has worries of his own, for one thing getting the golf course ready in time (he has no experience, he's never even played golf and the terrain is all wrong.)

I loved his unpretentious newsy letters to American golfing legend Bobby Jones who designed the course at Augusta, despite never hearing back from him he writes weekly telling him about his progress or lack of it, and all in the wild hope that Bobby will impart some of his knowledge and perhaps even be there for the opening. It's a story where you long for a happy outcome. A gentle read, both funny and sad. If you enjoyed 'The Guersey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society' then you'll enjoy this.