Gold

June 18, 2007
This tenderly funny tale from British author Rhodes (Don’t Tell Me the Truth About Love
) traces the sweetly unsentimental course of Miyuke Woodward’s annual holiday at a rustic Welsh coastal cottage. Miyuke and lover Grindl (known as “the Lesbians” in the small town where they have a decorating business) spend a month apart on separate, two-week vacations each year. This year, vacationing Miyuke spends her days as always, indulging in junk food and beer at the local pub, reading a book a day and walking across fields and along the seaside cliffs, until she discovers a rock that glows golden in the afternoon sunlight. Impulsively, she decides to paint it gold, only to be seen doing so by a pub regular, tall Mr. Hughes, who subsequently disappears from his usual spot at the bar. Confronted by two other pub regulars, short Mr. Hughes and Mr. Puw, Miyuke tells of the rock, and the three set off to find their compatriot. Rhodes’s tale features lovely touches (such as the Children from Previous Relationships, a local band that’s never played in public), and effortlessly ends an immaculately crafted story of minor perturbations and their unpredictable outcomes.