The Pollard family takes the motto, “Keep Calm and Carry On,” to the extremes in Adrienne Fox’s modern comedy of manners, Tit for Tat. Fox takes what could be a melodramatic, midlife drama and lightens it up by poking affectionate fun at its players, and society at large.
We meet British couple Geoff and Eleanor Pollard at a crucial junction in their tired marriage: Eleanor discovers that Geoff, a teacher at a posh secondary school, has been having a steamy tryst with a much younger former student. The histrionic Eleanor is devastated, or she will be, as soon as she finishes her shopping spree — and after she allows Geoff to accompany her and their teenage children on their planned summer holiday in France (after all, who else will pitch the tents?).
So it is that the whole Pollard gang packs up for the road and tries to act as though nothing at all has gone wrong. The indiscretions don’t stop—Eleanor must have her turn as well—but Fox concentrates at least as much on the mannerisms the Pollards put on to hide their troubles as to the troubles themselves. Fox keeps the conversations lively as the Pollards try to maintain appearances with a parade of eccentric characters. It’s entertaining, for example, to see how Geoff and Eleanor delicately handle a man who claims great wealth but only knows one adjective, an expletive, which he employs quite frequently, or how they first disregard a man whose dialect marks him as lower class, but who is, in fact, a fabulously successful businessman.
Fox plays with the difference between appearance and reality throughout the book, and this theme comes across perhaps more strongly than the actual story of the Pollard’s marriage, which can get forgotten amidst the diverting details. Still, Tit for Tat is an entertaining read, and will especially appeal to fans of British comedy.
Also available in hardcover and ebook.
