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Overview
Nine-year-old Lawrence is the man in his family. He carefully watches over his willful little sister, Jemima, and his mother, Hannah. When Hannah becomes convinced that their estranged father is stalking them, the family flees London and heads for Rome, where Hannah lived happily as a young woman. For Lawrence, fascinated by stories of popes and emperors, Rome is an adventure. Though they are short of money, and move from home to home, staying with his mother’s old friends, little by little their new life seems to be taking shape. But the trouble that brought them to Italy will not quite leave them in peace.Narrated in Lawrence’s perfectly rendered voice, When We Were Romans powerfully evokes the emotions and confusions of childhood—the triumphs, the jealousies, the fears, and the love. Even as everything he understands is turned upside down, Lawrence remains determined to keep his family together, viewing the world from a perspective that is at once endearingly innocent and preternaturally wise.
Synopsis
When We Were Romans is a haunting psychological novel and another masterful work from the author of the prize–winning English Passengers.Nine-year-old Lawrence is the man of his family. He watches over his mother and his willful little sister Jemima. He is the one who keeps order, especially when his mother decides they must leave their life in England behind because of threats from Lawrence's father. But their new life in Rome does not go as planned. Short of money and living off of his mother's old friends—all who seem to doubt her story—Lawrence soon realizes that things are not what they seem.
The Barnes & Noble Review
When We Were Romans by Matthew Kneale is narrated by a precocious nine-year-old boy, Lawrence, and is reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, another adventure story in which adult situations are filtered through the eyes of a child. Unlike the autistic Christopher in Mark Haddon's 2003 novel, Lawrence is not disabled; rather, he's preternaturally mature. When his erratic mother, Hannah, takes him and his three-year-old sister, Jemima, on an adventure from London to Rome, where they hope to escape the murky menace of the children's father, Lawrence is the steadying hand. "Mum is really clever, she can always help me with my home work, she makes funny jokes, she knows just what everybodies thinking, even strangers shes never met before, but sometimes its like she just gets stuck and doesn't know what to do next, so I have to help her and give her a little push." The story is replete with Lawrence's spelling and grammatical mistakes, but that's part of its charm. The boy reads history books about popes and emperors (he especially enjoys the stories of Nero and Caligula), and it's soon apparent that Lawrence is drawing parallels between these mentally unhinged leaders and some of the people in his own life. In Rome, his mother relies on old friends for places to stay and possible work. But these friends, whom she met as a student, were friends with her ex-husband as well, so she's not sure whom to trust -- and neither is Lawrence. --Cameron Martin
Editorials
Donna Rifkind
Matthew Kneale is an extraordinary British writer whose new novel is easy to admire because of its artistry, but difficult to read because of its painful subject.—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
Kneale, who won the Whitbread for English Passengers(2000), returns with a tale narrated by fiery, precocious, pitch-perfect Lawrence, who at nine years old struggles with being at once a normal kid and, with his parents' estrangement, the man of the house. Living with his baby sister Jemima, and his mother, Hannah, in a cottage by a wood, Lawrence and Co. are menaced by their father, "Mikie," who seems to come down from Scotland at will to stalk them. At her wits end, Hannah packs the family into the car and heads (through the Channel Tunnel) for Rome, where she had lived in early adulthood and where, it soon becomes clear, she still has a lot of friends. Bewildered but brave Lawrence wonderfully describes the people they encounter: as he attempts to figure out who is an "enimy" and who a friend, he muses on deep space and gladiatorial Roman history ("Nero was so pleased, he thought 'hurrah, I really am a good singer' "). As small incongruities pile up between what Lawrence sees and how he interprets what happens to him, the family's hurtlings across Europe and the city take on a shattered poignancy. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Library Journal
Something's not quite right with nine-year-old Lawrence's Mum, and he'll do anything within his power to keep her functioning and shield her from perceived dangers. Written by Kneale (English Passengers) with charm and outrageously bad spelling, the novel begins as Lawrence, his three-year-old sister, and their pet hamster are taken by Mum from their London cottage to Rome to escape her stalker ex-husband and return to the place where she had once worked and still has an extensive network of friends. Misfortune follows them as their car breaks down, bank cards don't work, and their kind friends struggle to find room for them and their many belongings. Warmly welcomed back to Rome at first, they begin to lose support owing to Mum's increasingly erratic behavior and her conviction that her ex-husband has followed them to Rome and turned her friends against them. As Lawrence immerses himself in Roman history from a series of "Horrible Histories," he renders the story of his mother's breakdown with touching sensitivity and vulnerability. Very highly recommended.
—Barbara Love
School Library Journal
Adult/High School
For teens with a taste for sad, morose stories in which adults abandon their responsibilities and a child takes them on, Romans will be a welcome addition to the canon. Lawrence is a nine-year-old whose mother, Hanna, has convinced him and his younger sister, Jemima, that their estranged father is poisoning their food, turning the neighbors against them, and stalking them. To escape his alleged behavior, she takes them from London to Rome, a city she knew as a young single woman. Hanna often experiences "blackouts"-she sits and stares, refusing to move or participate in daily activities. Life in Rome is initially better: Hanna's friends from the past come to her aid in finding housing and a job. But things soon deteriorate and Hanna once again relies on Lawrence to act as the adult. Lawrence's feelings are symbolized through the scientific and historic facts he reveals throughout his narrative. Things are never happy for him, and the family is never able to achieve contentment or find peace. Some teens will find this state of explained sadness cathartic.-Joanne Ligamari, Twin Rivers United School District, Sacramento, CA