Ohhh, how I can’t wait to see how Bethan Roberts novel, My Policeman, gets adapted to the screen next year! This book was juicy and could definitely be expanded upon, and I imagine not in a bad way.
The book itself is presented as sort of a recounting in journal format. Most of the journal posts are from Marion, who is married for Tom and taking care of Patrick, who she’s known a large part of her life. As he sits near death’s door after a couple of strokes, she wants to get all of her past down on paper and to share it with Patrick. As the story rolls along, I think it’s rather cruel that she’s doing it, but what are you going to do?
Marion, in her early years, is attracted to her friend’s brother, Tom. She reconnects with him several years later and she thinks they are a perfect match. To her astonishment, he asks her to marry him, and she quickly agrees. However, it is pretty obvious that he is not attracted to Marion, but she seems to ignore all the warning signs. What a waste of a life? She seems to tolerate being a teacher and has only one friend. I think her delusions about Tom are just sad, really. To think that she’s fooled herself as much as Tom as fooled her.
You see, Tom is really just using Marion as a cover, because he’s really in love with Patrick, a museum curator of sorts. You hear about their interactions from a far too brief section of journal entries written by Patrick. He intelligently only ever refers to Tom as “my policeman” in his passages. The two love each other, but back in the 50s in England, gay people are looked down upon and put in prison for their “inversion.” Marion becomes the ultimate villain when it’s revealed she might have played a part in Patrick getting arrested. It’s no wonder the rest of the time Marion spends with Tom is not really with him at all.
Ultimately, this story was tragic. It was tragic that Tom and Patrick couldn’t love each other openly, but I suppose equally as tragic for Marion for putting herself in a loveless situation. You’d like to think she’s learned, but I think she’ll forever be in a kind of denial. This book was good, but all the time spent with Marion’s entries were sort of frustrating. Patrick’s entries were much more interesting and I would have liked to spend more time in his prose. This is something I think the movie could expand on more, and I hope that they do. Definitely looking forward to its release next year!