Selma Carvalho’s latest contemporary fiction Notes on a Marriage, published this year by Speaking Tiger is an enduring tale about the precarity of marriages and what it means to be married, despite differences and unpleasant histories. The British-Asian author’s second published work of fiction since Sisterhood of Swans in 2021, Notes on a Marriage deals with the lives of Anju, a privileged British-Indian woman and Freddo, an English man who had a working class upbringing.
The narrative juxtaposes the past and the present, contextualising Anju and Freddo’s marriage with all its passion and precarity.
The two had met in William Byrd University as students and later, had married each other. The narrative juxtaposes the past and the present, contextualising Anju and Freddo’s marriage with all its passion and precarity.
Notes on a Marriage: the tale and its telling
Freddo and Anju come from two different worlds and have very different worldviews. Freddo is a young student with a revolutionary zeal- he and his friends Nido and Eugenia (Ginny) all hail from working class backgrounds and wish to change the world order that has always oppressed the likes of them.
Anju, though the daughter of an Indian Marxist, is more of a Conservative herself, in her politics, thoroughly detached from her Asian roots. Due to their difference in upbringing, Anju feels thoroughly disconnected and excluded from Freddo, Nido and Ginny. Ginny is especially wary of her and the threat she poses to her relationship with Freddo.
In the present time, the story of Freddo and Anju’s marriage is set against the troubled marriage of Anju’s Indian father and British mother. The fraught relationship between Anju and her Indian father bring to the forefront Anju’s tumultuous relationship with her own Indian-ness, as a woman of mixed rage origin.
Love, jealousy and guilt in Notes on a Marriage
Anju and Freddo fall in love in University, where Freddo is known to be somewhat of a womaniser. Ginny is drawn to Freddo and has a platonic connection with the latter on a spiritual level. Freddo’s sudden interest in the newcomer Anju unnerves her and makes her territorial and unwelcoming. However, a heedless decision by Anju to get back at Ginny engulfs the friends in a lifetime of guilt and remorse.
Guilt forms the very foundation of Anju and Freddo’s marriage, appearing and reappearing as the dominant emotion in their conjugal life.
Guilt forms the very foundation of Anju and Freddo’s marriage, appearing and reappearing as the dominant emotion in their conjugal life. Eugenia visits Anju in her dreams and not a day goes by when Anju doesn’t think of her. Remorse colours Freddo and Anju’s marriage and often, it teeters on the brink of destruction. However, Freddo and Anju always have a way of getting back to each other.
Social class and love across the political spectrum
Notes on a Marriage is a tale of how social class divides and creates rifts which can somehow, never be mended. The gulf between Anju and Freddo, Nido and Ginny’s worlds is too wide to bridge. Anju not only comes from affluence, unlike the other three, but her politics also greatly differs from her “friends”. Anju is too ensconced in her class privilege to be political. Her apolitical worldview speaks volumes about the kind of upbringing she has had and detaches her from the rest.
However, Freddo still pursues her romantically and despite their starkly opposing political positions, the two become an unlikely couple. However, class differences overshadow their relationship. Freddo tells her stories of his childhood with a poverty stricken single mother to whom he is deeply attached and a father who is absent both physically and financially. Anju, on the other hand, had never had to want for anything.
The two different kinds of upbringing make their lives unrelatable to each other. They falter and fumble in their relationship and sometimes they don’t quite understand each other. The precarity of love relationships forged across class divides is laid bare in all its confusions and complications, in Notes on a Marriage.
Notes on a Marriage, betrayal and everything in between
Notes on a Marriage is a testament to the fragility of marital relationships. Marked by shared guilt, Freddo and Anju’s marriage often threatens to shatter. Freddo has multiple affairs and Anju gets sexually involved with another man for a while.
Although replete with trust issues, guilt, some lies and a whole lot of emotional manipulation, Freddo and Anju’s second effort at making their marriage work is sanctioned by an unborn child Anju carries, who is a beacon of hope in their disintegrating marriage.
The heartfelt gift of a ‘magic’ amethyst baby bracelet to Freddo for the unborn child, is Anju’s attempt at “magically” fixing their marriage, as the two hopefully embark on a new journey together, leaving all the guilt, betrayal and jealousy behind for good.
Notes on a Marriage is a heartfelt narrative, sharing an account of the complexities of human relationships. It recounts how social positions and personal politics play a pivotal role in love and friendship. Anju and Freddo’s lives expose the ugly truth of contemporary relationships, whether marital, romantic or platonic, showcasing how jealousy and insecurity often widen the gulf between people and create permanent discords. The lyrical prose is undercut by the frightening fragility of interpersonal connections and the absurdity of love, friendship and what it means to be “happily married” after all.
