There is a certain sense of understated yet seemingly effortless beauty visible in all of Graham Swift's novels. He has a gift of taking the mundane or quotidian and elevating it into something magical. This latter choice of word is not accidental in the case of Here We Are. The novel focuses on a magic act, part of a variety show set on Brighton Pier in 1959. This era (and also pertinently Ronnie, the magician's backstory as a child evacuee sent from Bethnal Green to Oxfordshire during the war) is evoked wonderfully. More importantly, Here We Are centres on the ability of all three main protagonists — the other two also feature in the show — not only to assume different personas, but to seemingly appear and disappear, albeit more metaphorically than literally, save for Ronnie's finale. There is also a talismanic parrot — per Citizen Kane's ‘Rosebud’. Evie, the only survivor of the triumvirate, also reflects from the vantage point of 2019 on the events of that era; the truths and the secrets. There is much hallmark Swiftian poignancy, regret, counterfactuals, and what could have been interlaced throughout the work.
By Graham Swift