I like my fiction to have a subject, a theme as backdrop against which the characters can interact. Purely character-driven studies that have as their only theme an emotional construct – such as coming of age, redemption, facing one’s fears or developing spiritual wisdom – are almost always tedious and boring. But when an author can intertwine emotional development and subject development, having them play off and work against each other, extraordinary fiction can emerge.

Subjects can be panoramic, as in the history of South Africa in James Michener’s THE COVENANT; particular, as in the topic of boundary surveying in Thomas Pynchon’s MASON & DIXON; or eccentrically arcane, as in the art of bell-ringing in Dorothy L. Sayers’ THE NINE TAILORS. These authors managed to equally develop their characters’ emotional themes, the theme of the subject itself and the interaction between the two, creating memorable fiction.

So I looked with great hope to debut novelist Taylor Holden’s THE SENSE OF PAPER, which promised an intriguing blend of emotional rebirth and aesthetic history. Briefly, former war correspondent Charlotte Hudson is attempting to remake her writing career and rebuild her soul after a personally scarring wartime incident. She has decided to write a history book on British painter J.M.W. Turner, and specifically, Turner’s relationship to the art paper he worked on, and the craft of papermaking itself. She has enlisted the help of Sir Alan Matheson, a famous painter himself and an expert on both Turner and paper. But Matheson has some odd secrets in his closet, and they are beginning to disturb Hudson.

This is an attempt at serious literary fiction even if it comes across as a modern Gothic novel, and sadly, Holden’s skills don’t quite match up to the ambition of the tale. There is little flair and a lot of lead in her style. If we’re not facing hoary old clichés (“towering over his easel like some bird of prey” and “gnawed…like a dog with a bone”) then we’re treated to inglorious lines, such as when the author’s main character describes someone as “having the facial attributes of a rather sad Old English sheepdog, but with the same doggedness.” You can hear the lines go clunk clunk clunk.

There are some good moments; Holden seems especially strong when talking about the writing process, possibly because she was a journalist for The Daily Telegraph. Perhaps a bit of stylistic loosening would help. If you’re interested in fine paper or the artist J.M.W. Turner, then this is probably a must-read. But if you’re not in that admittedly very select group, well… –Mark Rose

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