Book review: Any Human Power, by Manda Scott – ‘the dividing line between Good and Bad is too clear-cut’

There’s no doubt that Manda Scott is a fine storyteller, writes Allan Massie, but the sharp contrast between good and evil in this novel leaves little room for real-world ambiguity

This novel, which may be said to present the case for a moral, political and economic revolution, comes with high praise and glowing approval from, among others, Lee Child and Andrew Taylor. Less enthusiastic than them, I recall with a wince a warning offered by the once successful and admired novelist and critic Wilfrid Sheed: “For vintage bitterness, brewed to a fine vinegar, you can’t match an aging, over-the-hill writer.” Quite so, but ouch, you have been warned.

Manda Scott began by writing good historical novels about Roman Britain, her heroine being Boudicca, the queen who led a revolt against Rome. Now in this long, very readable and often engaging novel she writes of a revolt against the power of the political, economic and media establishments which Are, it seems, in danger of destroying the world. Her heroines and heroes are young activists, all fortunately splendidly adept in the use of the internet, mobile phones and the marvels of invisible communications, which have – ironically, one may remark – been made possible by capitalism and, one should add, freedom-denying authoritarian states such as China. Some of this is undeniably alarming; who is really happy about Artificial Intelligence which, among other things, may put novelists, even Manda Scott, out of business?

The novel, which one should say is a racy and engaging romp full of lively ideas, is mostly propaganda for the Revolution. There is also what an old stager may call whimsy. An old woman, Lan, is dying, being guided into the afterlife by a crow. This afterlife is a mixed stage, the Inbetween, which allows Lan, still guided by the crow, to observe the continuing life of her family and friends, even perhaps – I’m not sure about this – to have some influence on them. Well, this is reasonable enough – we may all, to some extent, be influenced by the departed, even if we are not quite aware of how this happens. This Inbetween stage might be likened to the Roman Catholic idea of Purgatory, though there is no sign that Lan is being purified. But perhaps she really had no sins to be rid of. One of the features of this always very readable novel is that the dividing line between Good and Bad is rather more clear-cut than it usually is in serious fiction.

Manda Scott

Then we come to the big dramatic scene featuring Lan’s 12-year-old granddaughter (who bears some resemblance to a well-known Swedish girl) as she sets off and inspires a moral, political and economic revolution, followed by a fine set-piece in which the young moral and political reformers engage in debate with the generally seedy and often nasty spokespersons for the various branches of the old political and (of course) media establishments.

There is, happily, no difficulty in determining who are the goodies and who clearly ought to be dispatched forthwith to Dante’s Inferno. Can the good triumph over evil? There is much that is lively in the debate and it’s fair to say that some of the deplorable supporters of the various establishments under attack are given some good lines. What is less agreeable is the unquestioning self-righteousness of the young zealots. They are as sure of their virtue as our Scots Covenanters were of theirs in the 17th century and, like the Covenanters, they are great simplifiers. So evidently this is not a novel for old fogies like me, who have learned from observation and reading to distrust people certain of their own rectitude.

There is a nevertheless much to admire in this novel. It rattles along well and even credibly (if you can swallow the crow) and there is no doubt that Scott is a fine storyteller, no doubt too that she is an advocate who will please and impress many. But she is too Manichaean for my taste, too sure of her own virtue, too indifferent to the complexity of society and politics. No doubt she is right in thinking that the world is in a bad way. But when wasn’t it? She is, in this galloping novel, a great simplifier, an advocate for a New Age. Well, as a sour old fogey, I prefer Kant: “Of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing can ever be made” – and this, I should say, is the novelist’s proper position.

Any Human Power, by Manda Scott, September Publishing, £18.99