For the second week of November, I decided to cook up a Victoria sponge to match The Flatshare's meet-cute London vibes.
Flatmate Wanted
Desperate to move out of the apartment she shares with her on-again-off-again boyfriend, assistant editor Tiffy Moore can barely afford to rent a shoebox, let alone an apartment in London. The only option without mold problems or a crumbling balcony: a flatshare with a complete stranger. Scratch that. A bedshare with a complete stranger.
Leon Twomey, the aforementioned stranger, is a palliative care nurse working nights and seeking a roommate to split the cost of his one-bedroom apartment. In theory, the two would never have to cross paths; Tiffy can occupy the space from 6pm until 9am, and he’ll sleep there from 9am to 6pm while she’s at work. It could be just the arrangement she needs.
After an initially awkward move-in period of note-writing, the two seem to become friends, despite the fact that they still haven’t met. Though Leon is a man of few words in the hospital he works at, he seems to open up far more to his live-in penpal. In alternating narration, we learn how Tiffy and Leon’s lives quietly intersect within and beyond the flatshare, and the friendship that blooms from the arrangement.
And as Tiffy’s crafts and books threaten to take over the apartment and change Leon’s life, the two are forced to wonder: can sharing a bed really be so simple, especially with a jealous ex-boyfriend, an angry girlfriend, and familial struggles thrown into the mix?
"'What if this L. Twomey is a man?' Gerty asks."
"'It doesn't matter,' I say calmly. 'It's not like we'd ever be in the bed at the same time - or the flat, even.'"
With refreshingly funny, stark prose, The Flatshare has the potential to be the next great romance novel. In fact, it’s hard not to love or relate to Tiffy and Leon, who are so entirely different (hello, left and right brain) but so real.
Challenging the Norm
Despite highlighting their fundamental differences, O’Leary weaves a unique narrative not of star-crossed lovers, but of friendship rife with breathless anticipation. Swapped POVs and sticky notes highlight the humor and support they begin to find in one another, and the heady romance which develops. This is definitely a slow burn romance, but O’Leary adopts a unique narration strategy which I thoroughly appreciated.
It is quite common for authors to use different dialogic devices, mannerisms, and phrasing to emphasize the change in voice as they switch narrators, but I enjoyed how even the writing style itself shifted to convey Leon’s rushed, terse style of communication and thought. Though it seems obvious, it’s important that such attempts at this narration style reiterate that characters, on a base level, do not think the same way, and don’t have to be written a certain way. This choice further helped me step into Leon’s world and understand him as a character, just as it set him apart from Tiffy. The two are so beautifully complex and carefully created; I can tell that great care went into crafting these narrators.
Each contending with parallel struggles, this book is not a sweeping romance or limited to lighthearted moments of friendship - rather, Tiffy and Leon confront familial troubles, racism, emotional abuse, and past trauma. Such reflections only enhanced my ability to empathize with the protagonists, making them all the more real. Which, I’ll be honest, I needed for Tiffy. Without her moments of reckoning with a past relationship, it would have been difficult to see Tiffy as a nuanced human being; I struggled with her initial labeling as a “quirky girl,” though she was soon imbued with not only great depth, but with significant development as the story unfolded. I say this not to minimize Tiffy’s very real career, her passion for what she does, or her other friendships, but these qualities often lend themselves to her “quirky girl” identity rather than complicate it.
I'd give The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary between 3.7 and 4 stars out of 5, and I recommend it to readers who enjoyed The Switch, The Unhoneymooners, or If I Never Met You.
Sampling London Fare
After devouring this novel in just a day, I endeavored to find a British recipe which could properly convey the meet-in-the-middle nature of the narrative. After all, the two begin by sharing a common space - no more. And yet this flatshare evolved beyond sticky notes or shared leftovers, giving shape to a much-needed friendship for both Londoners.
So, with a theme of common ground/shared space in mind, I selected (perhaps naively) the very London-esque Victoria sponge for this week’s ambitious bake. The recipe I found on Great British Baking Show’s website was, unsurprisingly, in measurements I felt no need to translate, and called for self-raising flour instead of the apparently American baking powder/soda tradition. I found this recipe more on-par with the ingredients currently in my kitchen:
From Erren's Kitchen (she offers both whipped cream and buttercream variations):
Cake:
1½ cup granulated sugar
2¼ cups Butter very soft
6 eggs
2¼ cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 tablespoons milk
Whipped cream frosting and jam:
1¼ cup Whipping Cream
6-8 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon skimmed milk powder optional
½ cup good quality raspberry jam
I imagine that the cream and jam sandwiched in between the sponges represent the flat they share and the unique way that life threw together two seemingly disparate characters, only to realize just how well they complement one another.
Though I readily admit that this cake didn't turn out exactly to plan (I think the sponges would've kept their fluffy texture if I hadn't refrigerated them or perhaps if I'd cooled them upside down), I'd love to try this recipe again, because the flavors are so good and the batter itself is quite simple to prepare. I think Tiffy, craft-loving woman that she is, would be pleased with my attempt.
Am I a Great British Baker yet?
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