The Well by Elizabeth Jolley

Elizabeth Jolley is not an author I’ve ever come across before, but when I saw The Well on NetGalley I decided to give it a try. It sounded intriguing and suitably dark for the RIP XXI challenge. Originally published in 1986, the book has recently been reissued by Virago with a new introduction by Alice Slater. I saved the introduction until the end in case of spoilers, but it’s definitely worth going back and reading it. The novel opens late at night with two women driving home from a party. One is Miss Hester Harper; the other is her adopted daughter, Katherine. As Katherine is almost ready to take her driving test, Hester allows her to get behind the wheel for practice. Due to a combination of inexperience and recklessness, Katherine hits an object on a bend in the road. Hester gets out to investigate and, although she doesn’t say exactly who or what the car has hit, the implication is that it’s a person. Acting impulsively and out of desperation, Hester urges Katherine to continue…