A Tale of Solidarity: Story Outline

A story that popped into my head earlier yesterday and which I have now developed into a long summary:

The owner of a block of flats discovers that his building-owner friends are making additional revenue by renting out the sides of their buildings for large advertisement placement. He becomes jealous and decides to do the same with his own building. No side of his building is completely without windows, but he goes ahead and rents out the side of the building to an advertising company.

A large advertisement is placed over the side of the building, blocking the views and shutting out light and fresh air for the people who live in them. The affected group of tenants get together and erect large wooden pillars which they push through their windows in order that at least a current of fresh air can enter the building. This completely ruins the effect of the advertising, so the advertiser complains to the advertising company, which complains to the building owner, who goes to the building to threaten the tenants with eviction if they don't stop. While there, he sees a middle-aged man who has struggled to dress himself properly. He laughs at him and mocks him and leaves feeling much better about himself.

A quiet old lady and retired librarian enters the building to find the middle-aged man upset and struggling more than usual. She discovers that he has multiple sclerosis. Gently helping him back to his flat, in her suppressed fury, she says that if only the tenants would act as a community instead of griping about one another's foibles, they could withstand the bullying of the building owner and achieve something meaningful.

Back in her flat, she tells her little dog her idea; she's going to create posters inviting all tenants to a meeting to discuss the issue, and she does so. The next day, fearing that only the affected tenants will come, she plucks up her nerve and knocks on every door of the building to ask people individually to come.

On the day of the meeting, she only expects four or five people to show up. She goes nervously to the small sheltered quadrangle, the only common space in the building, only to find that every single tenant has come -- with the exception of one family who are visiting relatives in another country and one who is too sick to come downstairs. Attendees call them on their mobile phones to let them know the meeting is happening and so that they can be in attendance virtually, which they do enthusiastically.

The outcome of the meeting is that the tenants will write a joint letter to the building owner saying that they will all leave if any one of them is evicted. They will also write to the local paper to explain the situation. They are all talking about the family members they could go and live with if this happens, those with stronger connections offering support to more isolated tenants. During the conversation, they lament the fact that, if this happens, their newfound sense of community will be lost.

The building owner continues to make threats. The tenants are scared, but the retired librarian has read a lot of books about this kind of thing and advises them to hold steady and be prepared for what's coming. The owner cuts off the building's water and electricity, falsely reports tenants to the authorities for excessive noise or the unhygienic conditions they live in and offers to exclude tenants who are struggling financially from the rent hikes if they will publically support him. But the tenants are strong in unity and nothing breaks their will or divides them.

Then the advertising company cancels the advertising contract and the building owner loses the revenue stream. He responds by increasing the rent to cover his losses. The tenants withhold the rent, and the owner takes them to court. A young woman legal aid lawyer agrees to represent them on a no-win-no-fee basis. After a protracted struggle, they win and the owner is forced to cancel the rent hike and pay all legal expenses.

The whole series of events is covered in all of the local papers and some national ones, including ensemble photos of the tenants gathered together outside the building with their young lawyer and pictures of the building owner's expensive car parked in the building's disabled bay. In fury and shame, the building owner puts the building up for sale, specifying that it must be bought whole by an experienced landlord. The building owner comes to the building to gloat that one of his rich friends will buy the building and make things even worse for them. There is a lot of activity amongst the tenants, but the owner can't find out what's going on, so he leaves in frustration.

Despite the building owner's cajoling and pleading, none of his rich so-called friends come forwards. Time passes, and he becomes desperate, but there is nobody to help him. Then a businessman the owner doesn't know makes an offer well below the asking price. Given the choice between accepting the disappointing sum of money and facing the revolutionary tenants, the owner agrees to a meeting.

At the meeting, believing he is in the company of one of his set, the owner explains the problems with the recalcitrant tenants and urges that force will be necessary to deal with them. The businessman listens attentively, thanks him for the information, and assures him that the tenants will be dealt with appropriately. The owner signs the contract and the businessman, his hand shaking momentarily, also does so.

In a flashback, we see how the tenants have crowd-funded the money to purchase the building, aided by the national scandal that started with their letter to the local newspaper. As their pièce de résistance, they encourage the middle-aged man with multiple sclerosis to be their front man. He is a bookkeeper and a former star of amateur theatre.

We see his preparation for his role as the mysterious businessman, which gives him a psychological boost and makes his condition almost invisible for a while. We see his momentary loss of confidence before he enters the meeting with the businessman, and we watch as he shakingly removes a piece of newspaper from his pockets, and unfolds it to reveal the photo of the tenants. With this reminder of purpose, he walks calmly into the building.

In a return to the present, the 'businessman' places the contract into his briefcase and calmly removes his moustache and wig and puts on his glasses. Horrified, the former building owner realises he has been tricked by the man he previously mocked.

As a result of the deal, everyone is able to purchase their own flat, and the former building owner never invests in property again. There is a huge party in the retired librarian's flat. The bookkeeper is going to get back into amateur dramatics. The sick tenant, relieved of rental payments, can now afford to pay for proper medical care. The retired librarian suggests they form a tenants' advisory group to help others in the same situation. The tenants are enthusiastic and the young lawyer agrees to help them. The end.

Book Review: Lunch with Charlotte

I have had the pleasure of listening to the audio edition of Lunch with Charlotte written and read by the late Leon Berger. It is the true life story of the eponymous Charlotte revealed across innumerable lunchtime conversations with her friend, the author.

She was born to Jewish parents in Austria in 1919, fled to England during the war and died in Canada in 2010. It should be straightforward therefore to think of it as a holocaust survival story. However, perhaps it would be more fully encompassing to say that the second world war was, yes, a crucial and traumatic event in her life, but by no means its only event of significance. Nor is its core message that the Nazis were, and fascism is, deplorable.

Indeed, the event that most formed Charlotte's fascinating and contradictory character, while it may have been facilitated by the war, was much closer to home. And it is the formation of Charlotte's personality during her turbulent and ever-changing life that, in my view, is the true subject of the story.

The novel is written with simple realism, with few elaborate turns of phrase. However, it is in this uncomplicated language that the compassion and wisdom of the novel reside. All its many characters are drawn as people living within the confines of their limitations, as humans who must breathe, eat and love. Even the Brownshirts and Nazi bureaucrats are humans first, for all their flaws.

I wept considerably while listening to this novel, out of fear for its characters' safety as well as the wretched inability to do anything to help them. Indeed, some may be wary of reading a novel that covers such a dark period.

Therefore, allow me to reassure you. The novel is composed of a warmth, humour and humility that raise it well above the reach of the ravages of hatred. By the time you come to the end of the novel, though death and despair will have paid their visits, it is the mutual affection of a friendship lived to its fullest that will remain.

Buy the book. Watch the promotional video.