The rising tide (Keane)

I haven't hugely enjoyed the Molly Keane novels that I have read before, but The rising tide was recommended to me by Rachel from BookSnob and I have to say that I enjoyed it more than the other ones that I have read, mainly for the insight it gave into life for women living in country houses before the First World War. I'm still not a huge Keane fan - I don't especially enjoy her writing style or particularly what her novels are about.

The Rising Tide tells the story of the family at Garonlea at the start of the twentieth century. The lives of the four daughters is ruled by their mother, Lady Charlotte:

"Pain they endured and accepted.
Endless Chaperonage.
Supervision of their correspondence.
The fact that Mother Knew Best.
That Father says so.
That there is no more to be said on the subject, they accepted.
They accepted their leisure without boredom.
They accepted having occupations found for their leisure"

It was certainly a restricted life. As the book proceeds however, life relaxes, particularly after one of the sons marries Cynthia, who introduces another personality, as strong as that of Lady Charlotte into the household. And of course as time passes and the war happens, society itself changes and becomes less restrictive.

It's been published three times by Virago, and I borrowed the most recent pink edition from the library. 3*.

Tortoise by candlelight; Familiar Passions (Bawden)

Two Bawden books for you today! Firstly, Tortoise by candlelight. Set in the 1960s, this is a book about 14-year old Emmie and her family - her aged grandmother, her restrictive father, her elder and slightly wilder sister Alice, and her younger brother Oliver who seems to need a lot of looking after. In fact, all of the family seem to need Emmie's care and attention. However, the control that this gives her changes when the family gain new neighbours who become involved in their life. As ever, the plot is not as important as the investigation of relationships. Not my favourite Nina Bawden by any means, but certainly enjoyable.

Unusually for Nina Bawden, this VMC has been published twice, including in an original green edition (I've only seen one other of her titles (A little love, a little learning) with an original green cover so far). And I am fortunate enough to have this edition! Both versions have the same picture however. 3*

Secondly, Familiar passions, which is a Bawden that I've been wanting to read for quite some time - it was the book I was most tempted to break my pre-Christmas book-buying ban for, but strangely after I started buying books again I didn't get around to buying it for a while. It turned out to be a typically enjoyable Bawden read. The book opens with Bridie and James celebrating their thirtieth wedding anniversary in a nice restaurant; an adopted child, Bridie married James aged 19. He was a widower with two children, and Bridie brought them up and had her own child. However, when they get home after the meal, James announces that he wants to leave her. The rest of the book is concerned with the outcome of this statement and Bridie's struggles to find her own identity beyond the marriage and given the circumstances of her adoption. Bridie feels that she needs to at some level reclaim her past in order to have any sort of future. I really enjoyed this one, which has only been published once by Virago in the italicised cover version. 4*

The house in Clewe Street (Lavin) 266

I enjoyed Mary Lavin's Mary O'Grady earlier in the year, so was pleased to have the chance to read The house in Clewe Street which is similar in some ways. It's a family saga telling the story of three generations of the Coniffes who live in the tiny Irish village of Castlerampart.

We meet Theodor, a landlord, father to Therese, Sara, and Lily. His wife and their mother died giving birth to Lily, who was born 15 years after Sara; Lily was brought up mainly by Therese and Sara, much to their resentment. Lily marries while the other two remain spinsters but her husband Cornelius is tragically killed in an accident shortly before Lily discovers that she is pregannt. Her son Gabriel is the third generation. It's a gentle read, but still gripping - I was keen to see how the stories of the family members panned out.

It's just been published once by Virago, with this green cover. Unfortunately the copy I had from the library was a hardback published by Cedric Chivers, but since I work at the Bodleian which has most books published in England, I was able to at least have a look at the original green one! 3*.

Chatterton Square (Young) 242

"Chatterton square belied its name. It was really an oblong, and at that, it was unfinished, for one of its longer sides was open to the road, which, rising a little, led southwards to the Green and northwards, dipping a little, to the short curving holl on to to the Downs. What gardens the houses possessed were at the back; in compensation, the inhabitants of the Square were free to use a railed oval of grass fringed with evergreens....it had seen better days...now most of the houses were in need of paint and, though there were no printed cards in the windows advertising lodgings to be let, the shabby young clerks who blossomed out into bright sports clothes at the weekends and the old ladies with over-trimmed hats who took their slow daily walks were certainly not householders. Fashion and prosperity had deserted this corner of the village"

In Chatterton Square, EH Young takes us again to the village of Upper Radstowe. We meet Mr Blackett who lives with his wife and three daughters in the square, who finds his life disrupted when the Fraser family move in next door. The Fraser family are slightly unconventional; Rosamund the mother, runs the household, being separated from her husband, and tends to leave her children to get on with things themselves. This is very different from Mr Blackett's controlling approach.

There isn't much plot to the book, it's more of a book about the interaction between the families who live in the square. Overhanging the story however, is the threat of the Second World War, and this permeates the characters' existence, which I found interesting. At the end of the book it is not clear what will happen to them in the coming years.

It's just been published the once by Virago, with an original green cover, although I borrowed a Jonathan Cape edition. 3*.

Three Miss Kings (Cambridge)

The three Miss Kings was a very kind surprise Christmas gift from a librarything.com friend. It wasn't a title that I had heard of so I am very pleased that she sent it my way. One of the things I love about the Virago Modern Classics series is the scope of geography; whilst many of the books written are set in the UK by British writers, there are many set in the US, and I have written about a couple set in New Zealand, and also Australia. This book is an Australian one, and it's nice to have the chance to read something from an area that otherwise I probably might not.

The Miss Kings of the title are orphans, their father having died recently, and need to decide what to do next. The two youngest sisters, Patty and Eleanor, really aspire to European travel, but Elizabeth, the eldest, tries to be sensible and suggests that they should become accustomed to living on their own first, and they move to Melbourne, renting rooms and then later half of a house. In some ways, very Jane Austen-esque, the girls try to get involved in society there, and are introduced to a woman who attempts to match-make for them. There are a couple of exciting twists (such as the discovery of a legacy), and it is a fairly light and entertaining read.

Just published the once, I am sure this is a much overlooked VMC. Virago don't published any more of her titles but I understand from the introduction that Cambridge wrote many more books. 3*

Richer, the poorer (West) 430

Having loved The Wedding by Dorothy West, I was keen to read more of her work, and when I spotted this anthology of her essays and short stories on ebay, it didn't take much to get me to buy it! The first half comprises short stories, based on similar situations to that of The wedding - i.e. the themes of African and American life, originally published in magazines. The second half of the book was the part that I found most interesting, being some autobiographical skethces which enabled me to build up a picture of West and understand a bit more about how she came to be a writer, for example insisting on a lock on her door age 8 so that she could write in peace. Apparently West is best known for her short stories, but I am keen to read her other novel, The living is easy now as I do prefer sustained narratives.

It's just been published the once by Virago.

3*

Saturday life (Radclyffe Hall)

Radclyffe Hall's Well of loneliness is a classic, and one which I found to be an interesting read, so I was keen to read more of her VMCs. A Saturday life seemed like a good title; I have worked every other Saturday for the last 2.5 years, so in a sense my Saturday life has been a working one for a while, but I am about to give this up and regain a proper Saturday life! Today is my first Saturday of freedom, so in preparation I thought I'd read this.

In someways similar to the Well of loneliness - the theme of an isolated, confused creative female trying to make her way in life, A Saturday life was a much lighter read. I was hooked from the beginning when I met the heroine Sidonia (such an unusual name!) as a child; in the first pages, her mother interuppted from the book that she is writing to come and attend to her eight-year-old daughter who refuses to stop dancing naked in the dining room! Her mother decides dance lessons are the answer, but Sidonia is not encouraged to come back after telling the other children that she prefers dancing without her clothes on. The story follows Sidonia as she grows up - she takes up sculpture, singing, and then goes to Florence.

In some ways I found the ending of the story disappointing; after such an unconventional growing up and early adulthood, Sidonia gets married and the last pages of the book see her giving birth to a child. It suggests that she has finally settled down which would be a tragedy given the creativity that she has displayed. On the other hand, given the rest of the book, one wonders how long it will last, and if so how her husband and son will cope once the bliss and sensibility of new motherhood wears off.

I have the Unlit Lamp and Adam's Breed to read to complete my Radclyffe Hall VMCs. This one was just published the once by Virago with an original green cover.

3*

The age of innocence (Wharton) 298

Owing to the generosity of Fleur Fisher, I was able to spend a recent morning off escaping into the world of the New York aristocracy. Although it took a while to draw me in, I ended up enjoying The age of innocence by Edith Wharton, and even while I was struggling to be gripped by it, I could see that it was indeed a worthy winner of the Pulitzer prize.

It's a tale of society, and how the conventions and beliefs of society can oppress those who are too naieve to manipulate it. Unusually for a Virago Modern Classic, the principle character, Newland, is a man, Newland Archer. We meet him awaiting his marriage to May. Into his world comes May's cousin Ellen, on the run from her unhappy marriage. She shuns convention but finds herself often rejected by the society which May seems to represent. Newland feels sorry for her, and ends up being intoxicated by her difference and the potential for life outside an otherwise stifled existence. This book is a story of society, but also a love story, and I was desperate to see how it would be resolved.

I liked this novel for its well written prose, but also for introducing me to a social mileu with which I was not familiar; I have read many books of similar period, describing a similar society, set in England but not in New York.

This book has been unsurprisingly been published many times by a range of different publishers, but there are three Virago editions. Mine is the earliest green edition. I love the flowers on the second cover, although I think that the third, most recent one, best sums up the book for me. 3*