The loved and the envied (Bagnold)

I find Enid Bagnold a bit of a mixed bag - I loved The happy foreigner, but was a bit underwhelmed by The Squire, but in retrospect I liked it more than I thought at first and than I wrote in my blog post about it. Unfortunately, The loved and the envied I did not like as much as either of those (although I wonder if it will grow on me in retrospect too); there were bits which I enjoyed very much, but at the same time I found the characters difficult to identify with.

The loved and the envied tells the story of Lady Ruby Maclean, looking back on her life aged 53, and coming to terms with old age. It's apparently partly based on the life of Lady Diana Cooper (the wife of Duff, the politician), with whom Enid Bagnold was friendly, and her coterie of companions who are also approaching old age (remember - while 53 may seem young now, the book was written in 1951) but I found the way that the book jumped around between different parts of her life, somewhat disjointed.

It's just been published the once, in an original green cover, and the picture on the front is of Lady Diana Cooper. So, that's another author crossed off the list! (And as for a progress update, if you're interested, I'm up to 319 out of 553, so that's 234 more to go - about 4 years worth if I read one a week...)

Happy foreigner (Bagnold) 247

I came across The happy foreigner through the advertisements at the back of Not so quiet, and immediately ordered it from the Amazon marketplace. I know I was indifferent about the other Bagnold VMC that I had read, The squire, but the subject matter of this book appealed to me (in some ways a follow on from Not so quiet's description of ambulance driving driving on the Western front during the First World War dealing with the experiences of those driving for the the French army). I couldn't resist putting it into my bag as soon as it arrived, and devoured it in my tea and lunch breaks at work.

Partly autobiographical, this book is based on Bagnold's own experiences as a driver for the French army. The book opens with a description of the difficult circumstances under which the drivers operated - long shifts, hand-started cars, frequent punctures, on top of food shortages, freezing cold dank huts in which to live, and perpetual rain and mud. Fanny, the principle character, endures these conditions, but lives on a day-to-day basis, with little thought beyond the next day and trying to get enough sleep. One day she encounters Julien, a French Captain, who takes her out on a date, and provides escapism from the daily grind. Inevitably, the limitations of their jobs make it almost impossible to pursue the relationship, and their attempts to see each other are the main driving force behind the plot of the book. However, Fanny manages to occupy herself, and in some ways it is a very affirming book because it doesn't assume that the woman is left in limbo whilst the man is away working - the woman is able to work herself.

This was Bagnold's first novel, and I enjoyed it very much. I will be interested to see what I make of The loved and the envied which is her third and other VMC novel. Just published the once with this cover.

The squire (Bagnold) 246

I was surprised to find that Enid Bagnold had written novels for adults, as I know her as the author of the children's story National Velvet. So I was interested to come across The Squire as part of VVV. According to the blurb at the front of the book she was forced to publish her earliest novels (she wrote four, and this is the second) under a pseudonym as her father was somewhat embarassed to have a writer daughter.

Unfortunately I didn't really enjoy this book as much as National Velvet. It tells the story of The squire, a woman in late pregnancy, awaiting the arrival of her 5th child. I was confused from the start because I always thought Squires were male! Her husband has gone away on a business trip to Bombay and will arrive back after the birth of the baby, and the book is essentially a languid exposition on motherhood and pregnancy.

It was written in the 1920s and published in 1930, and I can imagine that it must have seemed slightly shocking to have such discussions of childbirth, breastfeeding and childcare in a novel, and can understand why Bagnold's father insisted on the pen name.

There are two more books by Bagnold published as Virago Modern Classics so I shall have to see if I have better luck with those.

Just published the once by Virago, a lovely green edition (see above) which I own.