Charms for the easy life (Kaye Gibbons)

Charms for the easy life is the fourth Kaye Gibbons novel that I've read for this challenge and she's an author that I have enjoyed reading who I probably would not have picked up otherwise - the front of this novel compares her to a later Eudora Welty (another author I've read as a result of VVV) and I think that this is true through the way that she writes about women's lives in rural America.

Charms for the easy life follows the story of three generations of women, told by the grandaughter Margaret. It is a story without a strong male presence, neither Charlie Kate her grandmother or her mother Sophia is married any longer, although they have various romantic entanglements, and it is interesting to see a world depicted where women can very much try to make it on their own even though it is the 1930s and there are many obstacles in the way.

Charlie Kate is a "healing woman", with considerable skill, she is the person often summoned when neighbours and other people in the town suffer ill health much to the chagrin of the local doctor who does almost everything he can to impede her work even though it is almost immediately obvious to the reader that she does things better.

What is so striking about this book is the way that the women depend on each other and can cope without depending on men, which makes it an interesting companion read to some of my most recent VMC reading such as Gissing's The odd women.

It's been published just the once by Virago with a green spine but very ungreen cover!

A virtuous woman (Gibbons)

I have to confess that I picked this one out of the tbr because it was a) relatively slim and b) had reasonably large handwriting. But I was very happy to see that it was a book about marriage; marriage is something that is definitely on my mind at the moment, with a wedding in 21 days time.

The book starts however, with Ruby, the wife, dying in hospital at lung cancer, aged 45. Her husband is at home after her death, eating food that she had prepared out of the freezer. The end of marriage is something that absolutely terrifies me; as K is older than me I am quite likely to be the one left behind, and I just can't imagine it. From that chapter, we go back in time, with chapters narrated alternately by Ruby, and her second husband Jack, in order to piece together the story. Jack was responsible for rescuing Ruby after her first husband was killed, and she was left without any money or anywhere to live. Jack is 20 years her senior, but never married, not being particularly attractive or successful. It's an unlikely match, but the pair grow to love each other.

Gibbons has written some other VMCs, including Ellen Foster, and like that book, I found that this was an emotional read; it might not be very plot driven, but I liked the characters and the journey that I went on with them.

Ellen Foster (Kaye Gibbons)

Ellen Foster is yet another book from my loot a couple of weeks ago - I'm slowly working my way through the pile and enjoying it immensely! I had read one other VMC by the author already, Sights unseen, a book about madness and electro-shock therapy, but it hadn't stayed with me so I wasn't sure what to expect from Ellen Foster.

Told from the perspective of Ellen, a ten year old, this is a wonderful depiction of a girl dealing with a gruelling family life and eventually finding a home. It's a tale of survival - Ellen's mother and then father die, but he is such a non-father that it is almost a relief when that happens. Poverty, abuse, and being shuttled around between relatives are all things that Ellen has to contend with.

Another interesting sub-plot to the book is Ellen's friendship with a negro girl Starletta; the book is set just as segregation is coming to an end, which is why it is possible for the two to be friends. However, Ellen's unbringing makes it initially very difficult for her to relax in Starletta's company - for example, when she is forced to stay over at Starletta's house, she sleeps on top of the bed, with her clothes on, so that she can't actually have been considered to have slept there.

I remember now that I picked this out particularly because Ellen was described in one blurb as a Southern Holden Caulfield [Catcher in the Rye] - I'm not sure this is a very accurate or fair description as although Ellen certainly tells things like they are, in an immediate first person style, she has far more assurance than Caulfield and very real difficult circumstances to contend with. There isn't any of the teenage angst that there is in the Catcher in the Rye.

This seems to be an extremely popular book with bookclubs, especially in the US. It's only been published once by Virago with a modern green cover, but there are numerous other editions.

Sights unseen (Gibbons) 439

Not knowing anything very much about Sights unseen, I was certainly compelled by the opening passage:

"Had I known my mother was being given electro-convulsive therapy while I was dressing for school on eight consecutive Monday mornings, I do not think I could have buttoned my blouses or tied my shoes or located my homework. I see myself fumbling with the snap on my skirt, trying to connect the sides, turning around in a circle like a cat chasing its tail. I was twelve, deemed too young to be told what was happening to her and in fact too innocent to surmise it".

As regular readers will know, I am interested in books about madness, and there have been a number of VMCs that fit the bill (The Ha-Ha by Dawson, Shutter of Snow by Emily Holmes Colman, Antonia White, Janet Frame's autobiography), so it was good to stumble on this, especially as there are less books about the condition of bi-polar disorder (although beyond the scope of this blog I do recommend anything by Kay Redfield Jamieson).

The book is a portrait of Maggie Barnes, told through the eyes of her daughter Hattiw, and how her manic depression affects both Maggie and the family. What is particularly good about this book is the insights it gives into suffering the condition as well as what those close to the sufferer are going through. Gibbons shows that it is hugely destructive, but at the same time uses humour in some situations; and this strikes true with regards to my experience of having a very close friend with it.

I've not read any Gibbons before, but she has two other VMCs, A virtuous woman and Ellen Foster. This one was published just once by Virago in 1997 in a modern green edition.

Nightingale Wood (Gibbons)

Nightingale Wood was the only VMC that I read whilst in Austria, and it was an absolutely perfect winter holiday read. I never really enjoyed Cold Comfort Farm, but I read a number of reviews on blogs when Nightingale Wood was republished by Virago that were enough to tempt me to get hold of a copy of this to read. It just took me six months to get around to doing so...

It was worth waiting for. Nightingale Wood is the story of the Withers family, particularly daughters Madge and Tina, and the impact of the arrival of their penniless, widowed sister in law Viola on their household. There is plenty of romantic interest - Tina falls in love with the chauffeur whilst learning to drive, and Viola falls for the local squire. In some ways this was very Jane Austen-esque - a comedy of manners and social situations, but I found it witty and entertaining and very readable. I especially loved the miserly character of Mr Withers - whilst his penny-pinching annoyed the family, it envelops the whole story, and the reader is left wondering whether he will win through or whether the women will actually be able to get what they want.

Just the one VMC cover, above. I do hope that Virago consider republishing some more of Gibbon's books - I shall definitely start to look out for her again, and maybe even re-attempt Cold Comfort Farm.