Celia (Young) 332

Having enjoyed a number of EH Young's novels as part of this challenge, I was pleased to come across a copy of Celia. Set in Radstowe, like many of her other books, it's a book about marriage and relationships. Celia, the main character, has been married for years, and is bored and disappointed by both marriage and life. Rather than a plot driven book, it is more about the characters. I warmed to Celia and her daughter Catherine, a 17 year old school girl, and enjoyed reading about their lives. Ultimately, I don't think it was my favourite EH Young, but it was certainly enjoyable. And I am particularly looking forward to the last EH Young VMC that I have to read - Jenny Wren.

It's been published twice by Virago, in original green and italicised green covers. But both use the same image. My copy is the original one :)

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*.

William (Young) 292

I have been reading a lot of EH Young this year, and was especially keen to read William after the introduction to Miss Mole suggested that it was the most popular of her work.

Unusually for a Virago Modern Classic, the title character* and principle character of the story is a man, William. The book tells the story of William, and his wife Kate, and their children, and Grandchildren. William and Kate live in the village of Upper Radstowe, a location for other EH Young books, and deals with their lives and relationships with their children, none of whom Kate really feels are hugely successful in their lives. William takes a more prosaic view of life and is actually the one who the children turn to when real problems occur; the blurb on Amazon says "William can love without judgement and Kate cannot", and it is this that drives the novel. It's difficult to say more about the book because it is more a book about family relationships than story, in some ways very similar to Nina Bawden. But I can see why it was popular and do most definitely recommend it.

I have to confess that I borrowed a copy of this book as I was so keen to read it, and it was a Jonathan Cape edition rather than a Virago. I'm very keen to get my own copy now. Unusually the two editions of the Virago edition both feature the same cover image, which I rather like as a depiction of a family home which is reminiscent of the themes in the book. 3.5*

*Can anyone think of any other VMCs with males as the title character?

Miss Mole (Young)

I am definitely a big fan of EH Young, and have now hugely enjoyed four of the eight novels that she wrote, all of which have been published as Virago Modern Classics. In some ways she seems to be a bit of a more modern Jane Austen, or perhaps a slightly less acerbic Barbara Pym. Anyway, she is someone that I recommend, and a good book to start with might be Miss Mole which was apparently the best recieved of all of her books and which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Miss Mole is the tale of Hannah, a 40-year-old spinster who has ended up in service. We meet her telling her well-to-do Cousin Lilla that she is looking for employment; it transpires that she has upset her last employers. Lilla sets her up with employment in the Corder household; Rev. Corder is recently widowed and the house is in somewhat shambles; Ethel and Ruth, the daughters of the household are lost without their mother. Hannah simply carries out her duties, but wins over Ethel and Ruth and gradually sorts them out, but not without adding a spark of life to the family. It's a simple, almost Mary Poppins like story, but incredibly well told and quirky.

Published twice by Virago, I'm lucky enough to have a lovely clean copy of the original green edition whose picture seems to sum up the idiosyncratic image of Miss Mole. 4*


PS: Simon from Stuck in a book wrote an excellent review of this title in February here.

The curate's wife (Young) 178

The curate's wife by Young is actually a companion to another one of Young's novels, Jenny Wren, which I have not yet read, but although the character of Jenny crops up in The curate's wife, I did not feel that I suffered from not having read Jenny Wren, even though it was written first.

EH Young is definitely an amusing writer, and I found this book entertaining. it is the tale of Dahlia and Cecil Sproat, recently married. Cecil is a curate, and deeply in love with Dahlia. Dahlia on the other hand has principally chosen marriage as an escape from her stepfather. Dahlia finds it extremely difficult to fit into the role of Curate's Wife, partly because she doesn't ascribe to the church beliefs, and partly because her previous experiences are just so different to those needed in the village. I was amused by the description of the fete, where with some reluctance Dahlia dresses up with the other women acting as stallholders as shepherdesses. It becomes obvious that Cecil and Dahlia will never have a romantic marriage; Dahlia takes some satisfaction from the attentions of an admirer, and then after her sister Jenny comes to live with them, lives out her hopes for romance through Jenny's involvement with local men.

Published just once by Virago in an original green edition, I feel that this title fits into a theme in the titles of Virago novels - [some male profession]'s [some female relative]

* The rector's daughter
* The vicar's daughter
* The squire's daughter
* Her son's wife
* The pastor's wife

Can you think of any other VMC titles in this category?

I've also read The Vicar's Daughter, before this project started, and here is its cover:

The misses Mallet (Young)

I received The misses Mallett as part of a wonderful surprise Christmas gift from Maren who reads this blog, and it was my first VMC of 2010. It is the slightly Jane Austen-esque tale of four unmarried women - Sophia and Caroline, middle aged spinsters, and their younger step-sister Rose, and their niece Henrietta, who comes to live with them halfway through the story after her mother dies. Neither Rose nor Henrietta are very happy with the idea of spinsterhood and devote their energies to trying to escape it, both trying to win over Francis Sale, a local gentleman.

There's just the one VMC cover, above, but my copy was actually a Dial Press edition - same picture but with black instead of green.