Cotter's England (Stead)

Stead's work is I find quite variable - both in terms of subject matter/plot line, and in terms of setting, and also in terms of whether or not I have enjoyed it. Whilst I loved For love alone and Miss Herbert: suburban wife, I did not really enjoyed Letty Fox, and Cotter's England fell into this category also.

It's a story of working class life in England, set partly in Gateshead, following the Second World War, and uses a single family's experiences to give an insight into this. Nelly, a journalist, is working for a left-wing paper and earning very little; her husband George works for the International Labour Organization - so we learn quite a lot about trade unionism and the labour movement. Nelly's brother Tom is a philanderer. The mix of characters reveals a mixture of hope and aspiration along with the opposite; it presents a multilayered picture of life but not one that really held my attention.

Quite an early VMC, this was published with an original green cover and a later green cover. My copy is the earlier one.

Madame de Tremynes (Wharton)

Madame de Treymes is a short novella, inspired by Wharton's foray into Parisian society at the start of the 20th century. It tells the story of two people abroad in Paris, Fanny, and John, both from New York. Fanny is unhappily married and John is intent on trying to convince her to divorce her husband and marry him instead! It's a very clever novella dealing with the issues of foreigners abroad and women's position in social hierarchy.

In addition to the title novella, there are three more in the volume; The touchstone, Sanctuary and Bunner sisters. What I liked best about the collection was the contrast between the novellas included which really prove that Edith Wharton is pretty masterful at writing and concieving plots. My favourite novella was the last one about the Bunner sisters - about two spinsters who run a sewing shop in New York in 1916. They buy a clock from a mysterious old man and the rest of the novella (I won't give too much away) Apparently it was originally serialised as a magazine story, which I can see gives it pace.

Just published the once by Virago, this was among my lovely stash of VMCs that Fleur Fisher sent me.

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*.

A model childhood (Wolf)

It took me a while to get around to reading another book by Christa Wolf, having struggled so much with No place on Earth. So I am glad that I had A model childhood on my shelves because otherwise it might have taken me even longer to read something else, and I found this a much better experience.

A model childhood is the story of Nelly, who is 4 and living in Landsberg, Germany in 1933 when Hitler comes to power. The book is essentially an exploration of her life in Hitler's Germany, joining Nazi youth organisations and becoming indoctrinated in the Nazi values of community and anti-semitism. The story is told from an adult perspective, as Nelly in the 1970s revisits the places of her childhood. It was masterfully told, giving a dual vision into the period - that with hindsight of an adult and that of a child. Nelly tries to come to terms with having watched the burning of the synagogues and not feeling anything when an aunt is brought under the "voluntary euthanasia" programme for being a bit dotty.

It was also particularly interesting to have another insight into the Second World War from a non-British perspective - I recently wrote about a book of letters written in Germany during the war on my other blog and this was a useful companion. The main quibble with the book was that although the prose was very lyrical it did not read particularly easily for me - I think that is probably attributable to the fact that the book was written in German and that was a translation, but there was a certain beauty in the slightly unfamiliar use of language and grammar.

I am now very keen to go on to read The quest for Christa T which is set in the same period and which I imagine will also be a fascinating read.

This has been published twice by Virago with appropriately Germanic looking cover images. My copy is the second, later edition. 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*.

Christopher and Columbus (von Arnim) 395

I have been enjoying Elizabeth Von Arnim, and have been reading one of her books a week (and that's rationing them!). Thank goodness she has written quite a number so I don't have to worry about running out too soon, and even when I run out of VMCs, she wrote a number which haven't been published as VMCs (I have one from the library - Princess Priscilla's fortnight which sounds intriguing).

What I love most I think about Elizabeth Von Arnim, apart from the fact that her books are gripping, enjoyable and extremely well written, is the diversity in plot between the books. There doesn't seem to be any sense of the formulaic about her novels. Or not in the seven that I've read so far.

Christopher and Columbus is an extremely diverting read about two half-German twins, Anna-Rose and Anna-Felicitas. They are seventeen year olds, recently orphaned and struggling to make a place in the world. As the book is set at the dawn of the Second World War they are extremely hampered by their nationality; thrust upon relatives, their uncle, a British patriot, is reluctant to give them a home, and packs them off to America. Hence the title - the twins think of themselves as Christopher and Columbus to try to make themselves feel more adventurous. The rest of the book sees the girls trying to make a new life for themselves in America; extremely naieve and young for their age it is lucky that they encounter a friendly self-made-man on the ship who helps them out of the fixes they find themselves in and set them up.

The book has comic charm and romance and a wonderful story - all elements making it an extremely good read. Do pick it up if you see a copy.

It's only been published the once by Virago as far as I can see with this cover which is remarkably un-twinnish (or maybe the reflection in the mirror is supposed to imply twinnishness?). My copy is actually a print on demand edition - I believe that Virago are doing this with some of their books to keep them in print. It looks exactly like the original but with a colophon indicating this at the back and it is slightly bigger sizewise than the regular VMCs. Has anyone else come across POD VMCs?

Two serious ladies (Bowles) 10

I spotted Two serious ladies on the bookshelves of a friend and as I hadn't ever heard of Jane Bowles and as it was a VMC that I hadn't read I asked her to lend it to me.

According to the blurb, Jane Bowles is a celebrated American literary figure, although she only actually wrote this one novel and a collection of short stories; she suffered a brain haemmorage in her 40s which prevented her from writing anything else.

This is a rather weird book. It deals with the stories of two women who undergo a decline into debauchery after becoming associated with a couple of eccentric personages. The first character is a spinster, called Christina Goering, who effectively becomes a high class call girl. The second serious lady is Frieda Copperfield, who on holiday with her husband, decides to leave him to associate with a prostitute. The stories remain separate, although running concurrently in the book, but the point is I suppose that they are going down a similar track.

It's essentially an absurd tale and not one that I really got into. 1*.

It's been published twice by Virago; my friend had the more recent edition (and I'm quite glad that it was only a loan!)