Category: 1920’s Fiction

Expiation by Elizabeth Von Arnim

Published on by Anbolyn4 Comments

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Expiation is the seventh title by Elizabeth Von Arnim that I’ve read. Published in 1929, it is written with Von Arnim’s typical humor and sharp observations of human nature. It begins with the death of Milly’s husband in a street car accident. A fairly well-off man, it comes as quite a shock when he leaves only 1,000 pounds to his beloved wife and the rest of his wealth to a home for wayward women. But it is not a shock to Milly. For she has “sinned” and she now knows that her husband was aware of it and has decided to punish her for it. His tight-knit family, the Botts, now have to decide how to think of this strange decision: think the worst of Milly (which most of the women do) or think the worst of her husband (which most of the men do). Unfortunately, their thoughts mean everything as Milly is now not only poor but homeless. It is up to the Botts to absorb her into their lives but how do they do this and maintain their standing in society? Milly does try to find her own way, to break from the Botts and make it on her terms but they ultimately hold her fate in their hands.

This book is an interesting exploration of polite society and how any deviation from the code of polite society causes turmoil and insecurity among its members. The Bott family nearly implodes with speculation and exaggerated fear of Milly and what they think she has done. Von Arnim is definitely damning this attitude, but attempts to do it with a light touch. However, though this novel is very funny in places, I felt a mournfulness to it that was quite heavy. I think it is sad on many levels. Sad for Milly, for her lack of choice, sad for the Bott women who can’t accept Milly out of fear, sad for the Bott men who want to help Milly but can’t risk being charitable to a sinner, sad for women in general for their lives being so strictly prescribed. Does Milly receive expiation? Is it something that is even possible or necessary? I will leave that for you to discover, but I will say that I left this novel with such relief.

Though not my favorite of Von Arnim’s books, Expiation is a novel that has left me thinking and has made me see that her books are so much more political and concerned with social justice (especially for women) then I have realized.

I read Expiation as part of the Mini Persephone Readathon a couple of weekends ago. I intended to also finish Young Anne by Dorothy Whipple that weekend, but I am a slow reader and it didn’t happen. Young Anne will have to wait for another day.

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

Published on by Anbolyn31 Comments

Enchanted April

It feels so strange to be writing this post as I haven’t blogged in a year now – how did that happen? I can only say that 2017 was a year of readjustment for me. After having been diagnosed with cancer in December 2016 and receiving treatment at the beginning of 2017 it’s been a bit of an emotional and thoughtful year for me. Reading was not my top priority for a few months, however, I did get back into the swing of things and managed to read 60 books last year. But – I didn’t feel like writing about them except for small snippets on my Instagram page. Though I still feel somewhat shell-shocked by my ordeal (the emotional side effects are strange and powerful) I feel that I am ready to return to blogging in 2018.

My previous blog, Gudrun’s Tights, has permanently gone away and, sadly, I didn’t save any photos that I had posted over the years so all the photos that I transferred here are now gone as well. At first I was kicking myself for not backing up my work, but now I feel that it is somehow fitting. The past is the past – and I’m leaving it there! But I’m sorry if this blog looks a little bland – I’ll soon remedy that.

So, on to my first post of 2018 and it is about a book that I’ve tried to read several times over the years without success. Despite loving the film, I’ve always had such a hard time with The Enchanted April. I’ve found it sluggish and confusing. As a fan of Elizabeth Von Arnim I can only think that the reason I couldn’t finish it on my previous attempts was because it was known that I’d need the book now.

Most of you probably know the story – four women, previously unknown to each other, rent a castle in Italy for the month of April. They all suffer from various emotional struggles whether it’s boredom, unhappiness in marriage, too much male attention or loneliness. Almost immediately after they arrive at San Salvatore one of the women, Lotty, senses the healing powers of the location, of its flowers and plants and in being near the sea and from just being away from dreary, rainy London. And she blossoms. She really becomes a happier, more content, incredibly loving person, able to read the moods of her fellow travelers and help them to also let San Salvatore heal their wounds.

I think the book is funny and warm and lovely. In this equally dreary month of January I found it to be the balm I needed to relieve winter melancholy. I loved the characters and their desire to “find themselves” but I also loved that Von Arnim didn’t have them ditch their husbands or their old lives. It’s very much a fairy tale about rekindling the romance in a marriage and finding that one true love or the kindred friends who understand and support you.

The end of the book sees everyone off with their needs met and their hearts cheerful, but I did wonder – will their transformation survive when they get back to London? I truly hope so and I like to believe that they carry on loving and caring long after the book ends.

Have you read The Enchanted April?

Now, I’m on to Testament of Friendship by Vera Brittain and I’ve also got Winter by Ali Smith on the TBR. What are you reading?

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Published on by Anbolyn15 Comments

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After reading so many contemporary novels over the past few months, last week I wanted to read something old fashioned, comforting and familiar – so I turned to Agatha Christie. It seems odd to say that a book about a murder is comforting, but there is something about Christie that is so routine and recognizable and that makes her novels a nice reprieve from modern life. And haven’t we needed an escape lately?

This novel is narrated by a Dr. Sheppard of King’s Abbot, a small village to where Hercule Poirot has retired to tend to his garden and retire from society. But as everyone there knows he is a lauded detective he gets asked to help when Roger Ackroyd, a wealthy businessman, is found stabbed to death in a locked room. With the assistance of Dr. Sheppard, Poirot goes through his usual logic-based investigations, relying on village gossip and speculation to fill in the blanks.

It all smoothly hurtles along until the reader is snapped to attention by the completely astounding ending. It’s an ending that I certainly didn’t see coming and it is so admirably clever that I sat in silent admiration for Christie’s skill after the last page had been turned.

I’ve read a lot of  contemporary mysteries lately and I have to say that this novel trumps them all. I’d forgotten what a skillful writer Christie is and how you can get lost in her books like nothing else. After finishing this I ordered a few more Poirots to read over the summer and I’m looking forward to spending a few lazy afternoons  reading about the Belgian detective and his little grey cells.

*Thanks to Simon and Rachel for mentioning The Murder of Roger Ackroyd on their “Tea or Books?” podcast and inspiring me to read it.

Anderby Wold by Winifred Holtby

Published on by Anbolyn12 Comments

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I’m counting this as my first book read for the All Virago/All August event even though I finished it on the last day of July. It is the reason, however, that I visited the Librarything Virago group (to see if anyone else had recently read it) and found out about AV/AA so I believe it’s earned its place on the list.

Set just before WWI, the novel opens with a party in honor of Mary Robson and her husband, John. It’s their ten year anniversary, but more importantly, they’ve just bought Anderby Wold, Mary’s family home. As the relatives interact with each other at the party, we get a sense of their personalities and relation to each other which sets the scene for the rest of the novel.

Mary is quite a bit younger than her husband John, who is also her second cousin. She married him out of necessity and accepts his passive nature and rather boring demeanor because he doesn’t interfere with her running their two farms. John’s sister Sarah thinks that Mary treats him badly but she’s about the only one in their small villages in Yorkshire who thinks badly of her. Mary’s revered by the community for being service-minded, fair and capable. Underneath her practical nature, however, lurks a romantic streak that leads her to daydream about a great passion and to stubbornly sentimentalize her land and possessions.

Everything in her world starts to shift when a union man comes to the village and urges the farm workers to lobby for better wages or to strike during the upcoming harvest. David Rossitur is energetic, ambitious and idealistic and though he hates everything Mary stands for they are both young and charming and Mary quickly falls in love. The combination of the difficulty of the demands of the workforce and her violent hidden feelings for David upset Mary’s world to a remarkable degree yet she’s determined to carry on in the traditional ways of the village until a shocking tragedy demands a change.

Holtby is a wonderful storyteller, balancing the story of political upheaval and the inner struggles of individual characters with a perfect touch. Her story weaves the villagers lives together in such a way that if one of them is affected by something, they’re all affected and this really illuminates the idea that we’re all connected whether we realize it or not. I also like the way she places Mary’s wrestle with her personal problems against the backdrop of labor organizing to really intensify the understanding of how much the world was changing during this period in history.

This is a fantastic novel and I’m so glad I finally read my first Holtby. I’m now looking forward to reading the other Holtby novels that I have in my collection.

Willa Cather Reading Week: A Lost Lady

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A Lost Lady

I was so happy to read Willa Cather this week – to be back in the West, in the beautiful landscape of Nebraska, in the small railroad towns and among the pioneers who are rough yet cultured in their own way. I always feel that reading Cather is the closest I get to reading about my own heritage in a novel (other than reading Westerns, I suppose) as my mom’s family were all pioneers, settling in Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and, eventually, Arizona. Cather’s settings and characters are so familiar to me.

A Lost Lady is set in Sweet Water, a small town in Nebraska that is on the rail line between Omaha and Denver. Mrs. Forrester is a beautiful, mysterious, refined woman who lives with her wealthy husband in a big, lovely house on the outskirts of town. She’s vibrant and flirtatious – what is often called a man’s woman. Young Niel Herbert falls under her spell rather early in his life and as he grows up we see Mrs. Forrester from his perspective – from near perfection to the clear-eyed disappointment we sometimes develop in the cherished adults of our youth. But always he protects her, helps her, forgives her, until she finally puts her faith in the wrong person and his respect for her cracks.

This is a fascinating portrait of a woman who, like the West, is in transition. Though Niel longs for her to remain steady in her charms and perfection, Mrs. Forrester needs to change as the world changes. It is upsetting to all of the men around her and ultimately leads her to break with the people who want to maintain tradition and stability. It is a convincing character study and a classic portrait of frontier life on the verge of vanishing.

A short novel at just 150 pages, but a powerful one. Willa Cather’s writing is sensational, especially as it is not showy, but subtle and quiet.

Thank you to Ali for hosting this week. I’m now motivated to read the rest of Cather’s novels.

The Dark Tide by Vera Brittain

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The Dark Tide was published in 1923 and was Vera Brittain’s first novel. It caused quite a stir when it was released as it caricatured several Oxford dons and nearly insulted her good friend Winifred Holtby, whom the main character is modeled after. However, Holtby took it “with good humor”. I think I would have been insulted if I were Holtby after reading the first 1/3 of the novel as she makes the protagonist, Daphne Lethbridge, seem like a horrid, ignorant, mean girl. But Brittain does redeem her character in the end.

As the novel opens, Daphne has returned to Oxford after serving as a driver during the War. She’s looking forward to continuing her studies in International Relations, but things go south when she begins coaching with a fellow student, Virginia Dennison. Virginia is simply brilliant. She’s also attractive and dresses beautifully. Daphne can’t control her jealousy and develops a dislike of Virginia that borders on hatred. For Virginia, the feeling is mutual. She thinks Daphne is idiotic, clumsy and ridiculous. Daphne tries so hard to eclipse Virginia’s work, but Virginia’s natural abilities far outshine her own. This antagonism and competition inadvertently leads to Daphne agreeing to marry their coach, a man named Raymond Sylvester, who had really wanted to marry Virginia. The tragedy that erupts from this marriage results in Daphne and Virginia forming an unlikely alliance.

I very much liked The Dark Tide and Vera Brittain’s clear writing style. This is the type of novel that you can get lost in at the end of a long day. It has a tinge of melodrama, not too much, just the right amount to make it addicting. Daphne and Virginia are both engaging characters and the transformations realized in their personalities by the end of the novel are admirable. There is definitely a “feel good” ending to the book that was a tad surprising –  I did not predict the ending at all. More than anything, this is hugely enjoyable and completely absorbing – time well spent.

For anyone wondering about my storytime experience – it went fairly well, but I don’t feel great about it. I had about 35 people and it was chaotic, but I did learn more about pacing and story length. I know that as I do more of them, I’ll learn more and be able to refine and improve the experience for both me and the babies. The babies were the best part – one little boy named Jack let me hold him and his grandparents told me that he never lets anyone outside of the family hold him – that made me feel great!