Random Jottings

Victoria and Albert - recent letters

A week or so ago some letters between Victoria and Albert were published and trumpeted as "new" and, as one tabloid put it, "showed Queen Victoria was a nag". Typical click bait heading and I found it very annoying.

I had already read these letters years ago so why the newness claim I do not know. I feel the letters put Albert in a bad light not Victoria.

A couple of years ago there was a two part programme on the BBC which made Victoria out to be a ghastly mother and I strongly disagreed with the stance it took. She was not a huggy feely touchy mother but she was, contrary to opinion, devoted to her children and took a huge interest in their upbringing and welfare.   Her diaries and letters show how she took pride in their achievements, how she detailed everything about the clothes they wore, the holidays they took with them and in many ways she sounds just like an ordinary mother.

But of course she wasn’t. If we want to label her we could say she was a Working Mother and therefore could not spend as much time with them as she wished.

Also I want to remind everyone that she had NINE children. Yes nine in seventeen years.  And please bear in mind that she was tiny just over 5 foot and yet time and time again she gave birth to strong healthy children (with the exception of one who was haemophiliac).

With each birth she suffered what we now realise was probably post natal depression.  She struggled through it because she received very little sympathy and Albert was particularly obtuse and unhelpful.

"I am trying to keep out of your way until your better feelings have returned and you have regained control of yourself. You on the other hand want to talk it all over with me again, you make a parade of your suffering before my eyes so as to make me feel your reproaches still more keenly,

I am ready to ignore all that has happened and take a new departure and try in future to avoid anything which might make you unhappy and your state of mind worse. Cure it I cannot. You alone can do that"

AND

"I can give you a good certificate this time and am pleased to witness your own improvement. My advice is to be less occupied with yourself and your own feeling"

A certificate! Wow thanks Albert

Over the years my opinion of Albert has undergone a change. After reading Lady Longford's seminal biography back in the sixties,  I felt sorry for him living with this bad tempered wife but as having read an exchange of letters with his adviser and mentor Baron Stockmar it was clear that the plan all along was for him to act as a King and Victoria's state of perpetual pregnancy made her heavily reliant on him. Victoria adored what she called Fun in Bed but was not so enamoured of the consequences.  There were plenty of courtiers who were secretly happy that a MAN was in charge believe you me.

Thought she was devestated at Albert's early death the real Victoria slowly began to emerge once more. Having been made to feel ill eduated and ignorant by her husband, her acute political acumen came to the fore, and she is revealed as a woman who has her finger firmly on the button and an instinctive knowledge of how her subjects felt on certain matters. In other words she had the Common Touch which Albert never possessed.  

I believe he sucked all the joy out of her and, as the years passed and her love for him never dimmed, it must have been disheartening and upsetting to be consistently criticised and ignored.   I loved the later Queen Victoria and in one of her letters to her daughter the Crown Princess of Prussia, she said "I am afraid I am going to do something of which dear Papa would not have approved" and I thought GO GIRL!

Don't ask me what it was she was going to do because I cannot remember, but I do remember my reaction....

Random on British Tecs - No. 2 Inspector Frost

I have recently been watching ITV3, a channel in the UK which plays repeats of old progs and amongst them I have discovered Frost, in which David Jason plays the title role.  I remember them well from back in the nineties and never missed an episode.  At the time David Jason was flying high as he was also Pop Larkin in the hugely successful Darling Buds of May (now being remade) and Only Fools and Horses. He had the golden touch and could do no wrong.

Frost was based on the Inspector Frost books of R D Wingfield.  There were only six and it is clear that the tv series sanitised it a bit. Frost is disorganised, dirty, untidy, sexist and a tad obnoxious.   His boss Superintendent Mullet is a slimy snob more interested in climbing the
greasy pole of promotion than in solving murders though he is always happy to take the credit when the disreputable Frost does all the work.

I have to be frank here and say that though I am not a person who takes offence at the mores of the past when reading a book, there are parts of the Frost books which grate a bit. The casual sexism and attitude to women is the main problem, but then it is easy to forget that sexism in the police force in the seventies and eighties when these books are set was rife and this is merely a reflection of this. 

I discovered the books of Robert Barnard a year or so ago and I found them the same. Books written in the seventies seem to have dated more than, say, those of Agatha Christie and D L Sayers oddly enough. I think this may be because they are far enough in the past to fall into the "historical" category and attitudes expressed in them seem tolerable. It is a thought.

The books are well written and pacy and are an enjoyable read.  The kind of detective portrayed here is an old fashioned one. Frost rose through the ranks, knows his patch, knows his villains and seems to be able to connect with them. It harks back to the days of Dixon of Dock Green for those of us old enough to remember.

As I have said, David Jason who plays Frost, was THE big tv star at the time and immensely popular and so the hard edges were rubbed off in his portrayal though the essence of the character were maintained. Revisiting them in the last few weeks I was surprised at how well they stand the test of tv time, but the casting and production values were high as were the scripts,

R D Wingfield died in 2017 and after his death other writers took up the mantle and wrote a sesries of novels about Frost.  I am not sure when writers do this (I gather the future Reacher books by Lee Childs are now to be written by his brother) but the style of the further books is pretty seamless and read as if written by the original author.  There are four written by James Henry, who I gather are two writers, and two by Danny Miller.  They slot well into the genre.

On the whole my re-read of the Frost books has been enjoyable and they are well worth seeking out.  But as I have mentioned the attitudes of the day have to be taken into account and understood.

Still, give them a go and see what you think. They are also, quite funny at times, particularly in the chats between Frost and Mullett.

A A Milne - not just Winnie the Pooh

I am currently enjoying Murder by the Book, a recent publication by the wonderful British Library Crime classics, and contained therein is a short story A Savage Game by one A A Milne.

We all know who A A Milne is (incidentally I have always wondered what A A stood for - it seems it is Alan Alexander. Thought you might like to know).  All of us are familiar with Winnie the Pooh et al and if you did not read them as a child (I didn't) your children will have done. Mine certainly did and also my grandchildren. It seems poor AA got a tad fed up with being famous purely for all the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood especially as he wrote poetry, plays, essays, non fiction and other fiction.  

He has also written a mystery, The Red House which was published in 1922 which I read a few years ago.  According to the blurb  the Red House was 'where secret passages, uninvited guests, a sinister valet and a puzzling murder' lay and this formed the foundation for a classic crime.

This is what I said about it at the time of reading:

We have a murder in a study - Anthony Gillingham, a sub-Wimsey man about town, clean cut and with grey eyes 'absorbing every detail of our person'  calls on a guest at a weekend party at the Red House and is just in time to hear a gun shot and a member of the household hammering on the locked door.

Within half an hour the police have arrived, led by an Inspector who is immediately portrayed as a dim and worthy person but obviously is never going to solve the mystery and Anthony takes over without so much as a by your leave.  Apart from one or two chapters, the police spend most of their time well off centre stage and Anthony just does as he likes - it is all very unbelievable.  Most of the house guests are packed off back to town within an hour of the murder, in case they find it all too upsetting, surprisingly the police allow this to happen, and we are therefore left with such a narrow field of suspects, ie - one, that any tension that might have been hovering vanishes entirely.

By the end of the book, I was very glad to have finished this tedious rigmarole and so disappointed as I had high hopes at the start of the first chapter and it was not until the end that I also realised that the 'sinister valet' mentioned in the blurb had never appeared.

And this story The Savage Game is all that the Red House was not. Witty and perceptive and a cracking good mystery which the narrator solves in double quick time.  It had definite shades of Miss Marple about it and I am rather sorry that this appears to be one of the few short stories he penned.   The light touch shown here is such a surprise after the full length novel.  In the foreword to the Red House A A Milne admits, somewhat ruefully, that perhaps a life of crime was not for him. He was right in that case but his inclusion in this volume shows he could do it. Perhaps he should have persevered.

A few years ago I reviewed a full length novel by the author, Two People which was published by Capuchin Press and enjoyed it very much indeed. The link to this review is here (apologies for the length of the link, it won't work unless all this is in) and illustrates his versatility:

https://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_jottings_of_an_ope/2009/04/two-people-a-a-milne.html?cid=6a00d83451935569e201157004f6e9970b#comment-6a00d83451935569e201157004f6e9970b

Incidentally Murder by the Book also contains story by Ngaio Marsh which I had never read before and I was thrilled to bits to find it written in her inimical style and fooled me completely. I wonder if she has any more lurking that have yet to see the light of day?

Incidentally Murder by the Book also contains story by Ngaio Marsh which I had never read before and I was thrilled to bits to find it written in her inimical style and fooled me completely. I wonder if she has any more lurking that have yet to see the light of day?

Reading pleasures lined up

Just a quick post today as I am hitting the North Circular in an hour or two and joining up with the Other Grandparents to look after the girls over the weekend.   I always take a book with me, force of habit, but never have a chance to open it. Not complaining though. Time with grandchildren is precious.

I have quite a few books lined up on my TBR pile and future purchases to look forward to and here are just a selection.

Yesterday there was a knock on the door and my postie was clutching a parcel. "Blimey what have you got in here" was his cry and I guessed straight away what it contained. Yes and I was right. Volume 2 of the Chips Channon diaries covering the years 1938 to 1943. Over 800 pages and weighing in at 4 lb (out of interest I put the book on my bathroom scales) this is going to keep me busy for a while.  I really enjoyed Volume 1 after a sticky start when I tired of his endless descriptions of high society but once he was in Parliament his insight was fascinating. And at the end of Volume 1 was a memorandum he had written on the Abdication which made for a compelling read.

These cover the war years jup to 1943 and the only way to tackle this is to read one year at a time which I have already started to do. I am keeping a note book by me to jot down references and thoughts. If I start with post it notes the book will be bristling with them.  Will review in due course but "I may be gone some time..."

Another title on my list is George V by Jane Ridley.   A couple of years ago I read her biography of Edward VII which I loved. Insightful and full of interest the author has a knack of bringing her subjects alive and I ended up loving Bertie warts and all.   I have been lucky to receive an advanced reading copy but it is not due to be published until 4 November and I await that date to review.   Again, I have copious notes already taken and I am thoroughly enjoying it. A full review will be written in due course but I can already say it is excellent and I can recommend its purchase.  Nothing to stop you pre-ordering...

I have already mentioned Val McDermid.   I have her latest by my side entitled 1979 which gives a clue to its time and setting lest you be in any doubt. I have read all her Carol and Tony Hill books and think that she was right to finish them as not sure their tale could have been taken any further, but pleased that she is still going to continue with the Pirie series.  Saving this up which sounds daft but just knowing it is waiting for me is a nice feeling.

You know when you log onto Amazon and they come up with recommendations based on your previous reading? Most of the time I skim through but now and then I spot something that I think might be interesting and the other day picked up on one they thought I might like. Mr Finchley Discovers his England by Victor Canning. I know of this author mainly through my teenage years spent shelving books when I worked in the library service but know nothing about him. I will be honest and say the reason I bought this was I loved the cover and thought that looks fun.

"Mr Edgar Finchley, unmarried clerk, aged 45, is told to take a holiday for the first time in his life. He decides to go to the seaside. But Fate has other plans in store. From his abduction by a cheerful crook, to his smuggling escapade off the south coast, the timid but plucky Mr Finchley is plunged into a series of the most astonishing and extraordinary adventures"

I mean how could I resist?

And with the knowledge of a reboot of the series The Darling Buds of May based on the novels of H E Bates which I loved, the Pop Larkin books are now also awaiting my attention. I have a feeling Mr Finchley and Pop will provide a balance to the hefty tomes sitting on my table as I write.

Happy reading everyone.

Random on BritTecs - No. 1

As you all know by now I love a good detective/crime novel and I have been reading a lot recently. One of the results of all that has gone on over the last eighteen months has been the frying of the part of my brain that could read and digest any kind of reading that needed a keen eye and a discerning view point.  (So what is new I hear you cry.. yeh  ok)

I have been doing a lot of rereading and also some new authors and I thought I would write a series of posts regarding all the crime stuff I have read to date and as it has all been UK based I thought I would have a really snappy title like BritTecs.   Cool right?

I will be writing about Peter Lovesey, DS Bruce, R D Wingfield and a few others. No doubt Agatha will creep in somewhere but this is the first one.

Here we go and we start with the Bill Slider books by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. I first discovered this author when I came across her Morland Dynasty historical novels, not sure where, probably a charity shop and once I got stuck in I read the lot. They started up pre-medieval and stopped at around the sinking of the Titanic, ie 1912. Then her publishers decided that they were not selling enough and pulled the plug on the entire series much to my fury and to all the thousands who had read them.  A post regarding this on Random ended up with over 400 comments such was the reaction.

She is now writing another historical series but I am not familiar with those. Good luck to her say I. In the meantime, I discovered she wrote detective novels, for another publisher, and these are pure gold.

Bill Slider, a detective Inspector is the main protagonist with his sidekick Atherton. Now I have a sneaky suspicion that CHE (as I will refer to the author from now on) must have been watching Morse and/or Lewis on the telly when she started writing these, more the latter than the former, as the relationship and character of Bill Sliderand James Atherton mirrors that of Lewis and Hathaway, even down to their physical characteristics.   It means that I cannot read the books without envisaging Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox which can be a bit disconcerting at times.

When the series starts we meet Bill, married with two children. The marriage is not a particularly happy one as his wife resents his work and the time it takes away from home.   He is plodding along when he investigates a murder involving a musician in an orchestra and meets a violinist Joanna.  The mutual attraction is instant.   As the series of books evolves and we see how he and his team solve murders and clear crimes, his personal life runs alongside the narrative and adds to the interest.   Bill is a caring compassionate man and finds it difficult to end his marriage and leave his home. Atherton is the polar opposite. Cuts through woman like a hot knife through butter, no woman is immune to his charm and, it has to be said, his selfishness and absorption with his life.

Alongside the Dynamic Duo is his team and his superior is Superintendent Porson who has a way with words that makes spoonerism look mild.  A supportive and loyal chief, unusual as most superiors portrayed in such books are usually pen pushers, keen on promotion and will sacrifice staff in order to bolster a reputation. Not here. Porson is lovable and his team admire and respect him.

“I hope it turns out to be a suicide after all or some simple mistake.  Maybe he was ampidistrous?”

There was some confusion here over the victim committing suicide with the wrong hand.

“Good enough for an amateur to think it would pass mustard” Porson grunted.

Very difficult to convey just how witty this series is and when I started reading them how unexpected I found it as I had only known CHE by the Morland novels and some very early stand alone novels (which I do not recommend) and I can only say you have to read them to enjoy the style and the imaginative narrative.

“at the station Prentiss had accepted his offer of a cup of coffee but when it was put before him he only looked at it blankly, as if such things had never come his way before.  Well perhaps it hadn’t Slider reflected.  In Prentiss’ world, coffee was probably a delicious aromatic stimulant made from freshly ground roasted arabica beans. Maybe he’d never been presented with a dingy ecru liquid that smelled of rancid laundry and been expected to swallow it”

Great stuff.

There are 22 books in the series so plenty to keep you going. Do try them and though I would not normally bother with reading in order, I think in this case do start from the first one and work through.

I have just reread them all after a long gap and have loved them all over again.  Already looking forward to No 23.

Andrew Lownie - Traitor King

Traitor King is a title obviously chosen to catch the eye and act as a selling point on this latest tome regarding the WIndsors. Ditto the subtitle “The Scandalous exile of the Duke and Duchess of  Windsor”.   It is what is now called click bait using a title to catch your eye and interesting you enough to click and read. Newspapers do it all the time.

It is extraordinarily difficult to find anything positive to say about this ghastly pair and, in particular, the Duke.  I have to state right away that I do not think that the Duke of Windsoe would consider he was a traitor.   My main reason for coming to this conclusion is the utter immaturity, weakness and stupidity of the ex-King.   He was venal, greedy, selfish and narcissistic but I find the premise that he plotted against his country at a time of war and engaged in treasonable activities difficult to believe.   It was crystal clear that the German hierarchy and Hitler himself viewed him purely as a useful tool, somebody easy to use and control because he thought of nobody but himself and his wife.

I believe he genuinely thought that avoiding war and coming to peaceful terms with Germany was the sensible thing to do and, on paper, it is difficult to disagree.   But his reasons for this were purely for his own purposes.    He wanted to be King again this time with Queen Wallis by his side and he thought the Germans would help him achieve this.   It was all about him and what he wanted and the thought that he might be viewed as a traitor probably never crossed his mind.

Time after time when the Germans thought they had pinned him down he wriggled away finding excuses and avoiding practicalities and concrete plans.   The Duke wanted a role which would allow him to come back to the UK and be King George’s representative and when this was refused he became increasingly impatient and bitter and this is where he was at his most vulnerable.   He was offered the Governorship of the Bahamas which he was loathe to accept as he was astute enough to realise that his brother just wanted him out of the way and in a place where he could do no harm.

The most intriguing part of this biography is the discovery of the so called Marburg Papers

These are alleged to have detailed a plot by the Nazis called Operation Willi orchestrated in 1940, to persuade the Duke of Windsor to officially join sides with the Nazis and move him to Germany in a bid to bring the UK to peace negotiations. At the time the Windsors were in Lisbon refusing to move to a safer place and turning down taking the flight offered to them as they had too much luggage to be taken on board – hard though that may be to believe.  Operation Willi proposed convincing the Duke of a phony plot by King George VI and Prime Minister Winston Churchill to have him assassinated upon his arrival in the Bahamas and conspiring with him to stage a kidnapping in the hope of blackmailing the monarchy and the UK into surrender. The papers are also alleged to show the possibility of the Nazis' plan to reinstate the Duke as king, whilst also officially recognising his wife as queen, in exchange for Nazi forces being given free movement across Europe.  It was alleged that among his final communication with the Nazis before leaving for the Bahamas he encouraged relentless bombing attacks on the United Kingdom in a bid to force the British government to begin peace negotiations.

Difficult to believe all this is true but it was serious enough to make Churchill and following governments try to keep the papers under wraps.   The Americans had obtained copies and a great deal of diplomatic activity was brought to play to persuade them to co-operate.   They were ultimately published and it seems the Duke was extremely annoyed…

Whatever conclusion one reaches about this whole affair it clearly shows the character of the Duke and, as I have already mentioned his selfishness and self-absorption.   In such thrall to his wife and bitter at her not being accepted and her lack of title, he allowed himself to be seduced by false promises regarding her status to engage in what the UK government viewed as traitorous activities.

And so we come to Wallis with who, no matter how awful she may appear, I do have some slight sympathy.   From an impoverished childhood and background and fiercely ambitious she became involved with the then Prince of Wales to gain a foothold in society which seems to have been her main aim.   In her letters to her aunt in Baltimore, she described herself as “Wallis in Wonderland” and told her that she was determined to make the most of it as she was under no illusion it would all come to an end.   So she allowed the POW to become attached to her, spending hundreds and thousands on jewellery and giving her a lifestyle she could only have dreamed of.   Unfortunately, she underestimated his neediness and soon discovered there was no way she could be rid of him and, to give her credit, when she realised that he was threatening to abdicate, did all she could to stop him and tried to end it.   The Prince then threatened to kill himself and said he would follow her if she left and then it was too late – Mrs Simpson was, not to put to fine a point on it, lumbered with him.

Various reports at the time of the Abdication and the time of their marriage were quite clear that she did not love him. Baba, wife of a long time friend of the Duke, “Fruity” Metcalfe wrote in her diary after the wedding ceremony:

“I knew I should have kissed her but I just couldn’t….I don’t remember wishing her happiness of good luck as thought she loved him.  If she occasionally showed a glimmer of softness, took his arm, looked at him as if she loved him, one would warm towards her, but her attitude is so correct and hard.  The effect is of an older woman unmoved by the infatuated love of a younger man. Let’s hope that she lets up in private with him else it must be grim”

And, indeed, it was grim.  Her patience was tried to the limit – if she left the room or went out he wandered around lost wanting to know where she was, what she was doing, every minute of the day.  As the years passed she seemed to become more irritated and vicious with him and he was overheard to ask her whether she was going to send him to bed crying again.

Obsessed with money though they were fabulously wealthy the Duke appeared to have engaged in what would appear to be fraudulent activity when in the Bahamas to hide his money and avoid taxes.   After the death of the Duchess when her jewellery was auctioned, certain pieces which had been part of a burglary while visiting the UK and on which insurance was claimed, turned up in the sale.   Spending freely while on a visit to the US during their tenure in the Bahamas and finding they were being criticised, the Duchess said she was buying Christmas presents for the poor children as they had nothing.   It was acidly reported that one did not usually buy children’s presents at Cartier and Mainbocher.....

It is so tawdry and sad.

I found while reading this biography that I had to keep putting it down and taking a break as the awfulness and emptiness of their lives was really depressing.    To sum up, this is a story of a man who hated being Royal and who married a strong ambitious woman to whom he was totally in thrall. Once away from his royal life he seemed to long to return and when it was made clear to him this was not possible, became bitter calling his family cold and unfeeling, complaining about money and selling his and his wife’s story to the press.

I leave you to draw the obvious parrallel....

NOTE since writing this review the author has been in touch and points out the evidence shows that the Duke was more than a dupe and was a traitor. I am not arguing with this for one moment, but the point I have made in my review is that the Duke was so self absorbed and interested only in himself and Wallis, that no matter what we may think then and now, he would not view himself as a traitor.

This is my opinion and I am staying with it but as my statement that I do not think the Duke was a traitor sounded slightly ambiguous I am clearifying my meaning.

Current Reading and recently received

The last eighteen months have been rather odd reading wise, for me at least, as I have found myself taking comfort from re-reading a lot of titles and series.   I am currently ploughing, though that sounds as if it is difficult to do so when it is the opposite, the Bill Slider series by Cynthia-Harrod-Eagles which are simply terrific. I have been searching through Random and it seems I have never really written about them so I intend to rectify that mistake soon.

I have recently discovered that the series of The Darling Buds of May which first appeared on our tv screens over thirty years ago now is being remade, or as it is now phrased 'rebooted'. I remember the original very well because for years after reading the books by H E Bates, I did what I quite often do, and cast the characters just in case a film was ever made.   Pop Larkin had to be David Jason and I held this view for several years so when the casting was announced and there he was I was simply delighted.  Of course, to be honest, his Pop was a country version of Del Boy but it was "perfick" so I was not complaining.  It was a huge success so I am hoping the remake is as good.

I first read the H E Bates books when I was about twelve and remembered, little innocent that I then was, asking my sister how Pop and Ma could have so many children when they were not married?   She explained...

I love the books and so decided a reread was in order and as my old and battered copies vanished some time ago, decided to treat myself to new ones and they arrived today. I love the covers and am looking forward to reacquainting myself with the Larkins over the next week or so.

I have also received two titles from the Classic Crime series published by the British Library, Murder by the Book and Till Death us do Part and will be reviewing and writing about these later.

On a recent visit to a friend, whose collection of books makes mine look puny, I spotted on a table by her side a book called My Victorian Novel. Well, I could not resist taking a look and after starting to read the first essay decided I had to buy a copy. Price is £25 but managed to find a second hand one and it arrived earlier this week.  It contains essays on Jane Eyre, The Duke's Children, Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda, Vanity Fair, North and South, Bleak House, David Copperfield and the Pickwick Papers all of which I have read and loved so this is sheer joy. I have already read the first on Jane Eyre but am saving the rest and eking them out. Just knowing they are there waiting for me is a wonderful thought.

Andrew Lownie, who published a book about the Mountbattens recently, was at the Felixstowe Book Festival this year and I really think we need to ask him back as I would love to speak to him about his latest, Traitor King - the scandalous exile of the Duke and Duchess of WIndsor.  It is totally engrossing but honestly the more I read about them the more ghastly they both appear. I can find excuses for the Duchess (more anon when I review) but it is almost impossible to find anything good to say about the Duke. Spoilt, selfish, narcissistic, needy, pathetic and, to be honest, rather dim is all I can think of at the moment.   I have been reading this with an horified fascination and have to keep putting it down as the sheer awfulness of their behaviour is simply staggering.

Oh and a few weeks ago I was asked to review a fictionalised account of the Duchess of WIndsor's 'love story'.   I had to apologise to the publishers and say I simply could not review it as it was utterly utterly dire and so far removed from reality I had difficulty in not hurling it across the room.   It is going to the charity shop though I feel rather guilty in inflicting it on some poor unsuspecting reader.

And in the middle of all this as I felt I needed some light and love I re-read Anne of Green Gables which made me feel much better....

Faber & Faber - the Untold Story by Toby Faber

One of the first things that delights me when I read a book is the use of English. Yes I know I am reading in English so what is my point?  Well there is English and English and my point is that there are times when reading a book, usually modern literature, when I wonder if the author ever went to school so clunky and dire is the narrative.   I find I wince at a word which has no place in a sentence but has been shoe horned in to make an effect which it does, but the opposite to that intended.  Excessive use of adjectives and pronouns and my bête noire, exclamation marks.   Drives me mad.

And then the joy of coming across a book which is so beautifully written that it flows, the nerves relax and one can sit back with a sigh of contentment.  Well, last week I finished reading Faber & Faber: the Untold Story by Toby Faber whose grandfather founded this publishing house.   I started reading and knew that this was a book which would have me purring with pleasure. And it did.

Toby has drawn on the Faber archives to tell the history of the firm and they form the bulk of the narrative with his additions and comments in between to clarify.   I love reading diaries and letters as, whether or not the person writing intends to, the personality of the author seeps through. There is no escape. I have read diaries when I have intensely disliked the writer even though they have tried to portray themselves in a certain way. Others I have read and found I simply loved the diarist for the reason given above.

Reading this book gave me so much joy.  For a start the author’s godfather and a huge supporter and influence to the firm was T S Eliot.  Well, you cannot get much better than that as a starting point and this is where the joy begins. The writing. The exchange of letters between Geoffrey Faber and T S Eliot.   Elegant, witty, each line effortlessly produced. While you might expect this from Eliot I hasten to add that all the correspondence featured in this tome is of the highest quality.  My copy is packed with lurid post it notes where I have flagged up a felicitous phrase, a sentence that had me burbling with delight.   Difficult to pick out those that had me grinning with pleasure but here are a few:

T S Eliot to Geoffrey March 1936 regarding a book of children’s verse about which he had doubts

“I am more and more doubtful of my ability to write a successful book of this kind and I had rather find out early that I can’t do it than a waste a lot of time for nothing. And this sort of thing is flatter if it is flat than serious verse can be. Nobody wants to make a fool of himself when he might be better employed……………….there are several ways in which this could be a failure. The various poems might not be good enough. The matters here as such might not be amusing; a book simply of collected animal poems might be better…………….there may be many more ways of going wrong than of going right”

Even TSE had worries about his writing  it seems..

And a difference of opinion with Geoffrey over the publishing of Nightwood by  Djuna Barnes (which did make their catalogue in 1936):

“……..I have read it again over the holidays and am more strongly in favour of the book than ever. What is important to me is that I believe that this may be our last chance to do something remarkable in the way of imaginative literature. As for our literary reputation, remember that people like Joyce and myself may help to keep the temperature level, but we can’t send it any higher. There is something an author does once (if at all) in his generation that he can’t ever do again. We can go on writing stuff that nobody else would right, if you like, but The Waste Land and  Ulysses remain the historic points. From a publishing point of view, there is a tremendous difference between getting a good author first and rounding him in after his reputation is made and if Joyce and I, for example, had up to now been published by some other firm, we should no longer be worth getting…….”

Geoffrey Faber’s response:

“What distresses me is that I should have so hopelessly failed to see what you both* see  in Nightwood. After reading your two letters I cannot doubt that you are right, and that I am wrong – which is a discomforting, though perhaps salutary state of mind for a publisher, let alone an educated man to be in..”

*Frank Morley another director of the firm thought it good

Was ever two opposing points of view so elegantly expressed?

If I went on with further examples I would end up quoting the entire book so may I urge you to go out and purchase this and give yourself up to its glory. And yes I do mean glory. Not a word I use lightly but, I have to emphasis once again, just how wonderful it is to read English so beautifully phrased and expressed.   There is another letter featured written to a director, who they feel should leave, and is being asked if he feels it would be a good thing for him to do.   It is clear that if he does not resign he may be asked to do so but the letter suggesting the correct course of action is a masterpiece of tact and kindness. Iron hand in the velvet glove.

I do not think it is a coincidence that one of my favourite authors, P D James, whose utterly perfect writing I have written about elsewhere, has always been published by Faber & Faber.

As a final note, I attended a lecture given by Toby Faber a few years ago and found him to be as stylish and witty as his illustrious friends and relations and I asked him if he would come to the Felixstowe Book Festival to repeat this talk.   We all know what happened in 2020 and it was only this summer that he finally made it and it was worth the wait.  He was interviewed by Nicola Upson, another Faber author and it was a lovely occasion.

I have tried to give a flavour of The Untold Story which only uses part of the archive – it would be such a treat if there were more treasures to be unearthed for us to see.

Fingers crossed.

This title goes on my Book of the Year list…

It is a Truth universally acknowledged...

... that all sequels, prequels, add ons and heaven knows what else regarding the novels of Jane Austen are poor stuff.    Not so I hear you cry and after that sweeping statement (as you all know by now I love sweeping statements) I will admit that I have read a few, a very few that I have enjoyed and thought were worth reading.

And here is one I thought was excellent.  Mrs Darcy's Dilemma by Diana Birchall.   This paragraph is just perfect. It captures Jane's writing and style beautifully but does not stray into the exaggerated vernacular that so many of the other Jane books fall into.

"Mr Darcy was, at fifty, very much as might have been expected from a knowledge of him at eight and twenty; a noble man indeed...magisterial bearing and dignified manner were more impressive than ever... yet his lips would relax in an indulgent smile that was good to see, his eyes would gleam with enjoyment and his face would look really handsome still, when he looked upon his wife...."  who was " between forty and fifty years old and still a handsome woman known for her with and good humour....she was as much as ever the delight of Mr Darcy's mind and the beloved of his heart...."

I reviewed it here some time ago and here is the link.

https://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_jottings_of_an_ope/2008/03/mrs-darcys-dile.html

A book of a few years ago which falls into my Approved Jane Category is Longbourn and the story is told from a servant's point of view which makes for intriguing reading.

https://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_jottings_of_an_ope/2013/09/longbourn-jo-baker.html

It is very interesting to see how the sainted Jane and Elizabeth are viewed by those below stairs

"If Elizabeth Bennett had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah thought, she would be more careful not to tramp through muddy fields".

We are meant to admire Lizzy in her tramping across to Netherfield to see her sister and this is an outcome we do not think of.   Diana Birchall also wrote a book featuring Mrs Elton, a character in Emma who is portrayed as snobbish and superior and we are invited to dislike her intensely. And we do.   And yet Diana put forward the thought that Mrs Elton may have been eager to come and meet Emma and all the people in Highbury and make friends and enjoy her newly married state.   We see her from Emma's point of view which, let's face it, is not reliable and Mrs E may have found her hopes totally flattened.   

Of course, whether we are meant to look at a character so beautifully and wickedly portrayed by Jane Austen in another way is a moot point but I have to admit that after reading Diana's take on Mrs Elton I looked at her in a more sympathetic light.

And I now turn to a book I read this month and really enjoyed. The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow. In Pride and Prejudice Mary is the middle of the five Bennet girls and the plainest of them all, so what hope does she have? Prim and pious, with no redeeming features, she is unloved and seemingly unlovable.

I am quoting here from the blurb which sums up the book beautifully.  The Other Bennet Sister shows another side to Mary. "An introvert in a family of extroverts; a constant disappointment to her mother who values beauty above all else; fearful of her father’s sharp tongue; with little in common with her siblings – is it any wonder she turns to books for both company and guidance?"

At the start of this title Mary is the irritating sister we all know but then we begin to see that her outer shell of superiority is a shell to cover up her inadequacies when compared to her sisters. And, once again, Elizabeth and Jane are shown not to be so perfect but to be thoughtless and hurtful to the younger sibling they find annoying and do not understand.

I have always thought that Mary was the most suitable bride for Mr Collins and in this title she feels the same and does her best to bring this about, but is outsmarted by Charlotte Lucas as we all know.   When staying with them on a visit it is clear that the marriage is not happy and Charlotte despises her husband.   And here is where we get a new look at Mr Collins. He loves his wife but suffers knowing that she holds him in contempt.   Under the bombastic and pompous exterior is a kindly man, not the quickest wit in the world, but appreciative of his home and his family.   He and Mary spend a lot of time in the library together and slowly they form a bond.   I found this aspect of the book really most interesting and was beautifully portrayed.    Charlotte begins to notice this blossoming friendship and is rather put out, but it makes her look at herself and behave more kindly to her husband and the marriage improves.

Of course, Mary finds love in the end but it is not an easy route and, like Emma, she had to look at herself and change her thinking and admit that she too has to change her attitude.

This is a really good addition to the Austen+ canon and one of the better ones.

I cannot leave this post without mentioning Old Friends and New Fancies which was reprinted in 2007 but was written in 1913 and has been billed 'The First Jane Austen Sequel ever created'. 

It is obviously written for sheer fun.  I found it to be totally unpretentious, without any of the high flown pastiche that I have mentioned above.  It is all a bit silly and yet, also, intriguing.  All of Austen's characters lived at the same time, were involved in the navy, law and church and so it was  likely that they would meet up with each other as they moved in the same circles.

Sybil G Brinton has worked on this premise and so we have Mr and Mrs Darcy with a new curate at the living at Pemberley.  He is James Morland, brother of Catherine (now Mrs Tilney), who falls in love with Kitty Bennett.  However, Kitty who is in many ways similar to her sister Lydia (now in the West Indies with Wickham), rejects him as she has fallen in love with William Price (brother of Fanny now married to Edmund, also friends of the Darcys).  She has been encouraged to believe that he cares for her by Mrs George Knightly with whom Kitty has been staying (Emma still getting it wrong).  BUT, William Price has fallen in love with Darcy's sister Georgiana who was engaged to her cousin Fitzwilliam until they agreed they would not suit.  Fitzwilliam then bumps into Mary Crawford at Bath and promptly falls in love with her.  Tom Bertram also has his eye on Georgiana but is rejected and eventually ends up with Isabella Thorpe, who was briefly engaged to James Morland (see above). 

You can therefore see how totally daft it all is and yet it is written with a deft touch, there is something very innocent about it all and I am sure that any Janeite out there will thoroughly enjoy it. (Currently available for Kindle at a trifling 99p)

Lena Geyer by Marcia Davenport

Well the Wimbledon rant is done and dusted, the covers are on and the burblings of Messrs Castle and Lloyd are, thankfully, gone for another year and I can turn my mind to reviewing books which is what Random is supposed to do.

I am an opera lover and enjoy books which have operatic settings. There are not that many though I read a book some years back called the Maestro's Voice by Roland Vernon which I found enthralling but other than that there seem very few around which is suprising as the opera world is rife with sex and scandal and singing. When my ex was singing in the Covent Garden chorus some of the gossip and stories of what went on would make your hair curl. 

Donna Leon set two of her Inspector Brunetti mysteries at La Fenice Opera house in Venice which was a wonderful combinaition.   I swear the conductor she described was based on Karajan. 

There was a series of Mills & Boon books by Mary Burchell which had an operatic and musical background and they were great fun, light reading but the musical knowledge shown was spot on and from somebody who knew their Puccini from their Wagner.   Mary Burchell was a pen name for Ida Cook, a biographer of Tito Gobbi (my most favourite operatic baritone. I actually met him a couple of times - a roly poly little beaming man who could turn himself into a Scarpia that took your breath away).  Ida and her sister travelled all over Europe attending so many opera performances that they became well known and recognised at the airports of the cities they visited.   During the Second World War Ida used the income generated from her romantic novels to help Jewish refugees escape to England.   It seems she hid money and jewellery in her furs knowing that she and her sister would not be searched.  Read this fascinating article here.

One book I remember well from my teenage years is Of Lena Geyer by Marcia Davenport.

"Her first novel, Of Lena Geyer (1936, reprinted 1982), is the story of a poor Czech girl and of her ascent to fame and fortune, triumph and tragedy. It is a work of fiction, yet Lena is only partly the child of imagination: she is a composite figure of several singers Davenport had known intimately, among them her own mother. The background of the novel opens a wide vista on the golden age of opera both in New York and in Europe".

The author, Marcia Davenport was the daughter of Alma Gluck, a celebrated American soprano and spent most of her childhood, indeed her whole life, immersed in the world of music and opera.   In the story of Lena Geyer we are introduced to 'real' people.  Lena works with Gustav Mahler at the New York Met who conducts when she sings in Don Giovanni, Lilli Lehmann is her singing teacher and Jean de Reszke is her co-star in Tannhauser. The production notes and details about her performances were so detailed and informative that they sent me scrabbling to the back of the book looking for a non-existent index and references.

When I first read Of Lena Geyer, I knew nothing about Wagner, but once I saw the light and became a devotee, I re-read all the chapters dealing with Wagner performances and found their detail and background information was spot on.  Hardly surprising as Marcia Davenport must have watched all these productions unfolding in front of her.  What an incredible experience.

Much though I love this story, I do feel that in creating the perfect opera diva in Lena Geyer she strikes me as being almost TOO talented.  She seems to be able to switch from Puccini, Mozart and Verdi to the  heavier Wagner roles without batting an eyelid, a feat which is well beyond most operatic singers.  To my knowledge, the only singer who did essay this, though I am prepared to be proved wrong, was Maria Callas who sang all the coloratura roles and, in her early years, also sang some Wagner.  She abandoned the heavier German repertoire though for most of her career.

When writing this post I did some Googling and came across a fascinating article about the great Wagnerian soprano, Birgit Nilson, who was stalked for years by a female fan who sent her flowers before each performance and messages containing quotes from 'Of Lena Geyer'.  Quite chilling.

I am sure this is a cult book for all opera buffs. Copies are available on line though you have to hunt for them.   I have one on my shelves which was withdrawn from the public library where I worked a lifetime ago.

Cannot recall who recommended it be taken down from the shelves....