Norah Lofts is the author of almost fifty historical fiction novels none of which I have read though I am an admirer of the genre. I have tried but found them not to my taste and some of the titles and, in the sixties and seventies, ghastly covers always put me off.
She was among the list of authors who had a vast turnover when I worked in the library system years ago. In that long ago time when Mary McCarthy, Iris Murdoch et al were the authors of the day, Norah Lofts, along with D E Stevenson, E M Delafield, Miss Read and Dorothy Whipple were never on the library shelves as they were borrowed as quickly as they returned. I have mentioned before, and here I go mentioning it again, that I rather turned my nose up at these ‘nice’ books which I thought were only good enough for old ladies. Well now I know better and also as an old lady myself have read all the works of the aforementioned and love them. Inside those seemingly sweet and slightly twee book covers lurked stories that were true to life and exposed all the frailties and temptations by which we are all affected. I am pleased to say that these authors are now read by a younger audience as well and much appreciated.
Norah Lofts wrote four non historical novels between 1940 and 1960 under the pseudonym Peter Curtis. It seemed she wished to try something different but did not wish to alienate her fan base. Lady Living Alone, now published under her real name by the British Library, was one of these titles and I was rather intrigued when it dropped through my letter box.
Penelope Shadow is a moderately successful writer but her circumstances are transformed by the unexpected success of her fourth novel Mexican Flowers and, at the age of 35, she finds herself wealthy and capable of an independent life.
The choice of name is apt as she seems a shadowy person, timid and self effacing and
incapable of looking after herself. She had been living with her sister Elsie and her children and when faced with the reality of buying a house of her own, as her sister wishes to remarry, she has no idea how to go about it.
“As soon as she had shown her piquant little face and began to relate in her vague rambling manner what she required that men in fusty house agencies began to think dark and dangerous thoughts connected with ridding themselves of some ‘sticker’ some house which had been on the books for months or even years…”
In the end Elsie stepped in and found a suitable house. Penelope moved in and all seemed set fair except for the fact that Penelope had never lived alone before, had no idea how to deal with every day matters, and over the coming months was doomed to lose on a regular basis her housekeepers/servants who either cheated her or became bored.
Returning home one day and having been given notice by her latest woman, Penelope stopped for the night at a hotel as she simply could not go home to an empty house. The hotel is uncomfortable, badly run and in the middle of nowhere but it was better than going home alone. Here she is assiduously looked after by the Boy who makes sure she has a good room, a hot water bottle and well fed despite the slightly eccentric owners seeming careless attention to their guests.
“You have been very kind to me”
“Well I haven’t strained myself over it. And you look at though you could do with a bit of looking after”
Penelope looked up sharply, scenting impertinence but none was there. He had made a simple statement of fact and only a fool or a snob could have resented it”
Unhappy with his position as a general man of all work, Terry which is his name agrees to come and work for her and they leave together. It is clear to any reader that this is a dangerous and foolish move and disaster lies ahead. At first all is well, Penelope is well looked after, her life is running smoothly and, best of all, she is not alone in her house. As the months go by gossip about their relationship is rife but as she is totally unaware of this and it is only brought to her attention by Terry the reader once more suspects his motives.
He tells her that he has fallen in love with her.
“I think I do love you Terry and if you feel the same in the morning ….I think we’ll have to get married”
She slipped away so she missed the expression of calculating triumph which, despite his efforts to suppress it, dawned on his face at her final words……after all one likes six months of hard labour to bear some result”
The inevitable happens. Ephemeral happiness in her marriage and then a gradual realisation that Terry is unfaithful and clearly wishes to have control of her money and she is helpless. And it is then that Norah Lofts gives the story of Penelope a totally unexpected twist and an ending to the story that left me quite staggered. The slightly ineffectual Miss Shadow turns out to have hitherto unsuspected depths and imagination to best her erring husband and to emerge triumphant.
I will say no more as I do not wish to give anything away. It is not surprising that Norah Lofts wrote this under a different name as her normal readership would have been astonished. I only wish she had written more like this.
The British Library Women Writer’s series has come up with some really interesting titles over the last few years and I found this most enjoyable.
I wonder what else they will discover ......
