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Entry tags:
Women in Wartime
Mar 2012
Westwood - Stella Gibbons - Vintage, 2011
* * * *
There is a general belief that Stella Gibbons only wrote one book, but that it was a good one. This is Cold Comfort Farm, a fabulous satire that brutally skewers the pretensions of the late Victorian rural romance and which should be on the syllabus as a necessary corrective for any students who have been forced to endure a Thomas Hardy novel. However, it is not true - Gibbons went on to write some twenty more books that were reasonably popular in their time but which have not been reprinted until now.
On the evidence of Westwood, it is hard to see why. While not the best written book in the world, it makes some interesting observations of wartime London and, more importantly, it has an unusual focus on feminine concerns.
The tale opens on Hampstead Heath, where a homely young school teacher called Margaret Steggles picks up a ration book belonging to one Hebe Niland while on her way to look over the bombed-out house that her parents have bought. She is met there she by her cheery schoolfriend Hilda, and in a sparkling conversation it becomes apparent that they are chalk and cheese, with Margaret serious, brooding and tragically-minded and Hilda pretty, upbeat, shallow and successful with men. In returning the ration book, Margaret is co-opted into looking after Hebe's children while she goes to a party. Hebe's husband is Gerard Challis, a playwright for whom Margaret falls despite him being pompous, humourless, mysogynistic and completely uninterested in her. For he is besotted with an attractive girl that he met in an air raid - who, unbeknownst to Margaret, is her friend Hilda.
It is clear that Gibbons' target is the literary set of the 1940s, not a period that I know much about. Nonetheless the types are clear and they are entertainingly drawn. Challis is a particularly loathsome specimen, his only redeeming feature being his hilarious lack of self-awareness which makes his humiliations at the guileless hands of Hilda even more amusing. Hebe gradually improves on acquaintance as we glimpse occasional flashes of the heart beneath her brittle exterior, and Challis' mother, whom we meet later on, proves to be strongly likeable. There are even some decent men, including harassed widower reporter Dick and the polite American Earl.
There are a few problems, chief of which is that Margaret is not Flora Poste, the heroine of Cold Comfort Farm. Like her, she is intelligent enough to distinguish between romantic fantasy and harsh reality, but the plot requires her to assume a passive role as the Nilands' unpaid child-minder. Gibbons also has a tendency to throw new characters into the mix rather than develop existing ones - in particular we don't see enough of the fabulous Hilda, who is sidelined for the majority of the book. Earl's transliterated drawl is particularly painful and reads like my cloth-eared attempts at an American accent. And while the novel's ending is the right one, a religious streak appears out of nowhere which is clearly authorial opinion and which I strongly disliked.
Still, this is definitely worth reading, not only for the wartime background, but also for the unusual concerns. Child-rearing, cooking and domesticity are not often covered in the novels of the period, still less with the sharp and cold eye that Gibbons brings to bear. This is a feminist novel in the best sense, with strong female characters whose activities and foolishnesses are presented in a way which makes it easy for readers to understand and sympathise. I can only presume that the male domination of publishing companies is responsible for this book's long absence from the shelves, and I'm glad that this injustice has been corrected.
Westwood - Stella Gibbons - Vintage, 2011
* * * *
There is a general belief that Stella Gibbons only wrote one book, but that it was a good one. This is Cold Comfort Farm, a fabulous satire that brutally skewers the pretensions of the late Victorian rural romance and which should be on the syllabus as a necessary corrective for any students who have been forced to endure a Thomas Hardy novel. However, it is not true - Gibbons went on to write some twenty more books that were reasonably popular in their time but which have not been reprinted until now.
On the evidence of Westwood, it is hard to see why. While not the best written book in the world, it makes some interesting observations of wartime London and, more importantly, it has an unusual focus on feminine concerns.
The tale opens on Hampstead Heath, where a homely young school teacher called Margaret Steggles picks up a ration book belonging to one Hebe Niland while on her way to look over the bombed-out house that her parents have bought. She is met there she by her cheery schoolfriend Hilda, and in a sparkling conversation it becomes apparent that they are chalk and cheese, with Margaret serious, brooding and tragically-minded and Hilda pretty, upbeat, shallow and successful with men. In returning the ration book, Margaret is co-opted into looking after Hebe's children while she goes to a party. Hebe's husband is Gerard Challis, a playwright for whom Margaret falls despite him being pompous, humourless, mysogynistic and completely uninterested in her. For he is besotted with an attractive girl that he met in an air raid - who, unbeknownst to Margaret, is her friend Hilda.
It is clear that Gibbons' target is the literary set of the 1940s, not a period that I know much about. Nonetheless the types are clear and they are entertainingly drawn. Challis is a particularly loathsome specimen, his only redeeming feature being his hilarious lack of self-awareness which makes his humiliations at the guileless hands of Hilda even more amusing. Hebe gradually improves on acquaintance as we glimpse occasional flashes of the heart beneath her brittle exterior, and Challis' mother, whom we meet later on, proves to be strongly likeable. There are even some decent men, including harassed widower reporter Dick and the polite American Earl.
There are a few problems, chief of which is that Margaret is not Flora Poste, the heroine of Cold Comfort Farm. Like her, she is intelligent enough to distinguish between romantic fantasy and harsh reality, but the plot requires her to assume a passive role as the Nilands' unpaid child-minder. Gibbons also has a tendency to throw new characters into the mix rather than develop existing ones - in particular we don't see enough of the fabulous Hilda, who is sidelined for the majority of the book. Earl's transliterated drawl is particularly painful and reads like my cloth-eared attempts at an American accent. And while the novel's ending is the right one, a religious streak appears out of nowhere which is clearly authorial opinion and which I strongly disliked.
Still, this is definitely worth reading, not only for the wartime background, but also for the unusual concerns. Child-rearing, cooking and domesticity are not often covered in the novels of the period, still less with the sharp and cold eye that Gibbons brings to bear. This is a feminist novel in the best sense, with strong female characters whose activities and foolishnesses are presented in a way which makes it easy for readers to understand and sympathise. I can only presume that the male domination of publishing companies is responsible for this book's long absence from the shelves, and I'm glad that this injustice has been corrected.