Well now. This
has been considerably more of a blog break than I originally planned. Apologies
for that, and for depriving myself of the lovely feedback, support and
inspiration I get from your comments.
I think I mentioned that right in the midst of my
planned break of a couple of months, my colleague went out unexpectedly on what
turned into a three and a half month medical leave. As our team (dealing with
the legal side of child dependency cases) was not only deemed essential, but
sadly saw a considerable increase in cases in the past year due to the added
stress of covid and its related lockdowns, financial impacts, school closures,
etc., this made for a quite intense few months for me. I was generally working
from home three days a week, fortunately, which made all the extra work a bit
more manageable (no commute time really does make quite a difference), but
though I actually did quite a lot of reading, I was largely reading for sanity
and survival and had no bandwidth left for sharing my thoughts (not that they
would have tended to be worth sharing under the circumstances), nor did the
idea of sitting at a computer to write blog posts seem enticing after spending
far too much time every day in front of a computer anyway. The best I could do
many nights was to sit with Andy watching TV or a movie, and then pass into a
coma by 10:00 at the latest.
I wrote a very
little bit about the reading I did late last year in my FM Dozen post after
Christmas, but it wasn’t until a bit after that that I found myself, after too
long an absence, once more reading that most revivifying of all authors—D. E.
Stevenson, of course—and felt just the beginnings of an urge to rejoin the
outside world. Around the same time, I started puttering with research on the
300+ new authors I’ve come across for my list since my last update there 30 or
40 years ago (or perhaps not quite that long, but it feels like it). Progress
is slow, but that anything at all has been happening is encouraging, and I’ve
already come across a couple of intriguing authors to explore (and added a
couple of new books to my TBR shelves), which is always a source of inspiration
to keep going with it…
But back to DES.
Somehow I had reached the faulty conclusion that I had already read most of her
best work, and what remained was only to be resorted to in case of dire need.
There are the marvelous Miss Buncle books, of course, and the four Mrs Tim
diaries, and other highlights like Spring
Magic, The English Air, The Baker’s Daughter, and the Vittoria Cottage trilogy. Other quite
good titles too. But I had been assuming that most of the rest were DES in
“romance” or melodrama mode (or worse, in sci-fi or spy novel mode—though it's
true that all of those efforts have their defenders, and in a pinch I’ll take
any of them). Most importantly, I feared that they would lack her irresistible
humor and playful charm.
A comment to that
effect in an email to Jerri Chase—one of the world’s leading experts on DES—led
to her setting me straight. (And whether or not that particular correspondence
with Jerri had anything to do with any possibility that Dean Street Press might
publish some of the remaining out-of-print DES titles is something I of course couldn’t possibly comment on at
this juncture…) Ahem. But since Jerri was the one who had urged me to read Spring Magic when it was still
languishing out of print and unappreciated, and since that book immediately
became one of my favorites (and a popular reprint for DSP), I tend to listen to
her recommendations…
 |
| My "little splurge" |
So, I had a
little splurge on Abe Books (using the term “little” quite loosely). DES’s
books, especially the ones still out-of-print, are not cheap, and I’m really
not a fan of the cheap Fontana or Collins paperback editions with their (often)
ghastly, inappropriate covers. Factor in that some of these (and even some
later hardcover editions) are abridged or otherwise edited from DES’s intent
(see here for the definitive site by
Susan Daly, another of the world experts on DES, with anything you could
possibly want to know about her books, including the mistreatment they’ve
received at the hands of other publishers), not to mention my fondness for
intact dustjackets, and it was a foregone conclusion that I’d be finishing up
my Christmas gift cards (and then some) in no time.
No one who knows
D. E. Stevenson’s work will have trouble fleshing out the events of the
novel—old friends, new acquaintances, awkward misunderstandings, and perhaps
the tentative beginnings of a new lease on life. But that makes it no less
delightful to read, and DES has real insight into how one can overcome past
unhappiness to make a fresh start. It was just what I needed at a challenging
time, and it’s one to hold in store for a re-read when I again need some
uplift.
From there, I
moved to what I feared was dangerously late in DES's career (her final novels
not being, by most counts, among her best). The
Musgraves was published in 1960, and I feared melodrama or tormented love,
but instead got an absolutely irresistible family story—set in the Cotswolds,
no less, so just as satisfying, wanderlust-wise, as coastal Scotland.
Plus, although I didn't
know it yet while reading, there's also a character here who recurs from The Tall Stranger, published three years
earlier, a character readers may not be exactly happy to meet again, but whose appearance certainly adds some zest.
(No spoilers!)
The story
rollicks along in classic DES style, and I ate it up like candy. You know how
much I love village stories, and this turned out to be an excellent one. Before
moving on, though, I have to introduce the Bloggses, local residents, and
provide a glimpse of their unique way of generously sharing their newest
acquisition:
Soon after the arrival of Puggy the Bloggses
bought a 'telly'; (it was essential to have one, because all their neighbours
had 'tellies') but none of them liked it much. The fact was they were all great
talkers and they found it more interesting to exchange news of their daily
doings and the gossip of Shepherdsford than to look at and listen to the daily
doings of the outside world, and they soon discovered that it was more
comfortable to sit and talk quietly than to shout and bellow at each other with
the 'telly' turned on full blast. Of course they turned it on full blast when a
neighbour dropped in to see them because that was the right thing to do, but
neighbours often brought news—interesting news about other neighbours—which the
Bloggses wanted to hear.
"I dunno why we got the danged thing,"
declared Mr. Bloggs one evening when the 'telly' had been particularly
troublesome. "I couldn't scarcely 'ear a word Danks was saying. It's just
a nuisance, that's what."
"I couldn't 'ear Mrs. Danks neither,"
said Mrs. Bloggs with a sigh.
"We can turn it off now they've gone,"
said Flo, suiting the action to the word.
The Bloggses
provided me a much-needed chuckle in all the craziness.
Immediately
after, it happened that I turned to The
Tall Stranger, not realizing the connection with The Musgraves. No need at all to read the two novels in any
order--there is merely an overlap of one fairly significant character and
mentions of a few others.
In The Tall Stranger (1957), we are introduced
to Barbie France, who, following a sort of breakdown and a dreadful time in
hospital in London, comes home to Underwoods, the lovely house in the Cotswolds
where she grew up. Barbie's kind Aunt Amalie, her indomitable companion Miss
Penney, and the beauties of nature aid her rapid recovery, only dampened by a
troubled romance with Amalie's stepson Edward, a childhood friend Barbie hasn't
seen in years and whose character seems to have changed in the intervening time.When Barbie eventually
returns to her successful career as a decorator, new challenges and pleasures
await, include a delightful trip to a castle in Scotland, which bears fruit
both professional and private, though difficulties with Edward have a way of
persisting. Naturally, all works out for the best, and I couldn't stop reading
this one either. It has very nearly the sparkle and spirit of a Miss Buncle or Spring Magic, and will certainly belong on a re-read list, too,
whenever I need some inspiration or just a fantasy trip to the Cotswolds and
Scotland!
I didn't take
good notes on any of these, because I was only treading water at the time and my thoughts might not have borne repeating, but suffice it to say I loved all three of these
"lesser-known" DES novels, and I owe a debt of gratitude (yet again) to the glorious D. E. Stevenson for providing some much needed literary therapy and making me feel like part of the real world again. Thanks also to Jerri for recommending these titles. And as you can see from the photo above, I have quite a few more to getting on with…
I should mention
that my work colleague returned to work at the beginning of March, which is why
I'm reasonably coherent and capable of writing this post. Not only that, but
I'm taking a vacation next week to stay at home, read books, do research, get
some exercise, and indulge in a couple of afternoon naps. So you might actually start hearing from me again more than every three months!
