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Udeni's Reviews > A Lady and Her Husband
A Lady and Her Husband
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It is London, 1913. A wealthy housewife, Mary Heyham, is depressed because her youngest child, Rosemary, is about to leave home. Mary's concerned husband encourages her to start visits to his business to cheer her up: James owns the highly profitable Imperial tea-shops, staffed by girls in "frilled aprons and green dresses" with pretty faces and trim waists. James Heyham expects his wife to be a motherly figure to his female staff:
"The thought of Mary among the workpeople, doing good to them and adored by them, was pleasant."
Unknown to James, Mary embarks on her visits with Miss Percival, a suffragette forced to work as a private secretary. Aided by Miss Percival's radical eye, Mary discovers poverty, sexual abuse, and the vicious nature of the class system. How James, Rosemary and the rest of her family reacts comes as a complete shock to Mary.
The plot unfolds slowly, making the first third of the book an easy read, but the last 200 pages a slog. Other than Mary, none of the characters develop beyond two dimensions. James Heyham's patronising and controlling character becomes tiresome after the first few chapters.
The most enjoyable sections were the observations of Edwardian domestic life: "The studio walls were cream, its paint dark purple, its furniture very subtly blue and green. When Rosemary was feeling brilliant...she could put on a rose-coloured dress and dominate the colour scheme; or, if she was restless, she could be ultra-modern and temperamental in orange and dark-green."
The Introduction by Samantha Ellis, author of last year's "How to Date a Feminist" provides a wry explanation of the origins of this work: Amber Reeves was briefly H.G. Well's mistress and Wells' based his turgid "Ann Veronica" novel on Amber Reeves. Whereas Ann Veronica ended up happily married to her middle-aged lover, Amber Reeves left Wells in order to become, amongst other things, a novelist, a senior civil servant, a teacher, an economist and stood for Parliament. Reeves, it strikes me, was more interesting than either Ann Veronica or Mary Heyham.
Persephone Press' edition is, as always, beautiful.
One for students of early feminism, capitalist exploitation and miserable marriages.
"The thought of Mary among the workpeople, doing good to them and adored by them, was pleasant."
Unknown to James, Mary embarks on her visits with Miss Percival, a suffragette forced to work as a private secretary. Aided by Miss Percival's radical eye, Mary discovers poverty, sexual abuse, and the vicious nature of the class system. How James, Rosemary and the rest of her family reacts comes as a complete shock to Mary.
The plot unfolds slowly, making the first third of the book an easy read, but the last 200 pages a slog. Other than Mary, none of the characters develop beyond two dimensions. James Heyham's patronising and controlling character becomes tiresome after the first few chapters.
The most enjoyable sections were the observations of Edwardian domestic life: "The studio walls were cream, its paint dark purple, its furniture very subtly blue and green. When Rosemary was feeling brilliant...she could put on a rose-coloured dress and dominate the colour scheme; or, if she was restless, she could be ultra-modern and temperamental in orange and dark-green."
The Introduction by Samantha Ellis, author of last year's "How to Date a Feminist" provides a wry explanation of the origins of this work: Amber Reeves was briefly H.G. Well's mistress and Wells' based his turgid "Ann Veronica" novel on Amber Reeves. Whereas Ann Veronica ended up happily married to her middle-aged lover, Amber Reeves left Wells in order to become, amongst other things, a novelist, a senior civil servant, a teacher, an economist and stood for Parliament. Reeves, it strikes me, was more interesting than either Ann Veronica or Mary Heyham.
Persephone Press' edition is, as always, beautiful.
One for students of early feminism, capitalist exploitation and miserable marriages.
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Reading Progress
April 4, 2017
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Started Reading
April 4, 2017
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April 4, 2017
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April 14, 2017
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Comments Showing 1-2 of 2 (2 new)
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Brina
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Apr 14, 2017 02:52AM
I hope this available in the US as it sounds like something I should read.
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Brina wrote: "I hope this available in the US as it sounds like something I should read."I think Amazon U.K. will deliver to the States, Brina. I also think that you'd enjoy this. It's not always an easy read, but is a vivid illustration of how wealth corrupts both men and women.
