The quiet war of Rebecca Sheldon (by Kathleen Rowntree)

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It’s a long time since I acquired and read the novels by Kathleen Rowntree. I decided to reread them, choosing the order of publication, although each novel is complete in itself, without any overlap of characters.

So I began with ‘The quiet war of Rebecca Sheldon’, which I read in 2001. I had totally forgotten what it was about, and so was mildly surprised to find that it’s historical rather than contemporary fiction. The novel opens in 1892, when the teenage Rebecca is visiting her schoolfriend Louisa Ludbury during the summer holidays. Rebecca merely tolerates Louisa, who prattles a lot, because she’s rather keen on Louisa’s older brother George.

Mrs Ludbury, who is widowed, is a small and very snobbish woman who tends to look down on anyone who isn’t in her social circles. She doesn’t even like the fact that she lives on a farm; she never wants the farming discussed in the house, and really doesn’t want George to end up as a farmer. And she definitely doesn’t want him marrying Rebecca, whom she insists is a ‘shop girl’. 

She is assisted in this by Charlotte, her second daughter, who thinks along similar lines. Her eldest, Augusta, went away to train as a nurse, and then got married to someone equally unsuitable, in her mother’s eyes. There are two other sons, Freddy and Edward, and I never remembered which was which, though one is quite bright and the other not. Then there’s a youngest daughter known as Pip; she’s outspoken and somewhat impulsive, and considered to be not entirely sane. 

The book is written in several sections, each one moving forward a little in time. So the second one sees George and Rebecca married, with George’s family wanting to control him and ignore her. Her ‘quiet war’, according to the blurb on the back of the book, is her gradual, peaceable attempt to win over her in-laws. I don’t think I’d have realised that from reading the book, however.

George and Rebecca have five children, and by about half-way through the book it’s clear that the youngest is quite frail; also that Rebecca herself is not well. She works extremely hard, and tries to deal with George’s feelings of masculine superiority. He won’t discuss anything important with her, which frustrates her; all the more because he does talk about important things with his sister.

It’s well-written, and, as far as I can tell, well-researched. It shows how, early in the 20th century, class attitudes and prejudice were quite widespread. George is rather caught in the middle: he loves his wife, and likes protecting her, and he also very much likes being a farmer. But he also has a strong sense of dignity, and doesn’t like fraternising with villagers or even some of his employees. And he detests being in any way vulnerable. 

In the early chapters, I found the number of characters rather overwhelming, and had a hard time distinguishing some of them. But the significant ones do develop, and I could tell them apart, although I never quite got inside anyone’s skin. That’s possibly because there are many viewpoints covered, rather than just Rebecca’s.  It works well - the viewpoint changes don’t jar, and the different perspectives help the story move along. But it means that the reader can’t really empathise with anyone. I felt like a distant observer, rather than part of the family.

Inevitably World War I is a significant event in the book, and one of the sections looks at the attitudes of different people to the war. Much is made of those who go off to war, even young men with families to raise, and unsurprisingly there are losses. George is determined not to fight, as he believes his role is to look after his wife and children and to continue farming. Pressure from the villagers forces him to move his family to a remote location which makes life a lot more difficult for them all. 

It wasn’t the kind of book that I found impossible to put down - at times I had to remind myself to read at least a few chapters each day, as I didn’t think about it at all in between times. But by the end I was somewhat caught up in the different subplots. The book livens up a bit when George and Rebecca’s oldest child Meg becomes increasingly independent. The final section covers the years 1921-1923 when she is a young adult.

The ‘quiet war’ gradually eases as Rebecca and Meg become friendlier with some of George’s sisters, and eventually Rebecca feels that she’s gaining the upper hand. But it’s a bit anti-climactic. It doesn’t really tie up all the threads - yet I didn’t find myself eager to know more, or wondering what happened.

If you like low-key historical fiction that’s essentially character-based, and quite slow-moving, it’s not a bad book. But I doubt if I’ll read it again.

Review copyright 2026 Sue's Book Reviews