A scattering of daisies (by Susan Sallis)

(Amazon UK link)

I've come across one or two others novels by Susan Sallis, and have found them mostly well-written, and enjoyable. She seems to write family sagas in historical settings, on the whole. She doesn't ignore the unpleasant side of the past, but she doesn't revel in it either. I get the impression that her writing is honest and probably accurate, although I don't find her characters very appealing or sympathetic.

'A scattering of daisies' is the first of four books in the 'Rising saga'; it opens in 1902 with the birth of April, third daughter of Will and Florence Rising. We're immediately transported to a working class neighbourhood, where the rather grubby midwife known as Snotty Lotty wipes her nose on her sleeve as she prepares to deliver the baby.

Florence, it's clear, is from a slightly higher class background than Will, and finds the whole process of birth (and indeed conception) both degrading and distasteful. Will, by contrast, is a normal red-blooded man, and determined to have a large family. April is his fourth child, but he would like several more.

The plot then skips forward to the day when another baby arrives, less than a year later, but the birth is traumatic and Will is told that they must not have any more children if he wants Florence to survive. Will adores his beautiful wife, but is horrified when he realises that she not only wants to stop giving birth, she no longer wants to sleep with him at all. Inevitably he finds solace with a neighbour although he continues to be a good husband to Florence, and indeed an excellent father to his offspring as they grow up.

So the scene is set for a family saga that takes us with the Risings through the World War I years. The children grow and develop; there are trials and traumas, experiments with love and friendship, and a lessening of the class consciousness that dogged the early part of the 20th century.

This book is fairly fast-paced and interesting despite some rather sordid goings-on in the neighbourhood. Unpleasant realities are mentioned but never dwelt upon; pain is accepted but not described in minute detail. Squeamish though I am, I didn't find anything to make me shudder or wish I hadn't started the book.

Although I could easily distinguish the various Rising family members, who were well portrayed, I didn't find myself warming to any of them very much. I could imagine their appearances quite well and almost hear their voices; but I couldn't quite get inside their heads or hearts. Some authors have a gift for making me feel as if I know characters intimately, and I didn't find that happening at all with this book.

On the other hand, I was interested to find out what happened so I kept reading. Recommended if you like this kind of novel. The link above is to the Kindle edition of this novel, as the print versions are quite expensive. But it's the kind of book that can often be found used in charity shops.

Frederica (by Georgette Heyer)

(Amazon UK links)

What a gift Georgette Heyer had! Her settings are immaculately researched, her characters brimming full of life, her plots cleverly written. The genre is 'Regency Romance' but Heyer's books are well above the average, and I love to re-read them all frequently.

'Frederica' is one of my favourites of all. This novel is set, as are most of this author's works, in the upper-class society of Regency England. The heroine of the book, is the oldest of an orphaned family of five children. At twenty-four she considers herself well past marriageable age, almost on the shelf. She has never been in love, and doesn't expect to be. Instead all her ambitions are focussed on her stunningly beautiful sister Charis, who is eighteen.

Frederica decides that she has to launch Charis into London society, which should enable her to make a successful marriage. So she arranges to rent out the family home in the country and takes Charis, as well as their two younger brothers Jessamy and Felix, to a rented house in the city. There they discover that it's not as easy as they had hoped. Society was apparently very cliquey, and since they are not known, they receive no invitations.

So Frederica, nothing daunted, writes a note to Lord Alverstoke - a distant relative whom she remembers her father mentioning. Alverstoke is a wealthy man in his thirties who has become entirely bored with life, having never wanted for anything. His tiresome sister is plaguing him to hold a ball to launch her rather plain daughter Jane into society, and he has refused... until he realises that his best revenge is to hold the ball and invite Frederica and Charis as special guests. Charis, he knows, will far outshine his unfortunate neice!

Alverstoke does not expect to have anything to do with the Merrivale family after the ball, but things do not turn out quite as expected. The family's dog, used to the countryside, runs amok in a London park and chases some cows. Frederica is threatened with the dog's destruction until she claims the guardianship of her titled distant cousin. Then there's a very enjoyable subplot involving Felix, an enterprising twelve-year-old. He is fascinated by everything mechanical, and realises that his new relative can gain him entry into all kinds of places (such as an iron foundry) which would not normally be accessible to children.

While my socialist side is rather revolted as the thought of the deeply ingrained snobbery of the times, this book is written with such humour and irony that I barely notice the class consciousness while reading. Indeed, Frederica herself is slightly ashamed at what she has done after overwhelming the park-keepers with the name of Lord Alverstoke. But she realises that to save her dog's life she must take drastic measures!

Felix, moreover, is an entirely unexpected and delightful character - educated at home, he is eager to learn and has remarkable understanding of the scientific advances of the period. During the course of the book, I learned about early balloon ascensions (when they were still powered with hydrogen), and the 'pedestrian curricle', which was apparently the precursor to the bicycle. There is no irritating author's eye view, explaining things from a modern perspective in a condescending fashion; instead we see everything clearly through the eyes of the people concerned.

I've read this book at least four times, if not more. I enjoy it just as much each time, and will probably continue to read it regularly, every few years. Picking it up recently, I felt as if I were getting in touch with old friends; while reading, I felt almost as if I were re-visiting favourite places from the past. Of course I hadn't forgotten the main plot-lines, but there were still several places that made me smile, and one or two moments that brought a tear to my eye.

Highly recommended.

Swansea girls (by Catrin Collier)

(Amazon UK link)

I'd never heard of Catrin Collier before I was given this book. I don't tend to read novels set in the 1950s unless I already know of the author. But this one looked fairly interesting, and I'll try any author once.

'Swansea girls' is is a novel about the lives of four eighteen-year-old girls who live in the same street in Swansea. It's in the days when the highlight of the week for girls of this age was the Saturday night dance. It's also at a time when dating was a formal procedure with a definite etiquette, class consciousness was still somewhat strong, and most boys had to do army service.

I found the characters to be quite believable, although it took me a few chapters to distinguish the four girls completely, and longer still to sort out their parents, brothers and friends. Primarily the book is character-driven, and charts the day-to-day life, family squabbles and romances of these girls.

As the book opens, they are preparing to go to a dance, and discussing a boy called Adam who is good-looking, friendly, and who has just returned from the army. Helen is determined to snare him as a boyfriend so she has 'borrowed' a glamorous and rather revealing evening gown from her father's warehouse. Her friends are shocked at how much flesh is shown by this gown, and also by her having taken it without asking her father first; however their shock does more to goad Helen into wearing it than dissuading her.

At the dance, the 'nicer' boys are also shocked at Helen's attire, which is quite out of place for a local gathering of friends. The other three girls find dancing partners easily and enjoy the evening, while she has to endure stares from some, and being ignored by others. Eventually a lad called Jack - who has something of a bad reputation - talks to her and they decide to go outside for a chat. Jack goes to buy drinks, and Helen is spotted by a drunk upper-class young man who has just arrived at the dance, and who thinks she is a tart. He attempts to seduce her, and Jack comes to the rescue...

This event is the changing-point of many lives, and is the catalyst for the unfolding of the rest of the book. Gradually we get to know all the families involved, discovering more and more interconnections between them.

I found myself quite immersed in this novel as it progressed, wanting to know what would happen to the people concerned, and also interested in the general historical background. Several issues were covered in a realistic way, giving me quite an insight into the society of the time.

I found myself, rather to my surprise, reading this book at every spare moment. It wasn't that the various plot lines were particularly exciting, but I was caught up in the everyday lives of these people, wanting to know what would happen next. There were one or two moments when I found tears in my eyes, which is always a good indicator that I found the characters truly sympathetic. I cared what happened to them, and felt sad when they were hurt or upset.

The conclusion of a book is important to me too, and this one was entirely satisfactory. Threads were drawn together well, with a positive outlook for those involved. Obstacles had been overcome, albeit not necessarily in the expected or obvious way, and there were things to look forward to.

Recommended if you like this era of historical fiction.

Airs Above the Ground (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I like Mary Stewart's writing. It's concise, cleverly plotted, and with some good characterisation. There's a bit of suspense, too, although not too much to make me feel nervous or give me nightmares. Many of her books are now out of print, having been written in the 1950s and 1960s, so I'm always glad to find one in a second-hand shop.

'Airs above the ground' introduces us instantly to the main character, Vanessa. She is not happy. She and her husband Lewis were supposed to be on holiday in Italy, but at the last moment he was asked to do a work assignment in Stockholm. They parted on angry terms.

Vanessa's mother's friend Carmel then mentions that she saw Lewis on the news, not in Stockholm but in Vienna, on an item about a fire breaking out at a circus. Vanessa manages to see the same newsreel, and spots not just Lewis but a young and pretty circus girl with him...

Carmel assumes that Vanessa will be going to Vienna to meet Lewis, and asks her if she would escort her moody 17-year-old son Timothy who is going to stay with his father. So Vanessa agrees and the two set off on what turns out to be an exciting adventure involving the circus and some highly trained dancing horses.

I suppose this would be classed as a thriller. In some ways it's predictable for the genre as written forty years ago. Among other things there's a nerve-wracking psychological battle around castle battlements and a car chase up a mountain. There is also a terrifying fight against time when someone is trapped on a railway line with the train rushing through a long tunnel not far away.

But none of these seem clichéd, somehow, because they're so well written. There is suspense and excitement but even though I generally prefer more relaxed and gentle books, I didn't find this one unpleasantly frightening. The style is terse without extraneous description; fast-paced and clear. There was no point at which I got bored or tempted to skim, or even when I felt happy to put the book down!

The characters are excellent. The villain is rather caricatured, but the rest of the cast were well-rounded and I related somewhat to them all. Vanessa and Timothy are the two main protagonists. I suppose it's a sign of the age of the book that a married 24-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy could travel together and never develop anything beyond a brother-and-sister type of relationship. 

I particularly liked the portrayal of Timothy, starting out as a sulky young man who doesn't in the least want to be escorted by a friend of his mother's, turning out to be to an eager circus fan who adores horses, and eventually a mature and intelligent person who thinks fast and is excellent and trustworthy in the many crises that arise.

Mary Stewart also has a gift for making the reader question what exactly is going on, without ever deliberately misleading them. She uses conversation very cleverly. I was a long way into the book before I understood what was going on with Vanessa's husband Lewis: who he was, what he was doing and why. Could he even be trusted? Who was the girl seen with him in the news? I wanted to know the answers to these questions and more, and I found it a highly satisfactory novel; my only disappointment was that I finished it so quickly.