I am so behind with updating you on what’s going on with the British Library Women Writers series! There is good news, bad news, and some more good news.
No more Angela Milne… for now
Let’s start sombrely with the bad news. A while ago I announced that One Year’s Time by Angela Milne would be published this autumn – there was even a lovely cover designed. But sadly the British Library have been unable to trace the family and, because the book is still in copyright, they’ve decided against publishing it for the time being. (Publishers can risk publishing a book if every effort has been made to track down the copyright holders, but the British Library is understandably a bit cautious on this front.) If the family do turn up, then it might still be printed – so if, by any remote chance, you know a relative of Angela Milne – please get them to get in touch with the British Library!
It is a shame, because One Year’s Time is a wonderfully witty, interesting book about a woman’s romantic and work life – an insight into office work in the mid-century that we don’t often see in novels like this. And the dialogue has a beautifully Coward-esque spark. AND I don’t even have a copy myself, it’s so hard to track down. Maybe one day??
A brilliant novel about schoolteachers
But the GOOD news is that Eleanor Scott’s War Among Ladies (1928) is now published! She is known for her horror stories (that the British Library have also published), but this is a novel set in a school. The girls don’t get much of a look in – it’s really about the teachers. Chief among these are Miss Cullen and Viola Kennedy. The portrait we get of Miss Cullen is not an encouraging one:
Her hideous home-mage dress of brown casement cloth strained across her square, sturdy body and hung in ungainly folds above the thick ankles and flat, broad shoes. It was an odd face, as so many faces when you look into them. The skin, reddened and rough, and slack now from want of exercise and years of unhealthy life, stretched tightly across the high, narrow forehead, where no stray line of hair softened the angularity, and sagged beneath the eyes and long, weak, protruding chin. The mouth, set a little open, smiled perpetually, anxiously. The restless eyes, behind strong spectacles, darted suspicious glances, or stared defiantly; they were uneasy, alarmed, defensive. It was a face that sought, in the fashion of thirty years ago, by strained hair, steel-rimmed glasses and protruded jaw, to appear strong; and it was, in every line, weak, distrustful, afraid.
She is disliked intensely by her colleagues – partly for her timid neediness, but also because she is a terrible teacher, who inspires neither respect nor enthusiasm from her pupils. And in the system of the school (and presumably of other 1920s schools), if you fail one subject, you fail them all. And almost everyone fails Miss Cullen’s French classes. In the novel, we see the school in crisis. But Miss Cullen can’t retire, even though she is only a few years away from retirement age, because in the 1920s this meant forfeiting your pension and all the money you’ve put into it.
As Miss Cullen’s career lurches uncertainly towards an end, Viola Kennedy’s is beginning. She is a bit of an idealist, and trying to work out how she fits into this school – whom to befriend and whom to distrust. And what happens when a small town is swift to judge a newcomer.
War Among Ladies is often quite a sad novel, but it is so masterfully done that it’s somehow still a joy to read. It’s the first title since My Husband Simon and The Tree of Heaven that I haven’t suggested to the British Library – but I’m pleased to say that I think it’s every bit as good as the much-loved novels I’ve recommended. Don’t just take my word for it – here are Lil’s thoughts.
Christmas stories coming soon!
And the next bit of good news is that there is a Christmas collection of short stories coming out! I’ll confess that I didn’t have a huge amount to do with selecting these, because it involved a lot of rummaging through old periodicals in the library – and that’s not easy to do when you have a full-time job elsewhere. I’ve suggested one or two (including something from recently-reviewed Excuse It, Please! by Cornelia Otis Skinner) but it’s mostly down to the good people at the British Library.
It’s a real range, from some of the most respected short story writers ever all the way to magazine stories that everyone involved probably thought would disappear. They’re cleverly arranged as a chronology through the Christmas period – from Christmas shopping through to New Year. Plenty to enjoy, and easy to give as a pressie – it’ll be published towards the end of October, I believe!
Although the Library’s caution is totally understandable, it’s too bad about the Milne. Women’s working life, mid-century version, is very, very interesting and doesn’t seem to be explored very often. Although it’s set in the early 1940s, I really enjoyed Marjorie Wilenski’s Table Two for precisely that reason.
I already have my copy of War Among the Ladies, which does sound quite intriguing. It will, however, probably take me years & years to get to it (must admit that I feel quite sorry for the unappetizing Miss Cullen!).
The Christmas Stories sound fun . . .
Yeah, I have everything crossed that a relative will turn up, because I would so love them to do it!
That’s a shame about the Milne, though the Scott sounds brilliant and I’m very excited for the first short story collection!
Hope you enjoy them, Karen!
Simon – I’m sure you’ve left no stone unturned..but just thought I’d ask if you’ve tried contacting the person who has put up a quite detailed family tree on Ancestry?
Elizabeth
Thanks Elizabeth! I’ve passed that onto the team, just in case :)
I just bought War Among Ladies last night. Can’t wait to read it. For those of us in the US, I find that Blackwell’s always has the best prices and excellent service.
Excellent! And yes, Blackwells free shipping is such a gift.
Is there a reason that no ebook edition is available for War Among Ladies?
I’m afraid I’ve no idea! You’d have to ask the British Library about that one.
The Angela Milne book sounds delightful so it’s a pity it is on hold for now. Let’s hope some relatives do appear soon!
Will look forward to War Among Ladies though (it reminds me a little of More Women than Men) and the Christmas stories book sounds as if it would make a wonderful Christmas present for some bookish friends and I will put it on my own Christmas list too!
Thank you for helping me with my Christmas shopping! I am going to order three copies of the Christmas stories.
I am not surprised that you did not select My Husband Simon, Simon. It was my least favorite of the British Library Women Writers novels.
So that’s what I’m buying everyone for Christmas solved! Looks like the perfect Christmas reading. I’ve just read War Among Ladies and it’s the first one of this series I really haven’t liked so much. I agree it’s sad, the topic right for the series, the writing is good, the insight into an aspect of society at the time spot on … but I just couldn’t get past the unremitting maliciousness and cruelty of the behaviour of most of the characters, it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Maybe I’m just over sensitive, but if this was the first of this series I’d read I wouldn’t be reading anymore. I’m not sure it was that wisest choice. What does everyone else think?
War Among Ladies is my next read and so looking forward to it, and I can’t wait for the Christmas Stories, which I plan to read on Christmas Day!
One Year’s Time sounds great. Especially the witty element. Fingers crossed the B.L. finds the family. Those Xmas stories are definitely on my tbr now. They sound really cosy.