I’ve been buying up Dorothy Evelyn Smith’s novels, because I’m worried that when O, The Brave Music is published by the British Library later in the year, there will suddenly be none of them on the secondhand books market. Of course, Miss Plum and Miss Penny from Dean Street Press might already be having the same effect. Well, I bought Beyond the Gates earlier in the year and was delighted when I saw that it qualified for the 1956 Club.
This novel came somewhere in the middle-to-late period of Smith’s all-too-short writing career – she was 50 when her first novel was published. It concerns a 15-year-old called Lydia and the gates she is going beyond are those of Mary Clitheroe Orphanage. She has been chosen to go and be a servant for Marion Howard and her small household – though she is so diminutive that Marion initially mistakes her for someone much younger than 15. Rather a lot of emphasis is placed on how small and ugly Lydia is, though they’re not particularly significant characteristics for the rest of the novel – except for contributing to the low self-esteem she has.
Marion is unsure if Lydia will be able to manage the work on her own, but takes her back to the house and agrees to a trial. Marion is a single woman who lives with her niece Midge – various other siblings and nephews/nieces come to visit at different times, though most members of the sprawling family were killed in an accident. I drew out a family tree in the pack of my copy, and then most of them died and it became less relevant!
When she was a very old woman, whatever else Lydia might forget, she would never forget one thing – her first sight of the room which Miss Howard told her was to be her very own.
She advanced across the threshold slowly, warily, as an animal enters strange territory, fearful of the hidden enemy, the biting trap. She stared about her furtively. Her flat, sallow face showed nothing of the leaping, incredulous pleasure that swept her in a great wave.
“Put down your box, Lydia.”
Lydia set the trunk down carefully against the wall.
This is all in 1920. The novel is in three parts, and the others are in 1930 and 1940. There is some plot along the way, not least when Lydia’s past life catches up with her in the middle section, but for the most part Beyond the Gates is about relationships. It’s about how Lydia discovers being part of a family for the first time, gradually thawing until she can believe that she is loved.
Which makes it sound extremely mawkish. And it does lean a tiny bit that way occasionally – I would have preferred Lydia and Marion to have a few more negative character traits, to offset the loyalty and kindness that they have in common. But mostly Smith is too good, too delicious a writer to be disliked. I’ve read four of her novels now (though don’t remember much about the one I read years and years ago), and what really makes her stand out is the way she brings the reader into the world of the story. I never visualise the books I read, but I feel like I’ve spent time in each of her communities. I don’t know quite how to explain that, because I haven’t imagined myself in those surroundings (my brain doesn’t work like that), but I belong to these worlds. There is something in the warmth of them, the timbre of them, the atmosphere of them, that has enveloped me and kept a bit of me behind.
It’s a rare quality, and it’s precious. O, The Brave Music remains my favourite of her books, and the one that enveloped me most completely, but I loved reading Beyond the Gates too. I’m so glad this special writer is finally being rediscovered.
Well, she’s a new one on me. I’ll look out for this. Thanks.
She is my favourite discovery of the past couple of years!
I love that cover. I now want to read this but I can’t buy all the books you recommend. Or can I?
Haha! I believe you CAN.
I love that you’re hoarding books in advance of a market rush caused by…you! Seems like excellent planning to me. I’m so looking forward to reading O, The Brave Music and this sounds like it would be worth seeking out, too.
:D Yes, there is some logic in there. I’m so nervous about your thoughts on O, The Brave Music, because I have never quite recovered from your response to Guard Your Daughters!
I’m not previously familiar with Dorothy Evelyn Smith, but I’ll be looking for her now.
Enjoy! A couple of her mugs have come out this year, reprinted.
I, too, am trying to get her books. I read this one quite recently, and I love the review you gave it. I feel exactly the same way! Plus, I once wondered what it would be like to have a novel where the heroine was neither beautiful nor intelligent, who had none of the special interests that would set her apart. I wondered if such novel could be written, and, if so, could it be read with enjoyment. Yes, now I know such a novel exists, and my favorite author for almost the past seventy years wrote it in Beyond the Gates.
Oh what a lovely comment, Ann. And such a good observation.
Sounds like a lovely read, Simon – get hoarding before her books become popular. Love you drawing a family tree you didn’t actually need! :D
It did feel very foolish a page or two after I did it :D
“Too Delicious to be Disliked”: that should be a running theme! (Or, at least a top-ten list or something.) LOL What a lovely edition, BTW.
Yes!!
This sounds excellent and I am excited about the BL edition too!
I am so excited about people getting to read it!
I don’t know her work at all, but this does sound good!
She really is a find.
I found a copy of this and just loved it. Thank you for introducing me to this lovely book. I will be looking for more of her books.
Oh wonderful news, Joy! O, The Brave Music is being reprinted shortly and it’s even better!