When the British Library Women Writers series was first suggested, one of the titles I thought about first was The Love Child (1927) by Edith Olivier. Not only is it one of my favourite novels, – novellas? – it was one of the key texts in my DPhil on middlebrow, fantastic novels. I’ve read it many times, and have pressed it into many people’s hands. I’ve written about it on here more than once. But it wasn’t in print, and I really wanted it to be.
Or… was it in print? While you wouldn’t have been likely to find it in bookshops, there was a print-on-demand version available – along with all the rest of Olivier’s novels. The editions weren’t beautiful, but they were great at making the books available. And yet I really, really wanted it between beautiful British Library covers… luckily I was like the persistent widow of the Bible, and finally the British Library agreed. (It wasn’t quite like that, of course, but I am delighted that The Love Child made it!) It was possible because Olivier died more than 70 years ago, and so the novel is out of copyright.
The Love Child was Olivier’s first novel, written when she was in her 50s – she described the idea as coming to her in the middle of the night, and feverishly writing the beginning in her bed. And that idea is this: what if an imaginary friend became real?
What makes this such a 1920s novel is that the heroine is an unmarried woman who feels herself on the shelf in her 30s – and, with so many men lost at war, she has far fewer options for marriage. While many women have always been happy without marriage and children, Agatha Bodenham is not one of those women. Not having a child is clearly an aching gap in her life.
As the story begins, she is mourning her mother – her final close family connection. Agatha starts thinking about Clarissa, her childhood imaginary friend – whom had been a wonderful (if illusory) companion until a governess poured scorn on her. She remembers the joy of playing with her, and starts to do so again.
Then one day, when Agatha was quietly sitting on the white seat at the end of the green walk, darning a black woollen stocking to wear in church the next day, and for once more absorbed in darning than in dreaming – then, all of a sudden, Clarissa came and sat on the seat beside her. She was smaller even than Agatha had imagined her, and she looked young for her age, which must have been ten or eleven.
Clarissa has materialised! From here, The Love Child looks at the delight of this miracle – but, as time goes on, the problems that come with it. Clarissa is increasingly visible to others, and Agatha has to deal with that. And, as she grows earlier, Clarissa begins to yearn for independence herself…
This is a short masterpiece, far better than anything else Olivier wrote. It’s sophisticated and complete, and I think ranks as one of the most perfect novellas of the 20th century. As it’s so short, this new British Library edition also includes a selection of excerpts from Olivier’s autobiography, Without Knowing Mr Walkley, which I think is a really helpful addition to the book. And, of course, my afterword – which is largely about the introduction of the first adoption law in the UK, referred to in the novel.
If you haven’t read this gem before, I very much recommend it! And don’t miss the different posts about the series appearing across blogs, YouTube and Instagram during the ongoing #FarMoreThanFiction blog tour (of which this is, I suppose, an unofficial entry!)
A great recommendation and the cover is especially beautiful! I do like the addition of information about the decade, in this case the adoption law, it really help in building the scene.
It was so interesting, reading about it! Info is a bit piecemeal, but hopefully I got enough.
Just received my copy and I’m looking forward to reading it. This is a terrific series!
Yay! Thanks Cynthia
I love this book, and I have you to thank for introducing it to me! So glad it got to be one of the BLWW series!
It would have felt incomplete without it :D
I read The Love Child, mainly because of your enthusiasm for it. I did love it, but only read it on kindle, so having this beautiful new edition is a delight.
Hurrah! Wonderful news
Hm… while I’m unsure about the fantastical elements here, you usually do have good recommendations so… another one for my British Library list!
I think it would win over fantastic sceptics
Saving this, up next to read and review scheduled, so glad I got this for the Blog Tour!
Excellent!
I fear I may have asked this question before, so apologies if I did and you answered. Like many of you who read and write about it what you read on a frequent basis there appears to be some moderately clear distinction between “short story” *novella” and “novel”. I am sure it isn’t written down as some ISO/EN standard, but it appears to be important to tell your readers which of these categories a work of fiction falls into. I ask two questions, firstly why is it important (I can always look up the number of pages if that is somehow a criterion for my reading a book) and secondly what is your “rule-of-thumb” for deciding on the category?
As you suspect, there isn’t a fixed definition – people tend to go with under 200pp, but obviously the number of words on a page can differ quite a lot. I mention it because it’s quite a different reading experience, reading something very slight. People could look up the number of pages, of course, but they could also look up more or less anything else I write – so if that were my rule I wouldn’t write a blog at all! :D
Really looking forward to reading this. Thanks for your persistence!
Thanks Harriet!
These editions look so lovely. As a longtime collector of grimy little green-spines, I can still admire these from afar! :)
Somehow I have lost my Virago edition of this?? I can’t believe I’d have got rid of it, so will have to keep an eye out for another…