Strange as fiction

[callmemadam]

I am reading Wild Mary, Patrick Marnham’s biography of Mary Wesley. I recently got rid of all my Mary Wesley books apart from The Camomile Lawn and I have to say Marnham’s book is better than the throw-outs. Mary Wesley’s life was certainly extreme. As a young woman she was presented at court three times, attended the coronation of George VI and was part of a large, wealthy, well connected social circle. After her second husband died she was so poor that by the end of the month she couldn’t afford to buy a postage stamp. She then drew on her own experiences to write books and her first published adult novel came out when she was over seventy. After that it was all success and glory: best selling books, the world wanting to interview her. Does she really merit a biography, though? I confess I can’t like her at all (with a nod at her bravery and stoicism) and consider her books completely amoral. I was interested to learn (not from the biography) that she was determined not to have her life written by ‘someone like Margaret Forster’ who wouldn’t understand her. I can’t help thinking that if she hadn’t slept with so many men, this book would not have been published.

Comments

[minniemoll.livejournal.com]

I read this when it first came out, but was very disappointed - this is what I wrote at the time -

I'd been looking forward to this, and actually got round to reading it just after I bought it, but I was hugely disappointed. MW's life was not without incident, but the author waffles round and round subjects without actually getting to them. There are huge chunks of background to incidental characters, and interesting points are hurried over as quickly as possible, with the exception of Mary's and her second husband's divorces, which are descibed in minute detail. The author's style didn't grip me at all.

I do like her books though, especially Camomile Lawn, Poppy Carew and Part of the Furniture. I should reread some of the others.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing there's still a lot not being told. Her sons are alive and one of them was active in promoting this book. I feel the author gives us far too much history as background but that could be me forgetting that not everyone knows all this stuff. Which interesting points do you think are 'hurried over'? I haven't finished the book yet so can't tell.

I kept The Camomomile Lawn because I have such a thing for books set during the war. I enjoyed reading the others at the time but didn't think I'd want to re-read. And I keep buying more books, in spite of the massive decluttering going on here.

[minniemoll.livejournal.com]

I can't remember the details now - I just remembered that I hadn't enjoyed it as much as I thought I would. And pages and pages of more or less irrelevant details about minor players in the story.

[sloopjonb.livejournal.com]

Think yourself lucky. I have to read Lady Chatterley's (bleedin') Lover at some point this weekend. Ugh. Of course I could get one of the servants to read it for me.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Bad luck. I dislike just about everything Lawrence ever wrote except Sons and Lovers.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you. I'd thought about buying it and now I won't.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I didn't mind spending twenty pence on it.

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

Amoral is exactly the right word for Mary Wesley's novels. I like them - I like some of them a lot and others moderately, but there's always something faintly callous about them. She doesn't create a world that I'd ever want to live in and there are very few of her characters I'd trust as friends (Willy in Poppy Carew is a notable exception here). It's interesting to see from your brief summary how much of her life seems to be found in her novels. So, I'm going to conclude that I wouldn't like her much either and not read her biography.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Shw was supremely selfish (although she could be a kind and loyal friend) and I think this explains the callousness you find in the novels. She converted to Catholicism, seeing the Roman church as the church for sinners. Her genuine religious feelings don't seem to have moderated her behaviour at all.

Mary Wesley

[(Anonymous)]

I had the opportunity of interviewing Mary Wesley in her cottage,tucked behind the High Street in Totnes. Her reputation went before her and I was very nervous because, even in her late 80s, she was a feisty woman. But she was lovely, made me most welcome and answered all my questions without hesitation. I admired her. She often had to write her 2nd husband's work for him because, in the words of today, he was 'tired and emotional'. She was feisty even to the end and was buried in a bright red coffin.

Re: Mary Wesley

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

How interesting! She was extremely loyal to Eric, who was obviously 'difficult'.

Re: Mary Wesley

[(Anonymous)]

I sent in my comment on Mary Wesley as "Anonymous" as I wasn't sure how to give myself a name, this is a new-to-me blog, but I am Margaret Powling and I've left comments on such blogs as Cornflower, Random Jottings, etc. My articles on Mary Wesley were in Devon Life and Country, the magazine of the Country Gentleman's Association.

Re: Mary Wesley

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Thank you for letting me know.