The Dud Persphone

[callmemadam]

I came to A House in the Country by Jocelyn Playfair with no preconceptions. I had read nothing about it so was intrigued when a couple of people said they’d be interested to know what I thought of it. A domestic novel about the Second World War? Just the kind of book I like. Comparisons (in the introduction) with One Fine Day (Mollie Panter-Downes) and Mrs Miniver? Well, sit me down in front of Brief Encounter and I’m in heaven. Sadly, I think this is a really terrible book and can’t understand why Persephone thought it deserved to be reprinted.

Beautiful, widowed Cressida lives at Brede, a lovely country house belonging to Charles, whom she has loved for years. She lets rooms in the house to people with nowhere else to go: soldiers, a romantic Polish resistance fighter. Cressida cooks, cleans, nurtures everyone, neglects her son (my opinion), dreams about Charles and never lets her emotions show. These chapters are interspersed with scenes where Charles (murderer!) drifts in a lifeboat for fourteen days, thinking (allegedly philosophically but in reality like a schoolboy) about the nature of war and his own reasons for fighting.

In Put Out More Flags, Evelyn Waugh says more in one paragraph about wartime life in a large country house than Jocelyn Playfair manages in a whole book. Not all writers can be towering geniuses like Waugh but they can at least try to tell a story in plain English. I think this is the problem; Playfair was trying to Write with a very capital ‘W’ and didn’t pull it off. It doesn’t help that Cressida, held up as an example of the correct wartime spirit, is actually as crashing a snob as the author’s hate-characters and that Charles is completely unbelievable. Hardly surprising that the author gave up writing in favour of other hobbies. The best thing about this book is the endpaper design; I'd love to own that scarf!

Comments

[dozydormouse.livejournal.com]

I disliked A House in the Country too. I was very disappointed I expected something like Diary of a Provincial Lady or Mrs Miniver and got an unlikable lead character and a boring plot.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Glad it's not just me!

[debodacious.livejournal.com]

I had thought it was one I would like judging by the blurb, but I don't think I'll buy it now. I wish our library had Persephone books.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I expected to like it!
There's been a Persphone copy of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (I didn't like that, either), on the 'Try Something New' shelf for weeks. Obviously not much demand.

Lucky me, today I spotted the new Adrian Mole in the 'New Books' display. Sigh. I liked it when books were in alphabetical order.

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

Persephone Books are on my list of 'things I need more of'. That particular book sounds like it should go way down on my list. 'The Children Who Lived In A Barn' is near the top of my list; like a lot of Enid Blyton books it was one I read when very young and didn't grasp that it had been written decades earlier. (Thinking about it, perhaps my childhood reading explains why I like so much 1920s/ 1930s stuff nowadays...)

The scarf is splendid!

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

If you're lucky, you might pick up the old Puffin edition of The Children who Lived in a Barn and save yourself a few pennies. That's the edition I have. Persephone books are beautiful to look at; I think they should stick to the chaste grey covers.
I read a lot of Children's Press and Puffin books when I was young and like you, had no idea they were 'old' books.

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

I always got very confused as to why I couldn't go on holiday in a gypsy caravan, and had no idea what High Tea is but wanted very much to try it.

Frankly, I think a good helping of 'old' books is very good for children. There's something very civilised about such books, and it does rub off. I sent Big God-daughter 'The Box of Delights' for Christmas. She told me she likes the books I send her because no-one else gives her anything like them, and they're always good to read.

[lethe1]

Thank you! Yours is the third or fourth negative review I've read, and as I haven't seen any positive ones I'll definitely not bother with this book.

Speaking of unexpected Persephone choices, have you ever read The Wise Virgins by Leonard Woolf (and if so, could you give me your opinion on it)?

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Sorry, can't help you with The Wise Virgins as I've never read it.:-(

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, I was swept up in the whole mindset that all Persephone Books are brilliant at one time, but now I now better. It's an admirable enterprise, and I do like a lot of the titles but not all and I'd rather have less fancy endpapers and a cheaper book.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

To be fair, they are looking to produce a quality book which is a pleasure to read, and they do; I love the endpapers and bookmarks. Then again, I haven't bought many!

[gghost.livejournal.com]

Well, I guess that I'll be skipping this one.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

You won't miss much!