published 2012
[Narrator Charles, who has been travelling, has been met at Southampton by old friends]
It dawned upon me suddenly who she was and I started in surprise. ‘Sylvia!’ I exclaimed. ‘I hardly recognized you. Good heavens! I had no idea you had grown up. Have I really been away that long?’
When I had last seen Bobs’s sister, she had been an ungainly schoolgirl with a grubby face and a reckless disregard for the state of her clothes; quite different from the smart, fashionable young woman standing in front of me now. I could not help staring at her,
observations: I picked up this book after reading about the series on a Golden Age Detection discussion page. There’s a Clara Benson website which says this:
I enjoyed the book, although I didn’t have any trouble solving the murder, and the amateur sleuth – Angela Marchmont – was quite appealing. It was nicely written, and the atmosphere was rather Agatha-Christie-like: mistrust, overheard conversations, the use of a story from the past to unnerve someone.
However I would not think for a moment that it was written in the 1920s (when it is set): the dialogue was not convincing for that era, nor were the manners of the main participants. And most of all there was this:
It dawned upon me suddenly who she was and I started in surprise. ‘Sylvia!’ I exclaimed. ‘I hardly recognized you. Good heavens! I had no idea you had grown up. Have I really been away that long?’
When I had last seen Bobs’s sister, she had been an ungainly schoolgirl with a grubby face and a reckless disregard for the state of her clothes; quite different from the smart, fashionable young woman standing in front of me now. I could not help staring at her,
astonished at how much she had changed. She flushed slightly and pulled a face, which immediately brought to memory the tom-boy she had once been and I laughed. We all stood there for a few moments, grinning foolishly at each other as the crowd flowed around us.
observations: I picked up this book after reading about the series on a Golden Age Detection discussion page. There’s a Clara Benson website which says this:
Clara Benson was born in 1890 and as a young woman wrote several novels featuring Angela Marchmont. She was unpublished in her lifetime, preferring to describe her writing as a hobby, and it was not until many years after her death in 1965 that her family rediscovered her work and decided to introduce it to a wider audience.The conversation amongst the Golden Age fans was on whether this could possibly be true. So naturally I decided to try one of the books, and form my own opinion. (I got mine free, and the books are available at very reasonable prices on Kindle.)
I enjoyed the book, although I didn’t have any trouble solving the murder, and the amateur sleuth – Angela Marchmont – was quite appealing. It was nicely written, and the atmosphere was rather Agatha-Christie-like: mistrust, overheard conversations, the use of a story from the past to unnerve someone.
However I would not think for a moment that it was written in the 1920s (when it is set): the dialogue was not convincing for that era, nor were the manners of the main participants. And most of all there was this:
‘…Do you remember Lili Le Sueur?... She wanted to star in pictures…. I suppose she has got fat and lost her looks by now.’
Lucille LeSueur is the birth name of a very famous Hollywood star, and it is asking too much to believe that this fictional young man’s fancy shared the name.
But Benson gets points for having a hero who says this about shell shock:
So – my verdict is that the cover story is exactly that, a story, but as a pastiche it wasn’t bad.
But Benson gets points for having a hero who says this about shell shock:
I had never been much of a believer in it myself but it seemed useless to argue…Modern protagonists in historical books are usually firmly on the side of feminism and socialism, are very anti-war, and tend to have advanced (and frankly unlikely views) on a range of issues such as mental health and sexual freedom. But I think this particular case is a credit to the writer, avoiding the trap, not a sign of authentic age. [To be clear, not because I don't believe in shell shock, but because the author resisted the temptation to give her hero modern views.]
So – my verdict is that the cover story is exactly that, a story, but as a pastiche it wasn’t bad.
The pictures are from a schoolgirl annual of 1927.
Moira - It does sound like a decent story even if there are some things that are too much to believe. Sometimes it's fun to 'dive in' to a story like this if you know what you're getting. And the Agatha Christie sort of atmosphere and context already has me interested...
ReplyDeleteI suppose the 'lost story' claims are good PR - they certainly got me interested! And it was a good enough read....
DeleteInteresting, had not heard of this before. It would have to be awfully good for me to read something that pretends to have been written at a different time.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the trick worked on me, in the sense that I read it so I could try to decide if it was real or fake. But I can't honestly say that you should be getting hold of it.
DeleteThat was the message I got from your post. If I could notice discrepancies, it might be fun, but the ones you noted I would never have caught. That probably means that someone did a good job with it... but still. Don't like someone trying to fake it.
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