All Done by Kindness by Doris Langley Moore


published 1951





 [Extracts from book]

Stephanie was suddenly conscious that her brilliant hair and fine skin and the skilfully draped dress which had been the work of two week-ends before the pictures had stolen all her leisure made an agreeable impact on a man whose visual sense must be highly developed, and she resolved if need be to exploit the advantage. She resolved it all the more readily because Arnold Bayley was, to her way of thinking, an attractive young man. She could have wished that she had come to him with some less thorny problem, some story more assured of acceptance.





[Beatrix is trying to sell some paintings]

‘We’ve got Lorenzo the Magnificent,’ said Beatrix quickly.

‘It’s no use asking me to sell Borgias. They been done to death.’

 ‘But he’s a Medici.’

‘It’s the same thing. Unless,’ he added on a more hopeful note, ‘he’s in his cardinal’s robes.’

‘I’m afraid not. He’s in a sort of black blouse affair.’

‘Doesn’t sound very magnificent to me.’

‘We’ve got a pope,’ she remembered brightening. ‘Pius the something-or-other.’

‘Popes are religious. You can’t get away from it.’

‘But so are cardinals, aren’t they?’

‘In a different way,’ he remarked coldly,



comments: I really should get one of those template keys on my computer, such that when I press F6, say, up come the words ‘how marvellous that the Dean St Press has brought this book back into print.’ Save me typing them yet again.

The kindly Dean St-ers could virtually be working for me: catering to my enjoyment of Golden Age crime, and popular fiction of the mid 20th Century, particularly the kind that could be described as ‘women’s fiction’ – a dismissive phrase from some, but certainly not from me. They have an amazing talent for finding wrongly-forgotten gems in both those areas.

And this is a perfect example: All Done by Kindness is a neat, happy book, a tremendous joy to read. It takes place a few years after the second world war, and in a small town in the north of England (I was thinking Harrogate) we discover a respectable doctor who once helped out one of his patients by ‘buying’ some worthless junk. His family were of course annoyed with him at the time.

Now, a few years later, a question arises over some of the items. A friend of the family, the young widow Mrs De Plessis (Stephanie above), thinks the artworks in that dratted trunk cluttering up the attic might have some value and interest. And so begins the long thread, beautifully plotted. The pictures must be shown to an expert. Decisions must be made about value. There are some dubious forces at work...

Moore keeps up tremendous tension and interest at all times – the book is wonderfully well done, and very clever. Because, you know pretty much at all times what the various parties are thinking and doing, there is no doubt. And (no spoiler) it seems likely that the forces of good will prevail. But somehow she keeps the tension up, and tells the story in a very amusing way. There are times when you want to strangle some of the characters, it must be said, as they act in such annoying ways. But Moore still totally makes it work. The book is a delight.

Moore has some excellent comments on human nature, I loved some of her character insights – the kind of thing you recognize instantly, but feel have rarely been described.

She turned and shook her head, summoning all her courage; for in the sensitive nothing needs more courage than to take a course that opposes the one socially required of them.

 And:
 The more she could give this enterprise the colour of a manoeuvre on her part to bring her into contact with a man who appealed to her, the nearer she would be to bringing it to Linda’s own plane, a plane on which the affairs of the heart were the most important business in life and it was friendship’s paramount duty to smooth the path towards a new attachment. Conspiring to preserve Old Masters was an activity in which she could never feel completely in her element, even though the family fortunes should depend on it; but doing a good turn to a friend who was angling for a particular young man was a cause not open to dispute. For that she was prepared to throw her bonnet over the highest windmill.

There are sideswipes at matters that you think might be more modern – people with complex conspiracy theories about Leonardo da Vinci and the Holy Grail, and artworks that ‘a child of five could have painted’. Nothing much changes.

My only great disappointment is this: Moore (who had a most interesting career, well worth a look on Wikipedia) was an expert in several areas , including art, Byron and fashion – she is responsible for what has now become the Museum of Fashion in Bath. But she very much fails to tell us what her characters are wearing. Many tragically missed opportunities. I had to do the best I could with what she did say.

Sylvia Townsend Warner (see label below)  wrote beautifully about provincial art galleries at a similar era – this post is about another of her stories, but mentions the gallery ones.

A recent book with a similar premise of lost masterpieces – The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild – wasn’t half as good as this one. But The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith , similar basis, is very enjoyable, and I liked it not only because I was able to write about Beatnik parties in the blogpost.

Top picture, from Kristine’s photostream, is from 1951 so spot on. Stephanie’s home-made dress probably didn’t look like that, and the picture is not a mediaeval panel. But obviously I had to use it!

The second picture is Lorenzo the Magnificent.


Comments

  1. Oh, I do like that plot point of discovering what could be something of real value, Moira. And it takes skill to carry out a plot line like that, and still make some commentary and explore human nature a bit. I give credit for that! Oh, and speaking of credit, I couldn't agree more about Dean Street Press. I'm very grateful to them for bring out so many terrific books that would otherwise remain in oblivion for who knows how long.

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    1. We feel the same way Margot: Dean St Press are marvellous!
      And this author is a real find - she writes well and does a great plot. She could have written a good murder story if she'd put her mind to it, but I don't think she did.

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  2. I haven't read this one but enjoyed Not at Home by the same author. Well done Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean Street for bringing us these books.

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    1. Oh am so glad to have a recommendation for the next one to try by her, thanks! And yes, I really trust DSP, and will at least try most of their authors.

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  3. This does sound fun, Moira.
    Incidentally, bed-jacket alert: I came across one in Ngaio Marsh's False Scent, where the implication is that it is a bit old-fashioned and frumpy. There is also an extraordinary red dress, that I would love you to find a picture for, so how about it?

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    1. I just had to check through my reading records, and I think False Scent must be the only Ngaio Marsh book I haven't read in the past 10 years. So obviously I have instantly downloaded it!

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    2. Thought the bed jacket would lure you in ...

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    3. If you liked the bedjacket, you'll like the semi-transparent handmade chemise!

      The dress is supported by a foundation garment - what we used to call a "corselette", and features flying chiffon panels.

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    4. Thanks both of you - downloaded it!

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  4. And the dress in the picture looks like a dress from one of Nancy Mitford's novels - where the central character moves to Oxford with her husband. She wears such a dress to her first dinner party - a black jersey bodice with long sleeves, and a full white skirt. The disapproving Oxford ladies are all wearing coffee lace - sleeveless and backless. Their extremities slowly turn blue with cold.

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    1. Oh yes, always loved that dinner party. And the detail that she should have worn her wedding dress for her first dinner out. Mitford I always feel was very confident herself and knew her way round clothes, but she is very good at describing the ways in which people can lack confidence or be put down by others.

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  5. I am confident you are the only blogger in the world who describe failures to describe clothes as "many tragically missed opportunities". It is a well put phrase you could also add as a template key on your computer.

    That photo at the top of the post is wonderful. A woman entering a room in that outfit is going to stop conversation. I think it would be great for wearing in 2020.

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    1. I wish I had that dress in my wardrobe Bill, you are so right! (though not sure I have the event to wear it to.)

      You made me laugh, yes I need more template keys, I am thinking about the clothes phrases I use a lot... And I stand by 'tragically missed opportunities' - and know that actually you understand totally.

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  6. I didn't enjoy this one as much as Not at Home, which was quite, quite wonderful. I think you would like it - there is a lovely description of a woman in a white coat, white wedge shoes, a yellow turban (taffeta I think) and yellow suede gloves... but she doesn't say what style of coat a fashionable woman would have worn in 1948.

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    1. Ooh sounds wonderful. I have Not At Home lined up on my Kindle (along with one or two other books, to be fair, so not sure when I'll read it) and now am looking forward to it even more.

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  7. I'll pass on the book. I wouldn't mind re-visiting Harrogate sometime. I've been there a couple of times with the better half in the early years of our marriage. A great stoppping off point for that jewel of the north - Mother Shipton's Cave!

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    1. My son went to Harrogate with his partner and I said 'oh did you have a lazy spa weekend with luxury food' and they very firmly told me that they had done a lot of historical sightseeing and long walks on the moors etc. Put me in my place.

      This book is probably about as far from your domain as possible... a safe miss.

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