Miss Rivers and Miss Bridges by Geraldine Symons



published 1971



Miss Rivers and Miss Bridges


[Pansy needs to borrow some clothes, secretly, from her friend’s mother]


They had decided on a red coat and skirt. It was a lovely colour – not crimson and not scarlet and not deep pink. According to Atalanta it was rose-madder. It had covered buttons in two lots of three, and it fitted almost beautifully. Pansy had felt like a trespasser going into the cupboard, but inside the coat and skirt she had felt worse than a trespasser, bad – bad and humble and apologetic, and the other part of her had felt proud and excited and vain. When she had a new coat and skirt she would like one exactly like this, she had thought longingly, only with a shorter skirt of course. She had just had a new purple school coat and skirt and her new coat, and she didn’t see much hope of getting another for some time. She hadn’t known how she was going to bear not having it; she had felt quite frenzied with longing.

The hats were on a shelf…. They selected a kind of toque, covered with veiling and struck through with a couple of osprey feathers.

 
Miss Rivers and Miss Bridges 2
 


observations: The Clothes in Books filing system is absolutely hopeless in one area – I don’t keep proper records of who recommended books to me. I always think I will just remember. I am resolving to form a better system for this. In the meantime, I am glad I managed to remember that it was the marvellous Lydia Syson who first mentioned this one to me.

I want to give credit, because I loved the book so much. It was published in 1971, aimed squarely at ‘readers of 11 and over’ – and it is both the perfect YA book, and one of the best suffragette books I have ever read. There is a magic in the way Symons combines the two. (Checking online shows that everyone who does read it, loves and remembers it.)

Pansy and Atalanta – 13 and 14, fiercely supportive of the women’s right-to-vote movement – are spending the school holidays in London with Atalanta’s relaxed and Bohemian parents (a writer and an actress) – I’m guessing it’s 1913. They are determined to take some action for the cause.

Their first attempt is very exciting and successful, so they try another stunt – which involves their dressing up as much older women, the Miss S and Miss B of the title. Hilariously, everyone co-operates to invent detailed backstories for these women. This time they are in evening dress – the book is the most perfect CIB text, with its feminist politics combined with wonderful clothes descriptions, and consideration of the importance of clothes as disguise, as social indicator, as aesthetic choice. This particular demonstration has unexpected consequences…

The writing is charmingly relaxed and very funny – Atalanta shows off her French by mentioning a fait accompli to a shop assistant who says doubtfully that she doesn’t think they carry that fashion line. After watching Atalanta’s mother performing in a sad play, Pansy visits her in her dressing room and thinks how brave she is, before remembering that the story wasn’t true.

Part of the plot revolves round the suffragette prison brooch:
There was a purple, white and green arrow and some things that looked like silver bars and chains.
-- this is what it would have looked like.
Miss Rivers and Miss Bridges 3

The book takes some familiar tropes – the two friends with different characters, the arrival at a Bohemian household, the disagreements over women’s rights and politics – but manages to do something very fresh and uncliched with the plot. It is outrageous that Miss Rivers and Miss Bridges is out of print – it should be seen for what it is, a timeless classic, and someone should re-publish it. Until then, you can find secondhand copies quite easily.

More suffragettes on the blog: in Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End, in Lucy Ribchester’s The Hourglass Factory, and at the beginning of Lissa Evans’ The Crooked Heart (and, we hope, in a work-in-progress…).

The flyer is from the UK National Archives, the group of suffragettes (American and British) is from the Library of Congress.















Comments

  1. Oh my word, I'd forgotten this! I loved it so much as a child that I actually fantasised about changing my name to Atlanta... I also loved 'The Children in the Close' by this author - and 'The Workhouse Child'. Thank you so much for reminding me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am feeling robbed - how come I didn't know this author when I was young? It seems everyone else knew and loved her, and I can absolutely tell I would have... where were these books hiding?

      Delete
  2. What a great way to explore the suffragette experience and the history of voting rights, Moira! Absolutely terrific! And the writing style got my interest right away. That's the thing about books that are supposedly targeted for YA or pre-teen readers. Some of them are such absolute gems that you wish they were marketed more broadly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes indeed Margot - it's a point you have made before about YA books, and I couldn't agree more.

      Delete
  3. Thanks Moira, my nieces turn 11 in September so maybe this would be suitable for them (but me first).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh do try it on them! I have a grudge that not only did I not know about this when I was young, but I didn't find it in time for my daughter, who is now grown-up. (But will enjoy it anyway.)

      Delete
  4. "The Children in the Close" rings a faint bell.....

    I did recommend a partially very similar book to you - looking forward to you reaching it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I think I know that one you mean, I did get a copy, I must move it towards the top of the pile!

      Delete
  5. This does sound like a good book, the time frame and the suffragette movement.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tracy, I enjoyed it so much that I have ordered other books by the same author.

      Delete
  6. Replies
    1. We'll acquit you of being anti-suffragette, but looking above this does seem to appeal to the women readers.

      Delete
    2. Every time we near an election either local or national - I ask my mother-in-law whether she will be voting, in the full knowledge that she will launch in to a 3 hour monologue on women dying so that she could vote, so of course she will and blah de blah de blah de blah etc etc. My kids absolute hate me for getting her started and have threatened genital mutilation (charming - I blame the parents!) if I push her buttons......which of course only makes it more likely that I do.
      No, I'm not anti-suffragette......not when it provides me with such entertainment

      Delete
    3. Splendid story Col, and I'm right with your mother-in-law....

      Delete
  7. I've only just spotted this wonderful post...a few years late...as I search vainly for something about Geraldine Symons as I prep for something I'm doing for the RLF about the Miss R and Miss B sequel, Mademoiselle. I'm delighted but not surprised you loved it as much as I do. That toque. Still baffled that nobody has reissued these books, specially this year of all years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, they absolutely should have been reissued this year! I loved this book, it was so compelling, and memorable, and funny...
      Mademoiselle was interesting too, though not quite reaching these heights. Good luck with your researches...

      Delete

Post a Comment