Dress Down Sunday: A City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge


published 1936

LOOKING AT WHAT GOES ON UNDER THE CLOTHES









[Set in early 1900s. The Cathedral choirboys are having a party… ]

How fitting it was, said those who never came into close contact with the choirboys, that the party should take place on Holy Innocents’ Day … All those sweet little boys with their round cherubic faces, guileless eyes and clean white collars … It was noticeable that those who did come into contact with the cherubs, never expressed an opinion on the matter…

The party began soon after three o’clock and lasted for five hours.

Henrietta and Hugh Anthony began dressing for it at twelve o’clock. They wrestled with underclothes from twelve till one, when they had lunch with overalls over the underclothes, and from two onwards, with the assistance of the entire household, they coped with the parts that show.


The underclothes of the young at that period were no light matter. The amazing amount of heat that is stored within the bodies of little children was not perhaps realized, and it was considered that they must be kept warm. Henrietta wore immensely thick woollen combinations, a woollen liberty-bodice, a woollen vest, a flannel petticoat, a silk petticoat and finally her winter party frock of blue velvet trimmed with fur.



commentary: Someone asked recently what was the most English thing I could think of – something I missed when living abroad – and one of my answers would be ‘an English Cathedral city in the depths of winter, the back streets and lights and small shops and wet pavements as you walk around, with the hulk of the Cathedral rising above you.’ Elizabeth Goudge reproduces that feeling wonderfully in this book:
It was nice in the Market Place. The chimneys and roofs were sharp and black against the orange sky, but below them purple veils had been drawn over unsightly things like dustbins and paper in the gutter, so that the Market Place looked mysteriously beautiful. Here and there a light had been lit in a window, orange to match the sky, and overhead a few stars were like pinholes pricked in the swinging Chinese lantern. The gas was lit in the bookshop, but it was empty….
City of Bells is set in a small Cathedral city in the West of England – resembling the real-life Wells - at the beginning of the 20th century, and so the Dean, the Bishop and the Canons (and their families) are key characters. The choirboys’ party is a big event in this book, and is most enjoyable – although it doesn’t have much relevance to the plot.

Cathedral closes feature in a couple of Michael Gilbert books, and I added a helpful explanation in my blogpost:

I live in a Cathedral town like the one in the two books, and after a long time I finally have an idea about how it works - the key is always that the Bishop is very senior, but the Dean has all the power IN the Cathedral, and the Archdeacon annoys everyone. 
All Cathedrals in the UK have a 'close', and I live very near to the Close in my home town - it's the area around the Cathedral, would probably have been walled originally, and contains the houses where the Dean and senior clergy live. It is usually a very attractive, pretty, green area, and anyone can walk freely through it. 
The plot of A City of Bells involves Jocelyn, a soldier injured in the Boer War who has to find a new purpose in life because of his disability. He comes to stay with his grandparents in the Close at Torminster, and meets his young relation Hugh Anthony and the adopted girl Henrietta. He discovers a lovely house in the town, empty and neglected, and decides to open a bookshop. He hears about the previous tenant, an Italian poet called Gabriel Ferranti, who has gone missing. He takes up with a famous actress called Felicity, and they try to discover more about Ferranti.

Nicely set in motion, the plot jogs on its whimsical way. It’s not exactly full of surprises, but the whole thing is very enjoyable - it was one of the books recommended for convalescents when I did a reader-led list of suitable books last yearAnd yes, it is a nice comfort read book.

For more Elizabeth Goudge on the blog, click on the link below.

The b/w drawings are from the NYPL collection, always an excellent source of clothes pictures.

Girl in blue with doll by Isaac Israels from the Athenaeum website

















Comments

  1. I remember the description of the cathedral town in Michael Gilbert's Close Quarters, Moira. It sounds as though this is a similar sort of town.And how can you not be interested in a plot that involves a bookshop and its owner? I can see why you enjoyed this one.

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    1. Yes, Margot, she is a clever writer, and gets you involved in her world. And of course you are right - bookshops!

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  2. I haven't read this since I was a child raiding my mother's bookcase. I don't remember the choirboys' party at all, but I do remember Jocelyn taking the children to the sweetshop. Hugh quite sensibly asked for some of everything including sugar mice while Henrietta ( who came across as something of a Pollyanna) only asked for hundreds and thousands to put on her bread. Oh, and the sequel where Henrietta gets a whole house stocked with books, which was definitely a dream of mine!

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    1. Yes, I really liked the scene in the sweetshop, and was fascinated by the idea of buying hundreds and thousands there - I think of them only as cake decorations, something you would buy in the home-baking aisle at the supermarket...
      And now, you interest me strangely with this sequel - I don't know about it, which of her books is it?

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    2. It's called Henrietta's House. It's hard to describe without including spoilers for the end of the City of Bells, but basically someone decides to buy a house for Henrietta and they go to the bookshop and ask them for all the books a girl would like to put on the shelves in the house. There's some other plot with other characters which I don't really remember. It's aimed at children, but includes a cast of characters from City Of Bells.

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    3. Thank you! Have ordered it already, have to read this...

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  3. I am not happy that you are getting me more interested in non-mystery fiction. When will I read all the books I want to read? For this book, I think it is the cathedral setting and then a bookstore too. I will look around for a copy...

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    1. I know, but then you keep pointing different crime books out to me and I find myself hovering over the 'buy' button far too often! AND films too. And honestly, I think you would enjoy this one.

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    2. I think I would too. I do have it on a list to look for, I probably won't wait for the next book sale, as the odds of finding it would be low.

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    3. You need to come to the UK Tracy: charity shops, book sales and 2nd hand places are always full of Elizabeth Goudge books!

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    4. Yes, I am so envious of the charity shops, and other used book places, in the UK. Probably just as well that I don't have such access, at this stage in my life and with so many books already, but I would enjoy all of those places so much.

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    5. I know, is dangerous to go into them, but we are very lucky here. There ARE a lot of them, and they are so random - some are beautifully arranged, easy to find anything by alphabetical order. Others look like boxes of books emptied onto shelves. But all of them might have treasures so I search through them...

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