Patricia Brent is upset after overhearing her neighbors discussing her lack of dates. Determined to prove them wrong, she tells them that she is having dinner with her fiancé on the following evening. When they show up to the restaurant to see what he looks like, Patricia is forced to coerce a young man into pretending he is there for her.
This book was written in 1918, when the Great War still raged, yet it retains an incredible freshness.
Sure, social behaviour and mores were different back then, and I enjoyed seeing how they were. The custom of exchanging messages via calling cards particularly amused me. At a certain point, Patricia receives messages from Peter, and during the dinner, they exchange at least three or four. Which made me think: and we feel so modern exchanging Whatsapp messages!
Yet some social behaviour made it a little hard to understand these people’s feelings, particularly regarding Patricia’s reasons for being wary of Peter’s courtship.
Everything starts with Patricia eavesdropping on two fellow pensioners talking about her because, shamefully, she’s still a sprinter at 24 (which was far from uncommon at the end of WWI).
She’s a spanky modern woman, so she decides to prank them: at dinner, she declares that night she will dine with her fiancé. She thinks that getting out of the pension at a suitable time will do the trick. What a shock when she realises the two women who commented on her follow her to see this mysterious fiancé. Therefore, Patricia is forced to improvise and sits at the table of the first young man she sees: Peter, an army officer on leave. Who, ‘unfortunately’ for her, far from being appalled by her daring act, immediately falls for her.
Now, for our contemporary sensitivity, Patrica’s act is bold but nothing to be too worried about.
For the time, though, it was extremely daring and even a bit too extra. Women didn’t take the initiative (unless they were a certain kind of woman), and Patricia endlessly worries about what Peter might think of her. She feels undeserving and almost unclean.
This is actually the only real barrier I found in the book (though it is a very relevant one), one that sometimes made me think, but what’s the problem there? Until I remembered the time.
For the rest, it’s a delightful novel.
It’s witty and fun. It addresses social change caused by the war. Patricia is both a working woman and a New Woman. The author makes fun of this, but given the novel’s humorous tone, it is hard to say whether the author is making fun of the New Woman or the society that criticise her. I suspect a bit of both.
However, in the end, he definitely leans towards these young people, whom everyone thinks are superficial and shallow, and who are actually going through terrible emotional turmoil. I was deeply moved by the final chapters, where the two young men face the difficult decision to return to the front. There are unexpectedly profound thoughts that still naturally insert themselves into the lighthearted narration.
I really enjoyed this book.
I found it fun and witty, yet not shallow as it might initially appear.
Give it a go!
Hi, I’m Sarah. I write historical fantasy set in the 1920s, and I read a lot, a lot of books set in the same era. On this blog, I regularly share book reviews of novels set in the 1920s (and sometimes 1910s and 1930s). If you love this kind of setting too ➡️ Subscribe to my newsletter
Patricia Brent, Spinster (Coming of age 1918 novel) #BookReview Written in 1918, this is an amusing book that also stay with you for its heart #WWI #BooksWorthReading Share on XPatricia Brent, Spinster
Excerpt
“No, that table won’t do! It is too near to the band.” It was Miss Wangle’s voice behind her. Without a moment’s hesitation her sub-conscious self once more took possession of Patricia, and she marched straight up to the fair-haired man in khaki and in a voice loud enough for Miss Wangle and her party to hear cried:
“Hullo! so here you are, I thought I should never find you.” Then as he rose she murmured under her breath, “Please play up to me, I’m in an awful hole. I’ll explain presently.”
Without a moment’s hesitation the man replied, “You’re very late. I waited for you a long time outside, then I gave you up.”
With a look of gratitude and a sigh of content, Patricia sank down into the chair a waiter had placed for her. If there had been no chair, she would have fallen to the floor, her legs refusing further to support her body. She was trembling all over. Miss Wangle had selected the next table. Patricia was conscious of hoping that somewhere in the next world Miss Wangle’s sufferings would transcend those of Dives as a hundred to one.
As she was pulling off her gloves her companion held a low-toned colloquy with the waiter. She stole a glance at him. What must he be thinking? How had he classified her? Her heart was pounding against her ribs as if determined to burst through.
Suddenly she remembered that the others were watching and, leaning upon the table, she said:
“Please pretend to be very pleased to see me. We must talk a lot. You know—you know—” then she turned aside you’ve just come back from France, and—and—— Oh! what are you thinking of me? Please—please——” she broke off.
Very gravely and with smiling eyes he replied, “I quite understand. Please don’t worry. Something has happened, and if I can do anything to help, you have only to tell me. My name is Bowen, and I’m just back from France.”
“Are you a major?” enquired Patricia, to whom stars and crowns meant nothing.
“I’m afraid I’m a lieutenant-colonel,” he replied, “on the Staff.”
“Oh! what a pity,” said Patricia, “I said you were a major.”
“Couldn’t you say I’ve been promoted?” Patricia clapped her hands. “Oh! how splendid! Of course! You see I said that you were Major Brown, I can easily tell them that they misunderstood and that it was Major Bowen. They are such awful cats, and if they found out I should have to leave. You see that’s some of them at the next table there. That’s Miss Wangle with the lorgnettes and the other woman is Mrs. Mosscrop-Smythe, who is her echo, and the man is Mr. Bolton. He’s nothing in particular.”
The Thursday Quotables was originally a weekly post created by Lisa Wolf for her book blog **Bookshelf Fantasy** . It isn’t a weekly post anymore, not even for Lisa, but just like her, I still love to share my favourite reads on Thursdays and I still use the original template which included an excerpt.
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2 Comments
Kristin Cleage
I just ordered it! Kindle edition free on Amazon
jazzfeathers
It’s delightful! Hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did 😁