Manservant and Maidservant by Ivy Compton-Burnett

You wouldn't recognize it at first glance but I have a little competitive streak.  I rate Elizabeth Bowen as the highest and Simon hasn't yet seen the light although he has as much as issued a pledge to try one day.  Knowing I had a book on my shelves that he trumpeted about I issued a teensy challenge to see who would read from the other camp first.  "Game on" was his reply.  So unless Simon is prepared to share his views on To the North or any other title by Bowen within the next few hours, I think it's fair to say "I won, I won!"

Knowing absolutely zilch about Compton-Burnett other than her writing is an acquired taste I was expecting something a bit odd or eccentric.  And this book is ever so slightly that....but in a good way.  Luckily for me I love dialogue because Manservant and Maidservant is completely stuffed with quotation marks.  Line after line, page after page - it reads more like a play.  Well actually, in a play you would have more description of scenery than you get with this intriguing production.  What is lacking in descriptive phrases about wood panelling, threadbare carpets and views from the windows is made up for in the intensity of characterization.  Although, a little warning that a couple of days had gone by before starting the next conversation would have been most welcome at times.  Every now and then I had to double back a few lines when I realized we had left the kitchen and were now in the garden listening in on a completely different family.

Published in 1947, this story is about the Lamb family living in a draughty ramshackle house bustling with children and servants.  At times I had images as rustic as those in I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.  Horace married the money they do have but keeps a tighter than tight rein on the family budget.  His meanness and strict disciplinarian ways have turned his children against him...

"Is there a candle?" said Marcus.  "I need one for my private purposes."
"You may fetch one from your room," said Nurse, "if you are not going to waste it."
"It will melt," said Avery, as his brother set the candle near the fire, and Nurse watched him without confidence.
Marcus took the candle and moulded the wax, and a recognisable image of a man took shape in his hands.
"Now where are the pins?" he said, with a twitch of his lips.
"They will not be wasted.  It is an honorable purpose for them."
Jasper drew near at the sight of a practical measure.
"Why are you doing it?" said Avery.
"If you put pins into an effigy of someone, the person feels pain."
"But you don't know who this is," said Tamasin.
"It is Father," said Marcus, in an incidental manner.

Some people might find this scene slightly demonic but I laughed my head off!  And there were plenty more scenes every bit as witty.  Which is not to say that Manservant and Maidservant is altogether humourous, there are issues of infidelity, theft and even some premeditation of  misadventure, shall we say, found within its pages.  Another character, Miss Buchanan, can't read, the poor thing.  My heart broke for her with each instance that presented itself in which she was called upon to quickly disguise her handicap.

Despite writing that she had had an uneventful life, Compton-Burnett's life was quite sad in parts.  Her favourite brother died of pneumonia, another brother was killed on the Somme and two of her sisters killed themselves in a suicide pact on Christmas Day, 1917.  Interestingly, of the eight girls in her family none ever married which at a time when it was almost expected seems extraordinary.  A biography might be an interesting next stop if I can find a good one, any recommendations?

You can read Simon's review of Manservant and Maidservant here.  He may write a lovely review but I won this reading smack down...no pressure, Simon!

An Assignment

Staff at the branch library, where I am employed as a circulation clerk, are welcome to create a display of their choosing to decorate a slat wall.  Topics such as humour, fitness for seniors and healthy eating have provided customers with no end of choice reading material lately.  Those of you who know me will not be surprised to learn that my eye was cast in another direction.  While it would have been oh so tempting to create a display called "Books That I Adore" and run merrily through the stacks pulling titles that have made me laugh, cry and wax lyrical, the display should appeal to as many of the population as possible.  No more than ten seconds passed before there was a twinkle in my eye.

Over the past year my somewhat intact sense of etiquette has been tested again and again when lovely patrons, completely unaware of what goes on beyond our borders, have asked "Have you heard of a show called Downton Abbey?"  The poor things have no idea that I have watched every episode drinking copious amounts of tea while snacking on tea bread made by my very own self from the Fortnum & Mason recipe.  If I owned an Edwardian tea gown and corset I wouldn't be beyond changing my attire for the occasion.  Thinking about it, there is still time before series three to whip something up...hmmm.  Anyway, some upstairs/downstairs and Edwardian era books would be just the thing to hold people over until the next series airs here in Canada. 

Searching the catalogue for ideas was a pleasure but also a bit disappointing at times when we didn't stock many of the wonderful titles that would have applied.  I thoroughly enjoyed The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate earlier this year but I wasn't about to cough up my own copy, sorry.  The past couple of weeks have been really satisfying, watching people browse the display and then tuck something under their arm.  Men love to flip through the Victoria Cross book but then place it back where they found it.  Oh well, you can lead a horse to water, as they say.  Back in the inner sanctum that is our staff room I have been squirreling away replacement books and dvds to fill in any gaps.  My friend and colleague, Liz, has been doing her best to sign out material as fast as I can put it up. 

One book that caught my eye, although I resisted the urge to sign it out straight away, is Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford.  Has anyone read it?  It has rave reviews for its keen observation of Edwardian social history and has, I just found out, been made into a dramatization by the BBC starring Benedict Cumberbatch.  (Note to self...make more tea bread).  Once London's Olympic cauldron has been extinguished and my thoughts on The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen are sorted I would like to try Ford on for size and see how we get on.

And in case anyone is wondering, I made the bunting myself.  Five dollars and a spare hour of my time, no problem!  There was a slight moment of panic last week when I was greeted at the door by a member of upper management on my morning to open the library.  The motion sensor had gone off during closed hours.  A moment of dread filled me when I thought perhaps the bunting had fallen down and what a nuisance that would have been.  The bunting was safe, a member of staff had forgot to lock up the night before and the front doors had swung open to greet a night maintenance employee at the community centre.  Oh dear.