After the Rain by Susan E Jones
Genre: Historical fiction
Read: 9th April 2023
Published: 18th January 2023
★ 1 star
DESCRIPTION:
It is the late summer of 1910 and Bessie Hardwicke, thirty-nine years old and single, has just started work as a lady’s companion to widowed Fanny Grist in London. The change is momentous for Bessie and she constantly questions whether the move was a big mistake. Life in London is so different from what she’s been used to and she desperately misses her dear nephew Walter, whom she looks upon as a son.
There is no denying that she is badly in need of a change. Even after twenty years, she is still grieving the loss of her fiancé Arthur and beloved sister Ethel. But she is not alone in her grief. Those she comes into contact with in London are no less afflicted by the loss of loved ones than she is. And through her compassion and selflessness, Bessie bestows on others the priceless gift of irrepressible hope.
MY THOUGHTS:
I thought I would enjoy this book as I do so love the era in which it is set. However, I found Bessie's monologuing both droning and depressing. Having moved from her home in the West Country, Bessie has taken up the position of lady's companion to a curmudgeonly Edwardian widow Mrs Fanny Grist. Why anyone would be this woman's lady's companion is anyone's guess! She's horrid. Well, she is in my opinion anyway.
Bessie takes everything Fanny dishes out to her on the chin, knowing that if she were to retaliate she may be in danger of losing her job and therefore her room and board (and thus home) in a big strange city. Fanny seems to do and say everything she can to get on Bessie's nerves and I'm sure she does it purposely to get a rise...I think she enjoys a little tête-à-tête battle. But Bessie just makes her responses through clenched teeth, if need be.
Bessie's life hasn't been easy. Her father saw her academic talents and wanted her to be a teacher but her mother said how would she find a husband as a teacher? Apparently female teachers remained unmarried. But it was not to be as when her father died her mother whipped her out of school and put her to work at Farringdon House (where she'd worked before she married many years ago) - all hopes of being a teacher dashed. She remained there until threat of domestic staff being cut and sought a position elsewhere sourced by her best friend Patty who now lived in London. And thus she became a lady's companion to old biddy Fanny. She was to remain at Farringdon until she married, and married she was to be to her beloved fiance Arthur...until he sadly died. And so here in London she is.
Despite the sorrows that have befallen her, Bessie has remained kind-hearted but she is desperately lonely. She longs to make friends but the cook and housekeeper at Mrs Grist's aren't welcoming so she remains alone. She does have her friend Patty whom she sees when she can.
I didn't love the narrative style of this book. It didn't warm me to the character at all, although I preferred her just slightly to the horrid Fanny. Why couldn't she just be kind? I wanted to like this book but I just couldn't. The narrative style was too depressing and felt like an endless monologue cataloguing Bessie's sorrows. It wasn't the easy style that I have come to love of this era.
I would like to thank #SusanEJones, #BlossomSpringPublishing and #ZoolooTours for an ARC of #AfterTheRain in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Susan E Jones grew up in Stroud in Gloucestershire but was always keen to travel and embrace new experiences. For many years she lived and worked abroad – in Brussels, Rome, Abidjan and Washington DC – working mostly with international organisations in various roles ranging from editing to budget preparation.
When she finally decided it was time for me to return to the UK, Susan chose Penzance in Cornwall as her home, devoting most of her free time to writing - which had long been her ambition. Long daily walks along the South West Coastal Path give her both a sense of wellbeing and an opportunity to think about ideas for my next novel.
After the Rain is the first purely fictional novel she has written. It was inspired by the contents of her great-great aunt’s postcard album, which somehow ended up in her possession. Many of the postcards are from her nephew, capturing her imagination and giving her a glimpse into life in the early 1900s.
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