Mary Westmacott - A Daughter's a Daughter

Ann Prentice was a quiet woman. She liked the simple things inlife - soft firelight and evenings at home. A quiet widow devoted to her only dear child, Sarah. Until she fell in with a fashionable crowd, going from party to party, trying things she would once have considered shocking and never quite thinking about the consequences. Why had she changed? And what was going to happen to her impressionable young daughter?
Ann Prentice is in love with Richard Cauldfield and hopes for new happiness. Her only daughter, cannot contemplate the idea of her mother marrying again and wrecks any chance of her remarriage. Resentment and jealousy corrode their relationship as each seeks relief in different directions. Are mother and daughter destined to be enemies for life or will their underlying love for each other finally win through?

Comment: I love Agatha Christie so it was no wonder I also tried her drama books, originally written under the pen name Mary Westmacott. 

So far, I read two of her drama/psychological stories and I have had a wonderful experience with one of the books while the other wasn't as impressive. I decided to give this one a go and see where it would lead...

In this story we meet quiet and supportive Ann Prentice, a mother who is just saying goodbye to her daughter Sarah while she's leaving for a bit of vacation on Switzerland. In the initial sentences we learn she will miss her daughter immensely but she will do what is necessary to let her be happy too.

During the time Sarah is away, Ann meets someone through common friends and they quickly fall in love. It might appear they won't have much in common but their personalities suit very well, at least until Sarah returns, clashes with her mother's intended Richard and everything falls apart.

After an ultimatum, Ann's life takes a turn for the worse and Sarah can't understand why but still accepts the new reality. But will things remain the same forever, won't they ever talk like they used to and make things right?

I'll include some mild spoilers!

This book is very thought provoking. One of those we read and think "ah if it was me, this would happen/wouldn't happen" but it's curious that it's always so easy to say things or to determine a course of action if it's, in fact, not us going through that situation. The spectator always knows best!

I do agree this was a very pertinent story on the psychological effect of someone's choices.

I think this was a very good story, well planned and executed, not long and adorned with unnecessary things. I'd say my biggest difficulty is the classic feel of the dialogues, which in the original language - not the same as mine own - can seem a little too different and weird.

The author knows her work and she developed a simple plot but with a lot to think about.

The characters were precise to the point, they feel realistic and still likable, although to my contemporary views, some things were a little over the top on how dismissive they appear.

Basically Ann is a wonderful character, one the reader can relate to and I certainly did, because I share her preference for cozy nights in and quietness instead of going out and partying.

Her daughter is young and has a different view on things but she was likable too and I could understand her jealousy in seeing how much Richard suited Ann. It's something to think about: should children, even grown up ones, interfere in their parent's choices? Are they entitled to it? And are parents correct in dismissing their children's opinions? Or giving in to them instead?

The drama happening was quite intense but I could see where this would go, the author left obvious clues in setting up Ann's choice.

After the big decision, Ann changes into a sort of a party girl, in the sense the stayed out most nights, she was always busy, she and Sarah stopped being confident and I think most readers would feel like defending one certain POV in the whole drama.

When Sarah asks Ann for advice on whether she should marry someone, I think the author exhibited her amazing writing skills by doing things in such a way, Ann's words were both suitable and vague.

What happens next disappointed me a little bit, I admit, especially when it comes to Sarah's understanding of things (shouldn't she be a little bit more aware of her actions?) but the drama never really stops, in particular when Richard shows up in their lives years after.

When the final confrontation between mother and daughter  happens, what has always been in front of the reader is finally put into words. Was it closure at last? I didn't feel it was but it worked to let things go to the final scene. I think Sarah learned a lesson, but didn't really made her change her mind on some things, Ann ends up feeling like someone who just wasn't as strong in her opinions and I think all readers would say she missed her shot by her own fault. However, again, it's so much easier to have the knowledge and power of wisdom after something happens.

I'd say that, for me, the biggest question here was, should we let our decisions impact our lives so much? It's difficult to own some decisions, to live by them and with them but once choices are made, should we just live with them? Resentment is very, very hard to ignore!

How much easier life would be if we could only do what is right for us and not caring about how that would affect others! But, alas, we do care and we do have to live among other people and face the result of choices every single day.

Just like the end of this book, I think, live in general is devastatingly bittersweet.

Grade: 8/10

Mary Westmacott - The Burden

A Crime of the Heart novel about the destructive bond between two jealous sisters. Laura Franklin bitterly resented the arrival of her younger sister Shirley, an enchanting baby loved by all the family. But Laura's emotions towards her sister changed dramatically one night, when she vowed to protect her with all her strength and love. While Shirley longs for freedom and romance, Laura has to learn that loving can never be a one-sided affair, and the burden of her love for her sister has a dramatic effect on both their lives. A story of consequences when love turns to obsession...

Comment: I've gotten this book because I loved another one also by Agatha Christie writing as Mary Westmacott, where the focus is not in a crime but in the psychology of the characters and their choices. I hoped this would be as intriguing and perfectly polished as Absent in Spring, but it was not so.

In this novel, the focus seems to be on Laura Franklin, a young girl who feels threatened by her younger sister Shirley, especially after their brother Charlie dies. Laura feels jealous of the baby and she often wonders what would it be like if she were to die as well and perhaps Laura could then have all the love of their parents to herself. Everything changes when a fire almost kills the baby and Laura takes the risk to save her which turns her obsession about her potential death into ways to smother her with love.

As their relationship grows as they go through life though, Laura has to realize she can't make Shirley's choices for her and her opinion is only that...

I expected this to be as emotionally rich as the other book by the author I've tried. I thought it would, again, touch interesting notions and the story would be compelling but unlike the other book, I struggled a little to appreciate some of the situations Laura sees herself in.

This situation is even more difficult because the book is divided into parts, and only the first one, where we are supposed to infer Laura's psychological state, is actually about Laura.

The other parts focus on other characters, namely Shirley and her desire to marry a man Laura initially deems as not good enough for her.

This situation makes for a story that revolves mostly around Shirley and not necessarily how it affects Laura, as I imagined it would.

Of course the question is if the burden of love is stronger in those who let themselves suffer/be seen as weak because they care so much for someone else like Laura, or is it worse for those who know they are unconditionally loved but can't seem to feel they deserve it like Shirley.

I think the morality and the notions of what it to feel something for someone else and what it does imply even if not in a romantic sense are quite intriguing but the narrative itself felt short.

Most of the novel is centered on Shirley's bad decisions and how that affects her moods. To be honest, Shirley did feel a little spoiled and I didn't really enjoy so much of the narrative centered on her. There are two new characters who take a more central stage in the last two parts of the story but I had already "disconnected" so it was with a sense of "best to finish to end this" that I carried on.

Close to the end Laura confesses she feels she might have done wrong things in influencing Shirley and how she thought some of her actions might have led her into a path she now feels Shirley might have avoided if otherwise. I don't have this idea, to be honest. I think Shirley wasn't that naive, just thought she would know better...

This novel is labeled psychological romance but despite us having an HEA by the end of book, I wouldn't say there is actually romantic content here. I don't think the reader was led in a believable nor intriguing enough path with these characters, there's a lot of missed opportunities to make this a better read. The message, or the purpose we if we prefer, of this book is lost among the superfluous details and the way the characters were connected. The author did a lot better later on, I suppose this being one of her first "romances" is evidence enough she didn't really plan who this would develop.

All things considered, this was not an enjoyable read as a whole. I always thought while reading the characters should do this, shouldn't do that, so it got to be disappointing to re-write the novel in my head, even if in the page things were going towards a path I think was not the best option.

I was interested in Laura and in her story but it seems she was never meant to be the central character. If that was Shirley, then this couldn't be positive since she annoyed me more than I pity her.

I'll try another story by the author to see where my preference lies in how I can appreciate this side of her, if I love the stories more than I get annoyed with them.

Grade: 5/10

Mary Westmacott - Absent in Spring

Returning from a visit to her daughter in Iraq, Joan Scudamore finds herself unexpectedly alone and stranded in an isolated rest house by flooding of the railway tracks. This sudden solitude compels Joan to assess her life for the first time ever and face up to many of the truths about herself. Looking back over the years, Joan painfully re-examines her attitudes, relationships and actions and becomes increasingly uneasy about the person who is revealed to her.

Comment: I got this book at a book fair this summer and I was quite curious about it, since it's written by the master Agatha Christie, even if under a pseudonym (that everyone knows, though). Now that I have read it, I must say it was truly incredible and I'm now even more eager to try other books she wrote under this romance author pseudonym.

In this book we have the simple story of Joan Scudamore, a middle aged woman who is returning from Baghdad after helping her daughter but who sees herself stuck in a small station near the desert while the train tracks are being cleared so travels can re start.

The story is mostly regarding Joan's thoughts about her life and what happened so far to her and those she is familiar with but with so long to just think, Joan finally makes some discoveries about herself...

I really liked this book. It's, without a doubt, one of the best I've read this year despite being short.

This is one of those stories that reads almost as a monologue of sorts, except the epilogue, which is told mostly according to the POV of Joan's husband. 

The POV is not first person, though. It's third but focusing on the actions of Joan and her thoughts and not as much what others think...but, of course, Joan often thinks about situations where she wasn't the only one involved, which means we are able to read between the lines not only what others probably think and also what isn't actually said.

This said, Joan is a fascinating character. She is quite adamant on thinking about everything around her as part of the outside world and her opinions are always correct or at least more correct than other people's. This is also true for her family and those she considers not as prudent and considerate as she thinks herself.

It was quite a psychological game, to be able to see things through Joan's eyes but she is not mean or bad or negative. Joan is one of those people who just can't seem to see ahead in terms of expectations, she can't think there are other ways to think about something nor can she understand there's more to life than simple acceptance and she does act as having only tunnel vision regarding her choices and take on life.

This is a little challenged when Joan sees herself alone in a train stop somewhere and without other people to talk to, only servants who don't talk with her about serious issues and nothing to be distracted with. It's quite well done this idea that if we did have time to just think, we would discover a lot about ourselves and our opinions.

I can appreciate the idea behind using this to develop a plot and the author was really a genius about how to play out certain notions. The question is, after so much thinking and analyzing her behavior and how others act around her, which conclusions did Joan reach and how can she become a less oblivious person to her surroundings and the wants and desires of those around her and not just what would suit them in her opinion?

This is a great story, which has made an impact on me, I can still think about the outcome of Joan's self read of who she is and how that affected and affects those around her.

The story is rich in little details, little words here and there that simply convey everything at the same time. I'm looking for to read more books the author wrote under this pseudonym, for certain.

Grade: 10/10