I recently helped Sasha of Farm 21 pick out paint colours and wallpaper for her fabulous new house that she moved into recently. I haven’t been down to see the finished house as yet but here is one photo that Sasha posted recently.  Her living room is wallpapered in Designers Guild’s Leopold.  Isn’t it gorgeous?

Well, despite having an extra week to finish it, I still haven’t managed to finish The Children’s Book – partly due to decorating and being busy but also because it is an extremely hard book to read a lot of for some reason.  I can remember reading one of her other books Possession one summer when I was a student and working in the brass rubbing centre of Salisbury Cathedral and it took me a whole summer of lunchtimes!

So what do I think of it?  Well, I am enjoying it but it isn’t gripping.  It is a long 600 pages though. Telling the lives of a number of families who are connected thru marriage, work and/or sex as they move from the Victorian era through the Edwardian and into the First World War and how their society and indeed, themselves changes.  Byatt comes across as being extremely learned with lots of references to writers, matters with sexuality, the suffrage movement, prostitution, homosexuality, the intricate details of the times in both England and Germany and I’m sure there are lots more that didn’t register with me or I glossed over. I almost felt I was running through the entire reading list of my English degree again, not to mention  many of the references I had researched in my dissertation on women and sexuality in Edwardian times!!

Wonderfully imaginative as she includes the fairy tale stories Olive writes for each of her children.  Surprisingly ‘free love’ as it is revealed that the main characters of Humprey and Olive have an open relationship.  I thought Byatt was revealing and criticising the sexual double standards of the time as Humphrey has a child by another woman and continues seeing her, yet it is Olive who has to accept it and make the money to support this woman and her child.  Olive’s sister Violet lives with them and while Olive writes to earn money, Violet looks after the children but her voice is never heard, we never find out what she feels about the situation.  Then, we discover she is in fact the mother of 2 of the younger children and  in fact, the father of Dorothy is a German puppeteer.  So free love is very much a theme.

The characters ‘meet’ such people as Oscar Wilde, Marie Stopes, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, yet there is still a sense of the fairy tale about the whole book. I am only about two thirds the way through it and I am wondering will there me a harsh sense of reality in the tone when it deals with the Great War or will it be the fairy tales that brings them through.

One part that really resonated though was when Elsie when attending a meeting on women’s rights, reflects that for all women who are hungry-minded female thinkers, they all need someone to cook and clean for them and for every scullery-maid who is liberated to become educated etc, there would have to be another scullery maid to take her place (p297).  This is something that continues today – for women who work and have successful careers, they are still expected to keep the house clean and looking beautiful, look beautiful and fit themselves and ensure their children are happy, healthy and educated and have a perfect family life.  Yet, is it possible to do all that?  Many women who work and play tennis or go to the gym have a cleaner – usually female.  It still continues that for women to ‘have it all’ it usually requires the ‘help’ or sacrifice in Byattian terms, of another female.  (By the way, I don’t have a cleaner but neither am I fit nor do I get to go to spas!! but neither is my home that tidy!!)

I am enjoying the book but yet I’m not so sure I would recommend it.  Part of me wonders is Byatt name-dropping as she seems to incorporate her immense knowledge into the book in one way or another.  It is only now (two thirds of the way through) that I am coming to grips with who is who – an immense number of characters and she tries to reveal the feelings and thoughts of each one – apart from the quiet Violet who may yet be revealed as the Mad Woman in the attic!!

To read other reviews (of people who will have finished the book!) do check out Lily’s blog  and the other reviewers are: Marian, Treasa, Cathy, Marie, Val, Jenn, Edie, Catherine, Jenny, Kirsty, Steph, Una, Susan, Winifred, Ann and lastofthemojitos.  I hope I haven’t left out anyone.

Lorna x

Update:

Well, I have finished the book now so here’s my final review of the whole book.

I was irritated with it by the time I was finished – we get entire history lectures in the middle of the whole saga to fill us in on what is happening in Europe in the pre-War years.  Is Byatt trying to prove she can master being a historian as well as writing 19th century fairy tales on top of being a novelist.

I could see Tom’s suicide coming for at least 50 pages previously and by that stage, I was so irritated by him and his relationship with his mother, that I almost cheered. I would have thought it would have been more imaginative to let him kill himself by a different means though, rather than the same method as Fludd.  I thought it was strange and rather unrealistic that a young man in his early 20s was permitted to fail exams again and again and generally do nothing with his life beyond go for long walks.  Surely parents would have insisted on him getting a position in some employment and using contacts to get him in there. The contrast is emphasised with his diligent and studious sister Dorothy who is steadfast in her desire to become a doctor.  It is interesting to read of the female college life, having to be locked in at early hours, needing a chaperone to go to lectures, not being awarded degrees even though they pass the same exams as the men.

I enjoyed the account of the suffragists – Byatt included lots of description of the crimes committed by the suffragists, their arrests and what they went through in the prisons – middle class women undergoing force feeding and worse.  However, I felt that beyond mentioning that women didn’t receive equal treatment at university, Byatt didn’t show the inequalities that made women go to such lengths for enfranchisement.  Indeed, the inclusion of long descriptions of women who clearly didn’t want equality made the suffragists seem somewhat extreme and almost ridiculous which I suspect was not her intention.  Women lost their lives and their health suffered because of their beliefs and I thought the reasons for their beliefs could have been more apparent – instead it came across as a popular and fashionable cause to be involved in.  Yet, in reality, would I leave my children and willingly go to jail to be force-fed – it would have to be a jolly good reason behind it!

And what about Violet’s sudden death, as she topples to her death doing what she always does – playing servant to her sister.  The only person who comments on the fact that no one ever asked Violet how she felt is her daughter Phyllis.  I wonder is this Byatt’s way of emphasising the silence of governesses, scullery maids, spinster sisters etc in 19th and early 20th century Britain – that it is only by their silence and their work that other women (Olive in this case) and men can be successful in the public eye.  The contrast is very much with Elsie who is vociferous in her desire to become educated and move out of her social sphere.  Violet’s silence throughout the whole book is very apparent as she cleans, sews and does all the mothering that Olive doesn’t have time to do yet she cannot be called ‘Mother’.

The suggestion of abuse in the Fludd household is brought up again and again particularly with the references to the pottery sculptures in the secret room which are eventually buried in the garden by Pomona and Philip after Fludd’s death.  This is certainly disturbing throughout the book and it is never dealt with as such but buried as the sculptures are.

Byatt’s writing does bring home the horror of war and I’m sure everyone who reads this book is familiar with or has heard of Rupert Brooke’s WW1 poetry.  Despite all the deaths during the war that affect these families, the end of the novel is positive but a bit sugary with the line ‘all their faces seemed softer in their (the candles) quavering light’.  Class was a prevalent issue before the war, now it isn’t as  Elsie and Charles/Karl ’s marriage is accepted.  There is a suggestion that Dorothy and Philip might have a relationship.  Religion is also put aside as Griselda (whose mother is German) is in love with Wolfgang (Dorothy’s half brother who Dorothy has just realised is Jewish).  All differences put aside to live happy ever after.

The book covers about 50 years from the heydays of the Victorian times to the frivolous Edwardian (at least for the gentry) with reminders of working class poverty and unrest to the reality of WW1 and the uncertain future they face.

I’m glad I stuck with it and finished it and yes, I largely enjoyed it but I did skim read quite a bit of it. Plus, I read it quite late at night and probably missed lots of inferences thru tiredness.  Would I recommend it? – only if you have lots of time and patience

You may remember I queried some time ago whether we should opt for one very large bathroom or 2 medium sized ones. Well, we have opted (many thanks to all your advice who almost unanimously said to keep the 2 bathrooms) to keep the bathrooms the size they are.  One bathroom just about has enough room for a roll top bath and I’m opting for country style there and the family bathroom will have a huge shower!

I have just found the perfect flooring my my country style bathroom (which will probably take another couple of months by the way). Cath Kidston is now doing lino floor tiles  and I just love the Rose Spring in white.  Here’s the link to the online store in the UK but thanks to Sheila, I’ve discovered it is available in the Dublin store.

It is also available in Rose Sprig Blue, the cowboy design which is so perfect for boys bedrooms and the Spot design in 3 colourways. Great for utilities too.

OOOoooh, it is Friday again. With the children on holidays, I totally lose a sense of the days in the week and have to write everything down in the diary or nothing would get done!  I woke up this morning convinced it was Tuesday!

So, it is Freebie Friday time again.  Leave a comment before 4 pm ish to be in with a chance to win one of these candle snuffers - the elegant way to extinguish lit candles!

The winner can choose a brass or nickel candlesnuffer.

To double your chances, don’t forget to leave a comment over on Facebook as well

Competition open to all Irish, British, EU and USA addresses.

Just in case you haven’t heard, House and Home magazine now have a new website and blog which is utterly fantastic.  Particularly for those who can’t get the magazine if living abroad but the blog has lots of extra material for us regular purchasers too.

And you can get a sneak peek by clicking here.  There’s somebody there that you might just recognise if you read the Jaboopee blog

I got my copy today, now my only quandary for this evening is to read the hard copy or read all the H & H blog entries.  Life is tough sometimes!