Fiction ~ novella / long short story Published 17th September 1937* Approx. 21,000 words (First read 11/11/2013)
The
fourth and last of Benson's 'Old London' quartet and my favourite of
the bunch. It's a day-in-the-life story set in a world EFB was
completely familiar with: the genteel microcosmic world of the Edwardian
London square ~ think Secret Lives and a lot of the spook
stories (and no doubt others I've not read yet). Miss Dorothy Vincent
is 'a short, energetic woman of middle age, of full figure and eager countenance' ~ remind you of anyone? This classic Bensonian spinster
lives in the fictional Beaconsfield Square with her elderly ~ and
unpleasant ~ aunt and her pekinese Chang ('known also as "Strong
Mannie"'!) She fills her own and other people's lives with the usual
pastimes ~ walking the dog, pestering the local vicar, visiting, that
kind of thing, and considers herself busy. And, of course, of course,
she has no idea how utterly unwanted she is. It would have been easy
for EFB to make a figure of fun of her, but he doesn't: I actually felt
for her. I won't give away the plot other than to say that she rounds
off the day with a magnificently risky and utterly uncharacteristic 'adventure'. Not available online.
* The four Old London books were only ever published in the United States, apparently.
The
fourth and last of Benson's 'Old London' quartet and my favourite of
the bunch. It's a day-in-the-life story set in a world EFB was
completely familiar with: the genteel microcosmic world of the Edwardian
London square ~ think Secret Lives and a lot of the spook
stories (and no doubt others I've not read yet). Miss Dorothy Vincent
is 'a short, energetic woman of middle age, of full figure and eager countenance' ~ remind you of anyone? This classic Bensonian spinster
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