Here is yet another example of a writer who produced a stunningly good debut novel (Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand), and whose 2nd (The Summer Before the War) and now 3rd novel have been somewhat disappointing subsequently. There are of course many writers whose writing gets stronger and stronger over time and with each new release. But one has to wonder, is there such a thing as an author having only one good book in them, and although they may keep trying to write more, those subsequent novels are rather pedestrian?
It is not that The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club is at all an unpleasant or even uninteresting read. But it does lack the charm and tenderness of Simonson’s characteristic and distinctive debut novel. This 3rd novel by Simonson is set after WWII, with the main thrust being about how women in England are sidelined from the workforce once the men came home, and having tasted productivity and work outside the domestic sphere, are unwilling to go back into their homes. The sexism of this era seems very entrenched, with even the women saying women have to make way for the men coming home because they will need jobs and have families to support. It is also carelessly said that war widows receive generous pensions, without asking exactly how generous these pensions supposedly are. There is only a rare mention that many women are left without men, or without men who are able to work, and also have families to support,
These women have families who count on their support. Everyone acts as if women work to make pin money – to buy a new dress or provide fancy cakes for tea” (p321)
The War Practices Act, in fact, makes it illegal to give jobs to women, so that returning servicemen get prioritised for any employment going.
There is still a big gulf between the expectations of men and women, with the clear message that women still expect to defer to men. Even the women who chafe at the injustice of being treated as a lesser sex are slow to blame men
We were reviled in the beginning – I’m not sure if they were more afraid we were incompetent and unwomanly – but when they got used to us, we earned their respect. […] I guess I got used to feeling life was urgent and I was doing something important. Now we are all expected to go home to the kitchen or drawing room (p98).
The above is voiced by Poppy, the motorbike rider and business entrepreneur, daughter of Lady Wirral but despite her position in society, a highly unconventional young woman. Poppy befriends Constance, our protagonist, who is the quintessential Jane Eyre character, the deserving but poor young woman. Constance has recently lost her mother, and has fallen out with her sister-in-law, which makes her reluctant to move in with her brother. Her mother’s great friend was Lady Mercer, whose estate Constance ran in war time by doing the book keeping, but now that the men are back, she is out of a job. Mrs Mercer’s mother, Mrs Fog, had been ill and needed a companion to stay with her in a recuperation period in a hotel, and Constance was to be that companion, at the Meredith. That is where Constance meets Poppy and is introduced to motorbikes and planes.
At first there seems all too many characters in the novel, many of the secondary ones just props. Harris, Poppy’s brother, is the clear Mr Darcy character, taciturn at first but attractive and rich. Lady Mercer is the convention-bound, unbending aristocrat, disapproving of her own mother’s liaison with those of mixed race, no matter how respectable and how delightful. There are the twins who are mercenary and frivolous, attention seeking and selfish. There is Jock McIntyre, Harris’ mechanic during the war and still content to treat him as a superior officer even though the war is over, most likely because of the difference in their class status. For all the disdaining of gender and class restrictions this novel challenges, it also upholds a good many.
That said, some of the drawing room dialogues, particularly where Lady Mercer is present, are quite riveting, even if one wonders how authentic they might be. Eyebrow-raising stuff with plenty of sly and clever cut and thrust, conducted with propriety and in line with accepted social etiquette. Insults are carefully crafted, rebuttals traded, and cold courtesy maintained. A seemingly very upper-crust English type of setting, which is a lot of fun to read. Also, as the novel progresses, Simonson does indeed fit all the characters into the big plot, tucking all the loose ends in nicely – in fact, the second half is a lot stronger than the first half, so the novel improves as the read goes along – a good thing too, given it is 415 pages long.
One is supposed to feel for Constance, one guesses, as the orphan girl who has to make her own way in the world, and is having to bear a lot of humiliations because she has no money and has to ask for favours.
She would work and be poor; and that would divide her from Poppy, who worked and owned her own business because she wanted to make a point. Poppy would always use the hotel’s front door. […] She had perhaps absorbed too well her mother’s philosophy that intelligence and education made one the equal of all; now she saw it was probably just the hollow illusion of people without money (p256)
But Constance has so many admirers and champions, it is hard to see her as the underdog. Plus, she feels hard done by because in her class, her female (and some male) peers are leisured and do not need to work for a living – whereas, needing to work for a living, and moreover, having skills and qualifications as Constance already does – is not really being so put upon, is it? But that was a different period, and perhaps it is unfair to judge by the norms of the 21st century.
Many romances feature in this novel, and the notion of the gentleman and officer and acting with honour, are also played out. There is also a side affair of failing to recognise the war contribution of ‘colonials’, with some comeuppance in the end for those who disdained the Indian characters – though these are very much tangential to the story, but their inclusion enabled Simonson to make some race comments as well as class and gender analysis. The race comments are very secondary however, compared to the detailed, nuance, in-depth discussion of class and gender.
While I complained this 3rd novel lacked the charm of Simonson’s debut novel, it nevertheless reads a lot better than her 2nd novel, and in fact is so promising that now I am rather looking forward to her 4th.
[For another take on this novel, see Susan’s review ]
~ The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcyle and Flying Club, by Helen Simonson ~ Penguin Random House, 2024.
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