Chatterton Square

Product Information

Young shows three of the options open to women at the time (this was , written in 1947): unhappily married, separated and unmarried.

It's the kind of slice of life story that was popular in the '30s, only this one was written with hindsight in the late '40s. While at first glance, Bertha seems willing to defer to Mr Blackett’s better judgement on family matters, under the surface there is a steeliness to her personality, one that reacts to her husband’s arrogance with a mix of frustration and amusement. After Henderson's retirement and the death of his wife, Young moved with him to Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire.One such circumstance is the reappearance of Piers Lindsay, cousin and former sweetheart of Bertha Blackett.

The Frasers are a large and genial household, comprised of matriarch Rosamund, five children and long time family friend and lodger, Miss Spanner. I’ve read five of the BLWW titles so far and they’ve all had something different and interesting to offer. At first, Flora Blackett – who takes after her father in outlook and temperament – is attracted to James Fraser, an aspiring farmer. I really wanted to jump into the book and give Herbert and Flora a piece of my mind (though they’re the type that never listen.The contrast between the Blackett and the Fraser households is stark and rests almost entirely with it’s patriarch.

I'm a voracious reader and I enjoy a variety of genres, including classics, literary fiction, mysteries, and fantasy. Young’s special “timbre” is the result of writing in the best tradition of English fiction and never for a moment forgetting that she is a woman writing in this tradition. Men are admired/tolerated if they are bold and show more interest in outdoor pursuits or machines than in the opposite sex. Naturally, the possibility of war is contemplated with some pain by those who lived through one war and still bear the scars – either physical or mental.

This beautiful novel is ostensibly about two families, the Frazers and the Blacketts, who live and love and like and dislike on Chatterton Square in a town in the West Country just before the Second World War. podcast, and it would probably still be languishing on my bookshelves if my book group hadn't chosen it for their May read. Still although fashion has deserted this small corner of Upper Radstowe, these are houses with small gardens, basement kitchens and some – like the Frasers – have balconies.

Besides the wonderful portrayal of characters here and their relationships, what I remember the most is how WWI affected them and the feelings about another potential war. Some of the books we read paid no attention to the looming at all; some of the authors probably agreed with Mr Blackett that it would never happen.

Published in 1947, the novel is in part an exploration of the complex issues around war, the decisions that have to be made, the personal plans altered, the emotions that have to be suppressed and the ones that have to be cultivated. The age for combatants, if she had the making of the conventions of war, would start at about forty-five and there would be no limit at the other end. And yet, he remains strangely intrigued by this woman, sometimes going out of his way to observe her, if only to fuel his disapproval.