Every now and then I read a review of a novel – where the reader admits to not having liked the book because they didn’t like the character(s). While I understand that readers need to be able to engage with characters on some level, I never feel I have to actually like them – I often find unlikeable characters fascinating. Nevertheless, I feel I should issue you with a warning – if you don’t engage with unlikeable characters – steer well clear of Narcissa.
In Stella Markham, Richmal Crompton has created a monstrous narcissist, hiding behind a constantly evolving role that she has perfected. There is a lot that is unsettling about this novel, Richmal Crompton has created a character who – though perhaps not very subtly drawn – is horrifying and just real enough to haunt the reader after the book is closed. I admit I could barely put it down.
We first meet Stella in 1887, when she is just a little girl. Seemingly, a perfect Victorian child, Stella was orphaned when she was quite tiny, and lives with her Aunt Fanny. Fanny adores Stella, is inordinately proud of her – desperate to save her from the desolate kind of childhood she herself endured. Most of Stella’s days, are spent alone with Fanny in her large, gracious home in Runeham, where Fanny strives to teach Stella herself. There comes a point when Fanny decides, somewhat reluctantly that Stella needs a governess, Fanny has been finding it harder to teach her – and so it is with some nervousness that she engages Miss Fairway. Miss Fairway is a sensible, experienced middle-aged woman, weary from a succession of dull posts, she is soon under the spell of this loveliest of children too. For a time, the household is perfectly happy, Miss Fairway is blissfully happy in her new post, dimly aware that little Stella is very good at diverting her governess away from the things she doesn’t enjoy learning – like division and historical dates. The summer slips along perfectly pleasantly– until, that is, things don’t go Stella’s way. There comes a day when suddenly, Miss Fairway finds her view of Stella utterly changed.
“She thought of Stella, so sweet and docile and affectionate and suddenly she realised that though she had believed herself supremely happy in this house, there was nothing she so much wanted as to get away from it, nothing she so much longed for as a rough, noisy, naughty, normal child….”
The few playmates who are occasionally invited worship Stella too. There is Hugh Carlswell – the son of Sir Miles and Lady Carlswell – already a young squire in the making, though one with the beginnings of a social conscience – he wants to do things differently from his father. Biddy is the vicar’s daughter, endlessly untidy, badly dressed and with a mop of red hair – Biddy is slavishly devoted to her beautiful little friend. Paul Sanders is the son of a school master – though his mother (seen by ‘society’ as impossible) means Fanny doesn’t really consider him a suitable friend – though she acknowledges he is a perfectly nice, well-spoken child. Paul adores Stella too, to him she is nothing short of perfection and Stella is kind to him accepting of his society. When Biddy’s cousin Doreen comes to stay, Biddy can’t wait to introduce her to Stella. But, Doreen isn’t so easily beguiled by Stella – and sees something in her that the others can’t.
“‘Isn’t she sweet?’ said Biddy enthusiastically as the two little girls walked back to the Vicarage. ‘Isn’t she just as sweet as I told you she was?
‘She’s terribly pretty’ said Doreen slowly.
‘I don’t mean only that.’ Said Biddy, ‘she’s so kind…wasn’t she lovely to Paul Sanders, just because he’s well – he’s quite a common boy and hadn’t been asked there?’
‘Y-yes,’ agreed Doreen judicially, ‘but she was – being her person.’
‘What on earth do you mean?’
‘I’m not quite sure, but she’s got a person – a lot of people have you know – and she – well, she does her person.’
‘Do you mean that you think she’s really different from what she seems?’ asked Biddy. Her small round face was pink with indignation at the idea.
Doreen was silent again. She considered the question thoughtfully, impersonally.
‘No… I daresay she’s the same as her person quite often, but she likes watching herself being it.’”
We follow Stella as she grows up into a beautiful young woman, caring for her ailing aunt – young men vying for her attentions. She marries, has two children, her life taking her away from Runeham. As the years pass, poor, gullible Biddy is astounded by the number of people who seem to be unkind to Stella, who don’t seem to appreciate her goodness, the sacrifices she has made for her family. Stella is obliged to move her family around from place to place – each move seems to make the family poorer – and in every place, there is someone who Stella doesn’t like. Everywhere, Stella plays her part, whatever role she has assigned herself she plays it to the full, sacrificing everyone she loves to her own vanity.
“I don’t think that people are people to her any longer. They’re just mirrors. If she can see the right picture of herself in them, she likes them. If she can’t, she dislikes them.”
Stella is a remarkable creation – and Crompton’s storytelling here is hugely compelling. Certainly, this novel is not as nostalgically cosy as Leadon Hill or The Old Man’s Birthday – which I read a couple of years ago – or as perfect as A Family Roundabout. Narcissa is altogether more unsettling, a page turner – where the reader has little hope of a happy ending.
I’m ashamed to admit that although I love the Just William books, I’ve never tried any of Crompton’s adult novels. This review definitely inspires me to pick a couple up – thank you so much.
You know I don’t think I ever read the Just William books, though I watched the TV series.
A little like Seren, I’ve only experienced this author by way of her Just William stories which were serialised on the TV in the 1970s. Her adult novels are on my list to try in the future – maybe not immediately, but at some point.
I’m generally fine with unlikeable characters as long as they come across as authentic and credible on the page. It’s more problematic when some of the details fail to ring true – that’s when I start to disengage!
I agree that unlikeable characters need to be believable, and Stella is on the while.
This sounds a very perceptive novel. ‘Being her person’ is such a vivid phrase, and quite chilling when used by a child to describe another child, particularly in that last line. Great review, Ali.
Yes, being her person, such a great way to discribe Stella. That alone tells us so much.
Great review (and lovely photo!). This is definitely quite a chilling book, isn’t it? She can do cosy and chilling both so compellingly.
It is rather chilling yes, I have another of her books from Bello tbr but can’t remember the name, Chesny something perhaps?
This looks really interesting; I agree that sometimes the more challenging characters are the more compelling to read about, as long as they are well written. (Angela Thirkell always seemed to revel in her dominating characters). That also looks a very modern edition of this book; are more of Crompton’s books available?
Oh yes some of Thirkell’s managing, bossy women are brilliant. Stella I think is altogether darker than that.
Sorry meant to say, Bello books re-issued several a few years ago. Not sure what happened to Bello, but the books still seem to be available through Amazon at least.
Interesting – I don’t mind characters being unlikeable as long as there is plenty else in the book to hook me. In fact, lots of the characters in books I read aren’t that pleasant…. 🙂
Yes, I imagine many of the people you read about are complex and difficult characters. So much more interesting.
She sounds a little bit like Elizabeth Taylor’s Angel. I love a monster, this sounds like a great read.
Yes, monster’s can be great. Yes she is certainly as complex as Angel or Flora (?) from The Soul of Kindness.
Funny, I was thinking about Angel as well!
It sounds fascinating, and I have enjoyed the Crompton I’ve read. Another great writer I’ve discovered through e-books.
Yes, and thankfully several appear to still be available.
[…] Narcissa by Richmal Crompton was a fabulously compelling novel, with one of the most monstrous characters, I have read in a while, at the centre of it. A darker story than the other books by Crompton I have read, but quite unforgettable. […]