An Avenue of Stone – Pamela Hansford Johnson (1947)

An Avenue of Stone is the second instalment in Pamela Hansford Johnson’s Helena trilogy. It is certainly Helena who drives this novel, she is a fantastic character – who it is hard to do justice to in a review. At the heart of this novel is the fear of ageing, the loneliness and uncertainty that comes with ageing, that desperation to keep it at bay is poignantly explored in a novel which is so compelling and superbly written. An easy five star read for me.

“But those who have lived richly, exhaustively, staring into every face, attentive to every voice, are only too often pursued by the spinster Furies, and are driven at the end down avenues of stone where the walls reach to the sky, and the doors are sealed, and the pavements are rubbered against all sound but the beat of the hurrying heart. Well—Helena would say—And even if I understood all that … and believed it … wasn’t it worth it?”

In a sense the books would probably stand alone reasonably well, but I was glad I read them in the correct order. In the first book; Too Dear for my Possessing we witnessed the gradually changing relationship between Claud Pickering and his stepmother Helena. As a young boy living in Bruges, before his father married his mistress, before Helena gave Claud a half-sister – he had hated her. Helena had been a tempestuous force of nature, and she and Claud had really butted heads in those days. In the years since his father’s death Claud and Helena’s relationship changed. With his half-sister Charmian, fourteen years his junior they are very much a family – albeit one that drive Claud a little bit mad.

“The night was very clear and starry, the streets empty, I felt elated, at first knowing no reason for my pleasure; then I realized that I had seen Helena again, the Helena of the world before the war, had seen my own youth in her. Because there was something left of the past I could not be entirely unhopeful of the future.”

Now in her late sixties Helena is Lady Archer – married to wealthy Daniel Archer – whose daughter Claud once loved, not bad for a former actress – and it’s a role Helena does very well at. Helena is living very comfortably with her husband in London, Claud and Charmian are close by. It is war time, and Claud is a Major in the war office – Charmian in the ATS, although only twenty-two is already married, but while her husband is abroad she is staying with her mother. Neither Claud nor Helena think much of him, Helena calls him the boiled owl.

When Daniel dies suddenly Helena’s financial situation is made rather more precarious, as Lord Archer leaves much of his wealth distributed between former mistresses and his step daughter Charmian. Although she is certainly not poor – Helena can no longer quite afford the large flat she and Daniel lived in together. Now Helena can throw off the role she adopted as Lady Archer, and return more to herself. Claud helps Helena re-locate – despite her resistance. A friend of Claud’s John Field needs somewhere to stay, and Claud persuades Helena to have him to stay for a short time. Helena makes her usual protests and makes a big show of it being a huge imposition, but she soon has Field whipped into shape. He helps with the washing up, fetches and carries and Helena rather loves bossing him about. From here on in, Field becomes a pretty much permanent fixture – and Helena loves having him around.

“I have always recognized a tormenting emotion that lies between friendship and love; something stronger than the first and less demanding than the second, though it may well exceed it in endurance. It may exist between man and man, or between woman and woman, but, as it has some undefined sexual element, it exists more frequently between man and woman. It is a torment of understanding that can have no physical expression.”

In time Claud has reason to be concerned about the hold John Field has on Helena – she adores him, talks about him endlessly when he isn’t there, makes plans for him, and in her eyes John can do no wrong. Helena is as difficult as ever in many ways, and she is very good at covering up things that she thinks Claud won’t approve of, and with Claud busy at the WO most of the time, he can’t know everything that happens. He turns up from time to time to find she has agreed to some financial obligation or other that worries him but is unable to do much about.

What Pamela Hansford Johnson does so well, is to show us the frustration of Claud and Charmian as they try to steer an ageing Helena in the right direction. Yet, Helena has her own frustrations, and despite her being a difficult character, we can’t help but feel for her, as tries to keep hold of her independence and decision making.

Helena’s platonic love for Johnny verges on obsession, he brightens her life – gives her a purpose, adds the kind of excitement to her life she hasn’t had since she was a younger woman. She and Johnny collude secretly over matters of money and business. Helena can’t see what a fool she is being, she has become a figure of fun to some of her contemporaries, especially the vile Mrs Sholto – Charmian’s mother-in-law. Behind her back, Helena is being laughed at, and much to Claud’s horror, gossiped about in the most unpleasant way. Helena can’t see herself for who she really is now, getting older and rather vulnerable.

“Helena would love Field till she died, but in a different fashion. Whether she knew it or not, she was really regarding him now in a ‘correct’ light; as a child to be cherished and pleasured, his faults discounted, his small virtues magnified into qualities of man’s worth. And this is not the love that flatters.”

Forgive me for including so many quotes, but I just loved this book so much and found Pamela Hansford Johnson’s writing to be wise and insightful, and so, so readable. I flew through this kindle edition in no time, and was sad when there was no more. I can’t wait to read the third book in the trilogy A Summer to Decide, which I bought ages ago in a huge Bello buying glut. I have a habit of then forgetting all about the books I have on my kindle – I should get it out more often.

Incidentally – does anyone know exactly what happened (if anything) to Bello books? They disappeared ages ago it seems, though their kindle books are certainly still available on Amazon.