The British Library women writers series is turning out some simply wonderful titles and looks like it will continue to be one of my new favourites. O, The Brave Music is the last one of their current titles I had to read – one of them I had read previously in a vmc edition.
Some of you may remember my review of Miss Plum and Miss Penny, reissued by Dean Street Press by this author, this novel, was Dorothy Evelyn Smith’s first novel, and I think an even better one. First published in 1943 Dorothy Evelyn Smith wrote O, The Brave Music during the war, apparently writing ‘on the end of the kitchen table with bombs falling around the house.’ Despite it being her first novel, Dorothy was fifty years old when it was published and went on to write ten more novels. Written during the Second World War, the novel is set in the years before the first, the narrator Ruan looking back to the time of her childhood and adolescence with a fond and nostalgic eye.
As the novel opens, seven year-old Ruan is sat in church dreaming up a fabulous outfit for her imaginary little friend; her Little Man. She is the daughter of a non-conformist minister in a northern town, with a slightly older sister Sylvia and a small brother Clem, who we discover has some unspecified illness or disability. Sylvia, like their mother is very beautiful, she has inherited her mother’s looks and easy poise, Ruan has not, she is a bright, imaginative child who loves books. Their mother comes from a wealthy landed family, and in marrying the Reverend Everard Ashley she had married rather beneath her – certainly, she had had to quickly get used to living on far less. We get the impression early on, that any shine there might have been has gone off this marriage. Her husband caring more for his religion, rather ashamed of his early passion for his beautiful wife marshals the behaviour of his family along strict non-conformist principles. The family have one servant, Tanner, the maid who Ruan’s mother brought to the manse with her. She is a strange woman, who regards Mrs Ashley with an obsessive, jealous devotion.
“Poor Tanner, with her warped mind and twisted loyalties; none of us ever loved her, and all she did for us we took for granted. A small, dark woman, like a witch she was, without a grey hair to the day of her death, and a long, pointed nose that she had a habit of pulling as she sat rocking before the fire, until it had attained a high polish. There was a hymn she liked – Shall we Gather at the River? – and she sometimes sang it by the hour, marking time with the clacking of the rockers.”
Life in the manse holds little joy, though Ruan is not unhappy, she is fond of her siblings, just eighteen months apart in age she and Sylvia generally get along well. Young as she is Ruan senses that things are not right at home, she can’t put her finger on it – doesn’t understand the nuances and the silences.
“That dark Something that was hidden in the Manse was still there. Darker, more definite than ever before. So dark that I cried myself to sleep many and many a night, feeling its hateful presence crouched outside my door. So definite, that Sylvia and I began to speak of it furtively, only half comprehending; and Tanner, too, could no longer keep silence.
“‘Your mother’s late,’ she would mumble, anxiously watching the clock. I hope nothing’s happened’”.
Relief is found in Ruan’s great friendship with Rosie and Joshua Day, and David who they adopted when his parents died. Joshua is a self-made man – now wealthy, his speech still carries the rough accents of his birth, as does his daughter Rosie who despite all the advantages her father’s money could pay for – is very much her father’s daughter, with little interest in fine things. They live in a large house up on the moors, where Ruan visits regularly – spending whole summers up there. David is five years her senior but the two are devoted friends. Some of Ruan’s happiest times are spent with David, with Rosie and her kindly father – roaming over the moors, absolutely captivated by the ever changing landscape, drawn to its wildness and colour.
Tragedy and change come to Ruan’s home and again Ruan is grateful for her friendship with Rosie and David. Her mother’s brother turns up – he and his sister had been estranged for years. Uncle Alaric offers his home to Ruan and her sister, and they swap life at the manse for Cobbetts, their mother’s ancestral home. Alaric arranges his nieces education, they had previously been attending a hated board school – but while delighted to be free of that, Ruan has no desire to go to boarding school.
As the years pass, Ruan never loses her love of the moor, and no matter what happens to her, or where she is living, there is always David. Even when he is away at school. Ruan knows that in time David will come back to her.
“I looked at David, lying beside me on the heather, half asleep. Rough brown hair; kind, deep-set eyes that crinkled at the corners when they laughed; undistinguished, freckled nose; sweet line of lips above stubborn chin; strong, flexible hands; immense length of legs in shabby grey trousers. …This was David. My David, unchanged and unchanging, and I loved him.”
O, The Brave Music, is a delightful coming of age novel, Dorothy Evelyn Smith’s depiction of a non-conformist household in a northern town is particularly good I feel. She also shows the miracle of good friendship, and how transforming those relationships can be.
Thank you for this, Alison. I hadn’t come across this particular publishing venture and you sent me scurrying off to the British Library website! I was a bit worried when I saw a Molly P-D title, in case they were duplicating the Persephone remit, but it’s a title that hasn’t been published by them. But like the Persephone books, these too are objects of beauty That’s what I tell my husband when he says we haven’t got room for any more books!!
Hello Kay, lovely to hear from you. Yes, this is a wonderful series. The Mollie Panter Downes is a really good early novel of hers, definitely recommend that. I think they have chosen a great selection of books to start with – and I believe a couple more are due out later this year. As for bringing more books into the house, I sympathise, I do the same.
I’m so impressed by the British Library’s publishing initiatives, both this one and the crime series.
Yes, both series of books are doing really well, so many great titles that might otherwise have been lost.
I’ve been eagerly awaiting your review and it didn’t disappoint 😀
Thank you, I know how you loved this one Simon, and I can see why.
It sounds as though the author has done a wonderful job of having a young narrator tell her story. As far as I can see it doesn’t look like this series is available here, but I live in hope!
Oh yes she has, Ruan is a great narrator, recalling her early life from the distance of adulthood. I know the British Library have an online bookshop, not sure whether they ship internationally, or whether the cost of postage makes it prohibitive, but it might be an option.
Sounds glorious Ali – so glad I have this on the TBR! 😀
Ooh great, well I think you have a treat in store. Hope you enjoy it too.
quite apart from how lovely this book sounds – your bookshelves! beautiful!
Aww thank you, I love shelving some of my books by publisher, they always look so pretty together on the bookcase.
Great review, Ali! I loved this novel.
Yay, so glad you loved it too. 😁
A gorgeous review as ever, Ali. Your enthusiasm for this novel really shines through! Simon and the BLWW team have done such a fantastic job in bringing these previously hidden gems to a wider audience. I don’t think they’ve put a foot wrong!
Thank you, they are doing a great job at the British Library. The books issued so far have been such good ones to begin this series.
I really liked this book, and the way that Smith tackles difficult subjects in ways I wouldn’t have entirely expected for it’s date – or perhaps even now. There’s a streak of darkness through it that makes it really compelling. The whole series is looking extremely promising – if the quality remains consistent with the 3 titles I’ve read so far it’s going to be something really special.
Yes, there is a darkness below the service, all those things children don’t understand. I really enjoyed how she tackled the racism toward Ruan’s black friend, not something we usually see in books of this period.
An unspecified disability…it’s interesting how often that was the case in fiction of a certain era. I wonder if, now, there would be more specifics available, or if there were more specifics available then, too, but they weren’t considered important enough to share/expose? On a more superficial note, I love the way you’ve situated this particular volume leaning against the other books in the series. I’ve always thought they looked attractive, but all together they are even more so.
Yes, I have noticed that in fiction from certain eras too. I wonder if it was a lack of knowledge to write about conditions realistically so they were portrayed quite vaguely. This series of books is so pretty, they do look good shelved altogether.
This is such a good review of the book, having written my own much less detailed one! I was so sad about Clem, I suppose they didn’t have names for conditions then, did they? A really good book that I will definitely re-read (esp now I know the dog is OK!).
Yes I was glad about the dog too. So glad you enjoyed this one too. This series are bringing out some lovely novels.
I have just finished this, and really enjoyed it – thought your post summed it up really well. I’ve read several of the British Library Women Writers series, and am very impressed with the.
Thank you, yes such a good novel. I think the British Library women writers series is turning out to be fantastic. They have made such good choices for publication so far.