📚 'Rather Dated' April: R.C. Sheriff's 'The Fortnight in September' 📚

[MotherofPearl]

Welcome to the MN 'Rather Dated' Bookclub. This month (April) we are reading R.C. Sheriff's 'The Fortnight in September'. Please post your comments here when you are ready.

I'm about halfway through the book so will return to post when I've finished.

About the threads:

We are reading and discussing fiction from the 1930s to the 1990s that would have been described as 'contemporary' in its day. We are reading one book a month. Spoilers are permitted!

We started the chat thanks to a thread where we kicked off with a discussion of Penelope Lively, The Road to Lichfield.

Currently we have these separate threads:
November: Anita Brookner, A Start in Life
December: Margaret Drabble: A Summer Bird-Cage
January: Elizabeth Jane Howard, The Beautiful Visit.
March: Winifred Watson, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

Link to main thread:

📚The Mumsnet 'Rather Dated' Book Group - All welcome to join📚 http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/whatweree_reading/4624300-the-mumsnet-rather-dated-book-group-all-welcome-to-join

Thank you, MotherofPearl. Looking* *forward to the discussion on this, as always.

Thank you for the new thread, @MotherofPearl . I’d like to continue the rather dated book club, if other people do. Just need to finish the rather strange book I’m currently reading (very introspective and lyrical, hard going) and I’ll crack on with Fortnight, which I’ve read before ages ago, so I know I’ll love it.

I seem to be the only person who has finished so far. I mostly really enjoyed this. It’s a straightforward story told in a straightforward way, and I can see how its carefree innocence struck a chord in 1931. I particularly loved the precise preparations and anticipatory pleasure at the start of the book (I think my cat would be dismayed only to receive milk every other day and bloaters twice a week), and the Stevens are a beautifully portrayed example of a happy family.

There were a few things I thought were less successful: I thought it was occasionally condescending, such as Mrs Stevens saying “reely” when not concentrating. And I didn’t like the holiday romance; it didn’t seem to fit in with the rest.

It also had a weird autobiographical element for me, in that DM grew up in Herne Hill, with a railway line at the bottom of the garden (their church was in East Dulwich). Her father was a wages clerk who did a dance of excitement when he had time off work; the family loved to fill a whole train compartment when they travelled by train etc. Of course the dates don’t fit - her parents were only a young couple when this was published - and they were different in other ways, but I guess this fits in with the ‘Everyman’ theme. It does seem like a window on the past.

But in one way, it’s a fantasy: the Stevenses’ surburban life shows no sign of having been disrupted by WW1. Mr Stevens really should be a veteran, like it’s author was.

Thanks for the thread @MotherofPearl

I'm about halfway through - I'm finding it quite a quick read

This is my favourite book. I read it every year starting on the Friday before the first Saturday in September (this is where the book begins)
I look forward to this all year, I'd far rather be with the Stevens in Bognor in 1931 than go on a real holiday in horrible depressing Present Day.

I've just finished it. It was a satisfying read. I enjoyed the narrative from the male perspective. We haven't had that before in our previous books, so it was a change. It was also good that the narrative switched between characters. It was balanced.

Mrs Stevens' "reely" grated on my nerves too. She seemed to come across as rather vulnerable and not as able as the others or was it how they treated her, as ChannelLightVessel suggested. It did come across as condescending.

I loved this book. I read it a few months ago. I really enjoyed the preparations for the holiday which rang very true. (And why don't we still have the option of a porter coming to our home to collect the luggage??) I also liked the pathos of the landlady gradually becoming older and struggling....quite sad but realistic. As we also go to the same place on holiday every year I can relate!

Just finished it. I’ve read it before but remembered surprisingly little. I loved it and didn’t want it to end, but as it’s such as enjoyable read I raced through it. The start was slow, lots of detail about the planning, the packing, the mechanics of the journey, what to do with the canary etc, and then it seemed to gather momentum… the Rhythm reminded me of a holiday, how it seems slow to start then starts to speed up, or even (a bit fancifully) a stream train. It was clear how massive an event the holiday was for this family. I loved Mary’s romance (ultimately disappointing) with Pat, and the pulling away from her family to go out with glitzy Billie felt very true to life. And Dick using the holiday to come to a decision about his hated job that his dad was so proud to get him. The tea party with the nouveau riche Montgomery family made me ache for Mr Stevens, and at the same time be proud of how decent they all were. It felt a bit like the old world clashing with the new. The ending was sad, I felt. There had been a few hints that this sun drenched happiness was coming to a close, as when Mr Stevens worries that the older two children are outgrowing it, but it’s confirmed really at the end when Mrs Hugget reveals that most of her regulars hadn’t come. I don’t know how much the shadow of war was discernible in 1931, or whether the writer was just evoking the end of the summer holiday, but I did feel there wouldn’t be many more fortnights in September for the Stevens.

Two more things: I entirely agree with @IsadoraQuagmire that Bognor in 1931 would be lovely compared to here and now, and yes, the ‘reely’ from Mrs Stevens did grate, although I’m sure I’ve read quite a few books set around this time where it’s used as a device to signify a sort of timid would be gentility. So maybe it would grate less to contemporary readers?

Yes. That's a reely interesting observation, Stella (sorry 😄). It hadn't occurred to me, but it ties into Mrs Stevens's nature that it could signify her timidity. I suppose I was seeing it as a class marker.

There were so many small details that made me smile; Mr Stevens making sure he put his teeth in before he served his family tea in bed, Mrs Stevens casually throwing a sandwich wrapper out the window, applying olive oil so that skin wouldn't peel after sunburn. I like your point about how the book's pace gathered momentum from the planning of the holiday to the actual holiday and how the ending was foreshadowed by the chilly winds of autumn which were the harbinger of change for the family.

At some stage, Bognor became Bognor Regis?

I finished the book a few days ago but have been away with no internet access so only posting my thoughts now.

I've so enjoyed reading everyone's comments, and agree with @StellaOlivetti that the ending felt sad. It seemed to mark the passing of an era for the Stevens family, but perhaps was also a nod to wider social changes in the 1930s, and the sense that maybe people would no longer be satisfied with rather dated (!) boarding houses with peeling linoleum floors and gas lighting, and would instead want holidays that were more exciting and glamorous.

That sense of wider social change writ small in the Stevens family could also be read in the gap between the aspirations of Mr Stevens and Dick. Dick obviously wants a job and a life that he finds more inspiring and fulfilling, but is constrained by his sense of duty towards his father, and perhaps a worry about being thought ungrateful or - God forbid! - having ideas above his station.

I loved all the dated details - the bloaters, the pursuit of dark suntans (instead of slathering on the SPF50 as we would now), the bathing dresses, and the food. I was surprised by the reference to them throwing their sandwich wrappers out of the train window!

The contrast between the awful Montgomerys and the Stevens was well done I thought. Their vulgar house and its shadeless garden made a sharp contrast with the homeliness and sincerity of the Stevens and their house in Corunna Road, and especially with Mr Stevens' keen appreciation of the natural world.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh

I've just looked it up and apparently Bognor became Bognor Regis in 1929 after being popularised as a convalescent resort by George V, who authorised the addition of the 'Regis' suffix. I suppose that as the book was published in 1931 when it was written the Regis bit hasn't properly caught on yet?

I've tried to find photos of Bognor in the 1930s to get a better mental picture of it, and found these images, including of bathing huts - presumably like 'The Cuddy'.

Thank you @MotherofPearl ! The photographs are brilliant. Quite like I imagined it. The man in the foreground looks like he has just arrived, having swapped his formal shoes for white canvas ones :)

I finished a few days ago I did really like it but would be hard pushed to say why exactly. I think the family felt like a real family, they had their own individual joys and disappointments in life and were all able to enjoy a couple of weeks out of the mundane of real life.

Interesting that the mother at the beginning thought to herself that she didnt really enjoy the holiday for herself but instead enjoyed what the others got out of it. Its the same reason I take my DS to softplay etc

I didn’t think I’d manage to read it but providentially my library copy finally turned up yesterday after ages on the waiting list. I galloped through it and finished it this evening.

I feel in two minds - I really enjoyed it, and thought Sherriff captured exactly the sense of ritual about going on holiday…maybe not such a big deal nowadays, but DH and I went to the same (lovely) place for several years and I definitely recognised that feeling of wanting everything to be the same, and recognising all your favourite little things. It must have been all the more pleasurable if you worked in a drab office in 1931 and got 2 weeks off work as your only holiday, and had to scrimp and save to afford your flagon of ginger beer and your chalet with a balcony. There was real poetry (and humour) in a lot of the writing.

But, but….I felt so awful for Mrs Stevens, who didn’t really enjoy going to Bognor, and who was told off for dropping her aitches (agree that the 'reely' was telling us her speech was on the common side), and whose dress sense didn’t please her critical husband, and who made the mistake of buying the buns a day early so they were stale. And after all that, she STILL had to go shopping every day while the others swanned off to the beach! And her son marked out her measly bottle of port so she couldn’t ever have a drop more in the evening because no doubt they’d all notice and make fun of her, while Mr Stevens was able to saunter down to the pub every evening…..well, you can see I got a bit indignant on her behalf. Yes, I know times were different, and women were expected to look after their homes and families. But I couldn’t help feeling a pang for her, all the same.

It was interesting, actually, because what was in my head a lot of the time was the film of Noel Coward's 'This Happy Breed', which was very reminiscent in places in the way it showed everyday family life among the upper working classes - Dad, Mum, almost grown-up boy and girl children, even a 'Puss'. And I could easily imagine The Fortnight in September as a film. Sherriff was a very successful screenwriter who worked on a lot of extremely well-known films. I wonder whether there was ever any thought of adapting this…?

I think you're right to be a bit outraged on behalf of Mrs Stevens, @Terpsichore. I suppose I thought it was probably a fairly accurate portrait of a woman of her class and time - and her family's expectations of her probably similarly accurate. But I wonder if the reason she did the shopping instead of heading straight to the sands was because she didn't really like the sea? Or was it that she didn't enjoy seaside holidays because her family didn't really let her?

I thought it was telling that her favourite part of the day on holiday was the hour every evening when everyone was out and she could drink her port and enjoy some peace and quiet (I could relate!).

I think she just carried on going to the shops because that’s what she had to do every single day at home - she had to buy the provisions to be cooked for their meals, even at Mrs Huggett's. Yes, she enjoyed pottering round the shops, but the expectation was still there; she couldn’t properly relax. And they all took it totally for granted that it was what she’d do, while they pranced off to the beach for their jolly morning.

At the start of the book it was clear that she didn’t like the seaside, she feared the sea and hated the sun - 'it made her unhappy to pretend she was enjoying herself'. But Mr Stevens loved it, as did the rest of the family, so she had to defer to them.

I was glad she at at least had her quiet hour alone with her nice glass of port (can’t help wondering what happened a few years ago when she ‘wasn’t very well' and the doctor prescribed that port as a pick-me-up…did Mr Stevens do any of the cooking then, or make her a cup of tea in the mornings? Can’t really see it myself!)

The doling out of the port into measures reminded me of my father, who used to measure out his whiskey using the cap of the bottle. He was rather frugal and used to talk about 'sparing' things. He took pride in stretching it out. I felt it gave Mrs Stevens the same sasatisfaction. There was a sense that she should be happy with her lot, but I think in those days people were happy with what they had and didn't look for more.

satisfaction

I have just started on this. I have got it from the library and my edition is Rather Dated - it was first stamped by the library
on 25 February 1972. Lots of other stamps since. I rather like reading a copy that I know for sure that so many others have read over the last 50 years.

I like that too, @ChessieFL

That's cool Chessie. It's been yonks since I've read a real library book, but I always used to love looking at the page with the stamped dates. * *

I’ve finished this now and I really enjoyed it. It’s one of those books where I wanted to savour every word and detail. It reminded me of Elizabeth Jane Howard with the observations and thoughts of all the characters. I loved all the period detail and I can see this being a book I’ll want to reread several times. I felt very sorry for Mrs Hugget at the end. It also really brought home how much holidays have changed - I can’t imagine many families now having a holiday like that, where they go to the same place every year and just spend two weeks on the beach. Holidays now are filled with days out to places rather than just hanging out like the Stevens’s do.