Jenny Wren

by
E.H. Young

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Jenny Wren

by E.H. Young

3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 · rating details · 22 ratings · 4 reviews

"Jenny, too, wanted pleasure, pretty clothes, laughter, admiration and love, but she would not stoop to get them. She would wait, holding herself erect, until these gifts came to her unsought."

On their father's death, Jenny and Dahlia Rendall, with their mother Louisa, move across the river to the heights of Upper Radstowe. Here they try to make a living by taking in lodg...more

Paperback, 364 pages

Published December 28th 1985 by Penguin (Virago) (first published 1932)

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Feb 16, 2009 Carrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

n the 1980's Penguin began to publish a series called Virago Modern Classics. They are not "classics" in the sense of Dickens and Austen, but rather are reprintings of novels written by women in the 20's, 30's and 40's which had been largely forgotten by the 1980's. Persephone Books in London does a similar thing today. Anyways, being a fan of fiction from that era and of women's writing and somewhat of magpie, I have begun collecting the Virago books when I see them at used bookstores. They are...more n the 1980's Penguin began to publish a series called Virago Modern Classics. They are not "classics" in the sense of Dickens and Austen, but rather are reprintings of novels written by women in the 20's, 30's and 40's which had been largely forgotten by the 1980's. Persephone Books in London does a similar thing today. Anyways, being a fan of fiction from that era and of women's writing and somewhat of magpie, I have begun collecting the Virago books when I see them at used bookstores. They are easy to pick out, with their distinctive green bindings, and should be fun to read, since the criteria for inclusion is broad enough that the subject matter, style and tone will (hopefully) vary widely based on author. Jenny Wren was the first of my collection that I actually read, and I really enjoyed it.

Jenny Wren tells the story of Jenny and Dahlia Randall, two sisters negotiating their position in the world in a small British city (based on Brighton) in the 1920's. They are caught between two social classes - their father was a gentleman, and raised them to be ladies, but he has died, and they are now living with their lower-class mother, running a boarding house in the city. They were raised to be their father's children and have little in common with their mother, who doesn't speak or act like them -and yet, they are in her world, making their own living and trying to figure out what will happen to them. The back cover calls Jenny Wren a "scathing satire," but I disagree. Young is too kind to her characters to be scathing. Instead, (as the introduction said, so no credit to me for this one), Young's satire is like Austen's - critical, but still fond. Young hits class in England hard, and her characters (especially Jenny) are somewhat ridiculous in their hang-ups about class. It is absolutely maddening when Jenny overlooks the kind boarder who not only loves her but understands her (but works in the trades - even if it is the antique trade, so he understands fine things), for an obsession/fling with a young gentleman who: 1) she is ashamed to tell her family about; 2) she barely knows and 3) even she admits is young and foolish and with whom she would never have a true meeting of the minds. Jenny is so wrapped up in her own head and her feelings that I wanted to shake her. But Young's gift is that she makes every character - from foolish Jenny, to more practical Dahlia, to their mother, who never had a chance to know her children, but makes a true (if ultimately worthless) sacrifice to make her daughters happy - real people, with sympathetic and understandable motives. Even if we don't like a character, we understand them, and their actions arise from their personalities - like real people. For that reason alone the book rises above "scathing" satire, to a story of real people. Young mocks the class system, certainly, but she doesn't make her characters ridiculous. From the pinched spinster who owns the neighboring boarding house to the curate next door, who loves Dahlia despite himself, each character is given the dignity of real and realistic actions.

As you can see, I was impressed by this book. My only complaint was that the story was left unfinished - I had to go to Powell's and buy the sequel (luckily, Virago also reprinted that one) to find out what happened to the characters!(less)

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Dec 27, 2012 Ali rated it 4 of 5 stars

“In the sloping, one sided street called Beulah Mount, no two houses are alike. Some of them are flat fronted, a few are bow-windowed and some have flimsy, roofed balconies outside the first floor windows, and these, even when in need of painting, give an effect of diminished but persistent gaiety to a terrace built in an age of leisure and of privilege.”
Jenny and her older sister Dahlia Rendall have recently moved from their old home at the white farm, in the countryside to a house in Upper Rad...more “In the sloping, one sided street called Beulah Mount, no two houses are alike. Some of them are flat fronted, a few are bow-windowed and some have flimsy, roofed balconies outside the first floor windows, and these, even when in need of painting, give an effect of diminished but persistent gaiety to a terrace built in an age of leisure and of privilege.”
Jenny and her older sister Dahlia Rendall have recently moved from their old home at the white farm, in the countryside to a house in Upper Radstowe. Here their mother has installed the first of her lodgers, young Mr Cummings, who knows about antique furniture and has ambitions for a shop of his own. Jenny and Dahlia are socially superior to their mother, taking after their gentleman father who had previously protected them from their mother’s common ways and the gossip surrounding a supposed affair years earlier. Now Jenny and Dahlia feel the sharp glances of their neighbours who see the still beautiful Louisa as not respectable and assume her daughters are no better. Dahlia is more laid back, but Jenny is acutely embarrassed by her mother, and lives in horror of her mother’s older sister Sarah descending on them. Next door – in another house of lodgers lives the vicious Miss Jewel, jealously guarding her lodger the curate Mr Sproat and watching Louisa with delicious disapproval, noticing farmer Thomas Grimshaw’s weekly visits and spying on Jenny and Dahlia too.
“Jenny stayed in the sitting room. She was wondering why, among so many disadvantages, they had to endure the daily annoyance of hearing their names mispronounced, when there were so many which could have been uttered without offence. This thought had often occurred to her father, and he had to blame himself. Louisa chose the first child’s name, when he was still sufficiently in love to forget how she would misuse it but, when Jenny was born, he insisted that her name must not end like Dahlia’s with a vowel, and characteristically overlooked the dangerous consonant. Jenny was registered, she was not christened, as Jennifer, and Louisa stubbornly refused to accept the abbreviations he and Dahlia used.”
Although a tentative friendship develops between Jenny and Edwin Cummings the lodger, Jenny dreams of another life, a life she feels must be denied her because of her mother. So when Jenny meets the handsome young squire Cyril Merriman – Jenny is afraid of him knowing her real name. Cyril meets Jenny secretly in the woods and fields that she loves – believing her name to be called Jenny Wren. Dahlia meanwhile befriends the rather serious Mr Sproat, who given the task of finding more lodgers for the Rendalls, encourages the rather sad little Miss Morrison to make her home with them. Poor Miss Morrison, who sees Mr Sproat’s interest in her living arrangements as being something more than they are.
This is a novel about social inequalities and the dissatisfaction that this can cause. Dahlia and Jenny’s father married beneath him, and rued the day. He made sure that his daughters grew up young ladies, but they are now caught between the class they feel part of and their mother’s background, and the realities of living in a boarding house. Louisa works hard for her daughters, beginning sadly to acknowledge that she may be holding them back. Jenny and Dahlia have to learn that those things which are best for them and will provide for them a safer happier and more stable future are maybe closer than they thought.
Having read other E H Young books – I could see where the story was going right from the start, although this predictability didn’t in any way spoil it for me. I already have the sequel to this novel; The Curate’s Wife on my TBR and I am looking forward to it. Although not my favourite E H Young novel to date – that would be William, this is an excellent novel, I love E H Young’s Upper Radstowe, and the small disappointed lives she often writes about.
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Dec 19, 2012 Betty rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Well-written reminder of the limited options available to women in the 1930s, not to mention the power of class to influence lives. The introduction to this edition (best read afterward) has an excellent analysis of the novel and backstory on the author.

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Jul 24, 2011 Lesley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Stop bugging me about reviews

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About E.H. Young

Born Emily Hilda Young.

Although almost completely forgotten by recent generations, E. H. Young was a best-selling novelist of her time. She was born the daughter of a shipbroker and attended Gateshead Secondary School (a higher grade school later renamed Gateshead Grammar School) and Penrhos College, Colwyn Bay, Wales. In 1902, at the age of 22, she married Arthur Daniell, a solicitor from Bristol...more Born Emily Hilda Young.

Although almost completely forgotten by recent generations, E. H. Young was a best-selling novelist of her time. She was born the daughter of a shipbroker and attended Gateshead Secondary School (a higher grade school later renamed Gateshead Grammar School) and Penrhos College, Colwyn Bay, Wales. In 1902, at the age of 22, she married Arthur Daniell, a solicitor from Bristol, and moved with him to the upscale neighbourhood of Clifton.

Here, Young developed an interest in classical and modern philosophy. She became a supporter of the suffragette movement, and started publishing novels. She also began a lifelong affair with Ralph Henderson, a schoolteacher and a friend of her husband.

When the First World War broke out in 1914, Young went to work, first as a stables groom and then in a munitions factory. Her husband was killed at the Battle of Ypres in 1917. The following year she moved to Sydenham Hill, London to join her lover, now the headmaster of the public school Alleyn's, and his wife in a ménage à trois. Young occupied a separate flat in their house and was addressed as 'Mrs Daniell'; this concealed the unconventional arrangement.

This change seems to have been the catalyst that she needed. Seven major novels followed, all based on Clifton, thinly disguised as 'Upper Radstowe'. The first of these was The Misses Mallett, published originally under the title The Bridge Dividing in 1922. Her 1930 novel Miss Mole won the James Tait Black Award for fiction. In the 1940s, Young also wrote books for children, Caravan Island (1940) and River Holiday (1942).

After Henderson's retirement and the death of his wife, Young moved with him to Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire. They never married. During the Second World War, she worked actively in air raid precautions. She lived in Wiltshire with Henderson until her death from lung cancer in 1949.

Although popular in her time, Young's work has nearly vanished today. In 1980, a four-part series based on her novels – mainly Miss Mole – was shown on BBC television as "Hannah". The feminist publishing house Virago reprinted several of her books in the 1980s, and the Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society has marked her Clifton home with a plaque.

The 'E H Young Prize for Greek Thought' was an annual essay prize awarded in her memory at Bristol Grammar School.
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