Family Gathering

by Elizabeth Cadell

Natalie Rome, timid and retiring, discovers that a new life at forty is not, after all, as difficult of achievement as she had feared. With new relations and a new home, she had feared. With new relations and a new home, she finds security and happiness. She also finds a step-daughter as timid as herself and a step-son of exceptional charm; a mother-in-law in garden boots and ancient, formal hats who talks loudly and a great deal; and a father-in-law who seldom talks at all. Into this assembly comes Natalie's own daughter Helen; a young beautiful, successful and supremely confident. Helen and her new step-brother enter at once into the age-old struggle between the woman who likes to organize other people's lives, and the man who prefers to arrange his own. In the lovely old house, Romescourt, the battle is fought - and won.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Historical Fiction, British Literature, Adult

Hardcover

Published November 1, 1984

About the author

Violet Elizabeth Vandyke was born on 10 November 1903 in Calcutta, British Raj, daughter of British parents, Elizabeth Lynch and Frederick Reginald Vandyke, a colonial officer. During the Great War she studied music in London, but refused a musical career and returned to India where she married in 1928 Henry Dunlop Raymond Mallock Cadell, and they had a son and daughter. After she was widowed ten years later, she returned to England.

Elizabeth wrote her first book 'My Dear Aunt Flora' during the Second World War in 1946, there after producing another 51 light-hearted, humourous and romantic books which won her a faithful readership in England and America. In addition to England and India, many of her books are set in Spain, France, and Portugal. She finally settled in Portugal, where her married daughter still lived.

She died on 9 October 1989, aged eighty-five.

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading these old books. There's no mystery, but always humor and I like the characters. Ms Cadell deals with young, old, the odd, the sane, the practical and the un-practical and you end up liking them all. Just reading about the time period (usually late 1940's - mid 1950's) and the way they are written--definitely a simpler, easier, less complex way of living--gives a sense of nostalgia, even though it was not my time period. It's difficult to find a lot of her books, and the author was very prolific, but it's been worth it.

[Janga · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually enjoy the nostalgia of Cadell's books enough to silence my inner feminist critic, but She screamed so loudly through this reread that I could hardly finish it.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Natalie, who has been a widow for many years, has remarried, her husband William is a naval officer, and Natalie goes to stay with her new husband’s family in Devon while he is away at sea. She immediately bonds with William’s daughter Lucille, who is as shy and gentle as Natalie herself, and is charmed by Lucille’s brother Jeremy, an artist who lives on a farm nearby. Lucille however is so gentle and easygoing that she has managed to get engaged to two men at once, and can’t seem to bring herself to disappoint either of her fiancees. And then Natalie’s smart competent daughter Helen arrives to stay, and she and Jeremy are immediately at loggerheads. This is a quite amusing story with some good characters and quite funny situations. Helen comes in for much criticism for being too bossy, and is unfavourably compared with Lucille, but I can’t help feeling that there must be some middle ground between being very controlling and being totally passive and unable to assert oneself at all. Originally published under the title Gay Pursuit.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first half to two thirds of this book. The characters were quirky and amusing. However, they all seemed to disappear into the background when the romance between Helen and Jeremy came to the fore. I found Jeremy absolutely unbearable. Clearly the author believed that Helen needed to be taken down a peg or two but his behaviour was a hundred times worse, particularly when she was a guest on a relatively short visit to his family. Her mother sympathised with her in-laws rather than her daughter and I began to like her less.

The “romance” seemed to me to be very like that in The Taming of the Shrew Maybe attitudes have changed more in the last seventy years than in the previous three hundred and fifty.

[Sharon Stine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually 3 and 1/2 just because of quirky characters I so enjoyed.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Natalie Rome is a newlywed at 40. She has acquired a new stepson and stepdaughter. She moves to her husband's home at Romecourt to find a new home for her new life and prepare it for her husband's return from sea duty and his retirement.

She is sped on her way from London to the rural Romecourt by her own very efficient and professional daughter Helen. At Romescourt she tries to find a new home with varied help from dotty her in-laws and stepchildren. A battle line is drawn between strong-willed Helen and her new strong-willed stepson Jeremy, and the battle commenses.

[Sep · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful, vintage Elizabeth Cadell about a mother who has married before the book starts and goes down to the country to live with her in-laws until her husband returns from his last voyage. (He's in the navy.) She leaves in London her beloved daughter Helen and finds in the country a step-son about the same age who appears to be fancy free. The plot is predictable BUT the characters are what keep me hooked. Also, Ms. Cadell's fantastic imagination that usually makes certain that each Jack gets the right Jill. Thank you, grandchildren of Ms. Cadell for reissuing her books on Kindle.

[Terry McDermid · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful read

Reading an Elizabeth Cadell book provides a pleasant time with interesting characters. Her story twists and turns always work out and the way the stories end is very satisfying. I always wish to stay with the characters a little longer but at least I know I can read the book again or read another Cadell book. I'm glad the heirs have brought them back for new readers to find them.

[Gerri]

Even though you know where you’re going, it’s a pleasant journey.

[Mary Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A "nice" book to listen to. I have been avoiding anything that is very suspenseful and this hit the spot.I wouldn't make a habit of reading a book like this, but it is nice every once in awhile.

[Linda Chrisman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful book - I really enjoyed it.

[Jannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good form! Loved it. Theres a beautiful touch of farce especially the step son

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I think that Cadell is too much on the side of the patriarchy. A sign of the times from which she wrote? Two women in the story have trouble making up their minds without guidance from a strong man. One only knows two well what she wants and what she will do with her life. Until she is given guidance in the form of fairly explicit suggestions. As hard as she tries to follow her own plan, well, you will see what happens.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one the first time I read it. Maybe it's just the mood I was in , but there were a few parts that just made me laugh. This time, I found the passive female characters a bit troubling, although the contrast between the two strong females and the two passive females in the family is an interesting one.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely charming!