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Frost in May #4
Beyond the Glass
Clara Batchelor is twenty-two. Her brief, doomed marriage to Archie over, she returns to live with her parents in the home of her childhood. She hopes for comfort but the devoutly Catholic household confines her and forms a dangerous glass wall of guilt and repression between Clara and the outside world. Clara both longs for and fears what lies beyond, and when she escapes into an exhilarating and passionate love affair her fragile identity cracks.
Beyond the Glass completes the trilogy sequel to Frost in May, which began with The Lost Traveller and The Sugar House. Although each is a complete novel in itself, together they form a brilliant portrait of a young girl's journey to adulthood.
Beyond the Glass completes the trilogy sequel to Frost in May, which began with The Lost Traveller and The Sugar House. Although each is a complete novel in itself, together they form a brilliant portrait of a young girl's journey to adulthood.
285 pages, Paperback
First published December 27, 1987
11 people are currently reading
931 people want to read
About the author
Antonia White
41 books46 followersAntonia White was born as Eirine Botting to parents Cecil and Christine Botting in 1899. She later took her mother's maiden name, White.
In 1921 she was married to the first of her three husbands. The marriage was annulled only 2 years later, and reportedly was never consummated. She immediately fell in love again with a man named Robert, who was an officer in the Scots Guards. They never married, and their relationship was brief but intense, which led to her experiencing a severe mental breakdown. She was committed to Bethlem, a public asylum, where she spent the next year of her life. She described her breakdown as a period of “mania”. After she left hospital, she spent four years participating in Freudian studies. She struggled the rest of her life with mental illness which she referred to as “The Beast”.
Her second marriage was to a man named Eric Earnshaw Smith, but this marriage ended in divorce. By the age of 30, she had been married 3 times. During her second marriage, she had fallen in love with two men. One was Rudolph 'Silas' Glossop. The other was a man named Tom Hopkinson, a copywriter and S.G. who is described as “a tall handsome young man with a slightly melancholy charm”. She had trouble deciding whom she should marry following her divorce, and she married Hopkinson in 1930. She had two daughters, Lyndall Hopkinson and Susan Chitty, who have both written autobiographical books about their difficult relationship with their mother.
Her career as a writer seems to have been driven by the desire to cope with a sense of failure, resulting initially from her first attempt at writing, and with mental illness. She was quoted as saying, “The old terrors always return and often, with them, a feeling of such paralyzing lack of self-confidence that I have to take earlier books of mine off their shelf just to prove to myself that I actually wrote them and they were actually printed, bound, and read. I find that numbers of writers experience these same miseries over their work and do not, as is so often supposed, enjoy the process. "Creative joy" is something I haven't felt since I was fourteen and don't expect to feel again."
With regard to the content of her writing, White remarked, “My novels and short stories are mainly about ordinary people who become involved in rather extraordinary situations. I do not mean in sensational adventures but in rather odd and difficult personal relationships largely due to their family background and their incomplete understanding of their own natures. I use both Catholic and non-Catholic characters and am particularly interested in the conflicts that arise between them and in the influences they have on each other.”
Bibliography:
Frost in May (first published 1933)
The Lost Traveller (first published 1950)
The Sugar House (first published 1952)
Beyond the Glass (first published 1954)
Strangers (first published 1954)
The Hound and the Falcon: The Story of a Reconversion to Catholic Faith (first published 1965)
Minka and Curdy (children's book, first published 1957)
Living with Minka and Curdy (children's book, first published 1970)
Play: Three In a Room: Comedy in 3 Acts (first published 1947)
In 1921 she was married to the first of her three husbands. The marriage was annulled only 2 years later, and reportedly was never consummated. She immediately fell in love again with a man named Robert, who was an officer in the Scots Guards. They never married, and their relationship was brief but intense, which led to her experiencing a severe mental breakdown. She was committed to Bethlem, a public asylum, where she spent the next year of her life. She described her breakdown as a period of “mania”. After she left hospital, she spent four years participating in Freudian studies. She struggled the rest of her life with mental illness which she referred to as “The Beast”.
Her second marriage was to a man named Eric Earnshaw Smith, but this marriage ended in divorce. By the age of 30, she had been married 3 times. During her second marriage, she had fallen in love with two men. One was Rudolph 'Silas' Glossop. The other was a man named Tom Hopkinson, a copywriter and S.G. who is described as “a tall handsome young man with a slightly melancholy charm”. She had trouble deciding whom she should marry following her divorce, and she married Hopkinson in 1930. She had two daughters, Lyndall Hopkinson and Susan Chitty, who have both written autobiographical books about their difficult relationship with their mother.
Her career as a writer seems to have been driven by the desire to cope with a sense of failure, resulting initially from her first attempt at writing, and with mental illness. She was quoted as saying, “The old terrors always return and often, with them, a feeling of such paralyzing lack of self-confidence that I have to take earlier books of mine off their shelf just to prove to myself that I actually wrote them and they were actually printed, bound, and read. I find that numbers of writers experience these same miseries over their work and do not, as is so often supposed, enjoy the process. "Creative joy" is something I haven't felt since I was fourteen and don't expect to feel again."
With regard to the content of her writing, White remarked, “My novels and short stories are mainly about ordinary people who become involved in rather extraordinary situations. I do not mean in sensational adventures but in rather odd and difficult personal relationships largely due to their family background and their incomplete understanding of their own natures. I use both Catholic and non-Catholic characters and am particularly interested in the conflicts that arise between them and in the influences they have on each other.”
Bibliography:
Frost in May (first published 1933)
The Lost Traveller (first published 1950)
The Sugar House (first published 1952)
Beyond the Glass (first published 1954)
Strangers (first published 1954)
The Hound and the Falcon: The Story of a Reconversion to Catholic Faith (first published 1965)
Minka and Curdy (children's book, first published 1957)
Living with Minka and Curdy (children's book, first published 1970)
Play: Three In a Room: Comedy in 3 Acts (first published 1947)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
September 21, 2022
This is the final novel in White’s quartet about her early life, covering her life when she was 22/23. The last book ended with Clara’s marriage to Archie coming to an end and Clara returning to live with her parents. Moving back to her parents leads her to difficult times with her parents. Clara’s relationship with her father and her religion are still central but the real heart of the book is Clara’s increasing mental fragility and this is woven in with a doomed love affair.
White herself spent time in a public asylum, Bethlem (known as bedlam) and so the descriptions of Clara’s breakdown, subsequent certification as insane and time in different parts of the asylum system are powerfully written and feel very personal:
“She lost herself again; this time completely. For months she was not even a human being; she was a horse. Ridden almost to death, beaten till she fell, she lay at last on the straw in her stable and waited for death. They buried her as lay on her side, with outstretched head and legs. A child came and sowed turquoises round the outline of her body in the ground, and she rose up again as a horse of magic with a golden mane, and galloped across the sky. Again she woke on the mattress in her cell. She looked and saw that she had human hands and feet again, but she knew she was a horse.”
White does employ a good deal of imagery relating to glass and mirrors throughout Clara’s breakdown, incarceration and gradual recovery and there are links to Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass to describe the world Clara enters. That world also involves force feeding, hot and cold baths and long periods of incarceration in padded rooms. Clara still has the stigmatizations of the day as indicated by the following quote from her time in the asylum:
“In vain Clara tried to explain the rules of croquet…But it was hopeless. No-one could understand. In the end she left them running gaily about the lawn, hitting any ball they saw and usually all playing at once…the next moment, it came to her. These women were mad. All the women she saw at mealtimes were mad. No wonder she could make no contact with them. She was imprisoned in a place full of mad people”
Clara’s reliability as a narrator can also be questioned. Interestingly there is a certain sort of mentality that must follow the rules of a game and Clara with the religious structures that she lives within is of that ilk. The women she is with have the freedom to not follow the rules and to just enjoy the experience.
This is a good depiction of the asylum system in the 1920s and a fitting end to the quartet
White herself spent time in a public asylum, Bethlem (known as bedlam) and so the descriptions of Clara’s breakdown, subsequent certification as insane and time in different parts of the asylum system are powerfully written and feel very personal:
“She lost herself again; this time completely. For months she was not even a human being; she was a horse. Ridden almost to death, beaten till she fell, she lay at last on the straw in her stable and waited for death. They buried her as lay on her side, with outstretched head and legs. A child came and sowed turquoises round the outline of her body in the ground, and she rose up again as a horse of magic with a golden mane, and galloped across the sky. Again she woke on the mattress in her cell. She looked and saw that she had human hands and feet again, but she knew she was a horse.”
White does employ a good deal of imagery relating to glass and mirrors throughout Clara’s breakdown, incarceration and gradual recovery and there are links to Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass to describe the world Clara enters. That world also involves force feeding, hot and cold baths and long periods of incarceration in padded rooms. Clara still has the stigmatizations of the day as indicated by the following quote from her time in the asylum:
“In vain Clara tried to explain the rules of croquet…But it was hopeless. No-one could understand. In the end she left them running gaily about the lawn, hitting any ball they saw and usually all playing at once…the next moment, it came to her. These women were mad. All the women she saw at mealtimes were mad. No wonder she could make no contact with them. She was imprisoned in a place full of mad people”
Clara’s reliability as a narrator can also be questioned. Interestingly there is a certain sort of mentality that must follow the rules of a game and Clara with the religious structures that she lives within is of that ilk. The women she is with have the freedom to not follow the rules and to just enjoy the experience.
This is a good depiction of the asylum system in the 1920s and a fitting end to the quartet
May 23, 2022
4.5
Though Antonia White tried to write another novel continuing the life of her alter-ego Nanda/Clara, this is the last. It’s an impressive account based on her own mental illness, which reads to me as if it's schizophrenia. Set in the 1920s, no diagnosis is given. The one chapter completely devoted to Clara’s hallucinations, and other sensory experiences I have no words for, is so impressively done, it’s almost hard to read.
I was reminded of my adolescent (re)readings of I Never Promised You a Rose Gardenand Lisa, Bright and Dark, and how much is still unknown when it comes to mental illness. Clara is treated with condescension by the medical establishment, but her force of will and her wanting to know help her, bringing home the idea that those who’ve experienced these things should be listened to, not treated as if they can’t understand.
*
While reading this, I started a reread of Kristin Lavransdatter and I was struck by some of the same characteristics of the protagonists: both daughters with a strong attachment to their fathers; strong-willed at getting what they want but then feeling guilt at not living up to expectations. (Probably not a coincidence that both families are Catholic, even if converts.)
Though Antonia White tried to write another novel continuing the life of her alter-ego Nanda/Clara, this is the last. It’s an impressive account based on her own mental illness, which reads to me as if it's schizophrenia. Set in the 1920s, no diagnosis is given. The one chapter completely devoted to Clara’s hallucinations, and other sensory experiences I have no words for, is so impressively done, it’s almost hard to read.
I was reminded of my adolescent (re)readings of I Never Promised You a Rose Gardenand Lisa, Bright and Dark, and how much is still unknown when it comes to mental illness. Clara is treated with condescension by the medical establishment, but her force of will and her wanting to know help her, bringing home the idea that those who’ve experienced these things should be listened to, not treated as if they can’t understand.
*
While reading this, I started a reread of Kristin Lavransdatter and I was struck by some of the same characteristics of the protagonists: both daughters with a strong attachment to their fathers; strong-willed at getting what they want but then feeling guilt at not living up to expectations. (Probably not a coincidence that both families are Catholic, even if converts.)
November 6, 2018
Rating: 3.5
This unusual and absorbing autobiographical novel is set in the early 1920s. It focuses on 22-year-old Clara Batchelor, a self-described “fifth-rate” actor whose three-month-long, unconsummated marriage to Archie Hughes-Follett has quickly unravelled. Archie is also an actor, apparently only marginally more talented than his wife. The reader isn’t explicitly told what’s wrong with him. (This is the fourth in a quartet of linked works by White, and it’s possible if I’d done the sensible thing and read the books in order, I might have a better idea.) Maybe it’s a combination of things. He’s a veteran of the Great War, and he may be psychologically scarred or physically injured. Quite possibly he is a closeted gay man. Whatever the case, he and Clara certainly love each other, but their relationship is not a sexual one.
Prior to Clara’s break-up with Archie, her parents had noticed “a coarseness in her looks and manner.” She’d gained weight and appeared haggard and prematurely aged. What they are unaware of is that she’d also thrown herself at a womanizing painter but then had physically fought him off when he responded to her encouragement. It was this episode that brought the marital problems to a head.
Clara’s hard-working schoolmaster father, Claude, converted to Catholicism when Clara was a young girl, and she is unusually close to him. Having psychologically invested a good deal in his daughter’s union with Archie, a scion of a well-to-do, old Catholic family, Claude is loath to give up his “Catholic” dream about his only child. His wife, Isabel, is far more pragmatic. As far as she is concerned, Archie is a “wretched boy” and the “ghastly marriage” is better ended. She rejoices when she learns an annulment is possible, though it it is a lengthy ordeal that involves both ecclesiastical and legal proceedings. One requirement is that Clara submit to a humiliating physical exam by two separate doctors to determine if she’s “intact”.
Once re-installed in her childhood home, Clara is apathetic and depressed. Though her marriage is certainly over, until the church and the law declare it so, she is expected to conduct herself discreetly and with decorum. She finds herself lying to her father about an impromptu dinner she has with Clive Heron, an eccentric friend, whom she’d bumped into on the street one afternoon. Even though he has met Clive before, Claude is horrified that Clara should have been alone with this harmless man in his private rooms. Through Clive, Clara meets her great love, Richard Crayshaw, a career soldier, who is on a month’s leave. The two experience an immediate spark and telepathic connection. There is no question that they will marry.
Over the course of the month that Richard is with her, Clara experiences problems with sleep and appetite. She becomes increasingly “absent-minded”, somewhat grandiose, and then, quite suddenly, delusional, psychotic, and violent. She ultimately ends up in a padded cell in “Nazareth”—an asylum the author has modelled on London’s famous Bethlem Royal Hospital (“Bedlam”), where White herself was committed in her twenties. During her institutionalization, Clara believes herself at various times to be a horse, a salmon, a mouse, an imp, a dog, and a flower. She is at the mercy of her hallucinations—some of which read like dark scenes from the Brothers Grimm or Russian fairy tales—and the rough hospital staff who handle her aggressively, forcefully administer medication and food using a nasogastric tube, and confine her in a straitjacket. Some of the descriptions are quite harrowing.
Clara spends nine months in a world “beyond the looking-glass,” the details of her identity and history entirely forgotten. Words lack meaning, she forgets how to write, daily events do not unfold consecutively or cohere in any sort of logical way. Clara’s return to the world on “this side of the glass” requires a “tremendous, absorbing effort of willing herself back to consciousness.” When she is released from the asylum for a two-week trial, the important thing is for her to know the truth about Richard. The author handles this well. (This section reminded me of the old Natalie Wood/Warren Beatty film, Splendor in the Grass. )
Although I’ve been aware of Antonia White for years, this is the first of her books I’ve read. I’m impressed by her portrait (based on her own experience) of a young woman’s sudden descent into and effortful re-emergence from madness. White provides enough detail about the disorientation and distress of her protagonist to help readers understand what psychosis feels like. She shows how mental illness takes fragments of the patient’s former life story and kaleidoscopically rearranges and distorts them to create strange new narratives about identity in the patient’s mind. However, White’s depiction of Clara’s parents and their relationship is a little less satisfying. Some of the dialogue between the two seems wooden and melodramatic. For one thing, there are just too many interjections of “Darling” and “Dearest”. Maybe people really did speak to each other like this once, but it doesn’t translate well across the years. Telepathic communications between lovers likewise weaken the realistic feel of the novel. Having said that, I still found Beyond the Glass a compelling and rewarding read.
This unusual and absorbing autobiographical novel is set in the early 1920s. It focuses on 22-year-old Clara Batchelor, a self-described “fifth-rate” actor whose three-month-long, unconsummated marriage to Archie Hughes-Follett has quickly unravelled. Archie is also an actor, apparently only marginally more talented than his wife. The reader isn’t explicitly told what’s wrong with him. (This is the fourth in a quartet of linked works by White, and it’s possible if I’d done the sensible thing and read the books in order, I might have a better idea.) Maybe it’s a combination of things. He’s a veteran of the Great War, and he may be psychologically scarred or physically injured. Quite possibly he is a closeted gay man. Whatever the case, he and Clara certainly love each other, but their relationship is not a sexual one.
Prior to Clara’s break-up with Archie, her parents had noticed “a coarseness in her looks and manner.” She’d gained weight and appeared haggard and prematurely aged. What they are unaware of is that she’d also thrown herself at a womanizing painter but then had physically fought him off when he responded to her encouragement. It was this episode that brought the marital problems to a head.
Clara’s hard-working schoolmaster father, Claude, converted to Catholicism when Clara was a young girl, and she is unusually close to him. Having psychologically invested a good deal in his daughter’s union with Archie, a scion of a well-to-do, old Catholic family, Claude is loath to give up his “Catholic” dream about his only child. His wife, Isabel, is far more pragmatic. As far as she is concerned, Archie is a “wretched boy” and the “ghastly marriage” is better ended. She rejoices when she learns an annulment is possible, though it it is a lengthy ordeal that involves both ecclesiastical and legal proceedings. One requirement is that Clara submit to a humiliating physical exam by two separate doctors to determine if she’s “intact”.
Once re-installed in her childhood home, Clara is apathetic and depressed. Though her marriage is certainly over, until the church and the law declare it so, she is expected to conduct herself discreetly and with decorum. She finds herself lying to her father about an impromptu dinner she has with Clive Heron, an eccentric friend, whom she’d bumped into on the street one afternoon. Even though he has met Clive before, Claude is horrified that Clara should have been alone with this harmless man in his private rooms. Through Clive, Clara meets her great love, Richard Crayshaw, a career soldier, who is on a month’s leave. The two experience an immediate spark and telepathic connection. There is no question that they will marry.
Over the course of the month that Richard is with her, Clara experiences problems with sleep and appetite. She becomes increasingly “absent-minded”, somewhat grandiose, and then, quite suddenly, delusional, psychotic, and violent. She ultimately ends up in a padded cell in “Nazareth”—an asylum the author has modelled on London’s famous Bethlem Royal Hospital (“Bedlam”), where White herself was committed in her twenties. During her institutionalization, Clara believes herself at various times to be a horse, a salmon, a mouse, an imp, a dog, and a flower. She is at the mercy of her hallucinations—some of which read like dark scenes from the Brothers Grimm or Russian fairy tales—and the rough hospital staff who handle her aggressively, forcefully administer medication and food using a nasogastric tube, and confine her in a straitjacket. Some of the descriptions are quite harrowing.
Clara spends nine months in a world “beyond the looking-glass,” the details of her identity and history entirely forgotten. Words lack meaning, she forgets how to write, daily events do not unfold consecutively or cohere in any sort of logical way. Clara’s return to the world on “this side of the glass” requires a “tremendous, absorbing effort of willing herself back to consciousness.” When she is released from the asylum for a two-week trial, the important thing is for her to know the truth about Richard. The author handles this well. (This section reminded me of the old Natalie Wood/Warren Beatty film, Splendor in the Grass. )
Although I’ve been aware of Antonia White for years, this is the first of her books I’ve read. I’m impressed by her portrait (based on her own experience) of a young woman’s sudden descent into and effortful re-emergence from madness. White provides enough detail about the disorientation and distress of her protagonist to help readers understand what psychosis feels like. She shows how mental illness takes fragments of the patient’s former life story and kaleidoscopically rearranges and distorts them to create strange new narratives about identity in the patient’s mind. However, White’s depiction of Clara’s parents and their relationship is a little less satisfying. Some of the dialogue between the two seems wooden and melodramatic. For one thing, there are just too many interjections of “Darling” and “Dearest”. Maybe people really did speak to each other like this once, but it doesn’t translate well across the years. Telepathic communications between lovers likewise weaken the realistic feel of the novel. Having said that, I still found Beyond the Glass a compelling and rewarding read.
February 26, 2019
2nd read update:
Even on a second read this is fabulous, maybe even better second time around as we appreciate the fragility of Clara's state of mind and can trace the early warning signs as the trauma, guilt and emotional repression of her young life coalesce and overwhelm her - ironically, as she finally achieves a state of happiness.
Her breakdown is articulated with breath-taking insight and we are taken into Clara's disintegrating psyche, suffering all her fear, paranoia and confusion with her.
The almost uncanny edge to her relationship with Richard is both surprising yet also oddly easy to accept given these books' concern with religious experience.
A wonderful reading experience, and one which left me emotionally wrung-out by the end.
____________________________________________
The final end of a brilliant quartet of books, and Clara finally finds true love. But the experience of happiness is too much for her fragile sense of self and she descends into madness. This might sound depressing but ultimately this is a hopeful and uplifting book with a real sense of emotional catharsis at the end.
Clara's journey from Catholic girlhood (Frost in May) to tragedy and retreat (The Lost Traveller), from self-defensive burial in stifling safety (The Sugar House) to her final emergence as a woman in her own right is one of the most enthralling female journeys I have read. The novels are exquisately written and true, with no cliches and no easy happy endings. This really deserves to be far better known than it is.
Even on a second read this is fabulous, maybe even better second time around as we appreciate the fragility of Clara's state of mind and can trace the early warning signs as the trauma, guilt and emotional repression of her young life coalesce and overwhelm her - ironically, as she finally achieves a state of happiness.
Her breakdown is articulated with breath-taking insight and we are taken into Clara's disintegrating psyche, suffering all her fear, paranoia and confusion with her.
The almost uncanny edge to her relationship with Richard is both surprising yet also oddly easy to accept given these books' concern with religious experience.
A wonderful reading experience, and one which left me emotionally wrung-out by the end.
____________________________________________
The final end of a brilliant quartet of books, and Clara finally finds true love. But the experience of happiness is too much for her fragile sense of self and she descends into madness. This might sound depressing but ultimately this is a hopeful and uplifting book with a real sense of emotional catharsis at the end.
Clara's journey from Catholic girlhood (Frost in May) to tragedy and retreat (The Lost Traveller), from self-defensive burial in stifling safety (The Sugar House) to her final emergence as a woman in her own right is one of the most enthralling female journeys I have read. The novels are exquisately written and true, with no cliches and no easy happy endings. This really deserves to be far better known than it is.
Read
March 25, 2017I kid you knot. This is not my normal fair. I wouldn't say that it's outside my comfort zone because that would totally mischaracterize my comfort zone. But it is pretty standard lit fair I'd say. If you've had the stomach to endure all the religion through Frost in May you do get the consolation that religion takes a backseat throughout the trilogy=sequel (although it's still there) ; and if you've had the stomach for all the being in love stuff and the marriage travails (I don't much really) ;; and if you've had the stomach for the teenagey=angsty stuff (imagine Catcher in the Rye plus a trilogy of sequels!! (I dare you!)) ;;; then you'll be much rewarded with Clara's descent into madness and the spell she spent in a state asylum for those mentally not capable of caring for themselves. I say, mid=way through this volume I was beginning to groan ;; but then the madcap struck and really this one should be treasured along with that whole set of insanity=lit*.
* and for those who go for this kind of thing ; it actually happened, this being a nicely fictionalized fiction of White's own young=ladiehood life.
* and for those who go for this kind of thing ; it actually happened, this being a nicely fictionalized fiction of White's own young=ladiehood life.
April 11, 2023
On completing the last volume of White’s quartet, what stands out loud and clear is White’s talent in capturing how it feels to fall apart mentally. Descent into madness and the phantasmagorical images that engulf one shake the reader to the core. The reading is harrowing. The confusion is palpable. The actions of the medical team are experienced through all the senses of the patient. The reader is engulfed by the multiple sensations bombarding the one psychotically ill. I felt as though I was Clara, as though I was insane. The experience was
terribly, terribly, terribly
frightening. Did I enjoy this experience? No, no and no again, but I must admit the writing is spot-on! Antonia White has captured how it feels to be insane, to have no sure grip on the world around you.
I cannot say I like this book, but in its depiction of insanity it must be highly acclaimed.
I will not repeat that which has occurred earlier nor my views of the preceding books. The strengths and weaknesses noted before are evident in the final book too. Here follow links to each book's respective review:
Review for Frost in May: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review for The Lost Traveller: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review for The Sugar House: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
While Beyond the Glass excels in one respect, its caliber is less extraordinary in other respects. Clara’s descent into insanity is not as well described as her immersion once there. Nor is Clara’s path toward recovery fully comprehensible. The parents’ dialogues fall flat. On the positive side, I would say that the reader does end with a fuller, more rounded view of the parents than in the earlier books. One comes to see both their strengths and weaknesses. It is interesting to note that the parents’ personalities scarcely change. Clara’s mother voices opposition .
On completing the quartet, I searched the net for biographical information concerning the author. The quartet, as a whole, can rightly be viewed as being highly autobiographical in content! I think it succeeds in properly conveying the author’s own view of her life. Those sections that lie closest to the truth are the strongest. Fictional elements are weaker.
I listened to the last of the quartet read by Christina Hellman. Her narration was in Swedish, and the words ran smoothly. The translation felt on track. Her voice was clear and easy to follow. Four stars for the audio narration. I am so thankful that I could get my hands on the final volume. To stop before completing the entire quartet would have been a huge mistake!
The biographical content is the strength of the quartet. We have here semi-autobiographical fiction that shines a light on a woman’s life. It draws well the tie between love and religion. A central theme at the core of the tale is how self-confidence can so easily be destroyed!
*******************************************
Frost in May Quartet by Antonia White
(Should be read in the following order.)
1.Frost in May 4 stars
2.The Lost Traveller 3 stars
3.The Sugar House 3 stars
4.Beyond the Glass 3 stars
I cannot say I like this book, but in its depiction of insanity it must be highly acclaimed.
I will not repeat that which has occurred earlier nor my views of the preceding books. The strengths and weaknesses noted before are evident in the final book too. Here follow links to each book's respective review:
Review for Frost in May: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review for The Lost Traveller: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review for The Sugar House: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
While Beyond the Glass excels in one respect, its caliber is less extraordinary in other respects. Clara’s descent into insanity is not as well described as her immersion once there. Nor is Clara’s path toward recovery fully comprehensible. The parents’ dialogues fall flat. On the positive side, I would say that the reader does end with a fuller, more rounded view of the parents than in the earlier books. One comes to see both their strengths and weaknesses. It is interesting to note that the parents’ personalities scarcely change. Clara’s mother voices opposition .
On completing the quartet, I searched the net for biographical information concerning the author. The quartet, as a whole, can rightly be viewed as being highly autobiographical in content! I think it succeeds in properly conveying the author’s own view of her life. Those sections that lie closest to the truth are the strongest. Fictional elements are weaker.
I listened to the last of the quartet read by Christina Hellman. Her narration was in Swedish, and the words ran smoothly. The translation felt on track. Her voice was clear and easy to follow. Four stars for the audio narration. I am so thankful that I could get my hands on the final volume. To stop before completing the entire quartet would have been a huge mistake!
The biographical content is the strength of the quartet. We have here semi-autobiographical fiction that shines a light on a woman’s life. It draws well the tie between love and religion. A central theme at the core of the tale is how self-confidence can so easily be destroyed!
*******************************************
Frost in May Quartet by Antonia White
(Should be read in the following order.)
1.Frost in May 4 stars
2.The Lost Traveller 3 stars
3.The Sugar House 3 stars
4.Beyond the Glass 3 stars
September 20, 2022
The way this book started out, well actually for about half of it ... I was sort of bored. The book was divided into four parts. At the end of the second part, I wrote on my piece of paper where I take notes ‘stupid’. But then two pages later at the beginning of Part Three I made a note next to that note ‘well maybe not (stupid)’. That’s where the book ceased to be sorta boring and I couldn’t put the book down until I was finished. And when all was said and done, I gave the book 4 stars.
I kept on waiting for
This is the fourth book in the quartet of novels. After finishing this book, there seemed to be a hint that the ending of the study was not quite complete. But all I know is that there were no more novels published by Antonia White — she turned her craft to writing short stories.
Notes:
• This Wikipedia page on Antonia White fills in the blanks at least for me...her novels are semi-autobiographical in nature. It appears a great deal that happened in this book happened to Antonia White. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonia...
• She wrote this semi-autobiographical book (published 1954 in UK) about 32 years after the events that happened in her life and formed the basis of the book took place. Also, two years earlier (1952), her book ‘The Sugar House’ was published, a semi-autobiographical account of her first marriage which was annulled.
• This comes from Laura’s review (see below): The introduction to this novel states that White always intended to write a final installment in which Clara’s life settles down and becomes almost happy. Unfortunately, she was unable to write more than a chapter, even though she lived for 36 years after publishing ‘Beyond the Glass’.
Reviews
• HeavenAli review... https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2014/...
• Laura’s review... https://laurasmusings.wordpress.com/2...
I kept on waiting for
This is the fourth book in the quartet of novels. After finishing this book, there seemed to be a hint that the ending of the study was not quite complete. But all I know is that there were no more novels published by Antonia White — she turned her craft to writing short stories.
Notes:
• This Wikipedia page on Antonia White fills in the blanks at least for me...her novels are semi-autobiographical in nature. It appears a great deal that happened in this book happened to Antonia White. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonia...
• She wrote this semi-autobiographical book (published 1954 in UK) about 32 years after the events that happened in her life and formed the basis of the book took place. Also, two years earlier (1952), her book ‘The Sugar House’ was published, a semi-autobiographical account of her first marriage which was annulled.
• This comes from Laura’s review (see below): The introduction to this novel states that White always intended to write a final installment in which Clara’s life settles down and becomes almost happy. Unfortunately, she was unable to write more than a chapter, even though she lived for 36 years after publishing ‘Beyond the Glass’.
Reviews
• HeavenAli review... https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2014/...
• Laura’s review... https://laurasmusings.wordpress.com/2...
June 14, 2014
beyondtheglass
Beyond the Glass is the final novel in Antonia White’s series of novels which explore the schooldays, girlhood and early married life of Clara Batchelor, the daughter of a Catholic convert. I have loved these books and had been looking forward for some time to this instalment. It didn’t disappoint. Antonia White’s writing is brave and evocative, and endlessly compelling. The third novel in the quartet; ‘The Sugar House’ concluded with Clara and her young husband Archie agreeing to separate, their relationship more like that of siblings playing house. ‘Beyond the Glass’ – written, following lots of appeals from her readers to provide a conclusion – takes up the story exactly where ‘The Sugar House’ left off.
“Now that the trap had been sprung, she felt a perverse desire to remain in it. Instead of going upstairs to pack, she began to tidy the dishevelled room. She paused in front of the armchair where her father had sat so upright on the orange cushion which concealed its broken springs. There was a dent where Archie’s untidy red head had rested, less than twelve hours ago. Hesitating to smooth it out, she found herself suddenly confronted with her image in one of the mirrors artfully disposed to make the room seem larger. She was as startled as if she had discovered a stranger spying on her.”
Clara has a difficult time explaining her situation to a her father whose approval she always sought – his often strict, unyielding attitude and Catholic certainty hard to live with. However Claude Batchelor’s stubborn adoration of Archie, in the face of mounting evidence that the marriage was in trouble, make it doubly difficult. The truth is that Clara has grounds for a dissolution to her marriage, an annulment, the only kind recognised by the Catholic Church. For Clara’s marriage was never consummated, not an easy conversation for a young woman in the early 1920’s to have with her Catholic father. Claude takes Clara to Paget’s Fold, the family home in the country, a small rural idyll, where Aunt Sophy and Aunt Leah live quietly and companionably, proudly caring for the place until such time as Claude requires it for himself. Clara has always loved her summer holidays at Paget’s Fold adores her aunts and the life they live there. Claude, decrees that Sophy and Leah should not be told of Clara’s separation, and persuades her and his wife Isabel to pretend that all is well and that Archie is merely off rehearsing a play and unable to join them. Clara has always had a difficult relationship with her mother, and when Isabel tries desperately to reach out to her daughter and talk honestly to her about her own relationships Clara is shocked at the revelation, and Isabel is left feeling she has given her daughter more ammunition against her.
Following the holiday, Clara finds herself living back in the parental home, almost as if she never left at all. As Clara embarks on the long and humiliating process that should lead to her marriage annulment, she meets Richard Crayshaw. Clara dives head first into this new highly passionate relationship, revelling in an extreme and all-consuming happiness. Clara’s fragility and sense of identity cannot cope with this heady mix and suddenly and tragically descends into what in 1920’s is termed “madness”. This gradual slide into mental illness is brilliantly portrayed by White, as Clara becomes erratic with even the besotted Richard finding reason to worry about her behaviour. When Richard goes away for a week, Clara’s final decline is terrifying and Claude and Isabel have no option but to seek help for their daughter. Clara is sent to a public asylum – where for almost a year she exists in a frightening and confused world – where she’s not even sure who she is.
“She lost herself again; this time completely. For months she was not even a human being; she was a horse. Ridden almost to death, beaten till she fell, she lay at last on the straw in her stable and waited for death. They buried her as lay on her side, with outstretched head and legs. A child came and sowed turquoises round the outline of her body in the ground, and she rose up again as a horse of magic with a golden mane, and galloped across the sky. Again she woke on the mattress in her cell. She looked and saw that she had human hands and feet again, but she knew she was a horse.”
Antonia White uses recurring images of glass and mirrors to portray Clara’s growing mental instability, in this brave and ambitious novel about mental illness. Antonia White herself spent ten month in Bethlem Asylum in 1922-3, a time she apparently was able to later recall every moment of. Her quartet of novels is famously autobiographical, and certainly the second half of ‘Beyond the Glass’ feels very personal, intense and real. Clara’s experiences are harrowing and very frightening, although surprisingly I found this section of the novel utterly compelling, after all it is so brilliantly written.
This was a wonderful conclusion to a brilliant quartet, Antonia White was a wonderful writer, who sadly produced too few books. I have a small volume of her short stories sitting here tbr – which I am certainly looking forward to.
Beyond the Glass is the final novel in Antonia White’s series of novels which explore the schooldays, girlhood and early married life of Clara Batchelor, the daughter of a Catholic convert. I have loved these books and had been looking forward for some time to this instalment. It didn’t disappoint. Antonia White’s writing is brave and evocative, and endlessly compelling. The third novel in the quartet; ‘The Sugar House’ concluded with Clara and her young husband Archie agreeing to separate, their relationship more like that of siblings playing house. ‘Beyond the Glass’ – written, following lots of appeals from her readers to provide a conclusion – takes up the story exactly where ‘The Sugar House’ left off.
“Now that the trap had been sprung, she felt a perverse desire to remain in it. Instead of going upstairs to pack, she began to tidy the dishevelled room. She paused in front of the armchair where her father had sat so upright on the orange cushion which concealed its broken springs. There was a dent where Archie’s untidy red head had rested, less than twelve hours ago. Hesitating to smooth it out, she found herself suddenly confronted with her image in one of the mirrors artfully disposed to make the room seem larger. She was as startled as if she had discovered a stranger spying on her.”
Clara has a difficult time explaining her situation to a her father whose approval she always sought – his often strict, unyielding attitude and Catholic certainty hard to live with. However Claude Batchelor’s stubborn adoration of Archie, in the face of mounting evidence that the marriage was in trouble, make it doubly difficult. The truth is that Clara has grounds for a dissolution to her marriage, an annulment, the only kind recognised by the Catholic Church. For Clara’s marriage was never consummated, not an easy conversation for a young woman in the early 1920’s to have with her Catholic father. Claude takes Clara to Paget’s Fold, the family home in the country, a small rural idyll, where Aunt Sophy and Aunt Leah live quietly and companionably, proudly caring for the place until such time as Claude requires it for himself. Clara has always loved her summer holidays at Paget’s Fold adores her aunts and the life they live there. Claude, decrees that Sophy and Leah should not be told of Clara’s separation, and persuades her and his wife Isabel to pretend that all is well and that Archie is merely off rehearsing a play and unable to join them. Clara has always had a difficult relationship with her mother, and when Isabel tries desperately to reach out to her daughter and talk honestly to her about her own relationships Clara is shocked at the revelation, and Isabel is left feeling she has given her daughter more ammunition against her.
Following the holiday, Clara finds herself living back in the parental home, almost as if she never left at all. As Clara embarks on the long and humiliating process that should lead to her marriage annulment, she meets Richard Crayshaw. Clara dives head first into this new highly passionate relationship, revelling in an extreme and all-consuming happiness. Clara’s fragility and sense of identity cannot cope with this heady mix and suddenly and tragically descends into what in 1920’s is termed “madness”. This gradual slide into mental illness is brilliantly portrayed by White, as Clara becomes erratic with even the besotted Richard finding reason to worry about her behaviour. When Richard goes away for a week, Clara’s final decline is terrifying and Claude and Isabel have no option but to seek help for their daughter. Clara is sent to a public asylum – where for almost a year she exists in a frightening and confused world – where she’s not even sure who she is.
“She lost herself again; this time completely. For months she was not even a human being; she was a horse. Ridden almost to death, beaten till she fell, she lay at last on the straw in her stable and waited for death. They buried her as lay on her side, with outstretched head and legs. A child came and sowed turquoises round the outline of her body in the ground, and she rose up again as a horse of magic with a golden mane, and galloped across the sky. Again she woke on the mattress in her cell. She looked and saw that she had human hands and feet again, but she knew she was a horse.”
Antonia White uses recurring images of glass and mirrors to portray Clara’s growing mental instability, in this brave and ambitious novel about mental illness. Antonia White herself spent ten month in Bethlem Asylum in 1922-3, a time she apparently was able to later recall every moment of. Her quartet of novels is famously autobiographical, and certainly the second half of ‘Beyond the Glass’ feels very personal, intense and real. Clara’s experiences are harrowing and very frightening, although surprisingly I found this section of the novel utterly compelling, after all it is so brilliantly written.
This was a wonderful conclusion to a brilliant quartet, Antonia White was a wonderful writer, who sadly produced too few books. I have a small volume of her short stories sitting here tbr – which I am certainly looking forward to.
July 4, 2009
When I read The Lost Traveller I wasn't sure if it was actually a good book, or just a good bad book (i.e. a book I found it very easy to be interested in and enjoy reading). I think this, and The Sugar House (which I read together), are good books, though. Antonia White apparently thought The Sugar House the best of her novels; she might be right, but I found Beyond the Glass more interesting, because it was less depressing, if more tragic.
Hm, should be clearer. The Sugar House is about the main character Clara's marriage to a man she doesn't love, an alcoholic, and the breakdown of that marriage and her depression. In Beyond the Glass Clara has separated from her husband and is waiting for her marriage to be annulled; she has a weird telepathic love affair but then goes mad and is put in an asylum.
I'm not keen on the books' depiction of love or its gender politics -- there's rather a lot of unsubtle crushing to the chest by the male partner -- but they do contain the clearest depictions of mental illness that I've read in a while. I found The Sugar House depressing because I recognised the kind of aimless awfulness in it. Beyond the Glass was more interesting because it had more about what people think of as insanity, so it wasn't as close to my experience and had less of the personal effect.
Oh, I should say it has added impact because according to the preface, the novels are basically autobiographical; Antonia White spent 10 months in an asylum (which is now the Imperial War Museum just down the road, talk about coincidences). And I guess that's what makes the books good rather than good-bad, really. The things I find interesting -- Clara's father's Catholicism and class issues, the way she approaches religion, her fraught relationship with her mother, the mother herself -- they're interesting precisely because they're not generic. When Clara's dad angsts about Catholicism, it's not to make a point about religion and its effect on a person's life; it's not a depiction of just any religious person's struggle -- it's a portrait of a specific human being and his personal relationship with God and the Church. So that's super interesting. I've always believed in story over metaphor, when it comes to writing novels.
At one point there's a paragraph about Clara at Mass and how she's never had trouble before telling herself, "This is the most important thing in the world," which I found so intriguing because it is so alien to me. I tried the question "what is the most important thing in the world to you personally?" on a couple of my friends and found you have to say "besides family and friends" when you are talking to non-religious people. Anyway they both said "social justice" and I said "art" (well, I said "writing", but I MEANT "art"). I am going to try the question on a Catholic person, that should be interesting.
Hm, should be clearer. The Sugar House is about the main character Clara's marriage to a man she doesn't love, an alcoholic, and the breakdown of that marriage and her depression. In Beyond the Glass Clara has separated from her husband and is waiting for her marriage to be annulled; she has a weird telepathic love affair but then goes mad and is put in an asylum.
I'm not keen on the books' depiction of love or its gender politics -- there's rather a lot of unsubtle crushing to the chest by the male partner -- but they do contain the clearest depictions of mental illness that I've read in a while. I found The Sugar House depressing because I recognised the kind of aimless awfulness in it. Beyond the Glass was more interesting because it had more about what people think of as insanity, so it wasn't as close to my experience and had less of the personal effect.
Oh, I should say it has added impact because according to the preface, the novels are basically autobiographical; Antonia White spent 10 months in an asylum (which is now the Imperial War Museum just down the road, talk about coincidences). And I guess that's what makes the books good rather than good-bad, really. The things I find interesting -- Clara's father's Catholicism and class issues, the way she approaches religion, her fraught relationship with her mother, the mother herself -- they're interesting precisely because they're not generic. When Clara's dad angsts about Catholicism, it's not to make a point about religion and its effect on a person's life; it's not a depiction of just any religious person's struggle -- it's a portrait of a specific human being and his personal relationship with God and the Church. So that's super interesting. I've always believed in story over metaphor, when it comes to writing novels.
At one point there's a paragraph about Clara at Mass and how she's never had trouble before telling herself, "This is the most important thing in the world," which I found so intriguing because it is so alien to me. I tried the question "what is the most important thing in the world to you personally?" on a couple of my friends and found you have to say "besides family and friends" when you are talking to non-religious people. Anyway they both said "social justice" and I said "art" (well, I said "writing", but I MEANT "art"). I am going to try the question on a Catholic person, that should be interesting.
July 29, 2017
This is not a book one 'enjoys', given that a good part of it is taken up by the central character's descent into madness. But I found it interesting. The descriptions of Bethlem are also interesting, and make me glad that care of the mentally ill has improved beyond recognition since those times - even if it still has far to go.
January 25, 2021
This is the fourth and final book in the Frost in May series, and honestly I was kind of dreading it after the dreary third installment but soldiered through due to a sense of obligation. I’m glad I did because Clara going mad was quite a development and an interesting look at how society treated mental illness a century ago. Like the other books, I still find the male characters to be grating – the daddy obsession is creepy, and then an improbable romantic interest shows up and plays into Clara’s tendency to worship and idolize men to the point of absurdity. But this is an easy read and I’ll actually miss Clara – wish her well!
October 27, 2012
Clara Batchelor is a well-brought-up, upper class, Catholic girl from a highly respected family and recently got married to a charming young man of just as high a social stature. There’s only one problem; Archie can’t have children. The newlyweds decide quickly that the only way for either of them to be happy is to get the marriage annulled. Clara’s family doesn’t agree quite as much as she’d hoped but the church will agree to an annulment and that’s all that matters. Clara is then left to move back into her old life with her parents in her childhood London home.
As Clara become aware of the hole she has fallen into, trapped within the walls she had been so eager to leave, she begins to go completely mad. Slowly at first but with the precipitous interruption and additional complication that is Richard, she falls further and further into insanity.
The twists and turns that her thoughts take are startling and give us a basic and harrowing understanding of the make-up of the human mind and the boundaries that it invariably has.
The third and final story in a trilogy, Beyond the Glass is a fascinating examination of a mind falling apart at the seams. Told with easy to follow sequence and clarity of understanding this book was a rather curious insight into what a mind goes through with such added stress and the utter ease in which it all will crumble. The pace of the story was somewhat irregular with the beginning stretching out and the ending rushing in far too quickly. The final chapters also leave you wondering if Beyond the Glass really is the last volume in the series.
A definite “must read” if you’re looking into the human psyche, but otherwise Beyond the Glass is a little too tough of a story for the gently browsing type.
As Clara become aware of the hole she has fallen into, trapped within the walls she had been so eager to leave, she begins to go completely mad. Slowly at first but with the precipitous interruption and additional complication that is Richard, she falls further and further into insanity.
The twists and turns that her thoughts take are startling and give us a basic and harrowing understanding of the make-up of the human mind and the boundaries that it invariably has.
The third and final story in a trilogy, Beyond the Glass is a fascinating examination of a mind falling apart at the seams. Told with easy to follow sequence and clarity of understanding this book was a rather curious insight into what a mind goes through with such added stress and the utter ease in which it all will crumble. The pace of the story was somewhat irregular with the beginning stretching out and the ending rushing in far too quickly. The final chapters also leave you wondering if Beyond the Glass really is the last volume in the series.
A definite “must read” if you’re looking into the human psyche, but otherwise Beyond the Glass is a little too tough of a story for the gently browsing type.
July 15, 2019
I really loved this book and found it surprisingly refreshing in respect to mental illness narratives. MI narratives, of this period at least very very rarely begin outside the institution, especially at such length as this does. Only the last third of the book is actually concerned with the institution and I found that to be a very interesting choice by the author. Of course, it makes sense, considering this book is part of a series concerned with the life of the protagonist in general. But nonetheless, it was interesting to see Clara before her mental state worsens - it made the way she was treated in the hospital that much more blatantly cruel, given that we know she is a full and complex person (as all mentally ill people are) and by no means the animal the nurses consider her to be.
And normally I'm not one for realistic narratives, particularly concerning love interests, but this was told incredibly beautifully. I found the prose moving, easy to read, and startling at times. Perhaps I was expecting more conservatism because the text takes place in the 20s, but it really laid it all out there. The unexplained incorporation of the speculative (the telepathy between Clara and Richard) was quite Jane Eyre-esque (the speculative within realism, that is) and I found it very interesting and rather unorthodox in a book written in this period. And the main theme, that of the looking glass particularly in respect to femininity and mental illness, was incredibly intriguing and dealt with very well. Perhaps the only negative was the ending, which was quite abrupt and lacked closure, but considering White was planning on writing another book (though she never did), this makes sense. Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by this novel.
And normally I'm not one for realistic narratives, particularly concerning love interests, but this was told incredibly beautifully. I found the prose moving, easy to read, and startling at times. Perhaps I was expecting more conservatism because the text takes place in the 20s, but it really laid it all out there. The unexplained incorporation of the speculative (the telepathy between Clara and Richard) was quite Jane Eyre-esque (the speculative within realism, that is) and I found it very interesting and rather unorthodox in a book written in this period. And the main theme, that of the looking glass particularly in respect to femininity and mental illness, was incredibly intriguing and dealt with very well. Perhaps the only negative was the ending, which was quite abrupt and lacked closure, but considering White was planning on writing another book (though she never did), this makes sense. Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by this novel.
September 7, 2020
In the final book in the Clara Batchelor series, Antonia White presents an unsettling depiction of what it feels like to suffer a serious mental illness. Clara seems to be moving on from her disastrous marriage and making what could be a fresh start when her mind loses grip on reality. And we watch her and her family grapple with what happens and its aftermath. White herself apparently spend time in a mental institution so I assume that what she describes is true to her own experience. Her total inability to get a handle on who and where she is and what is real is extremely unsettling to watch, and it is just as painful to see her family suffer from having to decide what to do. I liked, too, that White doesn't present some clear explanation, whether stress or religion or a lurking brain defect. It is a thing that happens, like so many other tragedies in this series (and in life).
I've really enjoyed these books and only wish there could have been more. I would have liked to have seen how Clara took her next steps into the world.
I've really enjoyed these books and only wish there could have been more. I would have liked to have seen how Clara took her next steps into the world.
August 15, 2013
I wavered between 2 and 3 stars for this one, as I thought the first part of the book fascinating, about questions of support and challenges that the characters experience from their Roman Catholic faith and the bonds of family. Then it devolved into a treacly love story and then descended (literally) into madness. It felt like thinly-veiled autobiography combined with adolescent romanticism, and I couldn't wait for the last part to be over. I kept hoping for a return to sanity not only for the character, but for the author and her editor.
August 2, 2016
Dark and haunting. a step into madness. Part 4, Chapter 1 was my favorite where she goes to the place of magic, hallucinations, madness and believes she is a horse. Very surreal. The end was haunting and lovely, though expected. This borders on magical realism but is in the tradition of Betty Smith and Barbara Comyns. I am so glad I read this. It competes with the dead white guys in the cannon but does not get the attention.
July 15, 2018
3.5 stars
I enjoyed the first two books in the series a lot more than the last two. I thought the writer's descriptions of childhood and adolescence much more realistic than the ones of early adulthood. However, the episode in the mental hospital was unforgettable and startling, coming as it did from the author's own experiences. Overall I enjoyed this series and am intrigued with the way she blended fact and fiction in all four books.
I enjoyed the first two books in the series a lot more than the last two. I thought the writer's descriptions of childhood and adolescence much more realistic than the ones of early adulthood. However, the episode in the mental hospital was unforgettable and startling, coming as it did from the author's own experiences. Overall I enjoyed this series and am intrigued with the way she blended fact and fiction in all four books.
June 24, 2020
Incredibly dull for the first half, but, from the midpoint, Clara’s first-person narrative was transformed into perhaps the best – as in most credible and gripping – account of a flight into mania I’ve come across in fiction or non-fiction. Clara’s tragedy is that at the time she feels most alive, she is the most dangerously ill.
https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecd...
https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecd...
July 6, 2009
Brava, Antonia White.
I'll admit that there were parts of this that got a little slow, and I did have to take breaks occasionally. But the description of Clara's madness at the end was just riveting, and it was an amazing culmination of the whole Clara Batchelor series (starting with Frost in May, in which her name is Nanda Grey). Fascinating, satisfying reads.
I'll admit that there were parts of this that got a little slow, and I did have to take breaks occasionally. But the description of Clara's madness at the end was just riveting, and it was an amazing culmination of the whole Clara Batchelor series (starting with Frost in May, in which her name is Nanda Grey). Fascinating, satisfying reads.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 23, 2012
Unlike the first three volumes in this quartet, The Lost Traveller is a pillowy, self-overwrought read. I found it a major disappointment, especially the first half. It was like White couldn't remember what it was like to be mad and recreated it from children's books and the London Illustrated News.
August 28, 2018
Fairly-autobiographical novel set in the 1920s - a young woman leaving a loveless marriage, descending into depression, experiencing mania and finally a breakdown. It's very moving, and clearly a brilliant depiction of what we'd now call bipolar disorder. I was sad to learn this was the 4th and last in the series of novels Antonia White wrote based on her own life.
Read
August 5, 2011What a great book- and such a brave thing for Ms. White to have written. Her description of her descent to madness is so real it's frightening- that it could actually happen and be so acutely remembered!
Read
January 17, 2022LOL IF YOU LIKE THE ANTONIA WHITE, SHE WROTE A TRILOGY AS A KIND OF SEQUEL, AND THE MIDDLE BOOK IN IT, BEYOND THE GLASS, IS TRUFAX TERRIFIC, WITH A WILD GENRE SWERVE IN THE MIDDLE. IDT YOU NEED TO READ ANY OF HER OTHER BOOKS TO UNDERSTAND IT.
November 24, 2019
3.5 stars
November 6, 2020
Brilliant autobiographical description of ‘madness’.
February 1, 2022
This is the last book in the Clara quartet. The middle two books were fine enough, but I thought the first and last books (Frost in May and Beyond the Glass) were amazingly good.
January 7, 2026
This is the final in the quartet by White which starts with Frost in May. It follows the character we first met as a child going to Convent school, going through a divorce and the process of annuling a Catholic marriage. It is a reminder of how far women's rights have come and also the improvements in care for people with mental illness; although there is much in the attitudes and treatment she experiences that would still be recognised by people today. The characters are just as engaging as in the previous works in the series. They are all flawed and feel very human. White's ability to write about the experience of losing yourself to mental illness and recovery is exceptional. We see events through her eyes and those of family and friends witnessing her decline; the growing disconnect between realities is carefully constructed until the ultimate break. The book ends well too - not happily but well. It highlights the strain mental illness puts on relationships but there are no good/bad guys, just people trying their best. It is a shame she was unable to extend the series but, as the semi-autobiographical nature of her work makes clear, it is impressive that wrote as much as she did.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2025
I read a Frost in May as a much younger My recollection is that it was a book fill of yearning for freedom, whilst still finding religious meaning. I loved it! This is part of the same set, and follows Clara through a disasterous marriage, coming home to live with her parents, falling in love with the rugged and ultra steriotypical Richard, and her descent into madness. .I wanted to shake her out of her passivity. The entire book follows her control by men: her father, her husband, her lover, the doctors in the asylum.....there was no self knowledge evident here. Clara is seemingly unaware that her behaviour is regulated entirely by men. The author endows her with a passive outlook, and the description of her falling in love could have come straight from Mills and Boon. Apparently this book is partly autobiographical, and the description of Clara's psychotic episodes are the best part of this. I can't recommend it though.
November 8, 2022
I love all four books in the Frost in May quartet and have read them several times, but don't read these books if you want a happy ending! They are based on the author's early life and by all accounts she had a pretty tragic time, not helped by her father, who was controlling and bordering on abusive. At times I wanted to shout at him, 'Why don't you get off her case?' Most tragic of all was the guilt he engendered in her about her writing, which robbed the process of creative joy and led to long periods of writer's block. No wonder she went crazy.
April 9, 2023
A very disappointing 4th volume in this otherwise magnificent quartet. White’s writing falls apart here, not in a mad way but in a self-satisfied way. It feels like it must have been cathartic to write but it’s not a good display of her gifts.
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