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The equations of love: Tuesday and Wednesday : Lilly's story
In the two novellas that make up The Equations of Love, Ethel Wilson describes ordinary people in perilous circumstances with extraordinary insight and compassion. “Tuesday and Wednesday” reconstructs the events of two days in the life of Mort and Myrtle Johnson, whose uninspired marriage is strangely transformed by the tragic intervention of fate. “Lilly’s Story” is the study of a woman who, protecting her daughter, invents a new identity for herself, only to live as a fugitive from her own happiness. Fist published in 1952, these intuitive and richly ironic stories reveal the unspoken longings and surprising motives that balance the equations of love.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
About the author
Ethel Wilson
14 books18 followersEthel Davis Wilson was a Canadian writer of short stories and novels.
Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, she moved to England in 1890 following the death of her mother. In 1898, after the death of her father, she was taken to live with her maternal grandmother in Vancouver, British Columbia. She received her teacher's certificate in 1907, and for thirteen years taught in Vancouver elementary schools.
In 1921 she married Wallace Wilson, President of the Canadian Medical Association and professor of medical ethics at the University of British Columbia.
Wilson is well known as one of the first Canadian writers to truly capture the beauty of British Colombia. She wrote often of places in BC that were important to her and was able to detail the ruggedness and magic of the landscape.
The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, British Columbia's top fiction award, was created in 1985, commemorating Wilson's achievements.
Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, she moved to England in 1890 following the death of her mother. In 1898, after the death of her father, she was taken to live with her maternal grandmother in Vancouver, British Columbia. She received her teacher's certificate in 1907, and for thirteen years taught in Vancouver elementary schools.
In 1921 she married Wallace Wilson, President of the Canadian Medical Association and professor of medical ethics at the University of British Columbia.
Wilson is well known as one of the first Canadian writers to truly capture the beauty of British Colombia. She wrote often of places in BC that were important to her and was able to detail the ruggedness and magic of the landscape.
The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, British Columbia's top fiction award, was created in 1985, commemorating Wilson's achievements.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 22, 2020
I feel righteously self-sacrificing giving only three stars to "The Equations of Love." (The equations of goodreads reviews, now there is a topic!) You see I personally very much enjoyed this book, which comprises two novellas or possibly one long short story and one novella. But I'm not sure that my enjoyment of TEOL means it should get four stars. If 3 1/2 stars were a possibility I'd definitely give that. Why the holdback? Well for one thing I just read and reviewed Ethel Wilson's novel, "Hetty Dorval" and awarded 4 stars without hesitation. In other words The Equations of Love didn't wow me quite as much.
Reviewing "The Equations of Love" I am talking about two separate works. Do I have a favourite? I guess "Lilly's Story", which does a slow burn on the reader. At 14o pages it seems a lot longer than "Tuesday and Wednesday" and rightly so: T&W is literally about the events of those two days mentioned in title, whereas "Lilly's Story" is about an entire lifetime named in the title up into late middle age or early old age (early old age in more ways than one: a couple of characters including the main character Lilly, reflect painfully on the sadness of growing old(er) and feelling less...well...just "less."
The first story, "Tuesday and Wednesday" which I indeed read first, brought up the one thing I remembered from the one and only short story of Wilson's which I'd read decades ago in a college lit class: Wilson's use of colloquial phonetic spelling in dialogue, particularly when working class non-weatlhy types are talking. And Wilson seems to have a fascination for these great unwashed, (I guess I should not use that expression since Lilly becomes a cleaning lady and a highly efficient one at that.) I do find it refreshing that Wilson doesn't write endlessly about the idle rich, at least not as characters who she cares to explore in depth. The colloquial phonetic spelling sort of irritated me at first, it certny did. ("Certny" is a favourite word that is used like that numerous times representing words of several different characters in "Tuesday and Wednesday.") I wondered why, what is Wilson trying to do spelling things like that? (An aside here, I felt the same irritation with Margaret Laurence in "The Diviners" where she had a couple of grown characters say, "I'm ascared." I thought, "who ARE thse hicks??? Are they REALLY my fellow Canadians?" Guess I'm a bit of a snob after all!!)
Anyway I don't want to spoil any of the enjoyment of The Equations of Love for other readers so I won't say too much but that I liked both stories. I liked the setting here in my corner of BC and even though it was an earlier now-vanished time, the mountains and bodies of water, the streets and towns are still the same. So there's nostaligia even while there's a continuing presence. I like Wilson's subtle way with a story, she doesn't come right out and say the easy obvious thing in describing something; she doesn't dummy-down, she certny does not! There's playfulness and almost trickery, to keep readers on their toes. I think I just found my favourite chick-lit novelist and she was born in 1888! Because there indeed are scheming women in her stories, and there is lust and greed and selfishness and all the juicy stuff--I'm including "Hetty Dorval" in this grouping, though I already reviewed it separately.
Reviewing "The Equations of Love" I am talking about two separate works. Do I have a favourite? I guess "Lilly's Story", which does a slow burn on the reader. At 14o pages it seems a lot longer than "Tuesday and Wednesday" and rightly so: T&W is literally about the events of those two days mentioned in title, whereas "Lilly's Story" is about an entire lifetime named in the title up into late middle age or early old age (early old age in more ways than one: a couple of characters including the main character Lilly, reflect painfully on the sadness of growing old(er) and feelling less...well...just "less."
The first story, "Tuesday and Wednesday" which I indeed read first, brought up the one thing I remembered from the one and only short story of Wilson's which I'd read decades ago in a college lit class: Wilson's use of colloquial phonetic spelling in dialogue, particularly when working class non-weatlhy types are talking. And Wilson seems to have a fascination for these great unwashed, (I guess I should not use that expression since Lilly becomes a cleaning lady and a highly efficient one at that.) I do find it refreshing that Wilson doesn't write endlessly about the idle rich, at least not as characters who she cares to explore in depth. The colloquial phonetic spelling sort of irritated me at first, it certny did. ("Certny" is a favourite word that is used like that numerous times representing words of several different characters in "Tuesday and Wednesday.") I wondered why, what is Wilson trying to do spelling things like that? (An aside here, I felt the same irritation with Margaret Laurence in "The Diviners" where she had a couple of grown characters say, "I'm ascared." I thought, "who ARE thse hicks??? Are they REALLY my fellow Canadians?" Guess I'm a bit of a snob after all!!)
Anyway I don't want to spoil any of the enjoyment of The Equations of Love for other readers so I won't say too much but that I liked both stories. I liked the setting here in my corner of BC and even though it was an earlier now-vanished time, the mountains and bodies of water, the streets and towns are still the same. So there's nostaligia even while there's a continuing presence. I like Wilson's subtle way with a story, she doesn't come right out and say the easy obvious thing in describing something; she doesn't dummy-down, she certny does not! There's playfulness and almost trickery, to keep readers on their toes. I think I just found my favourite chick-lit novelist and she was born in 1888! Because there indeed are scheming women in her stories, and there is lust and greed and selfishness and all the juicy stuff--I'm including "Hetty Dorval" in this grouping, though I already reviewed it separately.
May 20, 2024
I have rounded a 3.5 to 4 stars for this collection of 2 novellas which I was inspired to read after enjoying A Serious Widow (by Constance Beresford- Howe$ which referenced author Ethel Wilson.
The book was written in 1952 and both had a very strong character base. Both stories had characters that I tried to like despite their flaws (just like the rest of us) and were stories of ordinary people in extraordinary situations.
written in 1952, there is racist language describing some characters and the name of the cat.
Overall the two stories have left me pondering the unique characters and are reminiscent of a genre of writing that reminds me of Margaret Laurence, Alice Munro and Constance Beresford-Howe. It is sad that some of these books are more difficult to source as these strong email authors were trail blazer.
The book was written in 1952 and both had a very strong character base. Both stories had characters that I tried to like despite their flaws (just like the rest of us) and were stories of ordinary people in extraordinary situations.
written in 1952, there is racist language describing some characters and the name of the cat.
Overall the two stories have left me pondering the unique characters and are reminiscent of a genre of writing that reminds me of Margaret Laurence, Alice Munro and Constance Beresford-Howe. It is sad that some of these books are more difficult to source as these strong email authors were trail blazer.
September 30, 2014
This book contains two novellas, similar in feel to Morley Callaghan's short stories but a longer treatment. The first is Tuesday and Wednesday, in which we see people going about their own business with their own secret inner lives (which don't always match up with what they present to others, even those closest to them), which all lead up to one life-altering event and its aftermath. The other is Lilly's Story, about a woman who basically grows up unparented and resolves to do differently if she can for her own daughter, conceived out of wedlock in the early years of the twentieth century. I enjoyed both stories for different reasons, pretty much for the same reasons summed up by Alice Munro in the Afterword.
July 26, 2010
I think what I liked most about this book is the way Wilson captures the characters she portrays. They seem at once recognizable types and real people. It's awfully bleak and depressing, but hey, that's Canadian lit for you.
March 7, 2026
I’m just surprised…. when starting to read “Tuesday and Wednesday” I thought to myself, “Well I’m not going to like this too much”. Wrong-o.
And then when I started the second novella, “Lilly’s Story”, I said to myself “Well I’m not going to like this too much”. Wrong-o. Again-o.
What pleasant surprises. If you go to the Internet Library and join that (for free, I joined over 5 years ago and only have nice things to say about it) and then access the Open Library (under ‘texts’) this book is available to read as are her listed works below….
I wish I had more to read of hers…I’ve just about exhausted her oeuvre. These are her other works and what I gave them…
• Hetty Dorval (1947 & Persephone Books re-issue 2023) – 4.5 stars
• Swamp Angel (1954) – 4.5 stars
• Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories (1961) – 3.5 stars
Books remaining I have not read (but I think I will!) are Love and Salt Water (Macmillan, 1956) and The Innocent Traveller (1949) (I hear it’s a memoir of sorts).
Here is a synopsis of Lilly’s Story without giving too much away:
• In ‘Lilly’s Story’ a lie, elaborately worked out and controlling almost her whole life, is the instrument by which an uneducated but intuitive woman contrives to preserve for her child the happiness and security which would be destroyed if the mother’s history were ever disclosed. Lilly has broken with her past by leaving Vancouver, changing her name, and inventing a dead husband for the sake of her baby girl, but quite fortuitously it pursues her. It is only after long and anxious years that she can at last accept chance and change for herself alone.
Notes:
In Wikipedia this was said near the end of a summary of her life and I thought it was super-weird and hence why I wanted to share it with you:
• In 1980 she was hospitalized and was diagnosed with a series of small strokes. The day before she died, she was in physical distress from passing a kidney stone. A doctor injected her with medication to ease the pain.[2] ???? Why do I need to know a doctor gave her a medication to ease her pain? 🧐 😐 🙄
• Here is a rather long but comprehensive biography of Ethel Wilson… I learned that she was friends with another Canadian author I like a lot, Margaret Laurence (The Stone Angel, 1965…I gave it 4.5 stars in 2022): https://abcbookworld.com/writer/wilso...
Reviews (they loved her writing!)
• https://www.stuckinabook.com/the-equa...
• https://indextrious.blogspot.com/2010...
• https://neglectedbooks.com/?p=1606
And then when I started the second novella, “Lilly’s Story”, I said to myself “Well I’m not going to like this too much”. Wrong-o. Again-o.
What pleasant surprises. If you go to the Internet Library and join that (for free, I joined over 5 years ago and only have nice things to say about it) and then access the Open Library (under ‘texts’) this book is available to read as are her listed works below….
I wish I had more to read of hers…I’ve just about exhausted her oeuvre. These are her other works and what I gave them…
• Hetty Dorval (1947 & Persephone Books re-issue 2023) – 4.5 stars
• Swamp Angel (1954) – 4.5 stars
• Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories (1961) – 3.5 stars
Books remaining I have not read (but I think I will!) are Love and Salt Water (Macmillan, 1956) and The Innocent Traveller (1949) (I hear it’s a memoir of sorts).
Here is a synopsis of Lilly’s Story without giving too much away:
• In ‘Lilly’s Story’ a lie, elaborately worked out and controlling almost her whole life, is the instrument by which an uneducated but intuitive woman contrives to preserve for her child the happiness and security which would be destroyed if the mother’s history were ever disclosed. Lilly has broken with her past by leaving Vancouver, changing her name, and inventing a dead husband for the sake of her baby girl, but quite fortuitously it pursues her. It is only after long and anxious years that she can at last accept chance and change for herself alone.
Notes:
In Wikipedia this was said near the end of a summary of her life and I thought it was super-weird and hence why I wanted to share it with you:
• In 1980 she was hospitalized and was diagnosed with a series of small strokes. The day before she died, she was in physical distress from passing a kidney stone. A doctor injected her with medication to ease the pain.[2] ???? Why do I need to know a doctor gave her a medication to ease her pain? 🧐 😐 🙄
• Here is a rather long but comprehensive biography of Ethel Wilson… I learned that she was friends with another Canadian author I like a lot, Margaret Laurence (The Stone Angel, 1965…I gave it 4.5 stars in 2022): https://abcbookworld.com/writer/wilso...
Reviews (they loved her writing!)
• https://www.stuckinabook.com/the-equa...
• https://indextrious.blogspot.com/2010...
• https://neglectedbooks.com/?p=1606
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews