A Working Mother

by Agnes Owens

Set in the highlands of Scotland in the 1950s, Betty has her hands full with work and looking after her unemployed alcoholic spouse. Frequently resorting to drink herself, Betty struggles to retain her sanity against all odds. However, all is not as bleak as it might seem.

Genres: Fiction

187 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Agnes Owens was a Scottish author. She was born in Milngavie in 1926 and spent most of her life on the west coast of Scotland. She has been married twice and raised seven children, also working as a cleaner, typist and factory worker.

Via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_O...

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this - a lot! I tried to find 'For the Love of Willie' on Internet Archive, because Ilse's review came up - and I re-read it and noted that Owens is a Scottish writer. So I settled for this one, which is full of humour despite its rather bleak ending which has a distinct overlap with 'For the Love...".

It's a story about a family in the mid-fifties and I'm guessing the city is Glasgow, Scotland. There is a reference to the 'docks' where Betty goes to an Agency, looking for work ...'I climbed rickety wooden stairs'. Betty is dissatisfied with life and resorts to 'the drink' on every possible occasion. She has a loving husband, Adam and 2 children, but indulges in an affair with 'short-of-a-shilling' Brendan, Adam's brother. If you put the bits of information together you can work out Betty's age to be about 28, 29 - and yes she has a clearly flawed personality. It's very obvious from the start that things are not going to work out for her - as her employer Mr Robson notes:

'It would appear that this subject is a reckless young woman who will readily enter into a situation without any thought of consequences. Given certain factors she could be a danger to society. Without any qualms she sits on the other side of the screen with an air of expectation which would be frightening if it were not so interesting. Such simple tests have proved-'

Old Mr Robson, a should-be-retired lawyer reveals only too clearly his own weird disposition; he's the one who has asked Betty to undress, while he goes behind the screen.

Anyway - diversion aside. Betty is an eminently enjoyable protagonist. Her behaviour escalates in its pursuit of a better life, but it's hard to dismiss her efforts and schemes. It would be too easy to view her as unreal, just a character in a book, and dismiss the whole plot, if I didn't ask myself, was I not similar at Betty's age?

Here's a little scene from one of many, in the pub. Mai, Betty's friend from work has turned up;

'Get us all a drink,' I said loudly, 'so we can all get drunk.'
Brendan laughed as if it was a great joke I had made.
'Isn't she terrible,' said Mai waving her hands about. 'That's why I like her though.'
When we were seated Mai sat between me and Adam. Brendan was on my other side. By the slant of him he appeared to have half a buttock on the seat.
'Move over,' I said. 'Brendan's arse is not the size of a pygmy's'
Adam's nostrils distended. He does not like me being coarse in company.
'I'm fine,' said Brendan, holding on to the table for support. Mai and I were jammed as close as Siamese twins, and the fumes from her perfume seeped through my pores.

Owens' dialogue is brilliant at creating the various characters. There is very little description, but you get a clear idea from the snappy and often very funny discussions. Personally I liked Adam; he has some of the best come-backs to Betty's view-points, and he strikes me as both a sincere and committed partner.

Let's move onto an outing to the beach - Betty keeps trying, to her credit to revive interest in her family.

'Mummy, get up. It's all sunny and you said you would take us to the seaside.'
Adam sprung up as if he'd been spattered by grapeshot. 'What is it-what's happening?'
'We are going to the seaside,' I said joylessly.
I rose and shuffled downstairs to face the litter of yesterday's dishes. It was incredible how much litter could gather in one small house in one day. It would have been simpler to burn the place down and start afresh, but the insurance policy had run out. By the time I had washed up and made toast and marmalade Adam was stumbling around the kitchenette, displaying a bleeding chin from a blunt razor blade while he searched dementedly for his tie.
'Perhaps you strangled Mai with it,' I suggested.
'Who is Mai?' he said, emptying out a pile of dirty linen on the floor.
'It's alright, Daddy,' said Robert triumphantly. 'I found it under your bed. It's all stinky.'
We had a sniff at the tie and came to the conclusion the smell was stale alcohol.
'Just put it on,' I said. 'It gives you a certain aura.'
One hour later we were as ready as possible to leave when we discovered we had lost the key.
'We can't go until we find it,' said Adam.
'Let's forget it then. We won't bother going.'
The kids wailed, stamped their feet and punched the wall.
'All right, we'll go,' said Adam. 'Anyone that breaks in will die of fright.'

There's a lot more of that sort of situation, which I find funny and pretty realistic - I think most women will recognize domestic chaos. But Owens, has most of the chaos neatly inverted so that it's Adam, without work, who has to deal with the daily drudgery of home-life etc.

There's plenty to interest in this read - there's a Mrs Rossi, who owns the dodgy agency and reads Tarot cards. Her backstory is related to the war and it turns out she is a Polish-Jew, who doesn't believe in God, or people either.

I enjoyed this immensely - there is a great quirky ending - which to be honest I saw coming. It was very nicely set up.

As Ilse pointed out in her review of 'For the Love of Willie', Agnes Owens only started to write at the age of 58. 'A Working Mother' was published in 1994 - this edition is Bloomsbury Press. I'm sure Betty would have appreciated that.

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 5 out of 5]

A crisp, fluent, fluid, exhilarating tale of a working mother’s descent into alcoholism. Owens’s prose is simple, unshowy, her characters addictively vile and unhinged. She opts not to write in dialect, or give a sense of place, though the world here is probably 1960s Glasgow. The story strikes a note of heartbreak from the first offhand man and wife quarrel, and sustains this with black humour, erudite dialogue and brusque scene-leaping.

Read Agnes Ownes now! Feast your eyes on this sensationally clever prose!

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the Agnes Owens novellas, this perhaps appealed to me the most. As a psychological study, A Working Mother is perhaps most interesting. The dialogue is the real strength here; it feels ultimately realistic, and often surprises. On reflection, I should have been able to empathise more with Betty, the protagonist; there was a distancing at work which made her almost unreachable at times. The poor decisions which she sometimes made took away some of the sympathy which I did feel, too. The ending is strong, and the writing is good; it just did not take my breath away.

[Róisín Prendergast · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Vividly dismal - will linger with me for a while.

[RJC · Rating 1 out of 5]

Odd and disjointed. The author likes to shock.

[Donald Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing glimpse into the mind of a woman sinking into alcoholism, in a post war Scottish working class environment.

[Eilidh Fyfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

i too want to watch the world burn <3

[Evie Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love! Will read more Agnes Owens - writing that doesn’t feel forced in any way, a comfort despite its pessimism

[Koist Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This woman is quickly becoming my favourite writer by GOD did she have talent.

[Hannah Grimshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agnes Owens is Scotland's lost treasure. This novella is injected with dark humour, nuanced social commentary and a fascinating take on the role of women. This delightfully mysterious tale of a 1950s woman is perfect for fans of Muriel Spark! Really hope more people read Owens' work because it is a hidden gem which deserves so much more attention.

[BunnyDumpling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terse, bleak, uncomfortable.

[Viktor]

ju