An Avenue Of Stone

Helena #2

by Pamela Hansford Johnson

Book by Johnson, Pamela Hansford

351 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Pamela Hansford Johnson was born in 1912 and gained recognition with her first novel, This Bed Thy Centre, published in 1935. She wrote 27 novels. Her themes centred on the moral responsibility of the individual in their personal and social relations. The fictional genres she used ranged from romantic comedy (Night and Silence, Who Is Here?) and high comedy (The Unspeakable Skipton) to tragedy (The Holiday Friend) and the psychological study of cruelty (An Error of Judgement). Her last novel, A Bonfire, was published in the year of her death, 1981.

She was a critic as well as a novelist and wrote books on Thomas Wolfe and Ivy Compton-Burnett; Six Proust Reconstructions (1958) confirmed her reputation as a leading Proustian scholar. She also wrote a play, Corinth House (1954), a work of social criticism arising out of the Moors Trial, On Iniquity (1967), and a book of essays, Important to Me (1974). She received honorary degrees from six universities and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She was awarded the C.B.E. in 1975.

Pamela Hansford Johnson, who had two children by her first marriage with journalist Gordon Neil Stewart, later married C. P. Snow. Their son Philip was born in 1952.

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Avenue of Stone is the second instalment in Pamela Hansford Johnson’s Helena trilogy. It is certainly Helena who drives this novel, she is a fantastic character – who it is hard to do justice to in a review. At the heart of this novel is the fear of ageing, the loneliness and uncertainty that comes with ageing, that desperation to keep it at bay is poignantly explored in a novel which is so compelling and superbly written. An easy five star read for me.

“But those who have lived richly, exhaustively, staring into every face, attentive to every voice, are only too often pursued by the spinster Furies, and are driven at the end down avenues of stone where the walls reach to the sky, and the doors are sealed, and the pavements are rubbered against all sound but the beat of the hurrying heart. Well—Helena would say—And even if I understood all that … and believed it … wasn’t it worth it?”

In a sense the books would probably stand alone reasonably well, but I was glad I read them in the correct order. In the first book; Too Dear for my Possessing we witnessed the gradually changing relationship between Claud Pickering and his stepmother Helena. As a young boy living in Bruges, before his father married his mistress, before Helena gave Claud a half-sister – he had hated her. Helena had been a tempestuous force of nature, and she and Claud had really butted heads in those days. In the years since his father’s death Claud and Helena’s relationship changed. With his half-sister Charmian, fourteen years his junior they are very much a family – albeit one that drive Claud a little bit mad.

Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...

[Ramona · Rating 4 out of 5]

My personal comments on the book are too numerous to include here, but I do want to repeat that this book was a challenge for me. I was frustrated, enchanted, confused, and entertained by the writing of Johnson. I don't believe I have ever read another author's works with dialogue like hers. I could see in my mind the scenes unfolding, feel the frustration in the wording, and hear the sadness, hatred, exasperation, and happiness in their voices as the character's lives unfolded before me. I am actively looking for the other three books in the series and look forward to many more months of living in Helena, Claud, and Charmian's drab pre and post-war years of London, during WWII.