The Fabulous Mrs V

by H.E. Bates

Twelve short stories by Bates, a collection which, sadly, did not impress the critics, who felt the author had fallen below his usually high standards.One critic “This is one of four late story collections that together constitute a significant decline in Bates's work." The volume And No Birds Sing, The Fabulous Mrs. V, A Couple of Fools, The Ginger-Lily Girl, Afternoon at the Chateau, A Party for the Girls, The Cat who Sang, The Trespasser, The Diamond Hair-Pin, A Dream of Fair Women, A Nice Friendly Atmosphere, The Lotus Land.

Genres: Short Stories

198 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Herbert Ernest Bates, CBE is widely recognised as one of the finest short story writers of his generation, with more than 20 story collections published in his lifetime. It should not be overlooked, however, that he also wrote some outstanding novels, starting with The Two Sisters through to A Moment in Time, with such works as Love For Lydia, Fair Stood the Wind for France and The Scarlet Sword earning high praise from the critics. His study of the Modern Short Story is considered one of the best ever written on the subject.

He was born in Rushden, Northamptonshire and was educated at Kettering Grammar School. After leaving school, he was briefly a newspaper reporter and a warehouse clerk, but his heart was always in writing and his dream to be able to make a living by his pen.

Many of his stories depict life in the rural Midlands of England, particularly his native Northamptonshire. Bates was partial to taking long midnight walks around the Northamptonshire countryside - and this often provided the inspiration for his stories. Bates was a great lover of the countryside and its people and this is exemplified in two volumes of essays entitled Through the Woods and Down the River.

In 1931, he married Madge Cox, his sweetheart from the next road in his native Rushden. They moved to the village of Little Chart in Kent and bought an old granary and this together with an acre of garden they converted into a home. It was in this phase of his life that he found the inspiration for the Larkins series of novels -The Darling Buds of May, A Breath of French Air, When the Green Woods Laugh, etc. - and the Uncle Silas tales. Not surprisingly, these highly successful novels inspired television series that were immensely popular.

His collection of stories written while serving in the RAF during World War II, best known by the title The Stories of Flying Officer X, but previously published as Something in the Air (a compilation of his two wartime collections under the pseudonym 'Flying Officer X' and titled The Greatest People in the World and How Sleep the Brave), deserve particular attention. By the end of the war he had achieved the rank of Squadron Leader.

Bates was influenced by Chekhov in particular, and his knowledge of the history of the short story is obvious from the famous study he produced on the subject. He also wrote his autobiography in three volumes (each delightfully illustrated) which were subsequently published in a one-volume Autobiography.

Bates was a keen and knowledgeable gardener and wrote numerous books on flowers. The Granary remained their home for the whole of their married life. After the death of H. E Bates, Madge moved to a bungalow, which had originally been a cow byre, next to the Granary. She died in 2004 at age 95. They raised two sons and two daughters.

primarily from Wikipedia, with additions by Keith Farnsworth

Reviews

[Michael David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first stumbled into H.E. Bates years ago, but paid him no heed. A few days ago, I found this short story collection of his. Since some of his work was highly esteemed, and he was universally acclaimed as a master short-story writer, I decided to pick this collection up.

I thought that some of his short stories were brilliant: I was especially fond of the story eponymous with the collection. There were quite a few misses, however, that prevented me from considering this as a masterpiece.

I'll just highlight the stories that I do think should be read in the following paragraphs.

'And No Birds Sing' is a quiet tragedy of prejudice drowning kindness. The aloof nobility of the hobo is contrasted by the suffocating uncaring of the girl's parents.

'The Fabulous Mrs. V' is also great. It's both a love story and a quasi-Victorian drama, and is, to me, the funniest story in the entire collection.

'The Cat Who Sang' is an advisorial story when it comes to relationships. Every person has a quirk, and some just have to be tolerated in order to make relationships work.

'The Diamond Hairpin' is probably my favorite. At one point in my life I had been plagued with excruciating shyness when it comes to women that I understood Tom Wakeling's struggle in both talking to them and understanding them. I genuinely smiled when he realized that real women are imperfect creatures. It's an epiphany that's also made my life easier.

'The Lotus Land' merely deals with belligerent, ignorant patients. As a doctor, I truly understand the doctor's struggle as well. Try as one might to help them, it's always up to them to help themselves.

Bates is no Hemingway, but he shows in this collection that he is no slouch either. Overall, I think this is a fine collection of stories.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, I simply adore the little worlds that Bates can conjure in such short stories. In 'And No Birds Sing' he has me in love with the girl, the wood and the country he spreads before us while cossetting me in their isolation. Something warm shimmers through me. His evocation of place and character, of the country and the odd souls in his stories is like a series of wistful reveries.

The fabulous Mrs. V. is that in physical beauty only, her turn in character pictured by the change of her eyes from burning, almost vitriolic blue, to a pale weak wash, as her character becomes known and the hot summer runs to thunderous threat. 'A Couple Of Fools' has that same wistfulness which is the dreamy nature of girls (or young women) in relatively unfulfilling jobs and lives, and feels much indebted to Mansfield's 'The Tiredness of Rosabel' (1908) in its wistfulness, but becomes something unique to Bates, filled with high-swung hopes, a brocade of flowers, marigolds, yellow roses, cornflowers, of summer meadows and martinis and red wine, of a trout luncheon beneath the chestnuts, of swans and water, of flushes at forearms and high rosy pleasure. It is one of his best.

The 'Tales from Tahiti', on the other hand, are variable. Brief - written for the newspaper - they seem not to have a chance of creating any sense of place or character, but their sense of tristesse doesn't lack a strong sense of place, if it does of characterisation. 'The Ginger-Lily Girl' and 'The Lotus Land' are the two (of six) included in this collection, belonging, unlike the remainder of stories here from the early '60s, to the '50s. The latter is the better. 'Afternoon At The Château' draws on autobiographical background to a strange episode, again of tristesse, and of a flat, hopeless lethargy, as much a product of the weather as of the strange little encounter.

'A Party For The Girls' is an amusing piece of clever characterisation which asserts that elderly ladies lose none of their passions when it comes to elderly men - especially when they've had a glass or two of his special wine-cup, a delicious cocktail with Moselle as its base, with a touch of brandy/cointreau/kirsch/maraschino or combination thereof. The fiancée of the man who has 'The Cat Who Sang' believes he must have been at that party. I listened to Schubert's 'Trout' Quintet (1819) while reading it (the song referred to in the cat's recital was written in 1817, which I don't have) - but it didn't improve it much, although I did get the theme he referred to. Some consolation. The theme of elderly passions - and wiles - continues in 'The Trespasser', with slightly less charm.

'The Diamond Hair-Pin' is a romantic vignette with little twists in it that makes of it, a short story, something almost perfect, but also slightly perverse. This strange combination is because, while the characters - or their motives or methods of achieving them - are slightly perverse, the evocation of its setting is perfectly pitched, the place, the light, the air, just right. Its tempo is also perfect. 'A Dream Of Fair Women' is perfect again in its contained fantasy; though rather lacking in real character, this doesn't detract from its effectiveness. 'A Nice Friendly Atmosphere' is about a real horror-show of a family and their visiting con man. Glad to have got through that one.

All in all, a mixed bag of delights, oddities and some far too short. But when Bates gets it right, they are a delight, 'A Couple Of Fools' being one of his best, with four or five others worth the trip.

[Sneezewort · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it.......