Kind Are Her Answers

by Mary Renault

Kit Anderson is married to Janet, a beautiful but narcissistic woman who seems more shallow to him as time goes by. Their relationship has become strained and cold. Immersing himself in his work as a doctor, Anderson takes consolation in his career.

Then, one night he is called out to a dying patient, and meets Christie, who is taking care of her aunt. Warm and vivacious, Christie stands in stark contrast to Janet, providing the passion and intimacy that has been missing from his life. How long can their affair be kept secret and does Kit want what is best for Christie, or only for himself?

In this assured, vivid novel, Mary Renault showcases the talents that would make her one of the twentieth century's most beloved novelists.

Genres: Fiction

287 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Mary Renault was an English writer best known for her historical novels set in Ancient Greece. In addition to vivid fictional portrayals of Theseus, Socrates, Plato and Alexander the Great, she wrote a non-fiction biography of Alexander.

Her historical novels are all set in ancient Greece. They include a pair of novels about the mythological hero Theseus and a trilogy about the career of Alexander the Great. In a sense, The Charioteer (1953), the story of two young gay servicemen in the 1940s who try to model their relationship on the ideals expressed in Plato's Phaedrus and Symposium, is a warm-up for Renault's historical novels. By turning away from the 20th century and focusing on stories about male lovers in the warrior societies of ancient Greece, Renault no longer had to deal with homosexuality and anti-gay prejudice as social "problems". Instead she was free to focus on larger ethical and philosophical concerns, while examining the nature of love and leadership. The Charioteer could not be published in the U.S. until 1959, after the success of The Last of the Wine proved that American readers and critics would accept a serious gay love story.

Reviews

[Donson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was Renault's second novel. Biographer David Sweetman dismisses it as essentially a hack job which she followed through with because she lacked the time to do the research she needed to do for an historical novel. Although I have not read her non fiction works, I do not believe this writer was capable of doing a routine job. This book is in a much more stripped down style than Purposes of Love. The story of a middle aged doctor infatuated with a younger woman is told primarily from the doctor's point of view with a few departures to let the reader in on his frigid wife's point of view. Through much of the book I thought my impatience with the central character was due to a defect in Renault's story-telling, even as she kept me turning the pages like I would a James M. Caine hard boiled thriller.By was I in for a surprise. On the very last page, she threw the whole thing back in my face. I realized her disgust and contempt for the character was miles ahead of me. (It helps in reading these novels which involve nurses that Renault was forced to work as a nurse tosupport herself much of her life before she became successful as a novelist and that the satirical portraits of self-important doctors are very likely her own views.) Even without any knowledge of the author's background, there is no way to see this as a nurse/doctor/hospital romance. It is a savagely scathing social comedy in which no one escapes untouched. Renault has little patience with those who delude themselves, be they men OR women. Unlikely as it might seem, the literary ancestor of these five early novels (prior to The Charioteer) is Jane Austen with her cold clear eye for the pretensions of her own contemporary society. More contemporary parallels might be found in the work of Flannery O'Connor or Mary McCarthy, though Renault does not pass judgment from an exalted viewpoint of orthodox Catholicism (as I believe the former did--I realize O'Connor's partisans will take issue here or that here) or from the cultural elitism of Martha's vineyard as the latter did. She lacked the formal literary or moral pretensions to seek admission to the elite literary circles of her time. Like Jane Austen, she simply described the society of her time (and later of the ancient Mediterranean world) and left the assessment of her achievement to successive generations. It is symptomatic of the still male dominated literary criteria and the provincialism of academic feminist critics that Renault's artistic achievement has yet to be rescued from the twin ghettos of "hospital romance" and "historical fiction." If it saounds like I am throwing down the gauntlet here, that's exactly what I intend.

[Mir]

Unfinished, because I don't care.

Some intelligent depiction of humans as complex and self-deceiving, but definitely not on par with her best work.

At one point I was excited to encounter an unfamiliar word, but it turned out to be a mere mis-spelling.

[Mary Durrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new author to me.
This was a lovely story about Kit and Janet whom Kit no longer loves.
Janet is beautiful but a shallow woman.
While visiting a dying patient Kit meets Christie, who is taking care of her Aunt.
Christie is warm and vivacious and Kit finds the passion that has been missing from his life.
A beautifully written love story which will have you spell bound.
I loved it.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was kind of an odd one. Ultimately I still think it's worth a read but it's not emotionally rewarding in the same way that The Charioteer and Return to Night are. It was such a strange story and such strange characters to have as protagonists, the relationship between Kit and Christie was so jarring at the beginning but it's unusual nature is definitely what makes the book interesting in the end.
It really perked up about halfway through when Christie moved back to the Abbey, a converted theatre, and the highlight was definitely Kit being a fish out of water at the theatre's Easter School.
As usual with Renault there are a couple of peripheral characters that just leap out from the page - this time I would give anything for more of the theatre-producer Rollo and the proletariat supporting Dr McKinnon. Rollo and Kit certainly had the potential to be sympathetic friends and I would have loved to have had that explored. Kit definitely needs more friends!

[John Windle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Renault is simply brilliant and once started her books are very hard to put down. I have read all the books upt to the Greek History ones (Last of the Wine etc.) but I plan to get to those later.