Journey from the North, Vol. 1

by Storm Jameson

In 1960, Storm Jameson decided to write her memoirs. The result was Journey from the North, one of the great literary autobiographies of the century. Volume One, first published in 1969, tells of her childhood in Whitby before the First World War, the strong ties with her formidable mother, an early love of the sea, her intellectual achievements at university and falling in love. She vividly recalls her first marriage and the birth of her son; then came her first book, work in London, and the deep happiness of her second marriage to Guy Chapman, the novelist and historian. In the thirties she became increasingly involved in politics, and her accounts of the Depression and the rise of Fascism in Europe demonstrate her exceptional understanding of the years between the wars.

But the most extraordinary quality of this autobiography is its fine truthfulness. Her candour - about wanting to be an artist, about failures of courage and of love, her devotion to her son and yet a need for a life of her own - is quite exceptional. Journey from the North is a brilliantly told story of a fascinating life.

Genres: Memoir, History

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Margaret Storm Jameson was an English writer, known for her 45 novels, and criticism.

Jameson studied at the University of Leeds, later moving to London, where in 1914 she earned an MA from King's College London. She was a teacher before becoming a full-time writer. She married writer Guy Chapman, but continued to publish as Storm Jameson.

From 1939, Jameson was a prominent president of the British branch of the International PEN association, and active in helping refugee writers. She wrote three volumes of autobiography.

A well-received biography, by Jennifer Birkett, Professor of French Studies at Birmingham University, was published by the Oxford University Press in March 2009.

Reviews

[Clayton Hauck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honesty. In a world where everyone strives to only show their good side, it is refreshing to read an honest account of one's life; their failures and successes, high and low points, observations, lessons and insights. I picked this title after a mention in the Economist remarked how honest Storm was in her writing. After becoming a bit obsessed with Karl Ove Knausgaard's auto-biographical series My Struggle, I figured another title from a different time, place and perspective would be worthwhile, and I was not let down. Storm wrote this book in her later years and had it published well beyond her death, which gave her the confidence to hold nothing back. A bit of an obsessive observer, for a time she would take notes on every conversation she had. While perhaps not the most normal behavior, her personality (traveling alone in a foreign city was her favorite pastime), was one I could relate to myself. Introverted and less than charismatic herself, her interpretations and ability to describe the events in her life was her strong suit and has me wishing I'd taken notes for easier revisit of key takeaways.

The book covered a good deal of her time as a young girl in England pre-WWI to her older years leading up to the start of WWII. The lack of flow or organization will likely turn off many readers, but what this book lacks in structure is more than made up for in an endless barrage of worthwhile life and humanity observations, with enough "juicy" stuff to keep you turning the pages. Her loveless marriage and feelings of being trapped in it, the advances and marriage proposal of a US soldier, her dealings within the literary world, her distant and cold father, her advancements as a female writer in a male-controlled world and her self-conscious and often disparaging views of her own career as a novelist were all handled in brutal honesty and, in my opinion, great lessons for anyone navigating their own life.

I listened to this title on audiobook, which is a bit regrettable. There are many moments of brilliance in this title that I wish to revisit. A highly recommended book for anyone interested in biographies and history of early 20th century Europe.

[Leon Greenwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this many years ago: an enthralling account by an enthralling, and significant, person

I am slightly biased in that I had a family connection with Whitby, where I spent many happy holidays as a small child: Jameson gives an account of an older settlement, without a coast road! If you haven’t experienced “The Prospect of Whitby”, from that alternative approach, the North Sea, you don’t know what “the wind-up” means lol

[Since I wrote this I have realised it is slightly, err, ethnocentric. Whitby is a unique small port on the East Coast of Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has a rich history, which includes the ‘Synod of Whitby’ where a date of Easter was decided, on the Roman method: a benefit transport planners enjoy to this day! Dracula landed there, in Bram Stoker’s novel, escaping from a shipwreck as a large black dog.

“The Prospect of Whitby” is a pub in Wapping, London, and, if I remember correctly, where Long John Silver meets fellow pirates, in “Treasure Island”. What I am referring to is the view, from the sea, of the somewhat narrow harbour entrance, which I found alarming enough in a calm sea. What it would be like in rougher weather, I don’t like to think about! lol]

[Rudolf Braun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sincere. Feels like I really got to know the author and how they think. Makes me empathize a lot that I see myself in a lot of the past behaviours she regrets.

[Vivian]

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[Ann-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began the memoir memborably: sitting on a bench on Hampstead Heath, soaking up the sun.

I really enjoyed this memoir, which was given to me by Alison O. Everyone's life would be interesting if they wrote about it like Storm Jameson. It made me very happy to read it.

A quotation:
“I want ... too many things which cancel each other, solitude, a bare life, and the pleasures of the theatre, concert hall, travel; honesty and a reputation; wealth without crawling to get it; to live like a monk and a foot-loose unbeholden eater of life.
Naturally, I achieve none of them. Nevertheless, when I come to die, among the minutes I shall remember gratefully will be the thirty or so I spent on a top-floor window-sill of the Piccadilly Hotel, in 1918, confident, and madly happy.” (p. 126)

[Hol]

I dipped into this book on and off for a long time, savoring it--altogether it was on my bedside table for close to a year, which is a pretty great way to read a long diary or memoir, especially one as rewarding as this.