Watson's Apology

by Beryl Bainbridge

Tells a story based on a true Victorian murder case and its devastating impact on a married couple in London

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction, British Literature, Crime, Novels, 20th Century

222 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge DBE was an English writer from Liverpool. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often set among the English working classes. Bainbridge won the Whitbread Award twice and was nominated for the Booker Prize five times. In 2008, The Times newspaper named Bainbridge among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

Reviews

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I have waded in blood ... and it was not of my doing."

Watson's Apology is based on a real-life murder that took place on October 8, 1871 on St. Martin's Road, Stockwell. The back-cover blurb reveals that the murderer was "a Victorian clergyman, John Selby Watson," and that he bludgeoned his wife "brutally to death." Moving from the cover to the inside we discover right away what Bainbridge is going to be doing with this book from her "Author's Note," in which she says the following:

"This novel is based on a true story. The documents presented have been edited here and there to fit the needs of the narrative, but are otherwise authentic. Almost all of the characters are drawn from life, as are the details of the plot...What has defeated historical inquiry has been the motives of the characters, their conversations and their feelings. These it has been the task of the novelist to supply."

And what she supplies is a look inside of a miserable Victorian marriage, beginning with letters from Watson to the woman who he had briefly met "some years ago" while attending Trinity College in Dublin, Anne Armstrong. The novel follows their marriage up to the point where Anne is murdered, then moves on into Watson's trial.

Where sympathy should lie is, I think, one of the big questions asked here, and the entire story made me wonder if the title of this book is meant to be a sort of "apologia" on Watson's behalf rather than an apology in the more well-known sense of the word. Whether Watson's wading in blood is or is not of his own doing is also a question, and the answer to that one will be down to the reader.

Very nicely done, and although many readers thought that the courtroom scenes were dull, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel from its beginning to the very last page. Then again, I'm a huge fan of Beryl Bainbridge and have many more of her books on my shelves waiting to be read. I'd advise patience in reading this book and would recommend it to thinking readers rather than to those who just want a rehash of an old Victorian crime. This book is not that.

more: https://www.readingavidly.com/2018/09...

[Maricruz]

No sé muy bien qué pensar sobre esta novela. A veces se mete a fondo en el carácter de los personajes para recuperar al instante el desapego de una observadora neutral, que es el que domina la historia (sobre todo en la parte final del juicio, que es un poco aburrida). El problema es que realmente no hay demasiada neutralidad en Watson’s Apology. Vaya, si el mismo título parece situar a John Selby Watson como héroe en esta tragedia. En cuanto a Anne Armstrong, su esposa, su víctima, o bien la presenta como un personaje sumamente antipático (haciendo que algunas personas, estoy segura, piensen que casi se merecía lo que le sucedió), o bien no es más que un zumbido de fondo irritante en las meditaciones de Watson sobre sí mismo, sus libros y él mismo, otra vez. Luego, de repente, Beryl Bainbridge te sorprende con gemas como esta, tan escasas como absolutamente brillantes:

«If he was reading she watched his fingers turning the pages, and waited, for it seemed to her that among all those millions of words printed in all those hundreds of books on his shelves he must eventually come across one simple sentence which would enable him to understand her».

Así que, mira, he decidido que tengo derecho a hacerme mi propia interpretación de cuál era el plan maestro que Bainbridge tenía en mente mientras escribía esta novela, y que era este: Todo el peso que Watson tiene en la narración, todo el espacio que llena, no es sino el modo deliberado en que la autora llama la atención sobre cuán poca importancia tenía Anne Armstrong en la historia oficial. Cuán poco visibles eran las mujeres victorianas, en general (quizás tengo demasiado reciente el capítulo de The last archive de Jill Lepore dedicado a La mujer invisible, que habla de eso mismo). Se la presenta como una mujer de temperamento un tanto infantiloide, con ese genio y esa crueldad de la que son capaces los niños pequeños, pero al fin y al cabo, la sociedad victoriana tendía a infantilizar a las mujeres (estoy segura de que las continuas referencias a la niñez real de Anne no son gratuitas). Lo único que la convierte en una mujer adulta, su sexualidad, su marido lo desprecia como una sorpresa grosera e inapropiada, y quizás todo ese lío que se traen con la concha de ostra sea una manera de recalcar simbólicamente esto.

Ay, cómo me gustaría tener la suficiente osadía como para defender mi interpretación, y no pensar que me he hecho una paja mental. Quizás tendría que leer la novela una vez más antes de puntuarla con estrellas. Quizás lo haga. Un año de estos, ¿vale?

[Yooperprof · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pedantic English schoolteacher is yoked in marriage to an unsympathetic Irish wife. They torment each other ceaselessly until. . .

"Watson's Apology" is notable not for its plot, but for the absolute mastery of tone which the author demonstrates on nearly every page. IMHO, the cumulative impact is all the much greater because of, not in spite of, Bainbridge's "dryness" and "detachment" from her doomed characters.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad I stuck with it! In the fourth section Bainbridge taps into her most awesome ability - that of giving just enough information to know that SOMETHING bad has happened, but not enough to piece it all together. The suspense is fantastic. And the way she ends the book is brilliant. Tony Earley I think is showing himself to have an amazing elegance when it comes to describing very personal, internal moments -- I'm referring to cognitive moments, in the head rather than emotional (though Earley is great at both)-- but Bainbridge has been doing it for years. She's so incredibly intellectual, and all of her characters are so emotionally out of touch, that you end up feeling haunted. It's a very unique style that I think would put off a lot of readers, but I find the dry horror of the emotional deficiency incredibly compelling and very much envy her style. This is the third of hers I've read in 2008 and I'm eager to pick up another already.


Earlier: I keep reading Bainbridge even though she seems to have no sympathy for her characters OR her readers. Because there is something fascinating about her. Maybe I'm trying to figure out her MO, I dunno. This is another historical fiction, kind of in the vein of Ruth Rendell, but speculative, about a real murder. Her work is so hard to describe.

[John Newcomb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy Beryl Bainbridge's deadpan style and her fictional rendition of historical events. This novel deals with a gruesome and notorious Victorian murder, known by every law student, but depicts this most horrible of circumstances in a manner which is not without humour.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving it a 4. The writing was superb as it led you by the hand in this pernicious marriage of "unsuitables" if I may make use of a word that perhaps isn't. It was a mutual passive aggressive relationship that just didn't give. If they had communicated their wants, their dislikes.....if Anne had had a job which, back in those days was not easy for women. Sure, she could have gone to be a cleaning woman like the one the family hired but, just wasn't done in those days so.....Anne was left to her lonliness while her husband sunk deeper into his first love, his books and writing. I did skip over the trial part, picked and read sections that interested me, too much detail and repetitiveness.

I found it very well written, kept me turning the pages, will hunt down Bainbridge's other books. Sad story of how two people ended up.........why was it called Watson's Apology? Ah...I remember now. in one of the letters he wrote Anne in the beginning, he said "I apologize, I've been unfaithful to your image." Anne later on one of their fights questioned him about this, asking him "What did you mean?" She said she had always wondered. Don't think he answered her, I'll have to check. See what I mean by communicating? She waited all those years to ask him instead of asking ri g t away or at least as soon as they married.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1844 a middle-aged Irish spinster by the name of Anne Armstrong, gets the unexpected chance to escape her life of genteel poverty. An English schoolmaster, the Reverend John Selby Watson, a man whom she met briefly more than seven years before, and whom Anne has long since forgotten, appears suddenly with a proposal. While the Reverend Watson is certainly no Prince Charming, and his home is in no way a castle, life with him is seemingly so much more preferable to Anne's current living situation - that she accepts John's proposal. Thus begins a marriage that should never have been - where frustrations pile upon disillusionments until everything collapses in hatred and bloody violence.

For, after nearly thirty years of marriage, the quiet, staid, rather ordinary Reverend Watson bludgeons his wife to death one Sunday after church. The seemingly customary history of the Watsons' unhappy marriage unfolds until it culminates in a sudden brutal act and a headline-grabbing trial. Staying as true to the documented facts of this historical case as she does to the workings of her singular imagination, Ms. Bainbridge artfully reveals what history withholds: the motives, the feelings, and the insanity that drive the Watsons to their domestic tragedy.

I did enjoy reading this book; although it seemed to me to be a little disjointed in places. Perhaps this was the impression that the author wanted to give the reader, I'm not really sure. However, I found this story to be incredibly sad - and although I usually enjoy reading tear-jerking stories - I think that the knowledge that this book was based on an actual murder case, was something that made this story almost too sad for me to read. I just felt incredibly sorry for all the characters involved, and the grinding hopelessness of the Watsons situation, as well as the historical period itself, really came through to me. I give Watson's Apology: A Novel by Beryl Bainbridge a definite A!

[Jann Barber · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bainbridge based this on a real Victorian murder. Her character development was excellent, but I was not able to lose myself in this book. I felt stifled, as was perhaps her intention, and could see the train wreck as it developed. I read the first half carefully but skimmed the second half. I just did not find this to be the gripping read I anticipated.

[Wilsonpark]

The AV Club pick Nov 2010

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bleh. Couldn't get into it!

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I found the portrait of the deterioration of the marriage much more interesting than the last section, which was essentially a dry, factual reporting of the trial and aftermath.

[Christian Schwoerke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Bainbridge novel, another deft display of reality and imagination in conflict. While I felt overall enjoyment in the novel, I thought it lacked the same ratio of humor to mordancy that makes her best novels soar (in their understated way). This lack may be related to the use of source/original documents, which may have forced her to modulate her voice to better unify the whole.

Bainbridge’s art is usually about suggesting/hinting at fuller perspectives, so the literal depiction of things is sometimes undermined and sometimes augmented by snippets of description or dialog found elsewhere in the narrative. This aspect of her style was at play, but the representation of the unbearable gravity of love remained shadowy, and I wanted to better understand how that emotion could be transformed into the needy, grasping, selfish, and perverse displays of affection Anne meted out to Watson.

As an earnest, scholarly, and largely self-sufficient man, John Watson concerned himself with matrimony only because it seemed the proper thing to do as the rising headmaster at a boarding school. The object of his attentions is a woman whom he’d seen years before in a gathering, with whom he’d played draughts and barely spoke a word. He finds this former heiress in straitened circumstances (living penuriously with her sister in Dublin), but little notes this, and presses his suit, to which she is eager to agree. So rescued, she believes she may even love her savior.

However, the years go by and there is little excitement and little display of affection either way, though Watson is himself very content with her, pleased that she makes a good impression and little disturbs him when he is at home and busy with his reading or writing. There are other domestic felicities, but over time these grow less satisfactory for Anne, and she begins to wheedle for more, which action turns into needling and even sabotage. When, after twenty years, he is shown the exit as headmaster, his efforts to right their fortunes are met by her tormented and tormenting pleas for attention, which manifest as bitter jibes.

The eponymous “apology” has nothing to do with contrition, as far as the Latin scholar Watson goes. Instead, it’s used in the old sense of the word (now taken up with the more Latinate “apologia”) to mean defense or justification. And while the whole novel serves as a defense for his moment of violence, offering a portrait of himself as a reclusive/private man with a streak of sentimental compassion for the downtrodden whose life, in proper Victorian fashion, is dedicated fully to (scholarly) work. Watson’s inexpressive love/affection for Anne can appear to be little more than tolerance, but his emotion lies in his Latin.

One of the more entertaining parts of the novel was the droll account of the meaning of the Latin words found on a scrap of paper. When Watson stands trial, some meaning for the words is sought, literally and in relation to the bludgeoning that Anne suffered. Bainbridge quotes letters to the Times newspaper, and it is this one that neatly sums things up:

—Sir, It is amusing to see how much mystery can be made out of nothing. If a fifth-form schoolboy at Eton (which I was once myself) were asked to translate ‘Saepe olim amanti nocuit semper amare', he would go it thus, and he would be right: ‘Saepe’ (often) ‘olim’ (heretofore) ‘semper amare’, here used as a substantive, (constant love) ‘nocuit’ (has been injurious) ‘amanti’ (to the lover). This, no doubt, is bald enough, but dress it up a little, and use Shakespeare’s formula slightly changed:
—Ah, me for all that ever I could learn,
—Could ever read in tale or history,
—True love hath often been the lover’s bane.

What’s important in this is how much Watson wants to hold onto the values of a classical education, which at its base relies on a knowledge of Latin and even Greek to mine those classics for the best examples and precepts of enlightened and humane thought. His dismissal as headmaster was partly the school’s change of direction, from Watson’s classical curriculum to a more modern, commercially practical one. That no one could quite get right his Latin is one of the novel’s comedic high points.

[As an aside, I am a dunce with Latin and even less with Greek. But what’s interesting to note is that no online/automated translation algorithm can do justice to Latin. Here are the results of Google and Microsoft and other online translation services:

—Often harmed once the lover is always love
—Once they often thwarted lover always love
—Often, once the lover thwarted always love you
—Often once your lover harmed always love

The muddle in understanding this expression of sentiment serves as a near-perfect corollary to the sentiment itself (as felt and exhibited by the Watsons).]

Bainbridge is at her best when describing Anne and Watson’s single vacation and when describing Watson’s several years of incarceration. In these two sections, Bainbridge intimates with allusive imagery a poetic sublimity at the back of Watson’s thoughts and feelings about the confused/elusive aspects of love.

[Red Fields · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept waiting for it to get better. It never did.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Matrimony & Murder 1870’s style

This is a speculative novel based on a historical murder case that occurred in Victorian England. I have heard of Dame Beryl Bainbridge (love that name!) and have been curious to read one of her books. The book was written in 1985 and is advertised as being about the “dark psychological motives” behind a domestic tragedy. Here in 2018, with domestic and mass murder being sadly common place, this true story is not very sensational and did not consistently hold my interest.

In 1844 John Selby Watson writes love letters to a woman he met briefly some years before. Watson is a clergyman and a headmaster at a boy’s school. The object of his affection, Anne Armstrong lives in Dublin and has no recall of this man. However, he offers her a way to escape from poverty and from her crabby and histrionic sister. Like cases of on-line dating gone wrong, she agrees to marry him and he comes to see her. Unpleasant surprises for all, but they marry quickly and return to England. Neither husband and wife nor the marriage age very well. One ends up dead and the other ends up in jail.

Dame Bainbridge had access to historical documents so the facts of the case and most of the characters are real. She provided the imagined motives and emotions. For me, the story was uneven. At times I was very interested and at other times I was ready for the book to end. John and Anne Watson are each quite unlikeable in their own way. I typically like re-created or non-fiction historical crime stories and I love books set in this time period. However, this fell flat for me. I do not feel compelled to read any of her other work.

[Bertbarber · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd mix of narrative and historical reportage, with an old-fashioned Victorian feel about it. Taken from a real life figure, Watson is a tragic compulsive figure: clever, distant, and with exacting moral standards. His wife, a prize he claimed successfully only because of her poor straitened prospects, slowly loses herself and her wits throughout their childless marriage.
The skill of Bainbridge is apparent, cloaking the reported story with motive and character, and a cool ratcheting up of pressures until Watson snaps. Then it becomes a commentary on the technical aspects of a murder enquiry. Dry, somewhat downbeat, not especially an easy read albeit impressive in its nod to authenticity. The mastery of the classics, a feature if Watson's character, with sporadic Greek and Latin input, is clearly another area where Bainbridge has particular expertise, using extracts from real letters the The Times. Technically the writing is also very accomplished.
Impressive, original, a book from another age; unlikely in current times to get the recognition it deserves.
I will try another Bainbridge I think and see where that goes.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beryl Bainbridge was one of the first novelists i discovered on my own. All of the books i read by her except the girl with the Polka Dot dress predate my time on Goodreads. i would not say that Watson's Apology was Bainbridge at the top of her game but it was an interesting read.
JS Watson was a classical scholar and schoolmaster who murdered his wife in 1871. The cast attracted a great deal of attention especially given that Watson's defense amounted to temporary insanity. Watson was convicted by a jury and sentenced to death but that death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Bainbridge's novel depicts the 25 year marriage between Watson and his wife Anne and shows how the union between 2 fundamentally incompatible people leads to violence and death,

Do read Bainbridge but perhaps start with An Awfully Big Adventure, Every Man for Himself, or the Birthday Boys.

[eLwYcKe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beryl Bainbridge was a collector of Victoriana and I think this is why she has brought the period so darkly to life here.
The actual story, apparently based on truth , is interesting: an educated, well-respected man bludgeons his wife to death in a quiet Victorian suburb.
Why? Indeed Ms.Bainbridge sets the scene with a really gloomy, oppressive atmosphere, which like her other work has been so unnerving yet thrilling.
I think this is my least favourite of her novels, but there is still plenty here to enjoy and it's impossible not to get embroiled in this tragic incident, so skilfully told.

[Susan Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not an easy read as the story runs together and is thick with banal detail. John Watson Married Anne Armstrong after a strange quick courtship through brief correspondence and one meeting. They were married for nearly 30 years before Mr. Watson became enraged and bludgeoned his wife and spent the rest of his life in jail. Though by all accounts no one really knows what would have driven him murder. Their life seemed dull and Anne had no outside community to keep her occupied. A sad occurrence.

[Patricia O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beryl Bainbridge's writing is very good indeed and here, her storytelling of the life of the Rev. J.S.Watson is in true 19th century style.
This is a tragic tale from the off, and year upon year, her account sees further descent into misery with one awful event following another.
It was good - but only because of the brilliant way this sad story was told.

[Sbrdsbks · Rating 2 out of 5]

his book didn't appeal to me that much. There is not much speed in the story, it is all quite static. Also the end of the book is in my opinion unnecessarily slow, extensive. Maybe creative to add all kinds of witness statements etc, but it doesn't make the story stronger. The plot is already clear, so why waste a lot of words on it?

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

One moment I liked this book and the next I didn't. I found the book a bit disjointed albeit tragic.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

When she's good, she's good, but when she's bad, she's oh so boring.

Stopped at page 118.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book apart from the extended courtroom sections which I finally skipped over - not typical for me.

[Poornima Vijayan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beryl Bainbridge is amazing. Especially when she treads into non fiction recreation. Like girl in the polka dot dress. Bainbridge gets into the head of Watson and recreates his life which culminates when he murders his wife. Not for everyone, this book, I must admit. But I grew to love Bery Bainbridge all the more with this one. How messed we all are, she knows.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a curiously written story, the language one of undercurrents and a strange mindset exploring the main character, Mr Watson, who is both creepy and unique. Bainbridge places the reader within his unquiet life and responses. It is a unusual tale, not so much because of events but because of the way in which it is written. Events are flatly observed while repellent inner thoughts jump out and take the reader by surprise.

The trial breaks this style and is similarly weird, a series of testimonies with no questions, no drama to hold it together, just repetitive recounting. These are tedious and could easily have been eliminated but I guess Bainbridge wanted the community to weigh in, to reinforce impressions of the outward man.

Watson’s Apology makes me revisit questions about sanity and insanity, compatibility and incompatibility, and the uniqueness of individuals amid ordinariness. It is a tale that probes with differently shaped instruments, at times suited for the task, at other times mysterious, as enigmatic as the sweet academic with a splinter embedded in his soul.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: based on a true story. A clergyman's marriage deteriorates into murder in Victorian England.