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Messalina of the Suburbs
V2. 06-2015.
This is another novel of beloved author E.M.Delafield, worldwide best-selling authors of the "Provincial Lady" series, and over 40 novels.
This book, dedicated to Delafield's best friend 'Rose', (Dr Margaret Posthuma), it is based on a famous real life case, in which Edith Thompson was convicted and hanged in 1923 as an accomplice of her lover in a very serious crime...
It also contains seven lesser known short stories, all with the quality and entertainment power we are accustomed with Delafield.
This is another novel of beloved author E.M.Delafield, worldwide best-selling authors of the "Provincial Lady" series, and over 40 novels.
This book, dedicated to Delafield's best friend 'Rose', (Dr Margaret Posthuma), it is based on a famous real life case, in which Edith Thompson was convicted and hanged in 1923 as an accomplice of her lover in a very serious crime...
It also contains seven lesser known short stories, all with the quality and entertainment power we are accustomed with Delafield.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1923
About the author
E.M. Delafield
153 books152 followersEdmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture (9 June 1890 – 2 December 1943), commonly known as E. M. Delafield, was a prolific English author who is best-known for her largely autobiographical Diary of a Provincial Lady, which took the form of a journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman living mostly in a Devon village of the 1930s, and its sequels in which the Provincial Lady buys a flat in London and travels to America. Other sequels of note are her experiences looking for war-work during the Phoney War in 1939, and her experiences as a tourist in the Soviet Union.
Daughter of the novelist Mrs. Henry De La Pasture.
Daughter of the novelist Mrs. Henry De La Pasture.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 23, 2022
3.5
A fictionalized account of the Edith Thompson and Fred Bywaters case. Edith becomes Elsie, and Fred become Leslie. Edith/ Elsie was married to a much older man when she met Fred/Leslie and the two embark on a passionate affair. When Edith and her husband were walking home from and evening at the theatre, Fred confronted Percy Thompson and stabbed him. The two were charged with murder, and despite Fred insisting that Edith had nothing to do with it, and that it hadn't been planned, Edith was convicted of murder as well as Fred, the most damming evidence being letters that she had written to Fred saying she'd like to poison her husband or put crushed glass in his food. The case became one of the most talked about cases of the 1920's and it seems everyone had an opinion on it. Nearly one million people signed a petition against their death penalties. Several books, both fictional and non-fiction have been written about it, and this is one of the first.
Delafield seems sympathetic to a degree ( in so far as she doesn't think Elsie was in on a plot to murder her husband), but she does paint Elsie as being 'no better than she should be'. She's very young and her chief pleasure is derived from flirting and being noticed by men. She is desperate to escape the family home and so when given the chance to marry and older man, she sees it as her way out. She doesn't particularly like him and simply ends up bored and unhappy in her husband's home instead of her mum's. Her husband becomes jealous and possessive and won't let her have any male friends. When Elsie meets Leslie, things inevitably come to a head. We are shown Elsie's frustration at her homelife, and her husband certainly isn't shown in a sympathetic light. There is no suggestion that Elsie a part of any plot to kill her husband, but at the same time, she is not a particularly sympathetic character herself.
Next I plan on reading another fictionalised account of the case, A Pin To See The Peepshow
A fictionalized account of the Edith Thompson and Fred Bywaters case. Edith becomes Elsie, and Fred become Leslie. Edith/ Elsie was married to a much older man when she met Fred/Leslie and the two embark on a passionate affair. When Edith and her husband were walking home from and evening at the theatre, Fred confronted Percy Thompson and stabbed him. The two were charged with murder, and despite Fred insisting that Edith had nothing to do with it, and that it hadn't been planned, Edith was convicted of murder as well as Fred, the most damming evidence being letters that she had written to Fred saying she'd like to poison her husband or put crushed glass in his food. The case became one of the most talked about cases of the 1920's and it seems everyone had an opinion on it. Nearly one million people signed a petition against their death penalties. Several books, both fictional and non-fiction have been written about it, and this is one of the first.
Delafield seems sympathetic to a degree ( in so far as she doesn't think Elsie was in on a plot to murder her husband), but she does paint Elsie as being 'no better than she should be'. She's very young and her chief pleasure is derived from flirting and being noticed by men. She is desperate to escape the family home and so when given the chance to marry and older man, she sees it as her way out. She doesn't particularly like him and simply ends up bored and unhappy in her husband's home instead of her mum's. Her husband becomes jealous and possessive and won't let her have any male friends. When Elsie meets Leslie, things inevitably come to a head. We are shown Elsie's frustration at her homelife, and her husband certainly isn't shown in a sympathetic light. There is no suggestion that Elsie a part of any plot to kill her husband, but at the same time, she is not a particularly sympathetic character herself.
Next I plan on reading another fictionalised account of the case, A Pin To See The Peepshow
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May 16, 2023Re-read for research purposes.
Not really where Delafield's abilities lay - it's based on the Thompson/Bywaters case and written very very soon after. Not a patch on F Tennyson Jesse's A Pin to See the Peepshow. Actually leaves a bit of a bad taste with its class/gender attitudes to Elsie (who is not much like the real Edith Thompson who was an unusually successful working woman, not a dependent and rather dim housewife).
Not really where Delafield's abilities lay - it's based on the Thompson/Bywaters case and written very very soon after. Not a patch on F Tennyson Jesse's A Pin to See the Peepshow. Actually leaves a bit of a bad taste with its class/gender attitudes to Elsie (who is not much like the real Edith Thompson who was an unusually successful working woman, not a dependent and rather dim housewife).
September 13, 2018
Based on a real crime in the 1920s (the names were changed), Delafield shows how the immature protagonist involuntarily moved from sulky teenager to accessory to murder. The author is interested in the sequence of behaviour and circumstance which led to the point of no return, for Elsie “...could not trace the imperceptibly-graduated stages that had brought her to the pass where catastrophe became inevitable...”. She had ignored figures of authority all her life and had no inkling of the consequences of any of her actions.
Elsie is presented as a victim of her own sensuous attraction to men. Her sexuality is often described as magnetic, and her desire to escape the constraints of home life prompts her to contract an ill-advised marriage to an older man. She sees only the prospect of material comforts and the adult respect that she craves, and fails utterly to appreciate that she is simply exchanging one form of imprisonment for another.
Delafield stops short of the gallows, though she uses the ungainly device of a clairvoyant to point to the inevitable horror to come. She allows Elsie belatedly to realise how her behaviour will be interpreted by a harsh and masculine code of justice, where no account is taken of her youth, or her despairing sense of imprisonment and unhappiness. Even her lover protesting that he acted alone is not enough to save her, for she foolishly wrote incriminating letters which were interpreted as an incitement to kill.
By the standards of today’s justice system, Elsie might have been punished with a short sentence but she would not have been considered a murderer. She had exaggerated her unhappiness and her husband’s brutality to ensure her lover didn’t lose interest in her rather than to encourage him to kill, though she undoubtedly planted the idea in his head, but such nuances were not explored and she suffered the same cruel fate as he did.
The case still excites comment today - was Elsie treated unfairly? Perhaps not by the standard of the day, though she drifted into the whole ghastly situation rather than planning what happened like a cold and ruthless killer. Was it a miscarriage of justice? If we view it through the prism of modern day sensibilities, probably yes. Many people thought so at the time too. She wasn’t intelligent apart from an instinctive low cunning where it came to manipulating men using her sex appeal, but did she really deserve to hang for being both voluptuous and indiscreet? She was ultimately a victim of her sex in her lack of control of her own desires and of the passion she aroused in the men around her.
Elsie is presented as a victim of her own sensuous attraction to men. Her sexuality is often described as magnetic, and her desire to escape the constraints of home life prompts her to contract an ill-advised marriage to an older man. She sees only the prospect of material comforts and the adult respect that she craves, and fails utterly to appreciate that she is simply exchanging one form of imprisonment for another.
Delafield stops short of the gallows, though she uses the ungainly device of a clairvoyant to point to the inevitable horror to come. She allows Elsie belatedly to realise how her behaviour will be interpreted by a harsh and masculine code of justice, where no account is taken of her youth, or her despairing sense of imprisonment and unhappiness. Even her lover protesting that he acted alone is not enough to save her, for she foolishly wrote incriminating letters which were interpreted as an incitement to kill.
By the standards of today’s justice system, Elsie might have been punished with a short sentence but she would not have been considered a murderer. She had exaggerated her unhappiness and her husband’s brutality to ensure her lover didn’t lose interest in her rather than to encourage him to kill, though she undoubtedly planted the idea in his head, but such nuances were not explored and she suffered the same cruel fate as he did.
The case still excites comment today - was Elsie treated unfairly? Perhaps not by the standard of the day, though she drifted into the whole ghastly situation rather than planning what happened like a cold and ruthless killer. Was it a miscarriage of justice? If we view it through the prism of modern day sensibilities, probably yes. Many people thought so at the time too. She wasn’t intelligent apart from an instinctive low cunning where it came to manipulating men using her sex appeal, but did she really deserve to hang for being both voluptuous and indiscreet? She was ultimately a victim of her sex in her lack of control of her own desires and of the passion she aroused in the men around her.
June 18, 2022
It is always interesting to read Delafield outside of her Provincial Lady series. Reading this fresh off of reading A Pin to See the Peep Show added another layer to the reading. Both Messalina and A Pin were inspired by the Edith Thompson/Frederick Bywaters trial. Both writers tend to take a sympathetic approach to their female lead. I will say though, Messalina reads a bit more crudely and without depth to it. There are a few wry observations that are hallmark Delafield in terms of appearance and relationships. But overall, it lacked the attention to societal dictates that might have led to Thompson's conviction that Tennyson Jesse incorporated into her novel. Messalina read more for entertainment rather than any remarks on classism and gender customs. Delafield also ends the novel prior to the aftermath that ensues. Overall, it was an enjoyable afternoon read with a quick pace and plot.
April 26, 2016
Very, very disappointing. I have always been interested in the Bywaters and Thompson Case, and I thought this would shed more light onto it, being written at the time and by a good if not great author, but this book was anodyne and dull and it ended appallingly.
February 7, 2024
It ends 'Dawlish 1923' and reads like the author took a fortnight by the sea and rattled off a quick tale, loosely based on a true story.
Split into three, it reads as three parts. I have a weakness for the Becky Sharp characters, not particularly likeable but circumstances make decisions tricky. The Messalina of the tale has to think of her future because sadly her opportunities are few and her guidance often lacking.
The detail is interesting, the truth behind the story fascinating.
Split into three, it reads as three parts. I have a weakness for the Becky Sharp characters, not particularly likeable but circumstances make decisions tricky. The Messalina of the tale has to think of her future because sadly her opportunities are few and her guidance often lacking.
The detail is interesting, the truth behind the story fascinating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 1, 2019
Started well ended poorly.
January 29, 2015
As a fan of E. M. Delafield, I really didn't expect to run into a book of hers that I'd give two stars to, but here we have it. The flaw to me was not only the homiletic, judgmental tone throughout but the sense that people who are bad are just born that way, so they get what they deserve. The short stories that came with the edition of the book I was reading were... okay.
September 6, 2022
Delafield was too good a writer to turn out this 1920's true crime novel (early in her career). Since everyone knew the outcome of this murder, the only thing left for her to explore was the motivations of the woman at the center of it all. It's a rather pedestrian read with a lot of repetition and a cast of thoroughly unlikeable people.
April 10, 2023
WTF...
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews