The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin (February 2020)

[Susan]

Yes, and he came home to lunch too, if I remember rightly! I remember wondering whether it had something to do with rationing, which obviously went on until the Fifties, but I don't think I could have coped with feeding my husband and kids during the day, in the years when I stayed home with my little ones.

[Roman Clodia]

Yes, he does come home for lunch - and sometimes unexpectedly so poor Louise has to prepare something on the off chance he turns up. Good point about rationing, Susan, though I guess only people working locally can get home.

I've also just realised that Louise appears to be hand washing the nappies as she talks about them soaking in a basin. It's hard to get my head around how onerous all that housework is without the appliances we take for granted. I'd love the social history even if I weren't hooked on the story.

[Jill]

Disposable nappies weren't introduced into the UK until the 1980s. Nappies would be boiled before then, usually in a big pan on the gas stove.

[WndyJW]

I started this last night too. I’m pleased you’re reading it as well, Roman Clodia. I told my friend about poor harried Louise and her insufferable husband. The husband’s huffing and puffing about loud children doesn’t surprise me as much as Louise’s acceptance of his being annoyed at her as justified!

This is a great read for several reasons: the writing, the characters, the look at daily of women then, and of course, the mysterious Vera Brandon.

[Roman Clodia]

Jill wrote: "Disposable nappies weren't introduced into the UK until the 1980s. Nappies would be boiled before then, usually in a big pan on the gas stove."

Gulp. Must have smelt delightful 😖

[Roman Clodia]

WndyJW wrote: "This is a great read for several reasons: the writing, the characters, the look at daily [lives] of women then, and of course, the mysterious Vera Brandon"

Yes, all those - and the subversion of writing about those domestic frustrations and burdens that male-authored fiction of the time pretty much bypassed.

[Susan]

There was a reason why women had a 'washing day,' back in the day. It took all day to do the weeks washing.

I do recall using a mangle on a caravan park in the early seventies, where they had large sinks for people to wash out swimming stuff mainly.

You make a good point, thought, RC. Male authors did ignore those domestic burdens, which were not part of their life. Domestic fiction is often ignored or sneered at, but - for many women (and I include myself) many years are spent, largely at home, with young children. Personally, I enjoyed that time, but it could be frustrating at times and Fremlin paints a very realistic portrait that is still relevant.

[Nigeyb]

Susan wrote:


"Domestic fiction is often ignored or sneered at"

Yes, it speaks to an innate snobbishness within literary criticism that goes back decades. I always think of Virginia Woolf being so mean about JB Priestley, although there are so many examples and mainly it was male critics dismissing the genre.

Thankfully it has changed a lot over the last 20 years

I adore a lot of the domestic fiction we discuss in this group

Virago, Persephone, Faber Finds etc did a lot to rehabilitate authors like Celia Fremlin, and many many more.

And more latterly blogs like Furrowed Middlebrow...
https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/

I loves it

[Nigeyb]

WndyJW wrote:


"This is a great read for several reasons: the writing, the characters, the look at daily of women then, and of course, the mysterious Vera Brandon."

Yes. I couldn't agree more - it's brilliant evocation of domestic life in 1950s London suburbia. You could also add the horrendous neighbours too, who add to the sense of enduring a hellish nightmare

[Roman Clodia]

Susan wrote: "There was a reason why women had a 'washing day,' back in the day. It took all day to do the weeks washing."

Given what a drama I make about hand-washing silk 'delicates', this speaks to me!

I guess it's also that time when servants and domestic help have been eroded following the war and so middle class women like Louise are forced to do their own housework which their mothers probably didn't.

It's not so much the constant burden that I'm finding so eye-opening, but the blithe way that both genders don't even question that everything that goes on within the house is the wife's responsibility while Mark lounges around literally doing nothing.

There's that beautifully revealing scene where he suggests a 'date night' and thinks he's a hero for taking Louise out to the movies - while she goes into overdrive planning meals, babysitter and all the other stuff that isn't even on his radar.

It's an immense social change over the last 60 years (thankfully!)

[Roman Clodia]

Nigeyb wrote: "You could also add the horrendous neighbours too, who add to the sense of enduring a hellish nightmare"

I'm surprised that noise is such an issue as I'd assumed older houses were built to be more sound-proofed than modern housing. This is clearly a big thing for Fremlin as one of her short stories focuses on this issue.

The gossipy neighbours are hilarious, too - though the claustrophobia is palpable.

[Roman Clodia]

Finished - this is a blast! I'm going over to the spoiler thread: www.goodreads.com/topic/show/21182425... to talk about the ending

[Alwynne]

I'm interested to hear what you thought about the ending RC

[Nigeyb]

Just giving this a bump so it’s roughly in the same place as the associated spoiler discussion. It’s a shame we don’t have the ability to join two threads together

Spoiler discussion here...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Laura]

Thanks - was looking for this and didn't find.