The Provincial Lady

Books about the Second World War written during the war fascinate me.

Usually I read diaries or memoirs. But there are two similar works of fiction: Mrs Miniver (1939) and The Provincial Lady in Wartime (1940). Both are narrated by married women with children and both are autobiographical. The former has less narrative continuity as it’s a collection of columns Jan Struther wrote for The Times. You will remember she was commissioned to write them by Peter Fleming. To be clear, I don’t think I have read Mrs M, although I hope to borrow a copy from a cousin. I am re-reading TPLiW by EM Delafield.

She was born Edmée (sic) Elizabeth Monica de la Pasture and you can see from whence she derived her pen name. She was a prolific novelist but is best known for her Provincial Lady books based on her own experiences: Diary of a Provincial Lady (1930), The Provincial Lady Goes Further (1932), The Provincial Lady in America (1934), and finally TPLiW (1940). Plenty to keep me going if in search of undemanding comfort reading. She has a dry sense of humour that appeals to me.

“September 1st, 1939. Enquire of Robert whether he does not think that, in view of times in which we live, diary of daily events might not be of ultimate historical value to posterity. He replies that It Depends. Explain that I do not mean events of national importance, which may safely be left to the Press, but only chronicle of ordinary English citizen’s reactions to war which now appears inevitable.”

The provincial lady anticipates 21st century Nightingale hospitals.

”The Hospitals … are all fully staffed, and the beds are all empty, and nobody is allowed to go in however ill they are, and the medical staff goes to bed at ten o’clock every night and isan’t called till eleven next morning because they haven’t anything to do. The nurses, owing to similar inactivity, are all quarrelling amongst themselves … “

Of her many other novels this may be the best.

“Thank Heaven Fasting (1932) – Monica Ingram sees no future other than marriage, but a foolish romantic encounter has muddied her reputation and wilted her confidence, and she seems condemned to live forever with her domineering mother. “The best of her ‘debutante’ works, a minor classic that will endure” The title is a quotation from Shakespeare (As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 5). The quotation in full is Down on your knees and thank heaven, fasting, for a good man’s love. “ (Wikipedia)

The provincial lady was not to chronicle her life after the war. EMD died in 1943, aged fifty-three.