Rating: WORTHY!
I really like this novel, and I loved the ending, sad as it was in many ways, but it did take a while to get through. I think some editing would have improved things, but that said, I consider this to be a worthy read as is. It had a really strong central female character which is always a winner with me. She had her moments of weakness, and she won through in the end, but I am not convinced she really learned anything, which was a bit of a downer for me.
I have to say that one thing I am not fond of in books is chapter quotes - where the author begins a chapter or a section with some quote from some bygone writer, typically some poet I never heard of. I really don't care who it is or what it is because it's so predictably boring and meaningless. I know these things must mean something to the author (at least I would hope they do otherwise it's just pretension, isn't it?), but it's an imposition to assume they will resonate with a reader who has picked up the book to read the author's work, not random quotes from a bunch of other authors!
I skip these with the same diligence which I bring to skipping prologues, introductions, prefaces, and epilogues. The silliness of these quotes was highlighted for me by the attribution to one, which read, 'WILFRED OWEN (1893–1918), “1914” (published 1920)' All those numbers! I laughed out loud at the sheer absurdity of it and I still didn't read the quote, but I sure appreciated the laugh! As it happened, this novel did have an epilogue, and I skipped it. If it's worth saying, it's worth putting into a chapter. If you think it's worth no more than tacking it to the end like Post-it® note, then I'm certainly not going to imagine it's worth reading.
Fortunately for my rating, and despite all this silliness, the novel turned out to be very engaging and well-written (finally I find an author who knows the difference between staunch and stanch - but unfortunately not the difference between a Union Jack and a Union flag!). There was also an instance of "to watch the cortège pass" appearing twice in succession.
he main character, Beatrice Nash is trying to make her own way in the world after the death of her scholarly father, but she's being hampered by the severe constraints put upon women in 1914, and by the fact that an aunt is in charge of her money. This seemed to me to be a bit of a contradiction: that on the one hand, we're to believe that Beatrice has no say in her financial affairs because she's a woman, but her money is controlled by a woman who has every say in those affairs? Why her father did this to her is never explained.
Author Helen Simonsen is an ex-pat Brit (and I'd almost - almost - be willing to bet she still has her charming Sussex accent) who evidently has been out of the country a bit too long to remember all her British-isms (such as how to spell 'manoeuvrings'!), but for the most part she did a great job imbuing this with True Brit™. It felt very English, except for the odd bit here and there where I read, for example, "I am as dizzy as if the champagne was already flowing.” instead of "I am as dizzy as if the champagne were already flowing" which is what an educated Brit would have said back then. In fact the real war here was the rigid class system, not what was going on in Europe. In that regard, the title is misleading because this novel is about The Summer Before the War and the first winter of the war almost through to the following spring. But using that for a title would have been absurd!
I was a little bit slow getting into it, but very quickly it caught my imagination like a fresh wind in the sails of a yacht, and soon I was racing along. As the title indicates, it begins in the summer before the start of World War One, the so-called "Great War" and otherwise known as "the war to end all wars." Sha, right!
Beatrice made a real impression that stayed with me even after the novel was over. Hampered by the severe constraints put upon women in Edwardian times, and more acutely by the fact that an aunt who disapproves of her refusal to marry is in charge of her money, Beatrice nevertheless managed to secure for herself a job teaching Latin at a school in Rye, Sussex, yet she still she feels the pinch of her circumstances. Of course she's a lot better off than many others, enjoying the somewhat privileged station she does. It bothered me that she never seems to fully appreciate how lucky she was despite her life being put quickly into perspective as refugees from Belgium, which has been invaded by Germans, are brought into town to be housed, and the town, along with the rest of Britain, begins gearing up for a war they've never seen the like of before.
Navigating extreme genderism (by our standards - normal for those times), local politics, petty rivalries, and men who would seek by turns, to take advantage of her and relegate her to a position little better than the servants in the employ of the wealthy local families she encounters, Beatrice tries to stay mindful of those who are less privileged, particularly the Roma kid, Snout, whom she tries to help despite the opposition to him being even greater than it is to her, and her 'ward' Celeste, a refugee of whom she seems a bit neglectful at times, quite frankly. She never really gets there in the wising-up stakes, and ends up with an easy out.
It was not easy to like anyone in this story! I managed it with Beatrice, Celeste, and Hugh, but that was about it. The rest I pretty much wanted to slap the nobility off their privileged faces. Their conduct was disgusting to the point of laughable, but there is no doubt that it was how these people behaved and how all too many of them still behave. I have no time for royalty or for so-called nobility.
I did like the way the characters were moved around by the author, and the petty rivalries being disclosed like a body parts in a fan dance. I was a bit sad there was not more about Celeste. I think she merits a novel to herself, but she does have her moments and I enjoyed them. I think she was my favorite character although I didn't quite get how the tide turned as easily for her as it had originally against her. That seemed a bit too convenient, but I'll take that ending for Celeste! Beatrice never stopped trying to make her way with dignity and to empathize with others, and this steadfast approach to her life is what kept me on her side, despite her failings. Overall I liked the novel and even got a bit choked by the ending, so I consider this a winner and I recommend it.
