Margaret Forster (1938–2016)

I much prefer Margaret Forster's 1965 novel to Kingsley Amis' Girl, 20, which I also read recently. Both are depressing and disturbing in different ways, but Georgy is far more real and sympathetic than the middle class twits in Amis' story, and I love Forster's style. The opening paragraph is almost a lesson in creative writing, setting the scene and introducing the first character with economic fluidity, and the story builds from there.

George Parkin is an intelligent and witty young woman, show more but full of insecurities about her looks and her size. 'Desperate, that's me,' she tells her flatmate's boyfriend Jos. 'Twenty seven and never been asked out by a fella, let alone kissed.' She lives with the beautiful but cynical Meredith, and runs a dance class for young children out of the attic of her father's employer, Mr James, who has started taking a rather worrying interest in George's future. Lonely and unfulfilled, George suddenly finds herself in high demand - Mr James wants her to be his mistress, while Jos turns from the brittle beauty of Meredith to the maternal warmth of her friend.

The grim and gritty kitchen sink realism of Forster's novel evokes the rather ordinary and less than glamorous 1960s that most working class folk would have known. George and Meredith live in a bedsit in Battersea, her parents bow and scrape for a living, and Jos works in a bank. Meredith the dollybird comes closest to living the dream, going to parties every night and sleeping around, but even she's not happy. George gets what she wants, just, but under complicated circumstances and not without making sacrifices. I was pleased that everything worked out for her, but the ending is far from satisfying.

The brief but well written novel is definitely worth reading, but I recommend watching the film adaptation too. Lynn Redgrave is slightly OTT as George, but beautiful and amusing, and Charlotte Rampling steals every scene as Meredith. show less

Margaret Forster has the ability to create intensely believable and well-rounded characters, or perhaps I should say intensely believable and well-rounded female character: her men are perhaps a little bit more shadowy. But then it's women and their family relationships who are the main focus of Margaret Forster's writing. And in this book she has managed to create a title character who is bigoted, irritable, hugely overbearing and convinced that she is right about everything, who I know I show more would find intensely irritating after only five minutes if I ever met her in real life, and yet who genuinely engages the reader's interest and sympathy.

After nearly fifty years of marriage, the Glaswegian Maudie Tipstaff is coming to terms with the absence of her husband, Joseph. But absence is the operative word, as rather than being dead as the reader initially supposes, it soon becomes apparent that he has left her. The violent and hard-drinking Joseph has always been a great disappointment to the intensely respectable and hard-working Maudie, and his departure means that she can now spend some time in visiting her grown-up children. But rather than finding comfort in her children's presence she finds each of them in their own way as frustrating as the missing Joseph. Jean has inherited her mother housewifely skills, and at first glance is the most similar to her mother, but is the daughter who dreads her mother's visit the most, as her constant disapproval casts a gloomy pall over her comfortable house. 'Dear God!' rings out Maudie's cry time and again, as she picks fault with the small details of Jean's life, while refusing to talk about the emotional problems that Jean longs to discuss. But if Jean is a disappointment to her mother, Sally causes her embarassment and misery as she discovers that her daughter is the talk of the her village, with her slovenly and sluttish ways. Maudie expects all to be resolved with her visit to her son Robert, in Malta, but it is on this visit that she suffers the greatest disillusionment of all.

The Travels of Maudie Tipstaff is one of Margaret Forster's earlier novels (it was published in 1967) and Maudie is a product of her age. But taking that into account she seems utterly believable,as do her daughters. It is only the son Robert, who doesn't quite seem to work as a rounded character. But overall, a great read. show less

Rose Pendlebury and her husband Stanley are an elderly couple, living quietly in a London suburb slowly being taken over by young families. Rose is a prickly sort, judgmental and set in her ways:
She wasn't going to let any irritation spoil this lovely park. She was going to sit on a seat with her eyes feasting on all the greenery and the lake and the ducks and the flowers and not be bothered by anything. People were the trouble -- if only there were no people, she would be happy. show more (p.35)

Stanley goes with the flow, investing considerable energy in placating Rose and preventing the proverbial apple cart from being upset:
Rose had always been contrary. It was part of her way. Just when you thought you'd misunderstood her it all came right in the end. She wasn't one of your straightforward types. Her mind was like the inside of a car engine, all little nuts and bolts and wires that looked a terrifying tangle until you knew how it worked and which bit operated what. (p. 43)

When Alice and Tony Oram move in next door, Rose instantly judges them as a pretentious couple bent on urban gentrification -- the same way she sees other neighbors. One day while out working in her garden, she hears sounds of a child playing next door. Slowly, Rose befriends 2-year-old Amy and, even more slowly, Alice. The Orams turn out to be better sorts than Rose expected, and Alice makes it her personal mission to break down Rose's inhibitions and improve her outlook.

And that's what I thought this book was about, so when Rose began to warm up I settled in for a heartwarming story of love and friendship. But there was a strong dark current running through this book as well. Alice's friendship with Rose introduces conflict and stress into her marriage. Rose's relationship with her sister-in-law is contentious. She treats her husband poorly. Her son moved to Australia, and the implication is that he needed to put distance between himself and his parents. And all of Alice's care and concern can only go so far toward rehabilitating Rose. The story takes a very sad turn, and leaves Rose and Stanley on the cusp of change, their future uncertain.

The Seduction of Mrs Pendlebury was a layered and very well-written character study. I had to admire Margaret Forster's characterizations, but the plot fell short. The "seduction" of Rose was complete about halfway through the book, and the emotional roller-coaster that followed left too many loose ends. show less

The story begins in London in 1844 when 23-year old Elizabeth Wilson becomes lady's maid to Elizabeth Barrett. A complex and, at times, difficult relationship develops, which only ends with the death of Elizabeth Barrett Browning in 1861. The story follows the courtship of the Brownings, the dramatic elopement and their lives abroad, all the while with Wilson, as she is called throughout the book, attending her mistress' every need through good times and bad. Yet the Browings only provide show more the backdrop of this story, as this account gives voice to their maid Wilson, about the meaning of being in service, the sacrifices, the divide between servant and master and the stark contrasts between their lives and passions. Life's changing desires, for both maid and mistress, were at the heart of book, with many pleasures, losses and disappointments along the way.

Fact and fiction are threaded very closely together here; Margaret Forster has also written a biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, which I'm keen to read now. There is a lot of detail, and with very small print the book is actually quite a bit longer than 534 pages would suggest, but I enjoyed and savoured every last page of it. The writing reads more like a 19th century classic rather than a work of historical fiction by a contemporary author and it effortlessly transports the reader to that time and place. The character development was outstanding and very believable. It is compulsively readable and I just didn't want to put it down. The characters came to life on the page, human and flawed rather than glorified, but all the more real and accessible for it. This was, above all, a very moving read. show less