May Sinclair (1) (1863–1946)
Author of The Life and Death of Harriett Frean
For other authors named May Sinclair, see the disambiguation page.
Works by May Sinclair
A cure of souls 3 copies
Fame 2 copies
The Victim 1 copy
The Token 1 copy
Collected stories 1 copy
History of Anthony Waring 1 copy
The Mahatma's Story 1 copy
Tasker Jevons 1 copy
Associated Works
Queens of the Abyss: Lost Stories from the Women of the Weird (2020) — Contributor — 153 copies, 4 reviews
H.P. Lovecraft's Book of the Supernatural: 19 Classics of the Macabre, Chosen by the Master of Horror Himself (2006) — Contributor — 98 copies, 2 reviews
Women's Weird: Strange Stories by Women, 1890-1940 (Handheld Classics) (2019) — Contributor — 87 copies, 2 reviews
The Lifted Veil: The Book of Fantastic Literature by Women 1800-World War II (1806) — Contributor — 45 copies
Weird Women: Volume 2: 1840-1925: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers (2021) — Contributor — 38 copies
Homefront Horrors: Frights Away from the Front Lines, 1914-1918 (2016) — Contributor — 16 copies, 1 review
More ghosts and marvels,: A selection of uncanny tales from Sir Walter Scott to Michael Arlen, (The World's classics) (1934) — Contributor — 10 copies
Contact collection of contemporary writers — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- St. Clair, Mary Amelia
- Other names
- Sinclair, May (pseudonym)
- Birthdate
- 1863-08-24
- Date of death
- 1946-11-14
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Cheltenham Ladies College
- Occupations
- novelist
critic
suffragist
poet
short story writer
memoirist - Organizations
- Woman Writers' Suffrage League
Society for Psychical Research - Relationships
- Knocker, Elsie (fellow volunteer)
- Short biography
- Mary Amelia St. Clair was born at home at Rock Ferry in Cheshire, England, the daughter of a shipowner. She received her early education from a governess and then attended Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Her first novel, Audrey Cravern, appeared in 1897, under the pen name May Sinclair. She published two dozen novels, plus short stories and poetry, and popularized the "stream of consciousness" style advocated by Virginia Woolf. She also published the volume of literary criticism entitled The Three Brontes (1912). May Sinclair remained unmarried and lived with her mother until that lady’s death in 1901. She became a founding member of the London Medico-Psychological Clinic in 1913 to help promote the teachings of Sigmund Freud. After the outbreak of World War I, Sinclair went to France to work as an ambulance driver. She was so overcome by the war experience that she returned home to England after 17 days. She published articles based on her experiences in the The English Review and a book, A Journal of Impressions in Belgium (1915).
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Rock Ferry, Cheshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK
Ilford, Essex, England, UK
Gloucestershire, England, UK
Devon, England, UK
Buckinghamshire, England, UK - Place of death
- Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
Members
Reviews
First published in 1917, this is the story of a middle-class English family. It touches on suffragism and spiritualism, but the main interest for me was the impact of WWI, described by someone who was living through it. By 1917, young men knew that their deaths were almost inevitable, but it was a matter of honour to enlist and to sacrifice one's life. Families were shamed if their sons did not enlist. From my perspective in 2019, the concepts of the nobility of sacrifice, the ecstasy of show more death in battle are toxic, but in 1917, with sons, brothers, friends and husbands dying at the front, people must have needed to comfort themselves that these deaths were for a purpose. I've heard the term "the war to end all wars", but this is the first time I've seen it written by someone living through it, who desperately needed to believe it. show less
"Mamma, did Pussycat see the Queen?"
This feels like the saddest book in the shortest number of pages that I've ever read. And yet, all that happened was Pussycat was distracted by the smallest, least important of things. Pussycat bragged that it went to London to see the Queen, but hardly realized that it did not actually, in fact, see the Queen or anything remotely as worthy of doing.
Not a word too many, not a leitmotif too insignificant, not a thought too small to be tangled, untangled, show more then tangled again. Not a single beautiful thing remaining undestroyed by the end of the life of Miss Harriett Frean.
May Sinclair, I love you.
86 perfect pages of a blurred life that strove only to behave beautifully and not be selfish. show less
This feels like the saddest book in the shortest number of pages that I've ever read. And yet, all that happened was Pussycat was distracted by the smallest, least important of things. Pussycat bragged that it went to London to see the Queen, but hardly realized that it did not actually, in fact, see the Queen or anything remotely as worthy of doing.
Not a word too many, not a leitmotif too insignificant, not a thought too small to be tangled, untangled, show more then tangled again. Not a single beautiful thing remaining undestroyed by the end of the life of Miss Harriett Frean.
May Sinclair, I love you.
86 perfect pages of a blurred life that strove only to behave beautifully and not be selfish. show less
This is the story of the three daughters of a clergyman, living lives that are terribly constrained, in a vicarage in a small town on the Yorkshire moors. You might think, particularly if you looked at the cover of the Virago edition, that those sisters were named Charlotte, Anne and Emily. But they weren’t.
These three sisters were named Mary, Gwenda and Alice, they lived in the early twentieth century, but the parallels that May Sinclair draws make it obvious that their lives were not so show more very different to the lives of the Bronte sisters nearly a century earlier.
At first I thought that it would be a simple story. Mary was the sensible, home-loving sister. Gwenda was the free-spirited sister, who loved to walk on the moors. And Alice was the wilful, headstrong youngest sister. I was inclined to draw parallels with Meg, Jo and Amy, but as the story developed I came to appreciate these three sisters for themselves. And to find out that they were more complex creatures than they had first appeared.
The vicar was a bitter man, whose faith had been twisted out of shape. His first wife had died giving birth to his third daughter, his second wife had been unable to cope with the hardness of her life and died, and his third wife had told him some home truths and left him. Left wifeless, and unable to marry again, he believed that his daughters should keep house, do good works in the parish and live lives that were beyond reproach.
But all three dreamed of other lives, of marriage, of children, but most of all they dreamed of escape.
When an eligible young man, a new doctor, arrives in the town, he draws the attention of all three sisters. One is so desperate for his attention that she makes herself physically ill; one is so fearful for that sister that she withdraws and leaves hoe, even though her own feelings run deep and our reciprocated; and one pushes another towards another man so that she can seize the prize.
But a prize seized – a relationship founded – like that may not bring happiness and security. Independence is hard to hang on to when you know that your family needs you. And a second choice, a less obvious choice, can sometimes be the right choice.
May Sinclair spins a compelling story, full of rich descriptions of people and places, and with a wonderful understanding of her characters and their relationships. Her writing was clear, lucid, and terribly, terribly readable. The three sisters and their world came to life, and I turned the pages quickly because I so wanted to find out what would happen, what would become of them.
There are echoes of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, but I thought more of Thomas Hardy – who I understand May Sinclair knew.
My understanding of the three sisters grew as the story progressed and more of their characters were revealed. I found a sister to love and admire, a sister to dislike, and a sister who made my feelings turn around completely several times. Their stories were in the foreground but I saw the authors concern about the position of women in society, in the world, in the background.
The characters and the stories of the three men – the vicar, the doctor and the farmer – are well developed, but they are secondary.
The only thing that didn’t quite work was the author’s attempt to catch the subconscious as well and the conscious thoughts of her characters. It felt awkward; it really didn’t work.
But as a whole the story worked: Mary, Gwenda and Alice spoke to me, and their stories speak profoundly for many of their generation. And that is what will stay with me. show less
These three sisters were named Mary, Gwenda and Alice, they lived in the early twentieth century, but the parallels that May Sinclair draws make it obvious that their lives were not so show more very different to the lives of the Bronte sisters nearly a century earlier.
At first I thought that it would be a simple story. Mary was the sensible, home-loving sister. Gwenda was the free-spirited sister, who loved to walk on the moors. And Alice was the wilful, headstrong youngest sister. I was inclined to draw parallels with Meg, Jo and Amy, but as the story developed I came to appreciate these three sisters for themselves. And to find out that they were more complex creatures than they had first appeared.
The vicar was a bitter man, whose faith had been twisted out of shape. His first wife had died giving birth to his third daughter, his second wife had been unable to cope with the hardness of her life and died, and his third wife had told him some home truths and left him. Left wifeless, and unable to marry again, he believed that his daughters should keep house, do good works in the parish and live lives that were beyond reproach.
But all three dreamed of other lives, of marriage, of children, but most of all they dreamed of escape.
When an eligible young man, a new doctor, arrives in the town, he draws the attention of all three sisters. One is so desperate for his attention that she makes herself physically ill; one is so fearful for that sister that she withdraws and leaves hoe, even though her own feelings run deep and our reciprocated; and one pushes another towards another man so that she can seize the prize.
But a prize seized – a relationship founded – like that may not bring happiness and security. Independence is hard to hang on to when you know that your family needs you. And a second choice, a less obvious choice, can sometimes be the right choice.
May Sinclair spins a compelling story, full of rich descriptions of people and places, and with a wonderful understanding of her characters and their relationships. Her writing was clear, lucid, and terribly, terribly readable. The three sisters and their world came to life, and I turned the pages quickly because I so wanted to find out what would happen, what would become of them.
There are echoes of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, but I thought more of Thomas Hardy – who I understand May Sinclair knew.
My understanding of the three sisters grew as the story progressed and more of their characters were revealed. I found a sister to love and admire, a sister to dislike, and a sister who made my feelings turn around completely several times. Their stories were in the foreground but I saw the authors concern about the position of women in society, in the world, in the background.
The characters and the stories of the three men – the vicar, the doctor and the farmer – are well developed, but they are secondary.
The only thing that didn’t quite work was the author’s attempt to catch the subconscious as well and the conscious thoughts of her characters. It felt awkward; it really didn’t work.
But as a whole the story worked: Mary, Gwenda and Alice spoke to me, and their stories speak profoundly for many of their generation. And that is what will stay with me. show less
May Sinclair's Uncanny Stores, a collection of her stylish brand of ghost stories, focuses largely on lost love and unfulfilled love, making her voice distinctive in the genre by applying an associated subtext of physical and emotional needs, suppressed emotions, psychological trauma, and recriminations. These eight stories provide substantial chills, but there's also some really thought-provoking stuff here. The following are the standout stories:
"The Flaw in the Crystal" - This, the show more longest story in the collection, is a dizzying tale of Agatha Verrall's strange supernatural power, her motives to employ it, and its effect on herself and those to whom it is applied. This is an exhausting roller coaster ride of the shifting psychological and physical effects of the power on Agatha.
"The Nature of the Evidence" - Marston's marriage to Pauline is upended by Rosamund, his deceased first wife, who does not approve. A surprisingly bold tale of sexual frustration...and fulfillment.
"If the Dead Knew" - The startling opening scene in which organist Wilfrid Hollyer concludes a piece, and his student Effie Carroll reacts to the performance is one of the most unmistakably symbolic representations of a shared orgasmic climax I can imagine. A most fitting start to a story of sexual repression and frustration, as the mollycoddled Wilfrid promises his controlling mother that he will not marry Effie, his intended, until after her death. The disturbing conclusion is altogether reasonable in this Freudian tale.
"The Victim" - This starts as a rather straightforward of love and revenge, but Sinclair turns the traditional motive of hauntings on its ear, with a couple of impressive twists at the end.
"The Finding of the Absolute" - A metaphysical excursion into the afterlife, with moral lessons on nature of heaven and hell, and philosophical musings on time, space, and the universe.
"The Intercessor" - Though not included in Sinclair's original Uncanny Stories anthology, it is appended as the concluding story in this Wordsworth edition (Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural Series), to great effect. A writer seeking only peace and quiet in a small village, discovers a dark and tragic family secret and then works to heal the resulting wounds.
Helpful hint: I'd suggest that Paul March-Russell's Introduction not be read up front as it contains quite a few spoilers. show less
"The Flaw in the Crystal" - This, the show more longest story in the collection, is a dizzying tale of Agatha Verrall's strange supernatural power, her motives to employ it, and its effect on herself and those to whom it is applied. This is an exhausting roller coaster ride of the shifting psychological and physical effects of the power on Agatha.
"The Nature of the Evidence" - Marston's marriage to Pauline is upended by Rosamund, his deceased first wife, who does not approve. A surprisingly bold tale of sexual frustration...and fulfillment.
"If the Dead Knew" - The startling opening scene in which organist Wilfrid Hollyer concludes a piece, and his student Effie Carroll reacts to the performance is one of the most unmistakably symbolic representations of a shared orgasmic climax I can imagine. A most fitting start to a story of sexual repression and frustration, as the mollycoddled Wilfrid promises his controlling mother that he will not marry Effie, his intended, until after her death. The disturbing conclusion is altogether reasonable in this Freudian tale.
"The Victim" - This starts as a rather straightforward of love and revenge, but Sinclair turns the traditional motive of hauntings on its ear, with a couple of impressive twists at the end.
"The Finding of the Absolute" - A metaphysical excursion into the afterlife, with moral lessons on nature of heaven and hell, and philosophical musings on time, space, and the universe.
"The Intercessor" - Though not included in Sinclair's original Uncanny Stories anthology, it is appended as the concluding story in this Wordsworth edition (Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural Series), to great effect. A writer seeking only peace and quiet in a small village, discovers a dark and tragic family secret and then works to heal the resulting wounds.
Helpful hint: I'd suggest that Paul March-Russell's Introduction not be read up front as it contains quite a few spoilers. show less
Lists
Unmarried women (1)
Female Author (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 56
- Also by
- 52
- Members
- 1,295
- Popularity
- #19,822
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 36
- ISBNs
- 321
- Languages
- 5
- Favorited
- 5
