Laurence Meynell (1899–1989)

While I generally keep my digital reader charged, today I found I had failed to do so. I put it on charge and picked up a paperback that came in the mail the other day. That paperback was The Fortunate Miss East, and to my sheer delight, it was one of the sweetest, most intriguing stories I have come across in ages. The book itself is the kind of paperback we used to buy in the drugstore back in the 1970s, where romance novels could be had for $1.50. The copy I have does not look like the one pictured here. It has a dark, brooding cover picturing a woman in dark clothes standing in front of a thatch-roofed English cottage, and at its center is a cardboard advertisement for Kent cigarettes. It is a miniature time capsule and within its pages is a completely charming story of love, loss and redemption.

Set in 1910, this book features a very rare independent and strong-willed woman, to whom I warmed immediately. That she has seen tragedy is evident upon her first introduction and that she has a back story we want to share is equally clear. I found her intriguing, relatable, and admirable, and I ached for how alone she seemed and how subject to the whims of the men who flit through the story. Laurence Meynell has painted in Miss East a character one cannot help but root for.

”When the world ends, how will it be recorded in the history books ten thousand years from now when all the stupidity and agony have started up again? Most likely in a single sentence it will say, ‘In the year nineteen hundred and whatever-is-going-to-be the world came to an end.’ Mine came to an end four years ago. On March 27th.”

In our concern for the coming of the end of the world, we seem to lose sight that for each of us the world ends individually. There is a personal “end of the world” and we each have at least one end coming to us. What might matter most is what we do with the time in between and who we love along the way.

My thanks to Claire, without whom I would certainly never have discovered this little gem. I’m glad some person in 1970 picked it off the drugstore rack and that it passed through all the hands to which the bent spine attests and made its way to me. If you get the chance, read it.
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A friend of mine picked this book up at a library book sale. This book was very enjoyable, it was a nice easy read. One thing I found very interesting was a young boy of 8 ran away from boarding school and his parents were barely concerned. They knew he would turn up and thought he might be sulking in the woods somewhere. The boy ended up going to Miss East's home and staying with her for a few days. Unfortunately today when a child goes missing it's usually not a happy ending. It was apparent that it's a different world today.… (more)