Elizabeth Taylor Centenary: A View of the Harbour

Our 2012 Elizabeth Taylor Centenary continues in March with Taylor's third novel, A View of the Harbour. The description on the novel's back cover reads:

"Are we to go on until we are old, with just these odd movements here and there and danger always so narrowly evaded? Love draining away our vitality, our hold on life, never adding anything to us?" Passions intrudes into the dull, predictable world of a faded coastal resort when Tory, recently divorced, begins an affair with her neighbor Robert, the local doctor. His wife Beth, Tory's best friend, writes successful and melodramatic novels, oblivious to household chores and the relationship developing next door. But their daughter Prudence is aware and appalled by Robert and Tory's treachery. The resolution of these painful matters is conveyed with wit and compassion, as are the restricted lives of other characters: the refreshingly coarse Mrs. Bracey, the young widow Lily Wilson and the self-deceiving Bertram. In this enchanting and devastatingly well-observed novel, first published in 1947, Elizabeth Taylor again draws an unforgettable picture of love, loss, and the keeping up of appearances.

A View of the Harbour began as an unpublished book titled Never and Always. They are two distinctly different works, but share many characters and situations. By this time her work was gaining critical acclaim in Britain and Knopf, Taylor's American publisher, was very enthusiastic about the book.

Once you've read the book, be sure to stop by to share your thoughts.

I read this book way back in 2008, and gave it 4.5 stars. It was my second Taylor (after Mrs Palfrey), and a gift from LT member amandameale. I was so enchanted with this book, the reading experience landed Taylor on my "favorite authors" list, because of her unique ability to bring minute observation to life (something we've discussed in previous monthly reads).

Here's an excerpt from my review:

A View of the Harbour focuses on the day-to-day events and relationships of the community. Like any small town, people spend a lot of time watching one another and gossiping. Characters are presented first at a distance, as viewed through a window by a neighbor. But Taylor also transitions seamlessly to first-hand accounts of each character, bringing detail, depth and emotion to each situation. Many events play out through the perspective of Bertram, a visitor who has supposedly come to paint the scenery, but manages to insert himself into the lives of several community members. As he becomes acquainted with various people, so does the reader.

My light green Virago version (1987) has a different back cover description:

"The war over, retired naval officer Bertram comes to a quiet fishing village intending to paint. Curious, and with that strangely unfortunate capacity to inflict lasting damage while trying instead to do good, he begins putting his nose into every aspect of the picturesque backwater. There's a lot going on beneath the quiet surface: pretty divorcee, Tory, is painfully involved with the local doctor -- who just happens to be married to her best friend, Beth. And Beth continues to churn out successful melodramatic novels, oblivious to the relationship developing next door. Meanwhile, Lily Wilson pins vain hopes on Bertram's countless kindness...."

I read Elizabeth Taylor's A View of the Harbour last August/September and Laura's review was so good that I just posted a blurb about it but this is what I said:
"I finished A View of the Harbour last evening and loved it. I am finding Elizabeth Taylor to be one of the best Virago writers in that she writes in an such an understated manner, is very subtle, and grows her characters very quietly. Love her writing. I loved the way this one ended and must say that while I should have been prepared for it, I was not."

I am so looking forward to reading my first Elizabeth Taylor book this month and all your comments are really whetting my appetite! I'm hoping to start early next week as soon as I finish up a couple of books I've already started.

I'll be running a discussion of this on my blog... once I've read it! I will not slack in my duties, Laura, honest.

>6 Stuck-in-a-Book:: I'm sure you won't Simon! I should have given you a mention in the opening post ... sorry about that.

Gosh, don't worry about that!
I'm putting up another reminder in my Weekend Miscellany tonight, and then (once I've got my book group read of In Cold Blood out the way) I'll be straight onto A View of the Harbour!

Is it mentioned where the location is? Seems too far from Cornwall (daytrip to London) and not "beachy" enough for East Anglia. Any opinions from across the pond?

I haven't started the book yet but I'd guess Sussex. I might change my mind once I start reading though!

I've started it but have read about 2 pages so far! But I've started it. I got a bit panicky as I've got an Early Reviewer book, this one and a Hardy to read, plus a HUGE tbr, but it's a quieter week for the business so I reckon I can carve me out some reading time in the next few days!

I am reading the Hardy at the moment - and should finish tonight - then will move on to A View of the Harbour really looking forward to it.

I posted my review of A View of the Harbour. Loved it. Belva, do you think that wedding will really come off?

It just landed in today--formerly a library copy, all nicely protected in a plastic see through slip cover, from Northwich Library Witton Street, somewhere in Cheshire.

Not in a million years Elaine. Do you?

A View of the Harbour was a perfect title for this book and I think one must appreciate the small nuances of daily life to love it. I did.

>13 Liz1564:: Elaine, that was a fabulous review!!

Belva, I think the prospective groom will take off like a shot and the bride will continue to happily cash her alimony checks.

I am about 2/3 of the way through VotH now and am just loving it. She doesn't put a foot wrong, does she!

More cats! Can someone tell me in a private message if the cats die, please? I'm kind of OK with it but I'd like advance warning, such as Ali kindly gave me about the last one. No spoilers here is fine - in fact I'm trying not to read this thread till I've finished the book ...

... and thank you both for doing so!

Finished and reviewed A View of the Harbour and I love Elaine's review too.

Finished and reviewed it too. Not too sure how I feel about what I wrote, however.

>20 LyzzyBee:, 21: loved them both!

Thanks, Laura. I think what I was having trouble with is that there is so much depth and so many layers in this book that nothing I could say would do it justice, without getting into a 20 page essay. Elaine mentioned the boiled udders and fish heads, which I loved!

This was the second Talyor book i read and thoroughly enjoyed it - so delightful. Love the way she slowly and subtly develops her characters. The ending of this was very good - quite different to the endings of her other two novels i've read (In a Summer Season - which had a very surprising and abrupt ending) and (A Game of Hide and Seek - which had an ambiguous ending - but i think i can see the reason for that) - none the less, i love her novels - i breath a sigh of contentment every time i sit down to start a new novel of hers - because i know i won't be disappointed.

So many interesting things going on in this novel! I loved the juxtaposition of Beth and Bertram--Beth, who had little interest in her own life except when it provided new possibilities for all the characters in her brain; and Bertram, who wanted so desperately to have a life of prestige and renown, but only shone through the lives of others, as he became the perfect companion to each person around him. An interesting parallel between Tory and Prudence, too--they seem to share hedonistic tendencies, yet fall into relationships with prosaic men who don't understand them.

Just skimming here, as I am only a little over a hundred pages in. I am enjoying it very much so far...

I'm loving the comments here, and the way each reader picks up on different details.

I have finished too- just posted my review - loved it.

Another good review!

I have been rereading Middlemarch and there is another Casaubon with marital problems. Wonder if Taylor used Cazabon on purpose?

>29 tiffin:: I wondered the same thing Tui.

You're all doing so much better than me - I'm about 30 pages in. I think it's good, but I always find with Taylor that I can't remember which character is which for the first half of the book...!

I always have to go back and check who's who as well, but not only in ET. Very interesting about Beth the novelist: how much of Taylor's experiences and feelings is going into Beth's thoughts?

I finished and posted my review. In a word, I loved it. I definitely thought Taylor had Middlemarch in mind with Dr. Cazabon. She had so many references to other literature of the 19th century. My book is now completely loaded with post its as I marked more passages than I thought possible. My review only touched on the many things that struck me about the book. I haven't read any of the other reviews yet (I'll do that when I finish here) but was anyone else struck with the scene of Mrs. Bracey's death? I believe it's the most poignant death scene I've ever read.

There was so much to the book, so many details.

If anyone wanted to join in the discussion (hopefully a discussion!) on my blog, I'm hosting for A View of the Harbour - http://stuck-in-a-book.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/elizabeth-taylor-view-of-harbour.h...

I just posted on there but my link to my review didn't "take"!

I've had a lovely lazy morning finishing A View of the Harbour. I still need to read the introduction and collect my thoughts about it but it was book by Elizabeth Taylor that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I also found it a bit difficult to get into and keep track of all the characters at the beginning. For some reason I pictured Lily Wilson as an old widow for quite some time. And I also wondered about the Casaubon/Cazabon connection. Did it seem to anyone else that the roles were reversed between the two books? Beth Cazabon was the author so swept up in writing her book that she didn't seem to notice Robert was interested in another woman and in Middlemarch it was the other way round. It doesn't fit exactly so I might be overthinking this.

Any thoughts on the significance of the last paragraph? I'd noticed people remarking on the yacht throughout the book but I was quite surprised by who turned out to be on the yacht and I'm not sure I really understand what Taylor was trying to do with that.

I was also struck by all the passages about Beth as a novelist and her struggles with being a mother and had to wonder to what extent Taylor wanted us to apply these passages to herself.

I could quite happily start reading it from the beginning all over again.

>36 souloftherose:: I'm reading Middlemarch right now, Heather, and that's a fascinating connection you made there!

Somehow, I don't know how, I entirely missed that Beth is the same name as Elizabeth - making it all the more likely that Taylor intended something of a self-portrait? As a writer, at least.

#38 Doh - me too. And I'm bloomin well called Elizabeth too!! (although Liz or Lyzzy and never Beth)

I loved this book, I think it's my favourite Taylor now of the five I've read. I've written a review on my 75 challenge thread but I probably won't add it to the main page as I think the excellent reviews already there say everything that needs to be said.

36: Heather, I suspect that Taylor was playing with a side of herself with the character of Beth. She probably did feel guilty at times, as a working writing mother in the early twentieth century and I wonder if Beth was an exaggerated version of a certain aspect of her personality. The side that was objective and enabled her to distance herself from her family. I found it interesting the way Beth is respected as an observant and perceptive author yet didn't notice her husband's affair and wondered if Taylor is having a wry dig at herself and whether there were things in her own life she hadn't noticed. Though towards the end of the book, I wondered if Beth chose not to see what was under her nose. She had loved Tory since school days and there wasn't much evidence of her loving Robert. Or did she know and that's why she was so angry with Robert?

When I first read the ending where the owner of the yacht was revealed, it seemed a classic case of tragic unfortunate timing where we are meant to believe poor Tory's happiness is to be denied her because of bad timing. Then I thought Tory's not the type to be a victim of bad timing and that things would probably work out for her the way she wanted them to, one way or another!

38: Simon, the Beth/Elizabeth connection seems so obvious now you've said it but I hadn't spotted it before!

17: I agree!

One other thing I was left wondering about was poor Lily Wilson. Mrs Bracey thought she observed men going in and out of Lily's house. Did Lily's loneliness and the incident with the French sailor lead to the regular taking home of sailors or was that just gossip originating from Mrs Bracey's overactive imagination?!

I'm late. I'm late. I'm terribly late. Only just finished this yesterday. Now, this will make some of you squirm...but the sign of a good book for me is how many sticky notes and underlinings there are ....and there are lots in this....I can't possibly write a review but here are some unstructured thoughts....

Loved the description of the slate in the kitchen on Page 102 for reminders which had pearl barley written on it for six weeks...

Help! Didn't get the reference Page 107 when Robert said to self "I am not some young Shelley, capering about with old-man's beard in my hair, breaking women's hearts to left and right"...I do apologise...obviously I am a bit un-edjumacated and don't get it....what does old man's beard mean?

Loved the descriptions of dear Stevie with moon-like faces hovering above her imploring her to use her handkerchief et al...and the teacher......"Even children who passed from one funny phase to a funnier, could not disturb her." Bless those teachers and may they continue to serve...

What is a gin-and-french?

Now, I thought "When Did you Last See Your Father?" was a modern movie but perhaps not.....Page 158.. there is a reference to a picture in Edward's room - can someone please explain????

Adored the wry humour of "Her spirits were too low to describe Allegra's death. She had looked forward to it so much, but now as she watched fields flying by, wondering where to begin, etc etc" Pages 176-177

Okay - now we really get to the nitty-gritty...Prudence at the movies with the turgid Geoffrey - what does it mean when Taylor says "for her own immaturity had in it in the hope of growing up, and that of the people in the film had not." ? Does she mean only immature people lose themselves in love...hmmm...she sounds a bit bitter if that's the case...poor Taylor...

Obviously I need to read Turgenev - To Do list number 567.

also interested in the reference to feminism on page 197. Dreadful how one thinks the term began and ended in the 70s.

What are "lights" for cats???????

Sicko that I am I loved the description of the drowned woman on Page 207 - very evocative.

I'll shut up now....Over to you dear smart ones who will enlighten the great unwashed one no doubt.....

Hello Alex. It's lovely to read unstructured thoughts, and I can fill in a few details for you:

1. Old man's beard is the colloquial name for a particular hedgerow plant.

2. "When Did you Last See Your Father?" is a painting in Liverpool's Walker gallery. I could be wrong, but I think I remember reading or hearing that Blake Morrison saw it and borrowed the name for his book and the film was based on said book.

3. "Lights" are some sort of offal, presumably sold cheaply by butchers and deemed suitable for pets.

#41 Old Man's Beard has fluffy seeds that float around. They're whitish-grey and look like (you've probably guessed this) bits of an old man's beard.

Gin-and-french is like gin-and-it but made with a french vermouth, instead of italian vermouth (I think). I prefer my gin with tonic.

The "When did you last see your father?" picture is a Civil War scene. Roundheads questioning a young Cavalier boy.

I think "lights" are lungs but may be other bits as well. Presumably bits that humans don't eat.

#41 and 43 I think lights are lungs too. You can (could?) get "liver and lights". Oh, now I have to look it up ... Oxford Concise says "the lungs of sheep, pigs or bullocks as food for pets". Origin is the use of the word light for them as a noun, owing to their lightness. cf LUNG, so I did ... origin lungen of Germanic origin, related to Light. Nice.

Wonderful trivia ... I must have just skimmed over all those details and not worried about their meaning. Shame on me, it's so much better to understand!

Bless you and thank you all - off now to look up When Did you Last See Your Father? ....no doubt another bit of wry humour....

Here tis....

I know this painting well as it was once featured in an episode of the Charlie Drake comedy show on the BBC when I was about the same age as the Blue Boy. Drake - who was tiny - played the brave child resisting the questioning and when asked for his father's whereabouts betrayed his dad without a qualm. It is a painting so familiar to Brits over a certain age that it could be used in a comedy sketch without explanation. I presume, therefore, that it was a staple of Boots the Chemist who were the only suppliers of affordable prints in the 50s and 60s and whose artworks hung above our fireplace for most of my growing up years. In our case it was Constable's rural scenes but other people had Turners, Gainsboroughs and later that dreadful Green Goddess.

I have loved this conversation. Like Laura I too, skimmed those bit thinking them just little touches to the story and not meaningful. I love that there are those of us who still wonder at the unknown and want to know the what and the why of it. I may be a bit too jaded in my dotage to be curious at the time but when it is written out like this (similar to a quest for knowledge), it becomes fascinating.
Thanks guys. This was really interesting.

Old man's beard is our one native clematis. Lights (lungs) smell dreadful when boiled for catfood. When did you last see your father ? was so familiar a picture that the title became a national catchphrase. I loved Stevie too and the lightness which pervades this novel, unlike A Wreath of Roses.

An incredibly late contribution to this thread, but I must say I enjoyed this in a way I couldn't seem to with Palladian. I found the memory of some of the peripheral characters stayed with me longer than the central ones - Lily Wilson, for example and Mrs Bracey (very well drawn as a character you dislike and admire simultaneously). I agree with other posters that Beth was possibly an examination of the author's own life and her mixed feelings about it.

I'm late to this too, but I joined fairly recently and started with A Wreath of Roses and am sort of working my way backwards! I found this a much more satisfying book than Wreath and I really, really enjoyed it. ET is *such* a good writer - her prose is precise, her descriptions lovely. And I do feel that her precision is a key to her writing - everything is intentional and for a purpose - like the giving of diminutives of her name to the characters (particularly Beth as a writer) and her clever use of Hemingway for Bertram's surname (Ernest Hemingway having written the Old Man and the Sea which suggests lots of nuances to me - Hemingway being thought of as a very virile, manly man whereas if you juxtapose this surname with Bertram, it takes away the effect. Bertram is an old man painting the sea but about as far from EH as you could get!). So I do feel her use of names is very significant.

I like the fact that her female characters are so strongly portrayed as well. It's interesting that there is no mention of Richard here - what did others think of him? He's probably the only character I would say was slightly underdeveloped and I don't find enough about him and his motivations to really get a handle on him (or was I just reading too fast to find out what happened?)

Anyway, I've really taken to ET - the burning question is can I fit in At Mrs. Lippincote's and Palladian before May?!?!

Interesting, this book seems to be emerging as a group favorite -- at least so far!