The Camomile Lawn

Ar first I thought this was a light period piece, a novel of manners set in that ever-enticing milieu -- the British upper class. But as it progresses it turns into something deeper, darker, and certainly sexier. Most of the book is set in England during WWII, though the main narrative is interspersed with scenes around a funeral in the mid-1980's. It follows a dozen people; five young cousins, three men with whom they are involved, their aunt and uncle, and a pair of Jewish refugees. The permutations and combinations within this group are many, various, and sometimes startling. And so are the ways they confront the desperate perils of the war, and the more gradual pains of growing older. A terrific read: makes me want to read more by show more the same author. show less

I have the 1992 miniseries on DVD, but hadn't thought to read Mary Wesley's novel until I found a copy in the library. In praise of the adaptation, there is little difference between the printed and screen versions, and I couldn't help but imagine Jennifer Ehle as Calypso, Felicity Kendal as Helena, and that guy with the bushy eyebrows as Max while reading.

The novel itself is a quick read, mostly dialogue but with some insightful statements ('She felt they had briefly exchanged the truth and grown closer') and vivid descriptions of London during the Second World War ('She walked up to the Row, shabby and sad, robbed of its railings'). Calypso, Polly, Walter, Oliver and Sophy are young cousins who spend every summer at their uncle's show more clifftop house in Cornwall, until the fateful declaration of war in 1939. Then the story moves to London. Everybody seems to be sleeping with everyone else, irregardless of ties family or marriage, because 'we all lived intensely' and 'if we were in love it was acute'. I found some of the female characters - the superficial Calypso, and independent Polly - more sympathetic than others, and the male characters not at all, apart from maybe Hector. The whole cast is very middle class and difficult to relate to, but great fun to read about. Ironically, the only let down in the whole book is the 'modern day' narrative frame, with everyone meeting at the old house in Cornwall for a funeral, which I found rather contrived and boring compared to the free love and tangled relationships of the past.

An enjoyable vignette of another time and place, and I will definitely read more of Mary Wesley's writing. show less

This was an unexpectedly good read. Mary Wesley presented another side of war - how people tried to live their lives normally during wartime. Unlike Louis de Bernieres' The Dust that Falls from Dreams which is similar in background, The Camomile Lawn is a much niftier read, and one that slightly pulls your heartstrings at how hard the characters are trying to live their lives. What you have to get used to is the quick change of perspectives and scenes without warning, and you have to find your bearings on where the plot is at.

Conventional upper-middle class cousins and friends embark on unconventional sex and love life once World War II disrupts the social order. Written in the Nineteen Eighties, this story sometimes seems to act as a plea to readers to remember that baby-boomers were not the first cohort to flout sexual mores. Ms Wesley would insist it was 1939 when the revolution happened.
There's a disappointing lack of character development for such a large cast, except perhaps for the wilful Calypso; and the split in narrative between the war years, and a funeral in the Eighties doesn't help the coherence.

This is told in 2 timeframes, one prior to and early in WW2, the other sometimes in the 80s (guess) when those present in the first time frame reconvene for a funeral of one of their number. It's interesting device, showing the story as it evolved, as well as in retrospect. There's much we learn from looking back at the same events that is maybe not entirely clear initially.

I'm not sure that the slightly incestuous relationships were necessarily indicative of the experience of every one during the war, but it certainly brings out the impact it had on people's lives. At the start of the story, 4 cousins come down to stay with their aunt & uncle and the youngest cousin. They are close knit, they exist as a small group and that was show more entirely convincing. As a depiction of the outbreak of war, it's beautifully done, the moon lit dinner party versus the threatening clouds that hover all around. It deals with life, love, relationships, sex (rather a lot, but at least its not graphic).

It was a nice book to listen too. part of the mind wants to fill in the 40 odd years in the middle. show less

A novel about a group of English cousins at the eve of WWII and what happened to them in the war, with flash forwards to the present day. We see much of the action through the eyes of Sophy, the odd girl out because she's much younger than the others and because of her Anglo-Eurasian race. As in other England at war novels, the war gives these young people opportunities for adventures – sexual ones – that they wouldn't have had in conservative pre-war days. There are some interesting twists in their emotional lives and several of the characters end up in places they never expected to go. I like that one of the women who finds herself behaving unconventionally is a woman in her 40s who had been the model of a good wife. I was show more obscurely pleased that the femme fatale cousin wears the same perfume I do, Mitsouko.
I have some quibbles with some of the plot: there's a dramatic subplot that doesn't go anywhere either plot-wise or emotionally, and nearly every character is revealed to have some sexual quirk. What a family! I had some skepticism about how the story ends, too, but I acknowledge that it’s a door opening to possibilities and not a "they lived happily ever after" false note. show less

The story follows a middle-aged couple whose nephews and nieces spend summers with them at their home in Cornwall, location of the eponymous lawn. As war looms in 1939 the cousins realize this may be their last summer together. Although sexually uninhibited to the point of promiscuity, the characters are also repressed in many ways, an interesting but realistic contradiction. Just when it seems the action is going to be all sex and war, Wesley throws in some dark slapstick humour. Most of the story takes place in the war years then interspersed with passages forty years later when the now elderly characters and their offspring attend a funeral and reflect on their lives. For a story that wandered along, seemingly with little happening, show more the ending wrapped up everything very neatly. This was made into a movie that I will definitely seek out. show less