Here’s an appropriate book for the first day of the new year!
Stories for Winter is British Library Women Writers’ seasonal collection of 14 stories set in winter. They are arranged chronologically (sort of), starting with a story from 1902 by Edith Wharton and ending with one by Angela Carter for which a date is not given but may have been published in 1974. Most of them deal in some way with changes to society that affect women.
In “The Reckoning” (1902) by Edith Wharton, Mrs. Clement Westall has noticed a disturbing change in her husband’s behavior. He has begun lecturing on his radical views of marriage—views the couple agreed on when they married—when before he preferred not to discuss them. The problem is that Jula no longer thinks the same way—that if one of a couple finds they no longer are happy together, they should part.
In “My Fellow Travellers” (1906) by Mary Angela Dickens, Miss Lanyon tells a girl a story about why she believes in spiritual things. This story fits right into the Christmas tradition begun by Dickens’s grandfather, Charles.
In “The Woman Who Was So Tired” (1906) by Elizabeth Banks, “the little reporter” writes an article about a poor woman supporting a large family and then becomes embarrassed when it becomes very popular. Her boss thinks she made the situation up, but that’s not exactly what’s going on.
In “A Cup of Tea” (1923) by Katherine Mansfield, Rosemary Fell thinks she’s doing a charitable act by inviting a poor woman to tea. But she soon decides she’s made a mistake, highlighting the divide between rich and poor.
In “A Motor” (1922) by Elizabeth Bibesco, Eve spots her ex-lover’s car on the street and knows he is visiting his current lover.
In “Ann Lee’s” (1926) by Elizabeth Bowen, two women visit an expensive hat store only to have a slightly disreputable man insistently interrupt their shopping.
I couldn’t really get on the same wavelength with Elizabeth in “The Snowstorm” (1935) by Violet M. McDonald. A stranger talks her into a dubious adventure even though she has only met him once and found him irritating. I couldn’t really understand what he wanted to confide in her or why he wanted to handle it the way he did or why she even agreed to go, much less what happens afterward.
“November Four/Ffair Goeaf” (1937) by Kate Roberts follows a group of Welsh workers to town for the fair, and two women also try to buy a hat, with less success than the women in “Ann Lee’s.”
“My Life with R. H. Macy” (1941) shows a different side of New York than Wharton’s story—a satiric look at Shirley Jackson’s brief employment at Macys, where the workers are so degraded that they’re known by their employee numbers rather than their names.
“The Cold” (1945) by Sylvia Townsend Warner shows how different the staff who are ill are treated from the family.
As Simon Thomas points out in the Introduction, tea is very important to the British, and it is the offer of a cup of tea that begins an acquaintance in “The Prisoner” (1947) by Elizabeth Berridge. Miss Everton offers tea to a German prisoner of war, a young man who is part of a crew digging ditches near her house.
In “The Cut Finger” (1948) by Frances Bellerby, five-year-old Julia makes an upsetting discovery when she seeks help from her mother for her cut finger.
In “The Thames Spread Out” (1959) by Elizabeth Taylor, a mistress has an adventure that leads her to reconsider her relationship with her married lover while her house is flooded by the Thames.
Frankly, I had no idea what was going on with “The Smile of Winter” (1974?) by Angela Carter except someone is depressed.
Except really for one story, I very much enjoyed this collection. I received it from the publishers in exchange for a free and fair review.
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