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A review by andrew61
The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby
4.0
Muriel Hammond is introduced to us in the prologue of this engaging book as we see her as an anxious child at a children's party. Her pushy, social climbing mother, wants her to blossom and dance with the boys but Muriel is overlooked by everyone, she is the classic wall flower but the prologue ends with an embarrassing incident involving sweets that left me squirming.
The subsequent chapters allow us to follow Muriel's life in the small village of Marshington where as an adult she has negotiate social expectations and her very emotionally controlling mother who both demands her exclusive attention while also hoping that she will make a match with a local man that can raise the families status.
This book was both a pleasure and an excruciatingly uncomfortable read as we follow a heroine who cannot blossom and shine and in a world where class and cosmetic beauty appear to count more than the character and personality of the individual. Written in the 1920's Winifred Holtby brings her own frustrations about the society in which she lives, both the claustrophobia of small village society and society's expectations of women to aspire to a good marriage.
The final chapters allow some positive hopes as the new wave of feminism epitomised by her friend Delia ( Vera Brittain) allow her to reject the old ways . a brilliant final chapter had me on edge to the very end but I would have loved a sequel to find out about Muriel as she grows into a new future.
The subsequent chapters allow us to follow Muriel's life in the small village of Marshington where as an adult she has negotiate social expectations and her very emotionally controlling mother who both demands her exclusive attention while also hoping that she will make a match with a local man that can raise the families status.
This book was both a pleasure and an excruciatingly uncomfortable read as we follow a heroine who cannot blossom and shine and in a world where class and cosmetic beauty appear to count more than the character and personality of the individual. Written in the 1920's Winifred Holtby brings her own frustrations about the society in which she lives, both the claustrophobia of small village society and society's expectations of women to aspire to a good marriage.
The final chapters allow some positive hopes as the new wave of feminism epitomised by her friend Delia ( Vera Brittain) allow her to reject the old ways . a brilliant final chapter had me on edge to the very end but I would have loved a sequel to find out about Muriel as she grows into a new future.