Mr. Waddington of Wyck

by May Sinclair

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Hardcover

First published November 1, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair, a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry. She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. May Sinclair was also a significant critic, in the area of modernist poetry and prose and she is attributed with first using the term stream of consciousness) in a literary context, when reviewing the first volumes of Dorothy Richardson's novel sequence Pilgrimage (1915–67), in The Egoist, April 1918.

Reviews

[JimZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Sort of weak/goofy/stupid at the end. I originally rated it as 2.4 stars, but I am going to give it 2.5 stars and round up to 3 because I really like May Sinclair and she is not well-known and she ought to be.... 🙂 🙃

Mr. Waddington is portrayed as supremely egotistical. He is not necessarily a mean person. He looks at himself in the mirror and thinks the mirror is misrepresenting himself — what he sees in the mirror is an aging person (he is in his 50s I reckon) whereas he would like to look to be in his 20s... there is a portrait of him in his house prominently displayed in which he is in his 20s and looks quite dashing. He doesn’t look as dashing anymore. He is married to a nice woman, Fanny, and he has a secretary, Barbara, who also is companion to his wife (they had companions in England back in the day...I think they were factotums of a sort). He hits up on two women, a widow and Barbara...he assumes they are secretly in love with him. They are not. He is quite frankly delusional.

Weak/goofy/stupid...why do I say that? Because at the end of the novel Fanny tells Barbara who her husband tried to hit up on (and he truly wanted a divorce from his wife Fanny so he could marry 24-year-old Barbara) that she wishes Barbara had loved her husband...because Fanny was just glad that finally with Barbara her husband cared for another individual outside of himself. I was confused by her logic because then at the very end of the novel Mr. Waddington is leaving their house to spend some time with his elderly mother, who will make him feel young again... What a buffoon. . I just felt at the end of the novel that things didn’t make a whole lot of sense. I haven’t had that sort of feeling with the majority of Sinclair’s books so I hope it’s a one off.

Reviews:
• (5th paragraph of this blog article reviews the book... https://www.stuckinabook.com/the-case...

[Ginny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had such sense of deja vu reading this book. Since I had to track it down in our provincial library system, I cannot imagine where I could have read it before. This story about an upper-class man in post-first world war Britain in a mid-life crisis is sympathetically and humorously portrayed, but I found it very difficult to care very much. Everyone around him humours him--protects him even while laughing at him. Maybe that's why he became such a fool. His egoism and sense of entitlement is truly ghastly, and yet people love him and feel sorry for him.

Now I wonder if my deja vu is that he reminds me of my father.

[Rachel M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in the dark corner of an antique store, and now I see that it has been virtually unread by modern readers! However, it is a little gem of a book, a perfectly satisfying comedy. Mr. Waddington reminds me of Mr. Banks of Mary Poppins, Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing, and a little bit of Basil Fawlty, all rolled into one. He is completely ridiculous, but his charm lies in the fact that he takes himself entirely seriously. Meanwhile, everyone else has full reign to "appreciate" him.
I wish someone would discover this story and turn it into a period comedy.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildly amusing but rambles without any obvious plot or point.

Other novels set at Wyck
Anne Severn and the Fieldings
The Rector of Wyck

My reviews of other novels by May Sinclair
The Tysons: Mr. and Mrs. Nevill Tyson (15/12/14) ★★★★
The Three Sisters (07/08/16) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Romantic (12/10/19) ★ ★ ★ ★
The Life and Death of Harriett Frean (11/05/19) ★ ★ ★
The Flaw in the Crystal (20/03/20) ★ ★ ★
Anne Severn and the Fieldings (12/08/21) ★ ★ ★ ★
Far End (22/01/22) ★ ★
Audrey Craven (25/03/22) ★ ★ ★ ★
Mr. Waddington of Wyck (14/11/22) ★ ★
The Tree of Heaven (02/09/23) ★ ★ ★ ★
The Rector of Wyck (31/05/24) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

[E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just wrote a review, and can't find it! Here it goes again- I really enjoyed this book. the theme is about a man in his 40's or 50's and he thinks he attracts females that he is around. "Making love to them" back then meant heavy kissing. Book was written in 1921.

It's a gem! Especially for women who have lived with men like this. This is a gem. Read it! Free on kindle.

[Yesenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am yet to read something written by May Sinclair that I do not absolutely love. I have not read that much, so this is not so impressive a statement...

ANYWAY, this is a great book, again. Fabulous in every way. And what a character, Mr. Waddington! Who says that female authors do not create larger-than-life male characters!? Clearly, they have not read May Sinclair!

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

May Sinclair's gift for observation and analysis of ordinary people is just amazing. What a creation, Mr Waddington, and Mrs Levitt too. I can't recommend this highly enough for a comfortable squirm.