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Good Daughters #1
Good Daughters
In a world of tradition change is always greeted with suspicion. To Stanley Fairley, the upheavals in his own family seemed to be as catastrophic as the changes that gripped Europe in the early 1930's.
He though about his daughters-Louise, Alice and little Claire. They were growing up-turning into young women he hardly knew. Louise had bobbed her hair and disappeared for hours at a time without saying where she was going. alice dreamed of adventure, wild romance and exotic mystery. Even Claire seemed different these days.
The first volume in Mary Hocking's sparkling trilogy, GOOD DAUGTERS, is a marvellously funny yet nostalgic picture of a sensible English family shaken by a rapidly changing world.
He though about his daughters-Louise, Alice and little Claire. They were growing up-turning into young women he hardly knew. Louise had bobbed her hair and disappeared for hours at a time without saying where she was going. alice dreamed of adventure, wild romance and exotic mystery. Even Claire seemed different these days.
The first volume in Mary Hocking's sparkling trilogy, GOOD DAUGTERS, is a marvellously funny yet nostalgic picture of a sensible English family shaken by a rapidly changing world.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
1 person is currently reading
114 people want to read
About the author
Mary Hocking
32 books8 followersBorn in in London in 1921, Mary was educated at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Girls School, Acton. During the Second World War she served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (Wrens) attached to the Fleet Air Arm Meteorology branch and then briefly with the Signal Section in Plymouth.
Writing was in her blood. Juggling her work as a local government officer in Middlesex Education Department with writing, at first short stories for magazines and pieces for The Times Educational Supplement, she then had her first book, The Winter City, published in 1961.
The book was a success and enabled Mary to relinquish her full time occupation to devote her time to writing. Even so, when she came to her beloved Lewes in 1961, she still took a part-time appointment, as a secretary, with the East Sussex Educational Psychology department.
Long before family sagas had become cult viewing, she had embarked upon the ‘Fairley Family’ trilogy, Good Daughters, Indifferent Heroes, and Welcome Strangers, books which give her readers a faithful, realistic and uncompromising portrayal of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary times, between the years of 1933 and 1946.
For many years she was an active member of the ‘Monday Lit’, a Lewes-based group which brought in current writers and poets to speak about their work. Equally, she was an enthusiastic supporter of Lewes Little Theatre, where she found her role as ‘prompter’ the most satisfying, and worshipped at the town’s St Pancras RC Church.
* Source
Writing was in her blood. Juggling her work as a local government officer in Middlesex Education Department with writing, at first short stories for magazines and pieces for The Times Educational Supplement, she then had her first book, The Winter City, published in 1961.
The book was a success and enabled Mary to relinquish her full time occupation to devote her time to writing. Even so, when she came to her beloved Lewes in 1961, she still took a part-time appointment, as a secretary, with the East Sussex Educational Psychology department.
Long before family sagas had become cult viewing, she had embarked upon the ‘Fairley Family’ trilogy, Good Daughters, Indifferent Heroes, and Welcome Strangers, books which give her readers a faithful, realistic and uncompromising portrayal of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary times, between the years of 1933 and 1946.
For many years she was an active member of the ‘Monday Lit’, a Lewes-based group which brought in current writers and poets to speak about their work. Equally, she was an enthusiastic supporter of Lewes Little Theatre, where she found her role as ‘prompter’ the most satisfying, and worshipped at the town’s St Pancras RC Church.
* Source
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 5, 2013
Mary Hocking has been a recent discovery for many of us over on the Librarything Virago group. I read A Particular place a couple of months ago, and knew immediately I wanted to read all her books. How delicious it is to discover a new author. Mary Hocking – who it seems is scandalously out of print – is a lovely sort of mash up of Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Pym, also her books seem reasonably easy to get hold of second hand -phew! Why someone like Persephone or Virago aren’t rushing to re-issue her books is something of a mystery.
Good Daughters is the first book in Mary Hocking’s Fairley family trilogy – I have the next two waiting to be read. The novel opens in 1933, the world is on the brink of great change, and so is the Fairley family. Sisters: Louise, Alice and Claire live in a traditional family home ina suburban street with their parents. Stanley Fairley is the headmaster of a boys school and a Methodist lay preacher. Although a loving father Stanley is quite strict with his daughters, he finds so much in the changing world around him to disapprove of. Louise wants to be an actress,and her requests to take acting parts in a dramatic society production are met with great suspicion. Alice invents stories, climbs trees and over the course of three years begins growing up and making sense of the world around her. Most of the story of the Fairley family is seen through Alice’s eyes who seems to be a fairly autobiographical creation. The youngest sister is Claire a dreamer, who finds it hard to keep her sister’s secrets.
It was apparent that the head of the house was present. Although he lacked the stature for natural authority, being a little short of medium height, he nevertheless, on entering a room, contrived the impression of a substantial force; an effect achieved mainly by a certain fierceness of expression and the thrusting of his stocky body against the air as though he was forever pushing an unseen opponent before him. Forcefulness alone would probably not have been sufficient to sustain dominance over a long period of time, but he was fortunate in having his wife’s support. She had suffered in her own childhood from the lack of a man at the head of the table and was not minded to go through her marriage as her mother had hers. She therefore reinforced her husband’s position while not always accepting his judgement
Next door to the Fairley family live the Vaseyelin family, the Fairley sisters are drawn into the lives of Jacov and Katia and their faded mother, their father who doesn’t live with his family but plays Violin outside a London station. It is at the Vaseyelin house that they meet Guy Immingham. Katia goes to school with Alice, and they are good friends, but Alice’sother friend Daphne Drummond doesn’t like Katia. Both Daphne and Katia’s families differ to the Fairley’s and Alice’s involvement with them change her, and influence her understanding of the world. Daphne’s father is a deeply unpleasant man, Alice witnesses him with another woman, and his right wing politics have influenced the way Daphne thinks too. Louise is friends with both Jacov and Guy, both of whom are involved with the drama she loves so much, Jacov in helping to produce the play she is hoping to take part in, and Guy as a fellow actor. Guy’s mother is a snooty woman who lives her life through her golden boy, she strongly disapproves of Louise and considering her determined to “get” her son. Claire is able only to fully commit herself to one friend at a time, and we see her changing childish allegiances and the way her friend of the moment directs her behaviour at home. Poor Claire suffers a bit from being the youngest often the last to know what is going on, required to keep quiet about things she is dying to talk about, and necessarily reduced to frequent tears when she incurs her sister’s wrath.
Mary Hocking re-creates family life at this crucial changing time in England’s history faithfully and realistically, there is a fantastic sense of time and place, lots of good period detail. Alice spends a lot of time at cinema, mooning about the 1930′s stars of the silver screen. Stanley Fairely keeps a eye on the news from Europe, and Alice expresses mild concern at Katia’s proposed trip to her Grandparents in Bavaria.
I know a lot of people out there are reading or planning to read Mary Hocking so I am loathe to say too much more about the story. This is an excellent start to a trilogy which I know know I will continue to enjoy, and I am looking forward to the rest of the trilogy with enthusiasm.
Good Daughters is the first book in Mary Hocking’s Fairley family trilogy – I have the next two waiting to be read. The novel opens in 1933, the world is on the brink of great change, and so is the Fairley family. Sisters: Louise, Alice and Claire live in a traditional family home ina suburban street with their parents. Stanley Fairley is the headmaster of a boys school and a Methodist lay preacher. Although a loving father Stanley is quite strict with his daughters, he finds so much in the changing world around him to disapprove of. Louise wants to be an actress,and her requests to take acting parts in a dramatic society production are met with great suspicion. Alice invents stories, climbs trees and over the course of three years begins growing up and making sense of the world around her. Most of the story of the Fairley family is seen through Alice’s eyes who seems to be a fairly autobiographical creation. The youngest sister is Claire a dreamer, who finds it hard to keep her sister’s secrets.
It was apparent that the head of the house was present. Although he lacked the stature for natural authority, being a little short of medium height, he nevertheless, on entering a room, contrived the impression of a substantial force; an effect achieved mainly by a certain fierceness of expression and the thrusting of his stocky body against the air as though he was forever pushing an unseen opponent before him. Forcefulness alone would probably not have been sufficient to sustain dominance over a long period of time, but he was fortunate in having his wife’s support. She had suffered in her own childhood from the lack of a man at the head of the table and was not minded to go through her marriage as her mother had hers. She therefore reinforced her husband’s position while not always accepting his judgement
Next door to the Fairley family live the Vaseyelin family, the Fairley sisters are drawn into the lives of Jacov and Katia and their faded mother, their father who doesn’t live with his family but plays Violin outside a London station. It is at the Vaseyelin house that they meet Guy Immingham. Katia goes to school with Alice, and they are good friends, but Alice’sother friend Daphne Drummond doesn’t like Katia. Both Daphne and Katia’s families differ to the Fairley’s and Alice’s involvement with them change her, and influence her understanding of the world. Daphne’s father is a deeply unpleasant man, Alice witnesses him with another woman, and his right wing politics have influenced the way Daphne thinks too. Louise is friends with both Jacov and Guy, both of whom are involved with the drama she loves so much, Jacov in helping to produce the play she is hoping to take part in, and Guy as a fellow actor. Guy’s mother is a snooty woman who lives her life through her golden boy, she strongly disapproves of Louise and considering her determined to “get” her son. Claire is able only to fully commit herself to one friend at a time, and we see her changing childish allegiances and the way her friend of the moment directs her behaviour at home. Poor Claire suffers a bit from being the youngest often the last to know what is going on, required to keep quiet about things she is dying to talk about, and necessarily reduced to frequent tears when she incurs her sister’s wrath.
Mary Hocking re-creates family life at this crucial changing time in England’s history faithfully and realistically, there is a fantastic sense of time and place, lots of good period detail. Alice spends a lot of time at cinema, mooning about the 1930′s stars of the silver screen. Stanley Fairely keeps a eye on the news from Europe, and Alice expresses mild concern at Katia’s proposed trip to her Grandparents in Bavaria.
I know a lot of people out there are reading or planning to read Mary Hocking so I am loathe to say too much more about the story. This is an excellent start to a trilogy which I know know I will continue to enjoy, and I am looking forward to the rest of the trilogy with enthusiasm.
April 6, 2016
This is the beginning of a family saga, opening in London in the early 1930s; the first novel of a trilogy.
The story is told by in the third person, the perspective moves around the family and some of those who cross paths with them, but at the centre of the story is twelve year-old Alice, one of three sisters, the middle one.
She was at that interesting stage in life when she had the security of home and family but she was also beginning to see some – but by no means all – of the possibilities that life might have to offer.
“In later years, Alice heard people talk as if those who grew up during the period between the two wars had lived their youth beneath the shadow of the swastika. But it had not seemed like that at the time.
Although in her childhood older people talked of the war that was just finished, and then, some ten years later, began to talk of the war which was to come, no shadow seemed to touch her until she was sixteen.”
The father, Stanley, dominates the family. He is a headmaster and a lay preacher and he has firm – and maybe idealistic – views about his family should live. He studies his newspaper carefully and he worries about what is happening to the world and what will happen to his daughters when they are grown. His wife, Judith, appreciated his and her daughters feelings and she managed things beautifully, with practical good sense and wonderful diplomatic skills.
The story of their eldest daughter, Louise, propels the plot. Her parents hoped that she would go to university but Louise wanted to be an actress. She persuaded them to let her join a drama group, she let them think it was at her girls’ school, but it wasn’t.
And Louise caught the attention of the boys in the group ….
Meanwhile, Alice is juggling friendships with two girls from very different backgrounds who do not get on. Katia is the daughter of a family of Russian-Jewish refugees, while Daphne comes from a more privileged, but probably less happy, background.
Mary Hocking as much pays attention to her secondary characters as her principals, and so the story of those girls and their families brings another aspect to the story, and illuminates the diversity of 1930s London wonderfully well.
Accounts of school life, where the narrative perspective moves towards their teachers are particularly well done. Mary Hocking worked in education until she could support herself by her writing, and it is clear that she had strong feelings and a depth of understanding.
Alice was an average student but she discovered a talent for writing; that confirmed the suspicion I had from the start, that a great deal in this story was drawn from life.
Mary Hocking paints pictures of family life, and of the world around the family, wonderfully well. Her evocation of time and place is pitch perfect, her period details are well chosen, and I didn’t doubt for a moment that she knew and understood everything that she wrote about.
She wrote well, simply and clearly, in good, old-fashioned English.
A wide-ranging cast of characters and some trips away from home - including one to Cornwall, that probably explains where Mary Hocking got her very Cornish surname - meant that there was always something to hold my attention.
But I have the same reservation that I had last time I read one of her books.
The narrative style and the writing style held me at a distance from the story and I would have liked to be a little closer. to feel that I knew -rather than knew of – the Fairley family.
I wish that she had written this book in the first person, and I am sure that she had the understanding, the grasp of her material, that she could have done it. For me, either a little more immediacy in the storytelling or a little more beauty in the prose would have really elevated this book.
That is not to say that it isn’t a very good book. It is!
Mary Hocking was a very fine chronicler of an age she lived through.
And I am eager to read the second and third books of the trilogy.
The story is told by in the third person, the perspective moves around the family and some of those who cross paths with them, but at the centre of the story is twelve year-old Alice, one of three sisters, the middle one.
She was at that interesting stage in life when she had the security of home and family but she was also beginning to see some – but by no means all – of the possibilities that life might have to offer.
“In later years, Alice heard people talk as if those who grew up during the period between the two wars had lived their youth beneath the shadow of the swastika. But it had not seemed like that at the time.
Although in her childhood older people talked of the war that was just finished, and then, some ten years later, began to talk of the war which was to come, no shadow seemed to touch her until she was sixteen.”
The father, Stanley, dominates the family. He is a headmaster and a lay preacher and he has firm – and maybe idealistic – views about his family should live. He studies his newspaper carefully and he worries about what is happening to the world and what will happen to his daughters when they are grown. His wife, Judith, appreciated his and her daughters feelings and she managed things beautifully, with practical good sense and wonderful diplomatic skills.
The story of their eldest daughter, Louise, propels the plot. Her parents hoped that she would go to university but Louise wanted to be an actress. She persuaded them to let her join a drama group, she let them think it was at her girls’ school, but it wasn’t.
And Louise caught the attention of the boys in the group ….
Meanwhile, Alice is juggling friendships with two girls from very different backgrounds who do not get on. Katia is the daughter of a family of Russian-Jewish refugees, while Daphne comes from a more privileged, but probably less happy, background.
Mary Hocking as much pays attention to her secondary characters as her principals, and so the story of those girls and their families brings another aspect to the story, and illuminates the diversity of 1930s London wonderfully well.
Accounts of school life, where the narrative perspective moves towards their teachers are particularly well done. Mary Hocking worked in education until she could support herself by her writing, and it is clear that she had strong feelings and a depth of understanding.
Alice was an average student but she discovered a talent for writing; that confirmed the suspicion I had from the start, that a great deal in this story was drawn from life.
Mary Hocking paints pictures of family life, and of the world around the family, wonderfully well. Her evocation of time and place is pitch perfect, her period details are well chosen, and I didn’t doubt for a moment that she knew and understood everything that she wrote about.
She wrote well, simply and clearly, in good, old-fashioned English.
A wide-ranging cast of characters and some trips away from home - including one to Cornwall, that probably explains where Mary Hocking got her very Cornish surname - meant that there was always something to hold my attention.
But I have the same reservation that I had last time I read one of her books.
The narrative style and the writing style held me at a distance from the story and I would have liked to be a little closer. to feel that I knew -rather than knew of – the Fairley family.
I wish that she had written this book in the first person, and I am sure that she had the understanding, the grasp of her material, that she could have done it. For me, either a little more immediacy in the storytelling or a little more beauty in the prose would have really elevated this book.
That is not to say that it isn’t a very good book. It is!
Mary Hocking was a very fine chronicler of an age she lived through.
And I am eager to read the second and third books of the trilogy.
February 22, 2017
“Stanley said to Judith how blessed they were in their daughters. Only Judith wondered whether this might be the last holiday they would have together as a family. The children had no thought of last things, confident that everything lay ahead of them.”
I had not read Mary Hocking before but saw reviews that were so compelling, that I picked up this first book in her trilogy, “Good Daughters”, with expectations of a treat before me.
I have to say that at first, I wasn’t too impressed. This coming-of-age-in-prewar England novel had its moments; chapters that describe vacations, school, growing up, family, and boy-girl relationships. It took me a few chapters to get into the lives of the characters. But as I read on, I discovered that this is no simple story of family life in England. In between the school-girl stories that include both triumphs and failures, there is also tragedy. There is a friend who travels to Germany and doesn’t come back. There are unforeseen and unprepared-for consequences from rash choices, and there are also bits of wonderful prose; bright sparkling paragraphs of deep, challenging explorations of the meaning of life and this sometimes crazy, upside-down world we live in.
As I read I continued to vacillate between really, really liking the stories of family life and alternately wishing the author had not included a few of the scenes. And there is quite a variety of characterization here; the elderly, crochety grandmother, the unassailable school headmistress, the pretentious Mrs. Immingham, the pleasant, refreshing country vacations and the Jubilee parade. All are depicted and written about as if the reader himself is present.
Now that I have finished reading, I am still somewhat hesitant and uncertain of how to view this surprising book, but I do know that I have to keep reading! I find myself looking forward to picking up the second book in the trilogy (“Indifferent Heroes”). Certainly the characters have stayed with me, and the story line also.
The Fairleys are a ‘fairly’ (excuse the pun!) typical family with three girls, a stern father and supportive mother, and a ‘middling’ comfortable life. Not rich or pretentious, this is life as it was for much of England before the war begins, although events are escalating and the war looms on the horizon, coloring the background.
“They grew up aware of an older, more stable way of life, though they were not to be its inheritors.”
Louise, the eldest, seems ready to throw off restraint in her response to the restrictions placed upon her by her well-meaning minister-father. I suppose there are many that did not appreciate the character of Stanley Fairley, but having children of my own, I could understand his concerns. Without revealing too much, Stanley’s well-meaning attempts to place stringent boundaries upon his children, unfortunately, result in the very consequence that he fears. Judith brings a balance to the family as she tries to pave a smooth path between father and daughters.
There are real-life situations, and some of the vignettes will not be appreciated as the author does not hesitate to portray all of the details that life involves, including the unattractive side of human nature. However the final chapter simply blew me away! The author takes Alice through her agonizing questions to examine the role of her own life and that of those around her. Alice is not afraid to ask questions and concludes that although some of life's dilemmas will never be satisfactorily answered, an enduring faith, even in the midst of human suffering, lays the groundwork for it all.
“Her puritan upbringing had laid much emphasis on the need for endurance in the face of injustice, fortitude in suffering and, by their very nature, the virtues commended to her implied a certain grimness in the grain of life. What she had not been prepared for, because she did not merit it, was the laying of a jeweled robe across her shoulders. There was something shocking about grace, an inexplicable quirk in God’s behavior; the struggle to come to terms with it would be her life. But she did not see that now, was only dimly aware of a beginning.”
I had not read Mary Hocking before but saw reviews that were so compelling, that I picked up this first book in her trilogy, “Good Daughters”, with expectations of a treat before me.
I have to say that at first, I wasn’t too impressed. This coming-of-age-in-prewar England novel had its moments; chapters that describe vacations, school, growing up, family, and boy-girl relationships. It took me a few chapters to get into the lives of the characters. But as I read on, I discovered that this is no simple story of family life in England. In between the school-girl stories that include both triumphs and failures, there is also tragedy. There is a friend who travels to Germany and doesn’t come back. There are unforeseen and unprepared-for consequences from rash choices, and there are also bits of wonderful prose; bright sparkling paragraphs of deep, challenging explorations of the meaning of life and this sometimes crazy, upside-down world we live in.
As I read I continued to vacillate between really, really liking the stories of family life and alternately wishing the author had not included a few of the scenes. And there is quite a variety of characterization here; the elderly, crochety grandmother, the unassailable school headmistress, the pretentious Mrs. Immingham, the pleasant, refreshing country vacations and the Jubilee parade. All are depicted and written about as if the reader himself is present.
Now that I have finished reading, I am still somewhat hesitant and uncertain of how to view this surprising book, but I do know that I have to keep reading! I find myself looking forward to picking up the second book in the trilogy (“Indifferent Heroes”). Certainly the characters have stayed with me, and the story line also.
The Fairleys are a ‘fairly’ (excuse the pun!) typical family with three girls, a stern father and supportive mother, and a ‘middling’ comfortable life. Not rich or pretentious, this is life as it was for much of England before the war begins, although events are escalating and the war looms on the horizon, coloring the background.
“They grew up aware of an older, more stable way of life, though they were not to be its inheritors.”
Louise, the eldest, seems ready to throw off restraint in her response to the restrictions placed upon her by her well-meaning minister-father. I suppose there are many that did not appreciate the character of Stanley Fairley, but having children of my own, I could understand his concerns. Without revealing too much, Stanley’s well-meaning attempts to place stringent boundaries upon his children, unfortunately, result in the very consequence that he fears. Judith brings a balance to the family as she tries to pave a smooth path between father and daughters.
There are real-life situations, and some of the vignettes will not be appreciated as the author does not hesitate to portray all of the details that life involves, including the unattractive side of human nature. However the final chapter simply blew me away! The author takes Alice through her agonizing questions to examine the role of her own life and that of those around her. Alice is not afraid to ask questions and concludes that although some of life's dilemmas will never be satisfactorily answered, an enduring faith, even in the midst of human suffering, lays the groundwork for it all.
“Her puritan upbringing had laid much emphasis on the need for endurance in the face of injustice, fortitude in suffering and, by their very nature, the virtues commended to her implied a certain grimness in the grain of life. What she had not been prepared for, because she did not merit it, was the laying of a jeweled robe across her shoulders. There was something shocking about grace, an inexplicable quirk in God’s behavior; the struggle to come to terms with it would be her life. But she did not see that now, was only dimly aware of a beginning.”
July 18, 2015
The three Fairley sisters, Louise, Alice and Claire, are the focus of this novel. The older sisters are beginning to challenge their sheltered and religious world. It is set in London, between the wars, in a close-knit community and we move between the three daughters and their parents lives.
Their father, Stanley, is the dominant character in the family. He is a Methodist teacher and has idealistic and uncompromising views on how their family unit will be. Their mother, Judith, is quiet, encouraging and supportive. I did enjoy reading this book from an author new to me. There was a real sense of the uncertain times they were living through and some amusing and touching moments.
This novel shows a family learning to understand each other, in a world that is changing rapidly, and how they survive together with the demands that change creates.
Their father, Stanley, is the dominant character in the family. He is a Methodist teacher and has idealistic and uncompromising views on how their family unit will be. Their mother, Judith, is quiet, encouraging and supportive. I did enjoy reading this book from an author new to me. There was a real sense of the uncertain times they were living through and some amusing and touching moments.
This novel shows a family learning to understand each other, in a world that is changing rapidly, and how they survive together with the demands that change creates.
June 2, 2015
I loved this book which is the first novel of a trilogy.
We have the Fairley sisters who grow up in a close knit family in west London.
They live a sheltered life, upheld by their Methodist Father Stanley and their quiet Mother Judith.Set between the Wars.
Life is soon to change as the girls grow older and more dependant.
Can't wait to read the next in the series.
We have the Fairley sisters who grow up in a close knit family in west London.
They live a sheltered life, upheld by their Methodist Father Stanley and their quiet Mother Judith.Set between the Wars.
Life is soon to change as the girls grow older and more dependant.
Can't wait to read the next in the series.
April 15, 2016
Set in 1933, the book opens with an introduction to the Farley Family residing in Shepard’s Bush, London – Stanley, the father is a well intentioned, albeit a strict Methodist man, who is the principle of a Boy’s school. He is a kind, good man, wanting the best for his family, somewhat out of touch with reality. His wife Judith is a strong, sensible woman who is far more in touch with reality and changes that they need to make in the lives, as their daughters start to become women. The daughters in order of their age are Louise, Alice and Clare, who have hereto led sheltered but good lives but are now on the threshold of womanhood; particularly Louise who is seeking new freedoms and adventures, trying to break free from her father’s Methodist lifestyle and dreams of becoming an actress. Alice, is the middle daughter, a plum girl good in sports and a hidden talent for writing, trying to find her own world as she enters teenage. Clare is the youngest of the Farley girls,. the most earnest and single minded, still a child, trying to understand the world, where her sister’s are disappearing into. As Hitler starts to make threatening noises in Europe, life in Shepard Bush, also changes for the three girls as they make new friends, discover new emotions and realize that there is perhaps no simple answers to life and there is more to things than just appearances. Over the next two years that the novel plots, we see the girls making choices and settling into lives on which they did not intend to set out originally, but were now firmly trodding on and with the Farley parents, forced to accept changes, that they never thought they would need to make!
I loved the characterizations – the Farley parents outshine all others. You love them, you are irritated with them, especially when remembering your own adolescence, and you find solace and warmth in them. Mary Hocking created two perfect characters in Stanley and Judith, imbibing them with many human flaws, and yet making them outstanding parents and friends, who see you through, when they see your through. The daughters are also very well drawn out and though I could not relate to Louise, I could understand the need to breakaway and I saw strong glimpses of my friends and myself in Alice and Claire. The ensemble cast is equally brilliant – as a reader you want to be friends with the next door neighbors Vaseyelin family, the Russian family who escaped the Revolution, Miss Blaze the formidable principle of the school the girls attend, the grandparents and cousin Ben, the orphaned, studious, self made young man. Mary Hocking presents a wonderful picture of a family and their daily lives in the world which was thought to be safe, in the wake of World War I. She brings out the disbelief of the changes that seemed to be propelling the world into another war externally as well changes more at home which the Farley’s need to make in beautiful and balanced contrast. Despite, all this, I do own I kind of felt let down – like a promise that was not kept. There was too much time spent on the sexual awakening of the daughters and while I understand girls at that age are curious about things happening to them, I do not think that is the only preoccupation – a feeling I distinctly got from the novel, as I heard of the changes and longings of the eldest two daughters, especially Louise.Furthermore, I found the ending a bit cliched and even linear,again in specific reference to Louise – what happened, we expected to happen from early on in the novel. There are things and people I would have liked to explore more and maybe in her Volume 2 and 3, Mary Hocking does do them justice. I will have to read to find more! The language is clear and concise – simple yet definitive prose that draws clear mental pictures for the reader of the kind of home and family and life that the author tried to showcase!
Good Daughters is a great read, with some reservations, but good enough to convince me to reach out for more Mary Hocking’s novels and for sure complete the Farley Saga.
I loved the characterizations – the Farley parents outshine all others. You love them, you are irritated with them, especially when remembering your own adolescence, and you find solace and warmth in them. Mary Hocking created two perfect characters in Stanley and Judith, imbibing them with many human flaws, and yet making them outstanding parents and friends, who see you through, when they see your through. The daughters are also very well drawn out and though I could not relate to Louise, I could understand the need to breakaway and I saw strong glimpses of my friends and myself in Alice and Claire. The ensemble cast is equally brilliant – as a reader you want to be friends with the next door neighbors Vaseyelin family, the Russian family who escaped the Revolution, Miss Blaze the formidable principle of the school the girls attend, the grandparents and cousin Ben, the orphaned, studious, self made young man. Mary Hocking presents a wonderful picture of a family and their daily lives in the world which was thought to be safe, in the wake of World War I. She brings out the disbelief of the changes that seemed to be propelling the world into another war externally as well changes more at home which the Farley’s need to make in beautiful and balanced contrast. Despite, all this, I do own I kind of felt let down – like a promise that was not kept. There was too much time spent on the sexual awakening of the daughters and while I understand girls at that age are curious about things happening to them, I do not think that is the only preoccupation – a feeling I distinctly got from the novel, as I heard of the changes and longings of the eldest two daughters, especially Louise.Furthermore, I found the ending a bit cliched and even linear,again in specific reference to Louise – what happened, we expected to happen from early on in the novel. There are things and people I would have liked to explore more and maybe in her Volume 2 and 3, Mary Hocking does do them justice. I will have to read to find more! The language is clear and concise – simple yet definitive prose that draws clear mental pictures for the reader of the kind of home and family and life that the author tried to showcase!
Good Daughters is a great read, with some reservations, but good enough to convince me to reach out for more Mary Hocking’s novels and for sure complete the Farley Saga.
April 15, 2016
I won't add a review, since Ali has written one that I quite agree with
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
April 8, 2016
I wrote about this book here: https://theblankgarden.wordpress.com/...
July 20, 2018
Although I listed this novel on my forgotten books shelf, I am delighted to report that in 2016 Bello published Mary Hocking's books in both ebook and print-on-demand formats. For this we can thank the blogger Heavenali, who championed this out-of-print author and suggested to Bello that it was time for a reprint. This terrific book is the first of a trilogy about three sisters, their family, friends and neighbor and covers the period from 1933 until the beginning of WWII. A number of reviews are very detailed and I would recommend particularly Ali's and Jane's reviews. I can't wait to read the second book in the trilogy, Indifferent Heroes.
February 23, 2009
This is a charming, perceptive study of a family living in London between the wars. It's a good mix of detailed ordinary occurrences and more dramatic events, just as with any family. She reminds me just a bit of Rebecca West. There are some fascinating passages having to do with religion, fascism, and education.
I was a bit disappointed with the ending, but it's part of a trilogy so perhaps I need to read the other books.
I was a bit disappointed with the ending, but it's part of a trilogy so perhaps I need to read the other books.
July 26, 2013
Story of a London family between the wars. Gets better as it progresses, though somewhat disjointed at times. Contains lots of interesting period details. Definitely want to read the next in
the trilogy
the trilogy
July 20, 2013
Full of memorable scenes and sharp insights. An classic that deserves to be more widely read.
September 29, 2023
I enjoyed this in the main . I felt that it did rather drag on and I became quite bored with it . I wonder how it garnered its description of “Marvellously funny” . I’m not sure that I’ll bother to read the remaining two books in the series .
June 9, 2017
This, the first volume of Hocking's trilogy, spans both the years of wartime and the lives of one London family. The Fairley daughters are growing up in the traditional world maintained by their father. This world is shaken by the girls' discoveries of life and what comes with it.
Mary Hocking writes with humor and sympathy in her depiction of the Fairley sisters growing up in their close knit West London neighborhood before, during and after the war. In the first novel of this trilogy, the girls are sheltered in a world whose traditions of hard work and simplicity are upheld by their Methodist father and their strong, quiet mother. But as love comes to Louise and adventures tempt Alice, unsettling emotions & thoughts lurk amid terrible rumors traveling from Germany -- rumors of the catastrophe to come. Claire, the baby of the family, is young enough to be so busy with her friends & play that she is unaware for a time of the things to come & realization only comes as she becomes aware of her reactionary family.
I found this to be a lovely, moving and satisfying book on so many levels and I hope to read the 2nd book in the trilogy, Indifferent Heroes, for April.
Mary Hocking writes with humor and sympathy in her depiction of the Fairley sisters growing up in their close knit West London neighborhood before, during and after the war. In the first novel of this trilogy, the girls are sheltered in a world whose traditions of hard work and simplicity are upheld by their Methodist father and their strong, quiet mother. But as love comes to Louise and adventures tempt Alice, unsettling emotions & thoughts lurk amid terrible rumors traveling from Germany -- rumors of the catastrophe to come. Claire, the baby of the family, is young enough to be so busy with her friends & play that she is unaware for a time of the things to come & realization only comes as she becomes aware of her reactionary family.
I found this to be a lovely, moving and satisfying book on so many levels and I hope to read the 2nd book in the trilogy, Indifferent Heroes, for April.
January 10, 2025
I loved this series when I read it years ago. Still has charm of life in pre WW2 Britain. School, family, social life and scandals etc.
November 5, 2023
Another author I had never heard of before I started reading Virago Modern Classics. Pretty good, and I will probably seek out the next two books (Indifferent Heroes, Welcome Strangers) in this trilogy which is about a family, the Fairleys, who reside in West London at a time before World War II but with the war growing ever closer. And during that time Hitler is coming into power and we already have signs and hints about what a bastard he is.
The book is suffused with humor and although I have not read her lately, Hocking’s sense of irreverent humor and wit remind me of Barbara Comyns (The Vet’s Daughter, Our Spoons Came From Woolworths). It’s the kind of humor I like...not slapstick but some of the things Hocken’s characters say and think and do are just a scream.
I have heard that this first book of the trilogy is the best, and so I am somewhat leery of the next two, but this one has piqued my curiosity enough so that I want to read on and see how the war (and post-war) affects the different characters of this novel.
Supposedly this novel is semi-autobiographical.
Synopsis taken from back of the Virago Modern Classic re-issue:
• Mary Hocking brings good humour and sympathy to her depiction of the Fairley sisters growing up in their close-knit West London neighbourhood before, during, and after the war. Here, in the first novel of a trilogy, the girls are sheltered in a world whose tradition of hard work and frugality are upheld by their Methodist father, Stanley, and their strong quiet mother, Judith. But, as love comes to Louise and adventures tempt Alice and her friend, unease lurks and terrible rumours travel from Germany — auguries of the catastrophe to come.
Notes:
• A short biography from her and her list of 24 books she has written, from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ho...
• Somebody made toad-in-the hole and I had no idea what that was...had to look it up: Toad in the hole or sausage toad is a traditional English dish consisting of sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter, usually served with onion gravy and vegetables. Historically, the dish has also been prepared using other meats, such as rump steak and lamb's kidney.
Reviews:
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2013/...
• https://emeraldcitybookreview.com/201...
The book is suffused with humor and although I have not read her lately, Hocking’s sense of irreverent humor and wit remind me of Barbara Comyns (The Vet’s Daughter, Our Spoons Came From Woolworths). It’s the kind of humor I like...not slapstick but some of the things Hocken’s characters say and think and do are just a scream.
I have heard that this first book of the trilogy is the best, and so I am somewhat leery of the next two, but this one has piqued my curiosity enough so that I want to read on and see how the war (and post-war) affects the different characters of this novel.
Supposedly this novel is semi-autobiographical.
Synopsis taken from back of the Virago Modern Classic re-issue:
• Mary Hocking brings good humour and sympathy to her depiction of the Fairley sisters growing up in their close-knit West London neighbourhood before, during, and after the war. Here, in the first novel of a trilogy, the girls are sheltered in a world whose tradition of hard work and frugality are upheld by their Methodist father, Stanley, and their strong quiet mother, Judith. But, as love comes to Louise and adventures tempt Alice and her friend, unease lurks and terrible rumours travel from Germany — auguries of the catastrophe to come.
Notes:
• A short biography from her and her list of 24 books she has written, from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ho...
• Somebody made toad-in-the hole and I had no idea what that was...had to look it up: Toad in the hole or sausage toad is a traditional English dish consisting of sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter, usually served with onion gravy and vegetables. Historically, the dish has also been prepared using other meats, such as rump steak and lamb's kidney.
Reviews:
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2013/...
• https://emeraldcitybookreview.com/201...
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