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Residence Afresh
- GenresFiction
208 pages, Hardcover
Published March 1, 1969
About the author
Margery Lawrence
55 books15 followersMargery Harriet Lawrence (alternate pen names: Jerome Latimer, Margery H. Lawrence) was an English romantic fiction, fantasy fiction, horror fiction and detective fiction author who specialized in ghost stories.
Her father was solicitor Richard J. Lawrence, her mother was called Grace, and she had at least two siblings Allan and Monica. Her father published her early poetry in Songs of Childhood, and Other Verses, in 1913.
Lawrence was also an illustrator, and producing drawings for The Hills of Ruel, and Other Stories (1921) by Fiona MacLeod.
Her earliest collections, the Round Table sequence, include Nights of the Round Table (1926) and The Terraces of Night (1932). Stefan Dziemianowicz describes these stories as "simple but solidly told tales of horror and the supernatural that are mindful of the classic ghost story tradition but adorned with enough contemporary flourishes" to demonstrate that Lawrence was comfortable working variants on this tradition. These stories often appeared in British pulp magazines such as The Sovereign Magazine and Hutchinson's Mystery-Story prior to book publication.
During the 1920s she wrote general fiction, and her 1925 romance novel Red Heels was filmed by the Austrian film company Sascha Film as Das Spielzeug von Paris. A list of Lawrence's published novels to 1945 includes: Miss Brandt, Adventuress; Red Heels; Bohemian Glass; Drums of Youth; Silken Sarah; The Madonna of Seven Moons; Madam Holle; The Crooked Smile; Overture to Life; The Bridge of Wonder; and Step Light, Lady.
In 1941, she published another collection of short fiction, Strange Caravan (Robert Hale, 1941). A list of her short stories to 1945 also includes: Snapdragon; and The Floating Cafe.
Her best-known supernatural works include Number Seven, Queer Street (Robert Hale, 1945), a collection that purports to be the case histories of an occult detective, Dr Miles Pennoyer, as related by his assistant Jerome Latimer. Lawrence stated that this series was inspired by Algernon Blackwood's John Silence stories and Dion Fortune's Dr. Taverner series. Like May Sinclair before her, Lawrence became a confirmed spiritualist and believer in reincarnation in later years, and her book is heavy with didactic occultist dialogue. Another well-known supernatural volume is Master of Shadows (1959).
The Rent in the Veil is a fantasy involving a timeslip to Ancient Rome, and Bride of Darkness is a tale of witchcraft in the modern world.
In the foreword to Ferry Over Jordan (Psychic Book Club, 1944), Lawrence explains that during the latter part of 1941 she had written a further group of articles on Spiritualism for Psychic News. It was the resulting large number of inquiries that prompted editor Maurice Barbanell to suggest that Lawrence compile and expand upon those articles in book form, which she undertook at London between August 1942 and May 1943. The book was intended to be a primer on the much-discussed subject of Spiritualism. Apprehensive that her readers might be disappointed that her latest book was not a further novel or book of short stories, Lawrence took care to explain that she had not recently "taken to Spiritualism", but rather had been deeply interested in it for many years:
"My interest in it dates actually from the moment when I saw a near relation three nights after he died, when he gave me specific instructions about the finding of a box containing important papers. They were found precisely where he said--and from that moment I became deeply interested in what, throughout this book, I have called the "Other Side". Somewhere that man was obviously still alive! Somewhere he was thinking of us, anxious to help, caring what happened; in a word, he was still alive somewhere, and I was determined to find out where" [foreword, p. 5].
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margery...]
Her father was solicitor Richard J. Lawrence, her mother was called Grace, and she had at least two siblings Allan and Monica. Her father published her early poetry in Songs of Childhood, and Other Verses, in 1913.
Lawrence was also an illustrator, and producing drawings for The Hills of Ruel, and Other Stories (1921) by Fiona MacLeod.
Her earliest collections, the Round Table sequence, include Nights of the Round Table (1926) and The Terraces of Night (1932). Stefan Dziemianowicz describes these stories as "simple but solidly told tales of horror and the supernatural that are mindful of the classic ghost story tradition but adorned with enough contemporary flourishes" to demonstrate that Lawrence was comfortable working variants on this tradition. These stories often appeared in British pulp magazines such as The Sovereign Magazine and Hutchinson's Mystery-Story prior to book publication.
During the 1920s she wrote general fiction, and her 1925 romance novel Red Heels was filmed by the Austrian film company Sascha Film as Das Spielzeug von Paris. A list of Lawrence's published novels to 1945 includes: Miss Brandt, Adventuress; Red Heels; Bohemian Glass; Drums of Youth; Silken Sarah; The Madonna of Seven Moons; Madam Holle; The Crooked Smile; Overture to Life; The Bridge of Wonder; and Step Light, Lady.
In 1941, she published another collection of short fiction, Strange Caravan (Robert Hale, 1941). A list of her short stories to 1945 also includes: Snapdragon; and The Floating Cafe.
Her best-known supernatural works include Number Seven, Queer Street (Robert Hale, 1945), a collection that purports to be the case histories of an occult detective, Dr Miles Pennoyer, as related by his assistant Jerome Latimer. Lawrence stated that this series was inspired by Algernon Blackwood's John Silence stories and Dion Fortune's Dr. Taverner series. Like May Sinclair before her, Lawrence became a confirmed spiritualist and believer in reincarnation in later years, and her book is heavy with didactic occultist dialogue. Another well-known supernatural volume is Master of Shadows (1959).
The Rent in the Veil is a fantasy involving a timeslip to Ancient Rome, and Bride of Darkness is a tale of witchcraft in the modern world.
In the foreword to Ferry Over Jordan (Psychic Book Club, 1944), Lawrence explains that during the latter part of 1941 she had written a further group of articles on Spiritualism for Psychic News. It was the resulting large number of inquiries that prompted editor Maurice Barbanell to suggest that Lawrence compile and expand upon those articles in book form, which she undertook at London between August 1942 and May 1943. The book was intended to be a primer on the much-discussed subject of Spiritualism. Apprehensive that her readers might be disappointed that her latest book was not a further novel or book of short stories, Lawrence took care to explain that she had not recently "taken to Spiritualism", but rather had been deeply interested in it for many years:
"My interest in it dates actually from the moment when I saw a near relation three nights after he died, when he gave me specific instructions about the finding of a box containing important papers. They were found precisely where he said--and from that moment I became deeply interested in what, throughout this book, I have called the "Other Side". Somewhere that man was obviously still alive! Somewhere he was thinking of us, anxious to help, caring what happened; in a word, he was still alive somewhere, and I was determined to find out where" [foreword, p. 5].
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margery...]
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March 8, 2021
Margery Lawrence (1889-1969) is perhaps remembered (if at all) for her supernatural stories which were written between the 1920s and 40s and include the occult detective Dr Miles Pennoyer.
She wrote prolifically, the bibliography printed in this (her last?) novel lists twenty-eight others. Some are good thrillers, some are poor romances and a number of items are informed by her longstanding involvement in spiritualism. This is one of the latter.
The synopsis is that Charles Murchason, a successful city trader, wakes up dead (so to speak) but does not realise it. The novel then reveals how he adjusts to his new state and by extension, how those left on earth adjust to his absence. Lawrence tells us in Chapter 1 (actually an introduction but as ‘no-one reads them’ she made it a chapter instead) that it is a ‘real’ story told to her by ‘Charles’.
Charles awakes in what he thinks is a very posh rest home in Scotland, with beautiful grounds, crystal staircases and silver fittings. Anything he wants appears in an instant from the servants but there are no phones or newspaper etc as he is told that he needs to ‘adjust’ to the new situation his change of health requires. It is in reality a sort of half-way house to heaven proper as all ‘arrivals’ have to discover for themselves they are dead by their own methods, aided by hints (odd dreams/ chats with the ‘doctors’) and the like. Circumstances mean that he is told of his death and he realises that he can visit the earth and see what is happening.
Charles had a loving wife (who he dominated) and two children, a musical son who is playing in an (uh-oh!) ‘pop group’ (of which he disapproves) and a daughter who is (uh-oh!) discovering boys. What should he do about that? He could interfere by appearing is dreams, but should he?
Also Heaven is not all idling around, there is work to do, such as mothers looking after orphan babies who die during war and famine, or attempting to communicate 'good ideas' to those who are receptive. Charles, as an ex-entrepreneur, should get himself a job…
This might sound a horrifying book, maudlin, proselytizing and full of ‘do-gooders’ doing lots of gooding. But it isn’t really like that; Lawrence doesn’t mention Spiritualism by name at all and the lessons that Charles learns are as much about how to live your life on earth (don’t dominate others, do good) as they are about how others should feel about ones passing (don’t deny your happiness because of what your dead husband/father might think). We also have commentary on how re-incarnation works, how inventions are ‘invented’ and the sinister 'black brotherhood’.
It is, of course, coloured by the authors own middle-class outlook. which makes it inadvertantly funny in places. ‘Pop music’ and the state of the 'youth of today’ (the book was published in 1969) are concerns, as is having a decent work ethic etc etc. For example, those who are particularly attached to material things, drinking, gambling (and the ‘other’) are stuck in a place called ‘The Cave of Gaity’ and the more illuminated ones can visit to hang around there like invisible wall flowers trying to project more positive thoughts into these sad hedonists to make them realise there might be more to life/death than that. Sometimes it can take "a very long time...".
This very much reminded of Doris Stokes who was a ‘celebrity medium’ of the early 1980s and regularly appeared on BBC talk shows. She was your typical cheerful old lady ('the happy medium!') and very amusing (you can see her on youtube telling a tale about the spirits informing her about her cats' toothache) and many a Spiritualist circle (at least the ones I encountered) had a few people like her. Now imagine if she wrote a novel...
I hope I have succeeded in indicating that this is a delightfully dotty read and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Its imaginative, funny, well-paced (and written) and its messages (particularly relating to those bereaved) are still very pertinent today.
Lawrence's later books are rare (I had to upload the info on this myself- no copies are for sale online), probably because Hale published a lot of books that went straight to libraries; and look at that truly awful cover! My copy was literally pennies. I cannot say that all her books are this good but they are definitely worth a thumb through to check them out (assuming you can find them) as this one is a gem! Well worth seeking out.
She wrote prolifically, the bibliography printed in this (her last?) novel lists twenty-eight others. Some are good thrillers, some are poor romances and a number of items are informed by her longstanding involvement in spiritualism. This is one of the latter.
The synopsis is that Charles Murchason, a successful city trader, wakes up dead (so to speak) but does not realise it. The novel then reveals how he adjusts to his new state and by extension, how those left on earth adjust to his absence. Lawrence tells us in Chapter 1 (actually an introduction but as ‘no-one reads them’ she made it a chapter instead) that it is a ‘real’ story told to her by ‘Charles’.
Charles awakes in what he thinks is a very posh rest home in Scotland, with beautiful grounds, crystal staircases and silver fittings. Anything he wants appears in an instant from the servants but there are no phones or newspaper etc as he is told that he needs to ‘adjust’ to the new situation his change of health requires. It is in reality a sort of half-way house to heaven proper as all ‘arrivals’ have to discover for themselves they are dead by their own methods, aided by hints (odd dreams/ chats with the ‘doctors’) and the like. Circumstances mean that he is told of his death and he realises that he can visit the earth and see what is happening.
Charles had a loving wife (who he dominated) and two children, a musical son who is playing in an (uh-oh!) ‘pop group’ (of which he disapproves) and a daughter who is (uh-oh!) discovering boys. What should he do about that? He could interfere by appearing is dreams, but should he?
Also Heaven is not all idling around, there is work to do, such as mothers looking after orphan babies who die during war and famine, or attempting to communicate 'good ideas' to those who are receptive. Charles, as an ex-entrepreneur, should get himself a job…
This might sound a horrifying book, maudlin, proselytizing and full of ‘do-gooders’ doing lots of gooding. But it isn’t really like that; Lawrence doesn’t mention Spiritualism by name at all and the lessons that Charles learns are as much about how to live your life on earth (don’t dominate others, do good) as they are about how others should feel about ones passing (don’t deny your happiness because of what your dead husband/father might think). We also have commentary on how re-incarnation works, how inventions are ‘invented’ and the sinister 'black brotherhood’.
It is, of course, coloured by the authors own middle-class outlook. which makes it inadvertantly funny in places. ‘Pop music’ and the state of the 'youth of today’ (the book was published in 1969) are concerns, as is having a decent work ethic etc etc. For example, those who are particularly attached to material things, drinking, gambling (and the ‘other’) are stuck in a place called ‘The Cave of Gaity’ and the more illuminated ones can visit to hang around there like invisible wall flowers trying to project more positive thoughts into these sad hedonists to make them realise there might be more to life/death than that. Sometimes it can take "a very long time...".
This very much reminded of Doris Stokes who was a ‘celebrity medium’ of the early 1980s and regularly appeared on BBC talk shows. She was your typical cheerful old lady ('the happy medium!') and very amusing (you can see her on youtube telling a tale about the spirits informing her about her cats' toothache) and many a Spiritualist circle (at least the ones I encountered) had a few people like her. Now imagine if she wrote a novel...
I hope I have succeeded in indicating that this is a delightfully dotty read and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Its imaginative, funny, well-paced (and written) and its messages (particularly relating to those bereaved) are still very pertinent today.
Lawrence's later books are rare (I had to upload the info on this myself- no copies are for sale online), probably because Hale published a lot of books that went straight to libraries; and look at that truly awful cover! My copy was literally pennies. I cannot say that all her books are this good but they are definitely worth a thumb through to check them out (assuming you can find them) as this one is a gem! Well worth seeking out.
Displaying 1 of 1 review