Seven Lean Years

by Celia Fremlin

The setting is the old family home to which Cousin Laura came as a June bride sixty years ago. Today, history repeats itself, for Ellen is about to marry Cousin Laura's step-son, Leonard, after a seven-year engagement. But Ellen is uneasy about the approaching wedding.

While smoothing the familiar friction among the tenants who now inhabit most of the old house, Ellen tries to attribute her qualms to a spinsterish imagination. But at night, awakened by sounds that remind her of childhood terror, her fears become more and more interwoven with Cousin Laura's unhappy memories of her first marriage. The old woman's outworn bitterness seems to have some mysterious relevance to Leonard's odd behaviour as the marriage preparations go forward.

The forebodings of the two women--the very old and the very young--become spine-tingling reality on the night of the wedding.

Genres: Feminism

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Celia was born in Kingsbury, now part of London, England. She was the daughter of Heaver Fremlin and Margaret Addiscott. Her older brother, John H. Fremlin, later became a nuclear physicist. Celia studied at Somerville College, Oxford University. From 1942 to 2000 she lived in Hampstead, London. In 1942 she married Elia Goller, with whom she had three children; he died in 1968. In 1985, Celia married Leslie Minchin, who died in 1999. Her many crime novels and stories helped modernize the sensation novel tradition by introducing criminal and (rarely) supernatural elements into domestic settings. Her 1958 novel The Hours Before Dawn won the Edgar Award in 1960.

With Jeffrey Barnard, she was co-presenter of a BBC2 documentary “Night and Day” describing diurnal and nocturnal London, broadcast 23 January 1987.

Fremlin was an advocate of assisted suicide and euthanasia. In a newspaper interview she admitted to assisting four people to die.[1] In 1983 civil proceedings were brought against her as one of the five members of the EXIT Executive committee which had published “A Guide to Self Deliverance” , but the court refused to declare the booklet unlawful.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia...]

Reviews

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another slice of domestic noir from the unfairly overlooked Fremlin, though this one is less about the plot which is pretty much pulled out of the bag at the last minute (and isn't especially surprising) and more about the burdens of domesticity and social constraints on women.

Published in 1961, Ellen is a put-upon woman whose self-identity is all about not being 'spinsterish' - because, after all, she's 34 and not yet married... She has been engaged to her cousin (?) Leonard for the seven years of the title and is constantly vacillating between the desire to be married to anyone just to sidestep the 'spinster' label, and a genuine unease about her relationship with Leonard. On one hand, she enjoys his intermittent need of her; on the other, he gives her the creeps: 'fancy not liking to be kissed by her own fiancé! She was repressed, that's what it was'. Her constant internalised parroting of the 'rules' of womanhood are both satirically funny and horribly revealing, and it's breathtaking when her married cousin Melissa says all women feel like that: 'I didn't love Roger at all when I married him... Thousands of girls get married like that, Ellen. Millions. Most of them.'

More amusing, is the portrait of a large house broken up haphazardly and amateurishly into flats and bedsits, with Ellen the calming and mediating landlady between her selfish father, bossy cousin, and various tenants. As always, Fremlin has some neat observations: 'she listened somewhat sourly as the two vied amiably with each other on the all-absorbing topic of what a lot they had to do', and the feuding over who cleans the stairs and who's touched the milk amused me vastly.

While we might have suspicions about money, wills and mysterious noises in the night, Fremlin doesn't really ramp up the psychological factor in this book, and then hits us over the head with it in a final couple of chapters. All the same, this is another moreish read from Fremlin who combines a gulp-it-down readability with astute commentary on patriarchal oppressions in middle class English suburbia in the 1950s-60s.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third of Celia Fremlin's novels, first published in 1961. I have loved all of Fremlin's books and, although this was not quite as good as the previous books by her that I have read, it was still extremely enjoyable.

Ellen Fortescue is considered a spinster, in her mid thirties (!) and has been engaged to Leonard for seven years. She has given up her job to care for her elderly father and now rents rooms out to tenants. Leonard has used his stepmother, Laura, as his excuse for why he couldn't marry, insisting that he is financially responsible for her care. However, when he suddenly removes Laura from her care home and brings her to his home, things seem very wrong. Why does Leonard insist that Laura shouldn't see her and why does he claim that she dislikes Ellen?

The plot of this novel does get a little bogged down and bizarre, but where Fremlin always succeeds is in her portrait of the domestic and of the issues that women face. We have Ellen, juggling her selfish father and the tenants with their constant issues. Cousin Laura was once married to Ellen's father and, through her confused memories, we learn of the reasons why Leonard claims that Ellen and Laura should be kept apart.

Not Fremlin's best, so best not to start with this one, but still worth reading. I look forward to reading all her work and am delighted that I have discovered her.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing my exploration of female written mid 20th century domestic noir; Celia Fremlin takes us in to the rundown Fortescue house, once a large land holding now just a decrepit boarding house in the middle of a new housing estate, the mistress of the house Ellen thinks of herself as an old maid at thirty four as she reaches the end of her seventh year of engagement to her childhood sweetheart. The boarders are a course of constant headaches, as is her belligerent old father who's only sharing the same mental plane when it suits him, and for some reason she's looking for any excuse not to marry Leonard. When octogenarian Cousin Laura comes to stay things take an even more complicated turn for Ellen as repressed memories from her childhood resurface and her big day finally draws near.

Its all pretty great and slightly typical of the genre so far, Fremlin mixes the domestic suspense with some typical "boarding house" fare and things potter along almost unassumingly until the final dramatic reveal. Except for two stylistic choices that to my mind offer the casual reader an easy reason to opt out or somebody looking for something special to become engrossed. Written in the third person Seven Lean Years does however offer the points of view of both Ellen and Laura; Ellen is a conflicted mess of a person and this is reflected in the way Fremlin writes the majority of the book - she is full of doubts and thoughts bounce around her head at a hare's pace and so passages, scenes, chapters feel almost schizophrenic and cluttered with the unnecessary - it could easily annoy the wrong reader. Whereas Laura is the reason to complete the entire novel as far as I'm concerned, her thought processes start in the mundane reality of such an old lady, her aches and pains and struggles for a cup of tea and remembering the days of her youth as she struggles with day to day living and often mid sentence Fremlin will drift in to reliving those days of struggling to get the dinner ready or running in the fields with her friends or losing her husband to another woman, before you even realise it's happened.

The final confrontation is both telegraphed and a horrible surprise, facts that cancel each other out when it comes to final enjoyment purposes but all in all this is another plus mark in Fremlin's column after her short story in Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, with her highly praised Long Shadow still to come, not to mention the more popular Hours Before Dawn.

[WndyJW · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Celia Fremlin! This is only my second of her novels, but I will find and read them all.

Come for the suspense, the domestic noir, stay for the inner lives of women pre-Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and Ms. Magazine. Fremlin is bitingly funny and ruthless in her observations on the plight of women and the fecklessness of the men dependent on them.

In this novel, Ellen, a woman in her mid-30s, spends her days caring for her aging father who makes it even more difficult for Ellen to balance the needs and complaints of the tenants in the large family home converted to take in boarders. Ellen has been engaged to her childhood friend Leonard for seven years waiting for Leonard’s step-mother, Aunt Laura to Ellen, to die. Leonard’s claims that he couldn’t marry while supporting his step-mother never made much sense to Ellen, but she wasn’t completely sure she wanted to marry Leonard anyway, in spite of her constant worry that her words and actions were “spinsterish.”
Among the tenants are Ellen’s cousin Melissa and her husband and children. The relationship between the uber efficient and confident Melissa and the always harried, anxious Ellen provides much of the humor.
The tension is in the complex history of Laura and Ellen’s father Dick, and Leonard and Ellen. Why is Ellen unnerved by the oak chest in the attic? Why is Leonard so intent on keeping his step-mother away from Ellen’s father?

For me the mystery is less than half the fun, the best part of this book, as in The Hours Before Dawn, are the lives of the women.

Highly recommended

[Brian E Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fremlin Is a master of the domestic suspense story centered on the 1960s woman or housewife. This story concerns the 34ish Ellen who has been engaged for the titled seven years to a lifelong family friend named Leonard. Leonard must remove his stepmother, called Cousin Laura, from her nursing home to live with him. Ellen must take care of her aging, senile and self-centered father and affords to do so by turning their family home into a boarding house with several tenants, including a cousin. The complication is that Leonard’s stepmother, ”Cousin Laura,” was also Ellen’s father’s first wife. This complicates the Leonard and Ellen relationship and sets the stage for the story.
Fremlins does pepper this book with her usual keen observations of personality, behavior and social conventions. I often find myself saying “I hadn’t noticed that before, but you are so right” when reading Fremlin. She is also deft at portraying the trials and tribulations of the 1960s ordinary woman/housewife and the people she is likely to run into. These aspects are both present in this book.
The problem in this novel is that these observations and portrayals had to completely sustain the book until any suspenseful thoughts and events entered the story. This late entry made them feel a bit unnatural even though they were consistent with what was previously revealed.
I rank this in the lower tier of the 6 Fremlins I have read. I am rating it 3 stars to differentiate it from other Fremlins I have rated at 4 stars. However, on a pure reading pleasure basis, I did enjoy this book more than many books I’ve rated 4 stars. A lesser Fremlin is still very much a worthwhile read.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read Uncle Paul The Hours Before Dawn, and The Long Shadow which I thought were really good, this one came a bit of a disappointment. The seven years refer to the length of time Ellen has been engaged to Leonard, but it now seems circumstances which have stopped Leonard from marrying Ellen have now changed. His step-mother, who was married to Ellen's father, needs to be found a new nursing home. As Leonard, has let everyone know that it has been him footing the bills for his stepmother's care, he has been unable to meet the expenses of taking on a wife. Ellen and Leonard have known each other since they were children, and Leonard's stepmother did in fact look after Ellen and Leonard as children, but now it seems Leonard is determined to keep Ellen away from the lady. He blames it on Ellen's father who took up and married Ellen's mother, saying that the situation was hateful to expect his stepmother to have any contact with the father.
Right from the beginning I had suspicions about the whole situation, and the characters, and I'm sorry to say I was right. I did enjoy the writing and like the way Fremlin leads us through the story, repeating often how Ellen feels regarding her age and still being on the shelf, which made me feel sorry for Ellen, however weak a person she seems to be. I shall carry on reading Fremlin, and hope the future books are more like the two I read before this one.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm doing an occasional Celia Fremlin reread (or first time read in the case of a few I've never read before). I'm a big fan of her particular brand of claustrophobic domestic noir, and it's great to see them being reissued.

Seven Lean Years is one of those I haven't read before - it's her third novel, published in 1961, after the acclaimed The Hours Before Dawn and its follow up Uncle Paul.

Ellen at the grand old age of thirty-four is terrified of being perceived as an old maid, although she's been engaged to Leonard for seven years. He keeps putting it off on probably spurious grounds, although it's also clear Ellen doesn't really want to marry him either. Meanwhile, she looks after her difficult elderly father and rents out rooms in their large house, badly divided into apartments in a "shoddy , botched-up job". When the equally elderly "Cousin Laura" has to move out of her care home and turns up on the doorstep, events are finally set in motion.

I couldn't get a solid grip on the complicated family relationships - "Cousin" Laura was the first wife of Ellen's father, who left her to marry Ellen's mother; Laura then went on to marry Leonard's father, becoming Leonard's stepmother; Leonard is now engaged to Ellen. I think I've got that right. I'm not sure where the efficient Melissa, one of Ellen's lodgers, comes into it, but she's some sort of cousin of Ellen.

We hear from Ellen's and Laura's POV - Ellen is beset by worries, constantly fretting about what people think, trying not to seem "spinsterish", worrying about keeping everyone else happy, and second-guessing herself; Laura, who evidently has some degree of dementia, is interesting, her mind often taking her back into the fraught past.

I love the way Celia Fremlin writes - she has some delightful turns of phrase and is excellent at observing human nature. As ever, she's strong around the restrictiveness of women's domestic lives and social roles. This probably isn't my favourite of her books - the plot is neither here nor there really, and the family setup is overly complicated - but it's still a very good read.

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could wax lyrical about Celia Fremlin's books, and have done so for several of her titles. She is such a good writer. Unfortunately, Seven Lean Years is one of the weakest of her books which I have read to date. It was nowhere near as gripping, nor as immersive, as I was expecting, and I found its beginning very slow indeed. The pacing here felt off; almost all of the action is packed into the last fifth of the novel, and the ending feels rushed in consequence.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellen is uneasy about her approaching wedding, and boy does she have good reason to be. I found Wait for the Wedding a little dull compared to Fremlin's two previous suspense novels, but the psychology of it was spot on. Ellen (and the reader) is told a story that is so well thought out that she doesn't even think to question it, until she suddenly realized that the complete opposite could just as easily be true. It was worth the read, because the "bad guy" was not who I was expecting it to be, which, of course, is the whole point.

[José Van Rosmalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit boek is in het Nederlands vertaald onder de titel ‘De bezeten bruidegom’. Het is een psychologische thriller met een bloedstollend laatste deel. Ellen is een vrouw van 34 die na een lange verkering eindelijk zou gaan trouwen met Leonard. De spoken van het verleden achtervolgen Ellen en Leonard. Op het kritieke moment, net voor de geplande huwelijkssluiting merkt Ellen dat de verhalen van Leonard niet kloppen. Dit wordt haar bijna fataal. Het boek werkt toe naar een superspannende ontknoping. Het is meer dan een ‘whodunnit’, het is echt een roman over wat jeugdervaringen in iemands latere leven teweeg kunnen brengen.

[Boris Cesnik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow unfurling and minutely deceptive.

A guessing game that has already started before you even turn the second page.

It's not the who, where, how and why and when in Celia Fremlin's books. It's the 'if' and 'did?' that slowly creep into every single sentence without giving away much hope but very small and regular doses of clues.

Pay attention you who read...