Appointment With Yesterday

by Celia Fremlin

Milly Barnes, a middle-aged woman with an assumed name, is on the run. She is driven by her fear that at any moment the remorseless arm of the law will catch up with her. The cause of her terror is ultimately revealed in flashback.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Suspense, British Literature, Mystery Thriller

301 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

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]

My love affair with Celia Fremlin continues! Published in 1972, this showcases the tensions that make Fremlin's world so addictive: one strand is an acute observation of the changing power dynamics of womanhood in the 1970s when women are starting to gain degrees but are still burdened with all the pressure of being 'home-makers'; the other is one of the creepiest portraits I've read in Fremlin of a mind teetering on the edge... and tipping over into something terrifying.

I'm always fascinated by the way Fremlin gives us historical insight as she maps her contemporary world both physically and psychologically. The setting of the book moves from London to a coastal backwater where lodging houses exist presided over by a landlady, and where both students and 'housewives' struggle to conceal their wealth in an attempt to 'level-down'. The three wives who employ Milly as a 'daily' are utterly dependent on her in a world where domestic service is no longer automatic. Mrs Graham has a kitchen full of 'labour-saving devices' but her house is a shambles, her baby daughter is ignored and her professor husband comes home for lunch everyday and expects a hot cooked meal to be on the table at 1pm. Fremlin traces this world with wit and humour, and tracks the shifting power dynamics between Milly and the women who depend on her.

But the other half of this book, revealing a mindset that makes women compete for husbands no matter who they are, gets increasingly tense and disturbing as the essential stranger Milly marries just to 'show' her husband who's left her that she can catch another man gets increasingly strange and dangerous. It's such a trope in books that connects women with 'madness' that it's refreshing, if terrifying, to watch the mental deterioration of Milly's new husband as he increasingly locks her into a domestic space that becomes a frightening jail..

I've seen a lot of impatience with the ending... and it's certainly left field! But perhaps that tells us more about gender relations and the relative power of men and women at the time than anything about Milly. In any case, I found this increasingly gripping and stayed up far too late on a school night to finish it!

[Miranda Blomberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have my sight set on the presidency of the Fremlin fan club

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

From 1972
A woman - at this point we don’t know her real name, she changes it to Milly Barnes - is on the run, apparently from murdering her second husband. She has no money but she goes to Seacliffe and manages to get by as a domestic cleaner who lives in a boarding house where she befriends two eccentric students, Jacko and Kevin. This is fully entertaining, and she describes her previous life. Eventually her past returns, we find out her name but everything is different than we thought.
I loved this and want to read more by Celia Fremlin.

[Virginia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having finished this yesterday the best thing I can say about it is that it's large print therefore easy on the eyes. I enjoyed the familiar elements that mark this author's best work - funny secondary characters in Milly's landlady and fellow tenants, and Milly's considerable growth of confidence and personality through her increased independence. Sadly these don't in any way make up for the ending. Milly's illogical, sick-making choice in the final pages immediately jumping back into the marriage bed with the self-centered, narcissistic, totally unchanged Julian just because he's been dumped by his first choice of wife, and no I didn't believe a word of his "reformed" shite ruined the entire thing for me. I had planned out a successful housecleaning-with-counselling-services business for Milly, independence from ass-holey men, financial independence and continued personal growth. What a slap in the face. Oh well it was a brief and welcome escape into the good old days of 3 pound rent and 40 pence an hour cleaning ladies.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the second book by Fremlin that I read and remember really enjoying it. I recently picked up the reissue by Faber, so a reread was in order.

It opens with a woman calling herself Millie, sitting on the Circle Line of the Underground just going round and round, clearly in some distress and escaping something. She eventually decides to take the train and head for the final stop; here she finds lodgings and sets about rebuilding her life. She easily finds work as a daily. Through flashbacks we start to learn what happened to her, and it is pretty chilling. Her backstory is compelling, but her current situation is also very readable and funny. I loved the scenes with the students she shares her lodgings with, and the women whose houses she works in. The ending was a bit of a let down, but at the time it was written, unsurprising, and she has become a much more resilient character over the course of the novel.

It"s still in my top three by her.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Fremlin's books, and found Appointment with Yesterday engaging from its beginning. She is a very skilful writer, and in true Fremlin style, this novel becomes more tense as it goes on. The pace is wonderful, and my only qualm is that whilst the storyline is rather a clever one, the ending leaves something to be desired.

[Andy Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my third Fremin (following The Hours Before Dawn and The Long Shadow), and by far the best.
The novel opens with a gripping first chapter, a middle aged woman is on the run, with no luggage, no coat for the wintery weather. She uses a false name for a train ticket, and after riding the tube in circles for most of the day, heads to the south coast, where she rents a room and begins to establish a new life. The reason she is fleeing is a gradual reveal through a series of flashbacks to her previous life.
This is high quality domestic noir and has lost nothing in the 49 years since its publication.
Vivid characterisation is a feature throughout, as Fremlin delves into the relationships within boarding houses and the depiction of the class system as her protagonist finds work as a charwoman, a role the author herself took on in her university days.

[Bea Alden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not exactly a murder mystery - because from the beginning we do know "who-done-it;" or maybe, did not? It's the story of a young woman, Millie, who, abandoned by her husband for another woman, impulsively marries a sinister elderly man. This impulse she is soon to regret.

This book was first published in 1972. Celia Fremlin is no longer popular in the USA, perhaps because her books are dated and many are out of print. But in 1972, the Chicago Tribune said "..a writer who seems to have no current rival in the field of domestic suspense...has a deft hand with things that go thump, bump and rattle in the night..." The New York Times: "...she excels in urgent storytelling, in faultless plotting and planning, and above all in sheerly good novel-writing, with brilliant intuitive insights.."

That's why I've collected as many of her books as I could lay my hands on. I re-read them and thoroughly enjoy them, at intervals of several years.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, uneasy read that takes you places you don't expect. Milly (a new name, adopted on the fly) is a middle-aged woman on the run, and we only gradually learn why. Her point of view is alternately frantic and paranoid, and happy with her new freedom. At first I thought, ugh, I don't particularly like psychological suspense novels; but it's not precisely, or at least entirely, that. It turned out to be really insightful and surprising--in some ways more gentle than I expected, but also judgmental of Milly in ways I hadn't foreseen. This is the first book I've read by Fremlin, and I liked it.

I was led to the book by the excellent crossexaminingcrime blog. Their more thorough review says everything I could say, better and in more detail:

https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read several of Fremlin's novels so I knew the type of setting/characters I was going to meet. This is another example of the claustrophobia of domesticity so well observed by Fremlin. It is very British and much hangs on this perspective. When I think of other women writers of the period, my mind springs to Patricia Highsmith who spins a tale in such a different style.

The novel is set in the early 1970s although, to me, it felt more like 1950s, but definitely 1970s as decimal currency was being used! The period elements were great, we are in a world of "the daily" and the social strata this exposes in a small seaside town. It is post-war life, gone are servants, intelligent women are, largely, not liberated and marriage remains the currency of status.

The story comes from our protagonist, Milly, who has fled her life. We have only her version of events told in snatches as the tension rises. My overriding view was that crime readers have grown in sophistication since this was published and, for me at least, there was no element of surprise. The gaslighting narrative makes the book more page turning than it might have been.

[France-Andrée · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Milly" is on the run, she finds herself in a little seaside town where she starts a new life... but she has made mistake in her flight and her past might catch up with her.

I really enjoyed this book, from the beginning we have a lovable "antihero"(?) and how we learn of her past is developed very well. The fact that it was published in 1972 doesn't impede the story, in fact, I kind of forgot it and it's just when the "new" available equipment crops up that I was reminded that it was set the year I was born! I think where the year is the most evident is in the ending, I was thinking of "Milly" as a 2021 woman and then... she wasn't, not her fault obviously! To think that the baby in the story would be a little older than I am now was a little crazy...

I discovered Celia Fremlin because one of her short story was featured in Vintage Crime and I liked her style of writing. I am definitely continuing reading this author, in a way this book reminded me of Francis Iles because of it's seeing crime from another point of view. I don't want to spoil anyone but I'll just say that there is a subject matter that I thought that for 1972 was well portrayed when from my personal experienced the 1970s were not a time when being sick that way was well understood (or at all!!!).

A great little book, my copy was owned by a library and the borrowing paper is still in it and it was only borrowed 5 times!!! In 1975, 77, 79, 87 and 99... I wish this one was available in ebook like others by Celia Fremlin, but maybe this lack of borrowing might explain why it isn't though it is well worth the reading.

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘the syllables of her old name, her real name, beat upon her out of the past, their rhythm rang like the hooves of a galloping horse alongside the quiet sea’

this was so insanely good. it’s my 3rd celia fremlin and i am already itching to read her further 13 novels. she captures the horrors of domesticity so well and portrays vividly that the greatest terror to women is often the men in their lives.

‘milly’, fleeing an unspeakable secret, finds solace in a seaside town amid an amusing cast of characters. she finds job as a ‘daily help’, which is another source of amusement. yet the horrors of her past lurk around every turn and threaten to quickly catch up with her. it was tense and exciting yet at times heartwarming and fun.

‘domestic noir’ is really the best way it’s been described, and i absolutely adore it. celia i <3 you

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

An email from Faber about this reissued author caught my attention. The British Patricia Highsmith, it suggested. So I was delighted to find this book in Waterstones. And goodness! This book is immersive and tense and modern. Chapters fly by with cliffhanger endings. The character development is intriguing, hinting at the person before events took over. I will read more by this rediscovered writer.

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Utterly brilliant. A whirling, relentless gig of a novel - Fremlin writes brilliant psychodramas with everlasting characters who grow and transform alongside the reader and I’ve loved every one so far but Milly, Milly is my favourite to date.

Five stars, would recommend.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh wow, this was super creepy. "Millie" is running away at the beginning of this tale. From what you'll just have to guess. The ending was unexpected too.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just brilliant! Great characters and so much humour.

[Brian E Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fremlin specializes in writing domestic suspense novels featuring a housewife where most of the action takes place at a residence or on the residential property. She is deft at portraying the trials and tribulations of the 1960s era ordinary woman/housewife and the people she is likely to run into.

In this 1972 novel, her 8th, Fremlin again has a housewife as her protagonist, a woman using the name Milly Barnes. However, while Milly is a housewife who is no longer at her own house but is instead on the run, trying to stay ahead of the authorities.

The on-the-run aspect gives this Fremlin a different feel than previous Fremlins I’ve read. Yet even on the run, this housewife does domestic duties as she hires herself as a maid to several other housewives. She also has a familial relationship with two male college students who befriend her in the boarding house she resides in. The college students are fairly unique creations in the world of Fremlin characters and I enjoyed them.
However, in this story, suspense rather than characterization was the key. To build the suspense, Fremlin chooses to parse out information on what actually happened to cause Milly to go on the run. This is an effective technique and the suspense did build for me.

I did think this novel was sub-par Fremlin in a few aspects. First was her protagonist. Fremlin was successful in portraying Milly’s plight as another example of the imbalance of the marital power structure between husband and wife. But despite that, I never identified with Milly and her peril. I realize that Fremlin wanted to keep the reader a bit on edge as to Milly’s psychology for suspense purposes, but it kept me distant from her. Secondly, while the depiction of one of Milly’s employer couples was clever at times, I thought the wittier aspects of Fremlin’s social commentary were at a minimum in this book. Finally, while I felt suspense in the building-up of the ‘mystery,’ the mystery’s denouement, while interesting for being unexpected, was a bit anticlimactic.

I appreciate that Fremlin needs to broaden her settings and plotting in order to present fresh stories, but in this case it resulted in a below-average Fremlin for me. But a below-average Fremlin is still an enjoyable reading experience. I rate it as 3.3 stars rounded down to 3 stars.

MY RATINGS FOR FREMLINS READ SO FAR
(Instead of rating 3.5 stars I rate at 3.7 and 3.3 stars for better rounding).
4.3 - The Long Shadow
4.3 – The Jealous One
4.3 – The Hours Before Dawn
4.0 - Prisoner’s Base
4.0 – The Trouble Makers
3.7 - Uncle Paul
3.7 – Ghostly Stories
3.3 – Seven Lean Years
3.3 – Appointment With Yesterday

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a big fan of run-away stories usually, but really did get caught up in this. This really is a story of marry in haste, repent at leisure. A woman who husband leaves her for another, means to get back at him by trying to prove she never needed him. She meets a man at a class she goes to and although he never talks anyone, she befriends him. He is considerably older than her, but when he eventually asks her to marry him she does and writes to her former husband as a way of getting her own back, showing him that she is wanted by someone. She moves into his basement flat but there is little or no affection by either her or her new husband. The story is then about her running away from him, with little money and no possessions. She does make a new life for herself but is sure she will be found at any time.
As usual with this author I was completely absorbed with the book.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Austen to Zafón · Rating 4 out of 5]

A woman who calls herself Milly is on the run after killing her husband in London. She has settled in a seaside boarding house and gotten work as a domestic for several clients. But trouble is never far away and she is haunted by what she has done and what might happen to her.

Celia Fremlin has been described as a domestic Patricia Highsmith, but she is more than that. Fremlin's books, suspense stories though they are, are also close examinations of the expectations and pressures society put on women in the mid 20th century, which, in many cases, it still does. She doesn't hammer you over the head with it though; she uses humor and pointed dialogue. And her gimlet eye is not just on women's issues. Like this, which made me chuckle and read it aloud to my husband:

Both lads, it seems, came of prosperous families: both had always wanted to be artists, but had unfortunately ended up like this, studying economics at a provincial university. So far, the story seemed a familiar one to Milly. In her young days, too, budding geniuses had been forced by soulless and insensitive parents into training for something dull and practical. But apparently, with these two, it wasn't quite like that. Far from being soulless and insensitive, both sets of parents had eagerly begged to be allowed to finance their budding young geniuses through art school for as many years as they wanted. Paris ...Rome ...Anywhere they liked ...money should be no object.

"But of course," explained Kevin, "that would have been just art-school stuff. Not my scene at all."

"No," agreed Jacko. "That was the thing. It's a matter of integrity, you see. Personal integrity."

...After this, they told her about sex, and how they were through with that sort of thing: kids' stuff. Yes, homosexuality too, and the perversions, and all that drag-they'd tried the lot: nothing to it. Integrity, that was the thing. Kevin, it seemed, was through with drugs as well: and when Milly asked if that was kids' stuff too, he said no, it wasn't quite that, but he'd been turned right off by going home one vacation and finding his grandmother smoking pot and saying she thought the younger generation was marvellous. It had turned him right off, it really had: and anyway, he informed Milly kindly, integrity, and the discovery of the true self, were possible without the aid of drugs. He knew, because he'd tried.

I very much enjoyed this novel, until the end, which was just silly. One star off for that.

[Boris Cesnik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skilful writer with a special knack for captivating everyday stories.

A masterful suspense book where small doses of twists and turns just make you more confident that we are in the presence of a ingenious storyteller.

Every seemingly ordinary detail, action, episode and interaction just can't be skipped or overlooked. They are as savoury and delicious as all the suspenseful facts.

A touch of sarcasm, two pinches of irony, a drop of reality and a dose of tension are blended beautifully together in a superb story that captures from start to almost the end.

I said...almost..the end...leave it be this time.

[Marilyn Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book is a tense-filled story of a Woman who has either committed a murder or thinks she has. The Reader is taken through her story chapter by chapter and I don't want to add any spoilers here because I enjoyed the book too much and I hope you do. The Writer is wonderful at keeping you turning the page until you are halfway through the book before you know it. Fremlin is masterful at writing middle-aged Women- but don't let that put you off! This is an entertaining story of a Woman who has chosen to hide from her previous existence creating another name and starting another life. But will the old life let her? Five stars I loved it.

[Gillian Poucher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling claustrophobic novel in the domestic noir genre. 'Milly Barnes' is on the run from a desperate situation which is gradually disclosed, and forges a new identity for herself as a 'daily help' in a seaside town.

Delightfully old-fashioned and laced with sly humour, not least against the character of the academic Mrs Graham who finds it impossible to manage her household and baby or even bother to learn Milly's name. The revelation of madness and paranoia is adroitly handled and creepy. I didn't see the twist coming. Celia Fremlin is a writer who deserves much more recognition.

[Kamla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't be deceived by Audibles' publication dates - They're only the date of the recording not the book. This novel was published in 1972 as the 40 pence an hour for domestic cleaning might give you a clue.
I enjoyed this old school style of writing and Clare Corbetts' narration suited it perfectly. Its a glance into the past of imprisoned women in quietly abusive marriages and quite dark in places. Worth a listen and a delve into other literature by this author.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome! I greatly enjoyed this, and boy, did it age well over the past 50 years, for the most part. I love that they’re republishing this author’s books — she’s amazing! This was truly well-written and also held my attention to the final page! I didn’t love-love the final resolution, but still a really great read.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite books! Celia Fremlin has a very clever and entertaining writing style, and the plot has quite an interesting twist at the end. Definitely a good read if you can find it - I think it is currently out of print and I really had to dig to find a copy.

[Katherine Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fabulous “of the time” domestic noir thriller … love Fremlins female characters for their flaws and lack of confidence … makes for some interesting choices and a little paranoia too! I get that these books won’t be for everyone - but I love them so so much. Shame there are so few to enjoy.

[Soizic Humbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

It presents as a light read, and in many ways it is, but it is much more. The depiction of life with a husband descending into paranoia chilled me to the bone, and felt uncomfortably true. The ending is of its time, but the journey is timeless.

[Sabine Humayun · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so gripping yet really heartwarming at the same time. I felt really connected to the character of Milly and the little life she had created. The plot twist at the end shocked me so much though - it makes me sad to think that she left all her new friends behind.

[Maria Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Celia Fremlin is a terrific writer, she creates such jeopardy. The book was first published more than fifty years ago and the writing is of its time but it's just so good. Tense, brilliant storytelling.