Second Fiddle

by Mary Wesley

Laura Thornby becomes interested in Claud Bannister, a struggling young writer, but finds herself taking second place to a character in his novel

Genres: Fiction, Modern, British Literature, Romance, Drama, Contemporary, Literary Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Mary Wesley, CBE was an English novelist. She reportedly worked in MI5 during World War II. During her career, she became one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including 10 best-sellers in the last 20 years of her life.

She wrote three children's books, Speaking Terms and The Sixth Seal (both 1969) and Haphazard House (1983), before publishing adult fiction. Since her first adult novel was published only in 1983, when she was 71, she may be regarded as a late bloomer. The publication of Jumping the Queue in 1983 was the beginning of an intensely creative period of Wesley's life. From 1982 to 1991, she wrote and delivered seven novels. While she aged from 70 to 79 she still showed the focus and drive of a young person.
Her best known book, The Camomile Lawn, set on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, was turned into a television series, and is an account of the intertwining lives of three families in rural England during World War II. After The Camomile Lawn (1984) came Harnessing Peacocks (1985 and as TV film in 1992), The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (1986 and filmed in 1995), Not That Sort of Girl (1987), Second Fiddle (1988), A Sensible Life (1990), A Dubious Legacy (1993), An Imaginative Experience (1994) and Part of the Furniture (1997). A book about the West Country with photographer Kim Sayer, Part of the Scenery, was published in 2001. Asked why she had stopped writing fiction at the age of 84, she replied: "If you haven't got anything to say, don't say it.

From Mary Wesley

Reviews

[Alisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those of us in our 30s (& beyond) who fear that it may already be Too Late - let me point out that Mary Wesley published her first novel at 70.

I found this paperback on the meager bookshelves of the cottage in Skipness, and happily dropped the Blackbirder in the middle to take this up. Despite publication dates in the 80s and 90s, Wesley reminds me of earlier British writers like Barbara Pym and Muriel Spark. I don't mean that they're stylistically or thematically alike (beyond, you know, being about women), but all give me the same slightly askew internal feeling. I love that in a book.

[The Cats’ Mother]

I picked this up from my Book Club pile, as I was looking for something with no death or violence after reading too many thrillers lately. Kim had donated it but I had no idea what it was about. There’s a louche self-important young man who wants to be a writer, an attractive older woman who likes to meddle, and various other uppity middle class people. I couldn’t even work out when it was set - it seems very old-fashioned but then they mention a Walkman so it must be at least the 80s. I vaguely remember reading a Wesley book perhaps 30 years ago, but otherwise know little about her.

I got to page 40, realised I still didn’t know what it was about, didn’t care, was infuriated by the writing style and had no interest in the characters so read the last ten pages - which didn’t help - and confirms that this really isn’t for me - so I’m DNFing and will send it gleefully to the charity pile.

[Peter Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

As mentioned in my review of "Not That Sort of Girl" (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), this was the novel (Wesley's 6th published novel for adult readers) I started on when I despaired of that one (the 5th). Yes, reader, at the risk of appearing to exhibit "fiction-reading OCD", after starting with the most famous of the ten, "The Camomile Lawn" (her 2nd) and then "Harnessing Peacocks" (the 3rd), I went back to the 1st ("Jumping the Queue"), and slowly motored through all the rest in published sequence, proceeding then to the books for younger readers and non-fiction! I don't think it's OCD, in fact: I've always found it interesting when I am taken by a writer (Rankin is another), to read in order to assess and appreciate the evolution of a writer, of themes ... and in the case of both novelists mentioned, the lives of some of the recurring characters, their relatives and associates.

I have to say I'm surprised at the volume of antipathy by reviewers on here to this novel! Unless it was your first read of a Mary Wesley, it can hardly have been a surprise to you that there are "dark themes", taboo areas, unpleasant, some deeply unpleasant, ferociously self-centred, some immensely callous & monumentally hypocritical, exploitative characters in this author's fiction.

But the first thing that surprises is me is an overlooking of Wesley's characteristic puckish, mischievous approach to her characters, and her ongoing mordantly satirical war against unpleasantness, brutishness, callousness and spite in her novels. Which surely is hard to miss?

And the second thing that surprises me, related: how far reviewers appear to desire to identify -even wholly - with the characters, as if they were in real life. Yes certainly, empathy - and sympathy too, compassion, considerateness, generosity - are wonderful qualities in real life. Without all of them, we wither and may at least spiritually die (as Mary Wesley it seems almost did in childhood and youth). And yes, Wesley can be very cruel to her characters, even some of her most likeable ones. And that can be emotionally hard to take, even as a reader of fiction. We do want to identify with likeable characters, even in the entirely make-believe world of novels. But ... surely we can appreciate that novels are not real life? Obviously, but I mean that Wesley plays with her characters (I wrote on this in the other review too), in ways that do no damage in real life. Fiction is a free area of simulation. And - here is my point - there is a lot of likeableness, not a little kindness, and despite limitations applied by life (which often mean they can be blinkered, even thoughtless), in the case of the better characters, the heroines in her novels, some of the best human qualities generally. For Wesley, those undoubtedly include spirit, courage (esp. in adversity), the spark of vitality that is difficult even for bastards (excuse my French) to quench entirely, curiosity about life and its possibilities, and a desire for happiness if it can be found.

Laura Thornby is just such a heroine. And indeed, she is one of Wesley's heroines, not merely one of her central characters. Yes, she makes mistakes. Yes, she deludes herself. Yes, she has a tendency to meddle, even to "mother" - for which she is taken to task, even by the novelist.

Yet there is an immense curiosity about life there, and a generous spirit, as well as a desire for usefulness, a ferociously suppressed desire for happiness, and a huge unexpressed dread of hurt or disappointment, which surely, as a reader, we can begin to detect? Also a tremendous energy.

Need we find Laura perfect - do we have to identify with her entirely - to find her interesting, faults and all, and, for that matter, simpatica?

Laura is certainly one of Wesley's most mercurial characters. She fears above all else, it appears, love, and with it, commitment. Readers, please consider her family background! I don't want to go into SPOILERS, but I don't think it requires a degree in Psychology to recognise that this is an individual carrying great hurt inside her, from early in life: who feels guilty for not taking greater care of her parents (!), when aware of the taboo, the stigma, the emotional and psychological neglect that has marked her personality from a young girl.

I don't want to go too much into the snobbish little opportunist Claud, whom she befriends and more, whom she robustly sets on his feet and more (don't bear those faults too much against her, reader, or you become exactly the sort of person Wesley satirises! *grin*), whom she pushes to reject defeatism, rise above a permanently moaning indolent negativity and become as sparky, at least practically (if never quite emotionally) self-sufficient, as energetic and slightly crazy as herself. But crazy, this is my view at least, in a very good way. She at least half succeeds, and possibly succeeds too well for her own good, in that self-appointed "meddling" mission to get Claud moving.

I suppose it depends how much, how total identification you need with a character.

Laura is certainly a very flawed person. To me, she is one of Wesley's best of her many interesting, and some likeable characters.

And like all Wesley's heroines, who are not merely central characters - she is a life force, who takes life's buffets, slings and arrows as much as possible in her stride, and crucially refuses to be broken. Which surely is this novelist's highest badge of honour!

But you reach your own decision!

Two other things - because I don't want to go into plot, SPOILERS everywhere, etc.

The mysterious - but in the end not so mysterious - shocking & mischievous Calypso Grant is not entirely ubiquitous in Wesley's 10 novels. Surely Mary Wesley's ideal would-be alter ego in her fiction. Not entirely ubiquitous. But she either appears or is an eminence grise in at least five of them, perhaps six, at a guess ( I suppose I should check back and count, but hey...). Here's not the place to discuss Calypso. But the interesting thing is that this is the first of the novels, I think, where Calypso's (and Hector's!) descendants suffer a setback in that bloodline's previously inevitable, inexorable progress through life and affairs. Martin, the grandson, suffers a rebuff. Lordy!

And the other thing is the title of this novel. Almost all of Wesley's titles - "The Camomile Lawn", (which states merely the haunting memory, experience and in some ways curse of the whole set of storylines it encapsulates) being strangely perhaps the greatest exception - are typically arch. They tend contain and often conceal a wealth of significance and emotional content of the book within.

Laura is a music lover. And fools herself she is not one for love, only fleeting affairs. (Please - second plea - look again at her family & emotional background before judging!) The "second fiddle" of the title is carefully played by the novelist, and it is left uncertain for much of the (hardback) 184 or (paperback) 240pp who or what that second fiddle exactly is, or may be.

Is it that Laura, in her insecurity that she dresses as certainty, always needs to have a back-up option in her affairs of the heart, of the body and soul? There seems always that possibility, from Clug onwards. But in fact, the novel ends in a double sting. ...

Let's leave it at that. Except to say, Laura drives off in her little car, properly proud, head held high, wounded as she was ever since girlhood, but refuses to be broken, And refuses to accept either second best, or patronising behaviour towards her. As far as one can offer congratulations and best wishes to a fictional character: good for her! And the hope that, sparky, colourful, vivacious as ever, she found a good measure of happiness yet (and that she needed deceive herself no longer).

[Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a waste of time. I never felt any affection for the characters and just kept reading to see if something interesting would happen to them. It didn't! I should have gone with my first instinct and quit after a couple of chapters. Mary Wesley has written some good books, but sadly this is not one of them.

[Gabriella Vegvari · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's something always compelling about Mary Wesley books and, sometimes equally repellant. She writes well but there's always a darkness that lurks on the edges of her stories -- sometimes it invades the plot in a way that I don't like to read. Perhaps because she was 70 when her first book was published the "darkness" that hovers really isn't anything more than the experience of a life that's been lived for a relatively long time. This story wasn't one of her more memorable ones but I will definitely give her another try some time.

[Paula R C R. C. Readman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. The story was character led. There were two main characters the older woman, Laura in her forties and single, and a newbie writer Claude twenty-three. The story was based around the two of them and whether one would fall in love the other succeed in their goal. I found the story held my interest, but the end left me a little confused to whether it was a good ending or not.
I'm left wanting to try another one of Mary Wesley's book as I enjoyed her style of writing.

[Jude Capper · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read Mary Wesley’s books when she rose to prominence in the 1990s, when she was already elderly. Still love them now as I did then, and always appreciate how Calypso Grant often plays a tiny role.

[Debbie Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

How's this for synchronicity. I registered and reviewed this book initially seven years ago for the Adelaide Bookcrossing Convention. I bought it recently for the Queenstown Convention and realised quite quickly that I had read it before. Because I love Mary Wesley I decided to read it again.
Here is my original review from bookcrossing:
I found the writing details involving the manuscript one of the characters is working on quite interesting but the ending to me seemed to be silly and not Laura at all. (Perhaps, though, that was the point Wesley was trying to make that will all become a little crazy with love.) Releasing at the Adelaide convention.
I actually feel quite differently about the book this time and have completely changed my mind about the ending but won't obviously go into details. Reading this book makes me want to go back and read all her books again. Actually I still have two to read. I will definitely be chasing them up.
For me, Laura is one of Wesley's more complicated and interesting characters. She does remind me of the main character from Harnessing Peacocks - older and sadder. I do admire how Laura makes the best of her life. How she manages it - keeping her distance from her mother, her studio in London and the flat hardly anybody knows about, not to mention her cat and the dog Bonzo. And who wouldn't be envious of her affairs although of course she is in deep with Claud.
Her mother and uncle - Nicholas and Emily Thornby are pure Wesley - mischievous, witty and with dubious sex lives. It's hard not to wonder what the author got up to during World War II. A lot as it turns out! I couldn't bear the suspense any longer and a few years ago read an excellent biography. Evidently Wesley said no to Bletchley Park as working there meant she would have had to give up her lunch (and afternoon activities in bed presumably) with various officers at the Ritz Hotel. Good on her! Keeping the boys' spirits up!
A fun read!

[Anya Nielsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second Fiddle
by Mary Wesley
Published in 1989 by Black Swan Books, a Division of Macmillan Publishers London ISBN 0-552-99355-7
Mary Wesley is the author of three children’s books, eleven books for adults and a collection of letters. Her first was published at age seventy. Born in 1912 she worked in London at the war office during WWII. Some describe her as Jane Austen but with sex.
Second Fiddle was her ninth book. It is really a novella, just 237 pages, written in three parts. Her vivid descriptions help the reader to visualise time and place. The author has a curious style of not using chapters but I didn’t find this a distraction—just an observation. The characters develop well enough for us to greet them if we passed them in the street.
I kept wondering which of the characters would become the second fiddle. Would it be the protagonist herself or indeed if it was a person at all. Especially as the story opens with the two main characters attending a concert, it could be an actual musical instrument—a violin.
The dozen or so characters are introduced quite quickly. I wanted more interaction between each so I could sort out how they fit with each other in the story. Not a complicated plot, the action is full of surprises and unexpected twists and turns.
Laura Thornby slightly quirky is in full control of her life. Her affairs brief and uncomplicated until. . . she meets her protege, an aspiring writer.
‘Right then. Laura thought, I shall play second fiddle . . .’ but second fiddle to whom? That I shall leave for the reader to discover themselves.

[Jane Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

In picking out my second Mary Wesley I happened, fortuitously, to choose one with some character cross overs with the first (Not that Sort of Girl); this time with the minor character in that novel, Laura Thornby, at its centre. The shady and downright weird overtones of the Thornbys in the first book are explored in full detail here - and it is really quite shocking. I can’t imagine what the readership of the time thought, but I think a writer today might treat these ‘family ties’ a little differently.

Suffice to say, another marvellous, slight dark and dotty exploration of the middle classes from Wesley.

[Jane Gabin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used to think of Mary Wesley often and how the world was deprived of her talent because she did not publish her first novel until she was 71. This one is her sixth, and revolves around two characters, a young would-be writer named Claud Bannister, and an accomplished older woman, Laura Thornby. The book starts slowly, and Claud at first appears silly and mother-dominated. But gradually things change. The use of expletives in this book seem tame, but their use was considered brash when this was written. Mary Wesley didn’t care - she told things as they were, not as society dictated.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowing nothing about this book going into it, I was pleasantly surprised by it. It was a delightful read and quite interesting seeing the characters develop and learning some of the reasons behind their actions as the book developed.

[Sarah Hills · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my second book by this author and I am afraid I found it hard going and rather disappointing. It gets rather dark (read depressing) at times and I didn't really get on with any of the characters. I had no sympathy for anyone and found the story slow but I carried on until the end.
Not one I would recommend and it is very old fashioned in the writing style and not in a very good way.
I did persevere and honestly should have put it down before the end but I never like to do that to a book.
Characters were generally nasty and our female protagonist was mean and rather warped.
Everyone else got what they deserved.
A shame as the start had a lot of promise but sadly didn't fulfill.

[Jane Popiolek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird old fashioned book - my mother loved Mary Wesley and I wanted to love it - but although I enjoyed it and finished it, I didn’t love it.
Lots of intricate goings on between characters in the village. Some of it trivial, or odd, or dull.
I appreciated how the layers of information came slowly and eventually I came to care about the characters, though none of them is especially lovable. There was something a bit icky - I can’t quite put my finger on it. But it has held me, more or less, but I won’t rush to read another.

[Gillian]

"Second Fiddle" is one of Mary Wesley's books that I haven't read and I enjoyed the Englishness of it. complex characters. I got a bit mixed up between Ann and Margaret. Love the incorporation of characters frrom other books, like Martin, Calypso and Helen's parents Ned and ? Liked the sexless cat with no name who travelled happily in a cat cage from flat to work, and town to city with equanimity. 45 is hardly elderly.

[Richard Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I thought I'd read this. I hadn't. I thought I remembered reading Mary Wesley as easy. It isn't. Having said that, this is a good book, and possibly much deeper than it appears at first glance. I very much admire Wesley for persevering (she didn't have her first novel published until she was 70), and this story of love, lust, writing, is indeed very absorbing under the middle-class veneer. In fact, it could be read as a critique of exactly that. Worth a read.

[Zoe · Rating 1 out of 5]

None of the characters were likeable. I didn’t care, I just read it to see what would happen.
She kept teasing us with occasional mentions of gorgeous Calypso from Chamomile Lawn but this has none of the charm. One character appears at the beginning and doesn’t reappear until the end like someone forgotten. Plus dodgy mentions of parents wondering what their children are like in bed.

[Lisa Regan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A peculiar kind of book - "of its time", I think. Reminds me of authors like Kingsley Amis. Both he and Wesley seem to focus on their characters rather than plots, so, although they write well, in terms of language, the books feel underwhelming and overall a bit pointless. And ultimately, the characters in this book weren't particularly gripping, so it all felt a bit of a waste of reading time.

[Els · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Mary Wesley, even when the characters aren't particularly likeable. I also like how she ties in characters from her other novels, so the books seem connected, although they really aren't. Always a good read

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've always had a soft spot for Mary Wesley and her no-nonsense style of writing. This was a little strained with no characters I could warm to and an unpleasant triumvirate of family at the centre with Laura, Nicholas and Emily. Ultimately unsatisfactory.

[Alison D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea! Found it hard to understand where the writer was going with this, the story seems unreal with some frightening overtones of what may or may not have happened in the past also confusing. In the end I found her sad & non committal, glad it's finished

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Art Linkletter said so many years ago, "People are funny". Mary Wesley makes full use of this fact and writes about foibles and serious indiscretions.
She does character studies and there's no plot as such. Since it's a short book, she carries it off well.

[Ruthie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's March 2025 and I'm doing a tidy up of my book shelves, and am sending this to the charity shop. Read this years ago, possibly in the 1980s when it was published. Sadly can't remember anything of it, but I'm inspired that Mary Wesley got published and was successful, aged 70.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful nugget of a book...the sharpness and hardness od the characters braced. the incest did not. of course one wants love, and that is not to be. May December romance, insecurities, living through the everyday.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice book to curl up with and enjoy a cup of tea while reading.

[Trish · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*

[CELIA · Rating 1 out of 5]

So dull. Very pointless. Gave up just over half way through.

[Malene · Rating 2 out of 5]

A strange book about a strange bunch of fundamentally unlikable characters.

[Rosetta Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to Anna Massey audio book really enjoyed it as it was linked to Not that sort of girl

[Elizabeth]

Not my kind of book .... sorry.