Young Emma

by W.H. Davies

At the age of fifty, towards the end of the First World War, W. H. Davies decided that he must marry. Spurning London society and the literary circles where he had been lionised since the publication of his Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, he set about looking for the right partner on the streets of London.Young Emma is a moving and revealing memoir told with disarming honesty and humour. Davies records his life with three women: from his affair with Bella, the wife of a Sergeant Major, to his year-long liaison with the gentle Louise, to the turbulent brushes with a society woman who fears for her own life at his hands. He finally meets Emma, then pregnant, at a bus-stop on the Edgware Road. This is the story of their love affair.

Genres: Biography

137 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 10, 1980

About the author

William Henry Davies was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales. His father was, at the time a Publican. After an apprenticeship as a picture-frame maker and a series of labouring jobs, he travelled to America, first to New York and then to the Klondike.

He returned to England after an accident whilst jumping a train in Canada, he lost a foot. Upon his return to Britain he led a poor, hard life living in London lodging houses and as a pedlar in the country. He married in 1923, Emma, who was much younger than he. His first poems were published when he was 34.

Most of his poetry is on the subject of nature or life on the road and exhibits a natural simple, earthy style. He also wrote two novels and autobiographical works, his best known being Autobiography of a Super-Tramp

He died in 1940.

Reviews

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Appalling egotistical misogynistic drivel. I waded through his Trumpian account of his own good looks, literary merit and gentlemanliness uneasily. I followed his sexist chasing after prostitutes, and his treatment of them with distaste. I read the first chapter concerning Emma, whom he, a 50 year old man, thought to be 15 initially, with disgust, and decided I would go no further.
Why the ‘quality’ newspapers quoted on the cover were so taken by the book, and why the Welsh Government felt this was worthy of public sponsorship I have no idea. Far better if the author’s wishes that the unpublished manuscript had been destroyed after his death were followed, rather than being published in 1980.

[Jane Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story of life (for some) in the early twentieth century.

Honest account of life in London and England for people in the post WW1years with a bit of a psychoanalytic perspective.

[Siâni · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find Davies’s views too old fashioned to enjoy the story. His views and opinions on women are too infuriating! I wish Young Emma had written her own version of the story.

[Martina · Rating 5 out of 5]

La segunda parte de "Autobiografía de un súper vagabundo". De la misma forma que la primera parte, está escrita de una forma tan brutalmente sincera y tierna, que te hace estar pegado al libro hasta la última palabra. Como curiosidad, llegué a éste libro investigando sobre la vida de Chris McCandless, protagonista real de la novela y película "Into the Wild"; Chris siguió los pasos de W.H. Davies, después de haber leído su historia real en "Autobiografía de un súper vagabundo". Te cambia la visión de la vida, de lo que realmente importa. La recomendaría mil veces.