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The Beadle
NY 1963 Vanguard. Fiction about South Africa. Fine in VG DJ.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 3, 2016
I have the emotional range of an accountant, but this book manages to rile up intense feelings bordering on mild indigestion. A naive young girl is seduced by heartless Englishman, who is indulging in that particular Victorian peculiarity of visiting warmer climates to cure mysterious ailments. For reasons beyond my comprehension, he chose South Africa. Having resided in South Africa for most of my life, and suffered about one cold a year on average, I have not found my immune system particularly bolstered by this geographical region. But let's not dwell on technicalities.
Heartless Englishman finds that having sex with a naive young girl is a great way to restore former health, and once cured is desperate to rejoin sophisticated Englishwoman back in England, the land of dread disease. Naive Young Girl being naive and young, dutifully packs her dear Henry's (heartless Englishman) clothes neatly into his travel bags whilst crying silent, heartbreaking tears. But she still manages to find pure joy in her heart to be happy for her dear Henry that he will get to rejoin his dear Englishwoman again -- all this while being secretly pregnant with his child.
And Gah! Gaaahhhh!!! GaaaAAAAH!! Just GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Accountants are people too!)
Sure, the book then goes on to be very progressive for its time by making a point about unwed women who bore children being cruelly ostracized from society, whilst the very important and necessary male participants get to swan back to England free from shame, censure or responsibility But this was the setwork I was forced to read in high school in the year that I had been happily anticipating studying To Kill a Mockingbird instead, so I feel justified in my loathing of this rather insipid work. And Naive Young Girl was such a martyr you could almost read a subversive conspiracy into the tale where she was actually impregnated by the holy spirit and would have to give birth in a manger. Turns out she gives birth in a hut, which is suspiciously close to a manger if you ask me.
Heartless Englishman finds that having sex with a naive young girl is a great way to restore former health, and once cured is desperate to rejoin sophisticated Englishwoman back in England, the land of dread disease. Naive Young Girl being naive and young, dutifully packs her dear Henry's (heartless Englishman) clothes neatly into his travel bags whilst crying silent, heartbreaking tears. But she still manages to find pure joy in her heart to be happy for her dear Henry that he will get to rejoin his dear Englishwoman again -- all this while being secretly pregnant with his child.
And Gah! Gaaahhhh!!! GaaaAAAAH!! Just GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Accountants are people too!)
Sure, the book then goes on to be very progressive for its time by making a point about unwed women who bore children being cruelly ostracized from society, whilst the very important and necessary male participants get to swan back to England free from shame, censure or responsibility But this was the setwork I was forced to read in high school in the year that I had been happily anticipating studying To Kill a Mockingbird instead, so I feel justified in my loathing of this rather insipid work. And Naive Young Girl was such a martyr you could almost read a subversive conspiracy into the tale where she was actually impregnated by the holy spirit and would have to give birth in a manger. Turns out she gives birth in a hut, which is suspiciously close to a manger if you ask me.
February 18, 2021
There I was, happily living my adult life, when I suddenly remembered the most diabolical book I've ever read and I came on to Goodreads to see if it was as bad as I remember. Why yes, I remember now, it was indeed that bad and I have absolutely no idea why this was a high school English set work. I've read a lot of inappropriate YA but The Beadle takes the cake. It's just an awful tale of an adult exploiting a young farm girl in South Africa and was actually intensely traumatic to read.
January 21, 2022
On Goodreads I read mainly disappointing reviews for a book I love and always will. Maybe a person has to live in South Africa to truly appreciate the nuances of the prose and Smith's incredibly insightful delve into the Afrikaner character. Her sparse yet accurate descriptions of the karoo and the 'Aangenaam' valley also transport a reader, from any country into that place. The tale is also one of universal application. I have read this book throughout my adult life, from the age of 18, again at 34 and again at 56. It has been fascinating to see how my mind has developed. I hope I'll be able to read it again in another 20 years time and leave a further review.
May 9, 2008
I read this book years ago, but what sticks out clearly in my mind is this woman who has to be told she is pregnant when she starts showing ... how could anyone be so stupid? The image of the young girl living with two elder women in the house, who view a mirror as evil ... honestly a ghastly story.
January 23, 2020
What a beautiful book - written in 1926, reprinted in 1975, but then forgottn. So sad as it is just lovely, written in pure, honest English.
"All life was strange when one looked at it one way, and all life was simple when one looked at it another way" - this quote sums up the message of the book.
"All life was strange when one looked at it one way, and all life was simple when one looked at it another way" - this quote sums up the message of the book.
Read
September 29, 2012A beautiful, sensitive evocation of the life of a small clan of Boer settlers in a small isolated valley not far from the Karoo mountains.
A glimpse of a life that was real.
A glimpse of a life that was real.
December 14, 2025
A short story set in rural South Africa, exploring themes of authority, duty, and human compassion. The story follows the beadle, a small-town official responsible for maintaining order and assisting the poor. Through his daily tasks, the narrative reveals his rigid adherence to rules alongside moments of quiet humanity. Smith highlights the tension between bureaucratic duty and personal morality, showing how societal roles can both constrain and define individuals. The story reflects on human dignity, isolation, and the subtle power dynamics in small communities, capturing the complexities of ordinary life. Here are the best bits:
You all have religion leave for her in fulfilling a single command: my little children loved one another.
There was seldom much to do, for the community of the Aangenaam valley was not a letter-writing one. News travelled quickly, but not by post. The Dutch-man, living almost as close to nature as the native himself, learnt his news from the spoors on the veld and the roadside, from the passing of carts and wagons, from the flight of birds, from the trembling of a bush, from the sudden cry of an animal in distress breaking the silence of the mountain-side... By such means as these news was borne from farm to farm as miraculously as seeds are borne by the wind and sown in a distant soil.
Death is but one end to love. There are others that are harder.
It is As if, As if, joy brings also a pain to the heart.
And in the thought of service to him there was for her now no absolute cleavage between the joy of her body and the joy of her soul.
And he held it to be a man’s chief duty in life to make the most of any experience that came as away.
To every passing wagon did her heart, outstripping reason, rush forth in welcome. In every stranger who came about the farm did she seek, like an expectant child, the face she loved. And with this secret burden of hope that was never to be fulfilled went the terrifying burden of a jealousy she could not master - an anguish that chained her love to self, and made of memory a torture.
You all have religion leave for her in fulfilling a single command: my little children loved one another.
There was seldom much to do, for the community of the Aangenaam valley was not a letter-writing one. News travelled quickly, but not by post. The Dutch-man, living almost as close to nature as the native himself, learnt his news from the spoors on the veld and the roadside, from the passing of carts and wagons, from the flight of birds, from the trembling of a bush, from the sudden cry of an animal in distress breaking the silence of the mountain-side... By such means as these news was borne from farm to farm as miraculously as seeds are borne by the wind and sown in a distant soil.
Death is but one end to love. There are others that are harder.
It is As if, As if, joy brings also a pain to the heart.
And in the thought of service to him there was for her now no absolute cleavage between the joy of her body and the joy of her soul.
And he held it to be a man’s chief duty in life to make the most of any experience that came as away.
To every passing wagon did her heart, outstripping reason, rush forth in welcome. In every stranger who came about the farm did she seek, like an expectant child, the face she loved. And with this secret burden of hope that was never to be fulfilled went the terrifying burden of a jealousy she could not master - an anguish that chained her love to self, and made of memory a torture.
January 30, 2025
I first read this book in 1980 as one of my English set-works in what would have been my junior year at High School. It struck a cord then and continues to do so today.
It is beautifully written telling the story of people who lived by their Christian code and a life which followed the seasons and social orders of the day.
It reminds that there are still beautiful parts of my home country that must be visited to experience the grandeur of wide open spaces, dark night skies and stillness.
A book not to be rushed.
It is beautifully written telling the story of people who lived by their Christian code and a life which followed the seasons and social orders of the day.
It reminds that there are still beautiful parts of my home country that must be visited to experience the grandeur of wide open spaces, dark night skies and stillness.
A book not to be rushed.
August 26, 2020
Who am I to judge? What is this town of Harmonie with all its people? Secrets and lies enter or perhaps bubble underneath and yet it's a variation of Eden? There's something curious going on here, especially in Smith's style, which is story-driven, clear and focussed, until a petit ruisseau-of-consciousness occurs when the characters are at their most mentally stressed, when they seem to be threatened with the idea of being without their religion or town membership.
October 6, 2011
published 1926, by Jonathan Cape, London.
Her "The Little Karoo" [geographical designation of the area of South Africa in which The Beadle is also set] was published in 1925.
This really took me to a far-away time and a far-away place. The omniscient author mentions in the book that, even for its time, the community she describes was old-fashioned. These people traveled by OX cart, journeying 2 or 3 days to come to the church 4 times a year, camping out along the way as well as near the church after arriving. Most spent their entire lives in the confines of the valley in which they were born.
It certainly is a "psychological novel", showing deep into several characters' minds and souls. I was transported to the community, in spite of the somewhat archaic language and the apparently conscious intention of the author to produce an English version of Afrikaans speech. On the whole successful, I feel.
The author is an optimist, I would say, because several [actually most] major characters are broad-minded and warm and accepting, in contrast to the narrow-minded who judge an unwed mother as a sinner. I found the story convincing and would be glad to read it a second time.
Another goodreads reader:
"1920s South African plaasroman (farm novel). Quite sentimental and nostalgic, examining a small Afrikaans community similar to the one Pauline Smith lived in as a child (but not when she wrote the novel). Interesting for its representation of Afrikaans in English prose."
Her "The Little Karoo" [geographical designation of the area of South Africa in which The Beadle is also set] was published in 1925.
This really took me to a far-away time and a far-away place. The omniscient author mentions in the book that, even for its time, the community she describes was old-fashioned. These people traveled by OX cart, journeying 2 or 3 days to come to the church 4 times a year, camping out along the way as well as near the church after arriving. Most spent their entire lives in the confines of the valley in which they were born.
It certainly is a "psychological novel", showing deep into several characters' minds and souls. I was transported to the community, in spite of the somewhat archaic language and the apparently conscious intention of the author to produce an English version of Afrikaans speech. On the whole successful, I feel.
The author is an optimist, I would say, because several [actually most] major characters are broad-minded and warm and accepting, in contrast to the narrow-minded who judge an unwed mother as a sinner. I found the story convincing and would be glad to read it a second time.
Another goodreads reader:
"1920s South African plaasroman (farm novel). Quite sentimental and nostalgic, examining a small Afrikaans community similar to the one Pauline Smith lived in as a child (but not when she wrote the novel). Interesting for its representation of Afrikaans in English prose."
November 15, 2010
1920s South African plaasroman (farm novel). Quite sentimental and nostalgic, examining a small Afrikaans community similar to the one Pauline Smith lived in as a child (but not when she wrote the novel). Interesting for its representation of Afrikaans in English prose.
Read
April 20, 2018I wanted to read this book as we did it as a set book in High School. I had no memory of what the story was about. I really struggled in the beginning as it was so boring and a bit creepy (the Englisman's seduction of the young girl), but I ended up enjoying it. I liked reading about what the lives of my ancestors in South Africa might have been like.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews