Islanders

by Helen R. Hull, Patricia McClelland Miller (Afterword)

   First published in 1927, this novel tells the story of an indomitable woman who serves for almost 80 years as a caretaker, first to her parents, then to her siblings, her children, and ultimately, her grandniece to whom she passes on her metaphoric vision of women of women as "islanders."

Genres: Fiction

344 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1927

About the author

Helen Rose Hull was brought up in Michigan, the eldest child of a schools superintendent and a former teacher. Early on she and her brother became financially responsible for their family. She went to Lansing High School and Michigan State University and was a schoolteacher; after graduate work she went to Wellesley College to teach creative writing. Here she met Mabel Louise Robinson with whom she lived for the rest of her life. Their home was in New York and, in summer, in North Brooklin, Maine. She joined the Department of English at Columbia in 1916 and taught there for the next forty years, becoming professor. In New York she was a key member of the Heterodoxy Club, a group of outstanding and unorthodox women. She published numerous short stories and the first of her 17 novels came out in 1922, the last in 1963.

- from the back cover of 'Heat Lightning' published by Persephone Books

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another relatively buried feminist novel of the Mid-West, and one which again reiterates the central role played by women in the establishment of the American heartland.

We follow Ellen Dacey from her teenage years in the 1840’s to her death. Men dictate, dominate and distort her life both by their presence and their absence. Her struggles are not just against the land but against the insidious workings of patriarchy. Much weight is placed, and correctly so, on the importance of economics – on the crippling effect of dependency on the male and on male institutions. Women are stranded on islands not of their making.

It is wonderfully written and deserves attention. It reminds me too of Ruth Sukow’s The Folks (which I think the better novel). The Feminist Press have once again done a wonderful job of keeping an important novel alive.

Now, rather than ramble on about it myself, I came across a fascinating contemporary review which I will share instead. What I find interesting here is what he gets right as well as what he gets so wrong – there is a patronising sexism at play here, but it is entirely surrounded by fulsome praise....The first couple of sentences are just perfect examples of how this type of thing can operate....

Woman's Place.

Reviewed by LAWRENCE CORNELIUS in the Saturday Review in 1927

An aggrieved knitting of the author's brows at the horrid spectacle of woman's domination by man has hitherto prevented the workmanlike and vital novels of Helen Hull from the attainment of literary excellence. So beautifully, however, does her fourth novel, "Islanders," move with the deep, strong rhythm of life that it cannot be called propaganda. Its central truth, woman's dependence on man, is implicit in the living out of people's lives, and her feminist indignation is not the real occasion for the novel. "Islanders" exists in and for the chief "islander," Ellen Dacey. It is Ellen herself, not Miss Hull, who shows resentment against man's domination of woman, which proceeds from actual conflicts with masculine individuals rather than from flaunted attempts to put social ideas into practicable use. The resentment is, in truth, forced on Ellen, first by the simultaneous "riding away" of lover, father, and brother to the adventurous lure of California gold in '49, and eighteen years later is made more bitter by the return of her father and his spiteful selling of the farm on which, in his absence, she has worked away the softness of youth. Since there was no economic independence for women in Civil War days, Ellen is forced to "earn her keep" in the household of her pompous brother Thurston. When she is fifty she must still further bend her head to the masculine yoke by yielding to this brother's thieving of the little fortune left by her lover Matthew. When Thurston is ruined financially Ellen must be uprooted and transplanted to the Long Island home of her nephew Robby. Out of the wreck of her own bullied life, Ellen determines staunchly to give independent fulness to Robby's daughter, Anne.

The last third of the book, devoted to the development of Anne Dacey, loses much of its warm glow, for the theme, which, to this point has illuminated and unified but not controlled the narrative, becomes didactic, and Annie is made into the Modern Young Girl. It is unfortunate that Anne, who is the ultimate meaning of Ellen's life, should be the one person in the entire book not to be sharply individualized especially since Ellen herself exists to the end with a vivid pitifulness. The personality in every minor character, male or female, the broad sweep of years, the picture of pioneer days, give the first two-thirds of "Islanders" much of the epic quality of "My Antonia." Indeed Ellen Dacey, courageous and human, is a member of that undaunted company which includes Willa Gather's Antonia and Alexandra, Zona Gale's Lulu Bett and Ellen Bascomb. Miss Hull shares the sensitiveness of these authors to rightness of detail, their unpatronizing view of the scene, and their subjective clarity of vision. All of which is not to accuse the author of this fine book of imitation, but of absorbing of the peculiar excellences of these women writers. "Islanders" is a splendidly vital novel. It has the rich beauty, the sturdy honesty, the lovely vigor of Ellen Dacey herself. In its implications it is the story not only of one woman's life far from the currents of the world's activities but the history of an era. For the lean years of Ellen are representative of the lean years of woman from the time when men "slashed across the profound meaning of their existence" by adventuring alone, to the day when women demanded a shoulder to shoulder place in their male relatives' lives. Not as social history, however, not as a background for this day's feminine unrest, but as the spirited chronicle of a brave and lonely woman's life, "Islanders" is most remarkable.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a most wonderful book about an unmarried woman who ends up being a caretaker and unsung hero for 4 generations of her family. Her young fiance, along with her father and older brother, leave the family farm in Michigan to join the goldrush to California. She and her mother keep things going, in addition to raising the youngest brother, Thurston. Only the father returns, 20 years later. Ellen Dacey manages the farm until her father sells it out from under her. Thurston marries and has a family, and Ellen goes to live with him and manages his home and raises his 3 children. Years go by, with attendant heartbreaks, disappointments and betrayals. She ends her days in New York, living with a beloved nephew, and determined that his daughter will not succumb to the perils of being a woman with no inner life to sustain her. Beautiful writing, with a main character who faces life with courage and determination, along with the ups and downs of history from the mid 1840's until WWI, make this a 5 Star rating from me.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary novel written in 1927, and one that's feminist in the truest sense. Hull manages to communicate her heroine's continually expanding view of the world, even as the circumstances of her life narrow. It's a tricky balancing act, but this author handles it deftly. Why this author isn't better known is beyone me.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful, powerful book follows the long life of Ellen Dacey from youth to old age. Published in the 1920s and set from the time of the Gold Rush to World War I, it examines Ellen's life as a single woman strong and independent minded despite the men who control her material life. The impact of Ellen upon the family she cares for, especially Anne her grand-niece, resonates through the novel and shows that Ellen, while an islander isolated from the greater world and dependent upon men able to participate in it, is an island of strength. Caught by circumstances, Ellen reflects upon her place, struggles to find meaning, and encourages and enables others to escape limitations. While the novel largely examines the lives of women at this time and the constraints most faced, it is applicable to all people who wish to lead examined and meaningful lives. Ellen and "Islanders" will live with me for a long time.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a phenomenal book about the role women have in society, and the limits placed on us all. Reading it, to my surprise many phrases, limits which were lodged in my subconscious percolated to the forefront of my mind. Women's voices long forgotten echoed in the depths of my mind, finally allowing me to decided the validity of their presence, ultimately freeing me from their bonds. I highly recommend this book to all.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story opens with Ellen Dacey's anguish about the reality of her fiancé, father and brothers setting off to join the goldrush, promising riches when they return, but leaving the women to tend the farm in the meantime. The 'meantime', which meant to be a year or two, turned into 20. The women work hard, filling the void of waiting. Some of the men do return, and through their authority grasp any sliver of freedom and solace that Ellen had; their decisions shape her life continuously against her wishes until it remains a small, isolated island on which Ellen is stranded.

The author leads us through Ellen's life, from a hopeful young girl, to a middle aged woman who dares to dream, to an elderly one who has more or less accepted her fate of a wasted life, all her years spent caretaking for her older brother's family, then her nephew's family. Years filled with heartbreak and betrayal, and compliancy on Ellen's part which bothered me; I wish she had spoken up and defended herself and other women more often, but I suppose it reflects the time in which it was written. The role women play in society was highly underestimated and extremely limited when it came to freedom of choice - near the end of her days, Ellen Dacey is determined to convince her nephew's daughter, Anne, whom she raised herself, to make her own decisions and avoid being stranded on an island. Anne struggles with the meaning of this advice, especially as she is presented with the opportunity to marry, something her family expects of her.

Helen Hull was very skilled; the book was well written and full of feeling, and I appreciate that Ellen's personality and way of speaking changed with her age. Wasn't quite the ending I had hoped for (although I'm not sure which outcome would have made me happier), but at least Anne is thinking and acting for herself, inspired by Ellen's guidance. Overall, a beautiful book that reflects the crushing of women's souls since the beginning of society...

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Groundbreaking for its day, this novel reads very melodramatic now, a whirling account of 80 years a spinster.

[Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

A forgotten gem!