Walworth Beauty

by Michèle Roberts

BRAND NEW, Exactly same ISBN as listed, Please double check ISBN carefully before ordering.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical, Contemporary, British Literature

400 pages, Paperback

First published April 20, 2017

About the author

Michèle Brigitte Roberts is the author of fifteen novels, including Ignorance which was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction and Daughters of the House which won the W.H. Smith Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her memoir Paper Houses was BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week in June 2007. She has also published poetry and short stories, most recently collected in Mud: Stories of Sex and Love. Half-English and half-French, Roberts lives in London and in the Mayenne, France. She is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

Reviews

[Fiona · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can’t read this. I hate the style. It’s so dry with no quotation marks for speech or distinction between thought and speech. It just seems to drone on. Usually, I read a few pages of a book to check I’ll enjoy the writing style but I didn’t in this case because I was drawn by its connection with London Labour and the London Poor, a book I used for research purposes when I was working towards my Masters. I thought it would be really fascinating but I was wrong. It’s not for me and I’m sorry I bought it. Next stop the charity shop!

[Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The Walworth Beauty' by Michèle Roberts

3 stars/ 6 out of 10

I have read several other books by Michèle Roberts, so was interested in reading this latest novel of hers.

In 'The Walworth Beauty' Michèle Roberts has written two interconnecting stories, one set in 2011 and the other in 1851.

As always, Roberts' language is lush and evocative.

I much preferred the 1851 sections of the novel, with their strong connection to Henry Mayhew's investigations into the makeup and living conditions of the poor of London at that time. I was drawn into these sections in a way that made me feel I was gaining some understanding of what life was like at the time.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing and to NetGalley for an ARC.

[Elizabeth Best · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a proof copy as part of a Goodreads Giveaway competition. So hopefully the lack of quotation marks will be added - it took me until half way through to get used to it. Her writing style is also hard to get used to. Her sentences do not flow, some are often several words that don't grammatically make a sentence: "Bare boards" is one example of a complete sentence. She would keep jumping back and forth between flashbacks and present time. It was hard to keep up with whether Joseph was having a bath or walking down some street meeting prostitutes.
Spoilers ahead:
Apart from that, the story itself was poor. Joseph's story was not that interesting - he was moping too much after his dead wife and all the sex they had, racked up a lot of debt, kept turning up at someone's house even when he wasn't wanted and lost his job. He wasn't a nice person at all! There was little plot and it all just seemed an excuse to talk about prostitutes and sex. Madeline's story was even worse. None of the characters felt real, and none of her chapters added anything to the story. She basically was worried that she had a stalker and felt the ghosts of the past which wasn't explained at all and it never felt finished - she basically met Joseph but he just disappeared. It was just so unexplained. The ending felt rushed and unfinished. Did Joseph run after his family at all? Did Madeline stop feeling like there was a presence with her? What about Mrs Dulcimer, Doll and Annie?

[booksofallkinds · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect from THE WALWORTH BEAUTY by Michèle Roberts and was pleasantly surprised at this deep and meaningful tale of love and life moving from the past to present. In 1851 Joseph's eyes are harshly opened to the reality of life for a woman as he gathers research for Henry Mayhew, while in 2011 Madeleine throws herself back into the past as she becomes engrossed in Mayhew's findings.

Through Roberts excellent writing skills that ebb and flow at the perfect moment, the reader becomes a part of the tale effortlessly as you want to soak in everything this story has to offer. THE WALWORTH BEAUTY by Michèle Roberts is an enigmatic and often unsettling story that is about women at its heart - their wants, their needs, their desires, hopes & dreams, and their harsh realities, which transcend time and place to capture the attention of us all. A captivating and thought-provoking read.

*I voluntarily reviewed this book from Netgalley.com

[Monique · Rating 1 out of 5]

"a man I got talking to on the bus the other day told me that the lives of people in the past may coexist with ours, invisibly, behind a kind of looking-glass. Sometimes we can see through it, glimpse each other"

(I wrote this as I read it so excuse my continuity errors or focus on particular parts)


Alternating between Victorian London following Joseph in the city's underbelly and modern day London with ex-lecturer Madeleine who's view of London quickly became nostalgic to me as she describes walks I used to take before covid. I  really loved the descriptions, I really did find a soft spot for the navigation around the Southwark area. I think Roberts captured the area well. Though despite the narrative flow was a struggle and I could not get into the dialogue, it's too nuanced for me, like one of the reasons why I did not enjoy NW (Zadie Smith). I need distinction of speech, the lack of speech marks sometimes makes it hard for me to distinguish whether it is the voice of the author, the characters thoughts or the character actually conversing with another. I had my misgivings at the start and they never really left, I think I jumped at the book cover and synopsis, but for me the story didn't deliver. There was just a lack of everything and did not suit me at all- I couldn't wait for it to be over. It was terrible.


The opening setting was good with setting the image of 1851 London being a growing city, extending into the countryside, but I did not like Joseph's character introduction. It felt vague and I hated the way he looks upon Mrs Dulcimer and "tarts" in general, I question why would he look for prostitutes if he did not like them? However it isn't until his next part, after Madeleine's introduction, that Roberts reveals Joseph is working for Mayhew (author of London Labour and the London Poor, the book Madeleine is reading) which clears up the purpose of his brothel visits and begins to sew the seeds for the connecting narratives. Madeleine's character surprised me, I was not expecting her to be 60 years old, which was refreshing. I like her interests in literature and the humanities and her bitterness of being made redundant because the subjects were cut ("A mouth that wants to fly open, shout. It's not fair!" I feel your pain, Madeleine!). I love her navigation around London and the way the city is protrayed with striking honesty, it's great but also not great at all, but there are particular areas you always find yourself attracted to.


There is something about Joseph's character I cannot stand. I am interested in his work and the poor people he communicates with, but I despise his attitude towards them. He feels like a condescending, sleazy character to his family and how he goes from disliking Dulcimer to suddenly claiming her as "His Walworth Beauty" and hating prostitutes yet still happy to take service. I can't really like Madeleine's character either, despite her interests I otherwise couldn't care less about her, which is terrible. She just becomes dull, despite a promising introduction. Like Joseph, she seems so condescending and there's an added side plot (why do we need this?) of Emm and his vaguely threatening messages he leaves with flowers. The men (except Toby) in this book just make me uncomfortable and the women just appear miserable? Neither Joseph or Madeleine seemed to fit in the plot that never really solidified. These character just don't shout out to me and within the first 100 pages I'm struggling to keep engaged with the story.


I also struggled to keep going because I really could not get into following the non-linear, continuous thoughts of the narrative. It feels too close to the Modernists' stream of consciousness, which I loathe. The jumping around between thoughts, ignoring some, following others, jumping back into the main narrative and then suddenly back out to another wondering thought. I get what Roberts is trying to do, make the narrative flow seemlessly through events, but mix this in with the dialogue lay out and you have me confused and annoyed.


I found myself enjoying the exterior exploration (the locations etc) with little interest in the main characters. The only character I did like was Mrs Dulcimer, a benefactress helping women keep of the street, teaching how to read and write, protecting each other from the violent and grim society. I was smug when she made Joseph realise how much of a dick and snob he had been in looking down on her and her tennants assuming they were 'less respectable'. She put him in his place with minimal effort. And Madeleine just appears to have her dead mum, Nelly, talking to her??? I thought they were memories to begin with but nope, Roberts is yet again just adding another uneeded voice-in-your-head to the mix.


Halfway through the book, the plot still hasn't formed, names, places and (2) extremely weak "apparitions" (of no value to the narrative) have been dropped with the promise of connection but nothing happens. Roberts still remains focussed on dragging the reader through the quagmire of words of each characters existence and their sexual fantasies/history. Where is the supposed haunting at Apricot Place?


But then, just like that, a multitude of events completely throwing off characters, Joseph loses his job, Milly read his notes on prostitues, the landlords going to kick them out and Clara decides to scream Milly isn't his daughter, that she got her sister to marry him because she was pregnant and Joseph runs out the house in delirious anger. It didn't pull me into the story or sympathise with his character, I'm glad his family left him! It just made everything feel superficial and messy. To add to that, suddenly Madeleine is finally attacked by some strange haunting/nightmare! Wow! Straight out of nowhere! Now she's scared of the flat! There's no build up or shock factor, it just feels dumped in. As if Roberts finally remembered what half the book is supposed to be about. The entire plot is just crushed into the last 170 pages or less. Now it's revealed Madeleine's neighbourly noises of footsteps and a crying baby doesn't exist. Oh, so chilling!


What connects Joseph's plot to the mysterious prologue that doesn't match the main story at all? A dead child from a character we don't know. So is it Betsy that haunts Apricot Place? This character we only know by name and has had NO part in the narrative whatsoever till her baby dies? This is the cry Madeleine hears? Again, it's like Roberts remembers what she is supposed to write and dumps in yet more events that really do feel like they're dumped in. She loses all value because of the way it's written.


The smashed turqoise vase was the reason for Madeleine's short lived haunting? I assume it connects Joseph's narrative since he keeps mysteriously focusing on a similar vase. But again- no. Solid. Connection.


Anyway, we love Toby and Anthony, Rose and Mrs Dulcimer were the saving grace characters.


After extensive chapters, the last handful shrink, some barely fill a page, influencing the rushing end of the story after an extremely slow beginning. Madeleine's lost and Joseph's trying to find Dulcimer. Now it's all dark, rainy nights, cold with fog... ooooh so chilling. If anything I'm more confused with the sudden change to trying to be written like a ghost story after dull domestic dramas. And apparently they can see each other??? Joseph is trying to talk to Madeleine. And Emm tries to harrass Dulcimer??? WHAT IS THIS? Then Madeleine finds Emm among homeless after the attack? Much confusion. IT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL. Apparently Joseph is her new neighbour? Stupid. Stupid. The whole ending made no sense it wasn't even clever. I' so frustrated. That was such a bad mixing of timelines you can't understand what you read. So glad I've finished.


A promising start that quickly vanished into this. Underwhelming, confusing, frustrating and just lacking cohesion and plot. It felt like reading 382 pages of rambling, as if someone was trying to talk to a friend about a story from memory. Some of the poetic descriptions saved the book but otherwise I hated this book. It was all wrong for me. So this book was jusy a firm reminder to not soley judge a book by its cover. I think I jumped ahead of myself, too busy being happy the charity shop was doing 4 books for £1 and not paying attention to anything else. Hopefully the other three books I pick don't follow suit.

[Burak Kuscu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tempo anlamında muhteşem bir kitap okuduğumuzu söyleyemem ama yine de kendini bir şekilde okutan, sonlara doğru gizem faktörünün arttığı, finalde ise büyük bir keşmekeşle bizi baş başa bırakan, iyi bir eserdi.

İki farklı yüzyılda, 1800 ler ve günümüz Londra'sında geçen iki hikâye. Aynı mahallede yaşayan insanların birbirleriyle yarı fantastik yarı gerçekçi kesişen yolları. Güzel göndermeler ve iyi bir kurgu.

Karakterlerinden yüzeysel olanlar olduğu gibi derin olanları da vardı. Loser Joseph reis ne kadar ezik bir abimizse, Dulcimer bacımız da bir o kadar güçlüydü. Madeleine ise arada bir karakterdi. Daha dengeli diyebiliriz. Yaşından daha genç davranıyordu yalnız. Gerçi çevresi de öyleydi. Kitapta genel anlamda yaş-davranış tutarsızlıkları hissettim.

[Paul Reid · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this really dull and tedious. The characters were not very appealing. The story seemed to promise something but didn't deliver. I nearly gave up several times. It was boring and the writing style was odd and confusing. It morphed into a weird and bizarre ghost story that was just plain stupid.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Became very tedious and the story never seemed to progress

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

In 1851 family man Joseph is commissioned by Henry Mayhew to conduct research into the lives of prostitutes in South London for Mayhew’s monumental work London Labour and the London Poor. In 2011 recently divorced Madeleine hopes to start a new life in Bermondsey. Two lives that are separated by more than a century begin to intersect across time – although not very convincingly in my opinion. For it to be successful such a dual-time narrative needs to have both strands firmly interwoven but unfortunately that doesn’t happen here. That the action takes place in the same geographical area isn’t enough to make the two stories connect. Both protagonists are perhaps loosely connected by their concern for the young women they meet, in Madeleine’s case some young friends of hers, but the two concerns aren’t equal in importance or relevance. I enjoyed Joseph’s story, which seemed both interesting and convincing but I was simply bored by Madeleine and found the ghostly elements of the story neither interesting nor convincing. So a book of two halves? Indeed – but not equal halves and by the end I had pretty much lost interest in both the lead characters.

[Lise · Rating 1 out of 5]

I seriously wonder how this book could have been published. The triumph of vacuity, poor style over content, it has noting going in its favour: the characters are totally uninteresting, the plot inexistent and the historical part as well as the geography of London totally wrong. The best bit about the latter is when her 19th century main character turns round a corner from Waterloo and finds himself on the Strand, as if the Thames didn't flow between the two. I really don't know what made her decide about two pointless narratives 150 years apart as they are never linked in any significant way. Yes her 21st century character potentially lives in the same house as one of the 19th century ones, and then there are the extremely weird interactions between the characters of the two periods at the end of the novel, but that certainly doesn't bring the the two stories togher in any meaningful way.

[Kali Napier]

A dual timeline narrative, set in London 1851 and 2011, this tells of one of Thomas Mayhew’s researchers, Joseph, who is tasked with investigating the living conditions of Southwark’s prostitutes, and Madeleine, who walks and cooks and eats after losing her job as an English lecturer. This is a plodding book, in both a reading and walking sense, and there is much made of authors’ tendencies to roam the streets of London — see Virginia Woolf. This book feels more like metafiction than a satisfying historical novel, as Roberts alludes to feeling the ghosts of authors behind the stories that are written. There are so many beautiful passages in this novel, but unfortunately, the stories about prostitutes and women’s limited choices, circle around each other without really any point.

[Malin · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you are thinking of buying this book I can save you the trouble and tell you it's not worth it. I didn't like it at all until I was more than two thirds in. Then it got worse at the end again, but I was kind of expecting a weird ending.

The main characters weren't relatable. Especially not the woman.
The method of writing was very confusing. It felt like you had to be in the authours head sometimes to really understand what was going on.
And why the hell didn't she use dashes or quotationmarks when there was a dialogue?! It's novel writing 101! How else can you be sure of wheather the words are spoken or just thought in the character's mind? I've never read a book without it and I hope I never will again. It's so confusing!

[Kimberley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book although I found it an unusual read. It’s has a hazy dreamy style to it that makes it very sensuous and engrossing, but also means it can be hard to follow when you’re tired! I found myself wanting to take my time with it, soak it up and sink into the writing, especially the passages about food. I loved reading a book with an older female protagonist, one who I felt was so engaging and relatable, and I uncharacteristically found myself preferring the modern parts to the historical.
I can see how this wouldn’t be for everyone. It’s slow moving, with very little plot and it’s charms lie in the description of place and character and feeling, it also takes on some difficult topics, but it was rich and beautiful and I’d recommend giving it a chance!

[Ian Lambert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here's a record - I gave up at page 177 despairing that this book ever becoming interesting or fluent. Roberts has an annoying trick of laying down an action and then revisiting everything that leads up to it in disjointed non-linear ways which include asides of what everyone is thinking about the present and the past - which would be OK if she rewarded her readers. She doesn't. Doubtless there is a reason for this irritating discourse but I couldn't be bothered sticking around to find out what it was.

[Anne Fenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It's made me remember how interesting Victorian England is. The two stories intertwine quite cleverly, one character set in modern London, one in the past. The writing is richly descriptive. The plot include elements of suspense , romance and tragedy. Easy reading, very rewarding if you like books set in the past, especially details of old London.

[Nell Beaudry McLachlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A perfectly lovely, disorienting read. I actually really enjoyed it, just...not enough.

[Metin Celâl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ünlü mizah ve hiciv dergisi Punch’ın kurucularından, gazeteci, sosyolog Henry Mayhew Londra şehrinin yoksulları hakkında yaptığı araştırmalarla tanınır. Önce Morning Cronicle’da dizi olarak yayınlanan bu makaleler 1851’de “London Labour and the London Poor” adlı kitap dizisinde derlenmiş. Üç ciltte toplanan bu diziye 1861’de fahişelerin, dilencilerin ve hırsızların yaşamlarını inceleyen dördüncü cilt eklenmiş. Bu kapsamlı çalışmada konu edinilen herkesle röportajlar yapılmış. Nasıl, nerede yaşadıkları ne kadar para kazandıkları ne yedikleri, neler giydikleri, nasıl eğlendikleri araştırılıp belgelenmiş. Bu büyük araştırma o zamanlar, yani Viktorya Döneminde dünyanın en zengin şehri olan Londra’da yoksulluğun ne kadar derin olduğunu göstermesiyle de önemsenmiş, tartışılmış. Hatta örgütlenip Mayhew’i protesto edenler bile olmuş. Mayhew’in çalışmalarının Hıristiyan Sosyalistler gibi siyasi çevrelerin olduğu gibi Charles Dickens gibi edebiyatçıların da düşünce yapısını etkilediği belirtiliyor.
Michele Roberts’in Walworth Güzeli adlı romanının baş kahramanlarından Joseph Benson Henry Mayhew tarafından işe alınmış eski bir polistir. Joseph’in görevi fahişelik yapan kadınlarla görüşmek ve onların yaşam koşullarını kendi ağızlarından kayda geçirmek ve böylece Mayhew’e somut veri sağlamaktır. Mayhew araştırmacılardan gelen bu verileri yorumlayarak makalelerini kaleme alır.
Michele Roberts bir yandan 1851’de Joseph Benson’ın maddi ve manevi yetersizliklerle dolu yaşamını ve işi nedeniyle yaptığı araştırmalarını, kurduğu ilişkileri anlatırken diğer yandan okuru 2011 Londra’sına götürüp diğer baş kahramanı Henry Mayhew okuru Madeleine’nin yaşamına şahit olmamızı sağlıyor. Yaşlanmakta olmasına rağmen hayata bağlılığından bir şey kaybetmeyen, gece hayatını, dostlarıyla barlarda buluşmayı seven Madeleine üniversitedeki edebiyat öğretmenliği görevinden mecburen emekli olunca kiraların daha uygun olduğu Güney Londra’daki bir mahallede bodrum katına taşınmak zorunda kalır. Bu mahalle Joseph Benson’ın 160 yıl önce araştırmalarını sürdürdüğü, randevu evleri ve sokaklarındaki fahişelerle ünlü Walworth’dur. 2011’de biraz gözden ırak alt orta sınıf ve yoksulların yaşadığı bir yer olmuştur. Madeleine, Mayhew’in eserlerinden bölgenin 160 yıl önceki yapısını, nasıl bir yaşam sürdürüldüğünü bilmekte ve o döneme hayranlık duymaktadır. Çevresine o etkiyle bakar, benzerlikler bulur. Yeni evinde, yeni komşularıyla dostluklar kurarak yaşamını sürdürürken kendini geçmişten gelen hayaletlerin ziyaret ettiği sanısına kapılır. Joseph ve Madeleine’nin yaşamlarını birbirlerine paralel bölümler halinde izlerken geçmişle bugünün ne zaman ve nasıl buluşacağını bekleriz. Bu bekleyiş de romanın ana merak unsuru olur. Ama bence romanın esas özelliği yazarın 1851 ve 2011’den yaptığı betimlemeler, özellikle yoksulların yaşamını anlatmaktaki başarısı.
Joseph’in araştırmaları onu Madeleine’nin 160 yıl sonra yaşayacağı binaya getirir ve romana adını verecek olan Walworth Güzeli ile yani Bayan Dulcier’le tanışmasına neden olur. Bu tanışma dört çocuk babası, sağlığı pek de iyi olmayan bir kadınla evli olan Joseph’in yaşamını derinden etkileyecektir. Bayan Dulcier’in etkisiyle Joseph yavaş yavaş evinden ve ailesinden, hatta işinden soğur ve bu mahalledeki şehvetli yaşama ilgi duyar. Bir yandan da yaşadıkları çocukluk çağından anıların canlanmasına, ölmüş eski karısını özlemesine neden olur.
Şair, yazar, romancı Michele Roberts 1949’da Fransız Katolik bir öğretmen anne ile İngiliz Protestan babanın çocuğu olarak doğmuş. 1970'lerin başından itibaren sosyalist ve feministlerle birlikte siyasi çalışmalar yapmış. Feminist dergi Spare Rib'de ve daha sonra City Limits'te şiir editörü olarak çalışmış. İlk romanı 1978'de yayınlanmış. 16 romanı, dört şiir, dört öykü, iki anı ve bir deneme kitabı yayınlanmış, ödüller almış velut bir yazar.
Walworth Güzeli’ne Roberts’in feminist ve toplumcu bakış açıları da şairliği de yansımış görünüyor. Kahramanlarını ve sokaklardaki yaşamı betimlerken bakış açısı ve yorumlarıyla hem toplumcu feminist bakış açısı hem de anlatımındaki şiirsellikle, imgelerinin göz alıcılığıyla şairliği hissediliyor.
Walworth Güzeli’nin anlatım biçimi okuru biraz zorlayacak ve dikkatli olmasını gerektirecek nitelikte. Şiirselliğin yanında iç içe geçen, bilinç akışı belki de çakışması diyebileceğimiz geçmişle şimdi arasında gidip gelen bolca cümle ve paragraf var. Romanın konusu ise tüm şiirselliğe rağmen sert gerçekçi bir tonda. Zaman ve mekanlar değişse de kadınların kaderinin, erkeklerin rollerinin değişmediği mesajını veriyor

[Nurbahar Usta]

okuduğum ya da okuduğumu sandığım en düşük goodreads puanlı kitap bu. iş kültür'ün çağdaş dünya edebiyatı dizisi'nde çıktığını görünce arka kapak yazısını okuyup direkt aldım. sonra eve gelip 2.6 goodreads puanını görüp "allah allah bu kadar düşük puanın sebebi ne acaba" deyip okumaya ya da okumamsı bir şey yapmaya başladım.
öncelikle ilk sorum iş kültür'e: onlarca kitabı olan bir yazarın neden özellikle bu kitabını seçtiler acaba çevirmek için?

arka kapak çok hoş bir hikaye olcağını düşündürtüyor ama okumaya başlayınca insana "ben okumayı mı unuttum beynimde bi hastalık mı var anlamıyorum okuduğumu" hissi yaşatıyor çünkü uyulan tek yazım kuralı nokta koymak. bazı yazarlar bunu yapacağını söyleyerek yaptığı ve hep aynı kuralsızlığı takip ettiği için anlaması o kadar zor olmayabiliyor ama bu kitapta sürekli beynimin uyuştuğunu hissettim kimin ne zaman konuştuğunu, nerde konuştuğunu, kimle konuştuğunu, yoksa hiç konuşmuyor mu acaba'sını anlamaya çalışcam diye.

iki farklı narativ var. biri joseph, historical fiction olan kısım burası, mayhew yazarlarından ve genelev çalışanlarıyla röp. yapmaya çalıştığı, o sırada da siyahi bir genelev müdiresiyle tanışması üstünden bir hikayesi var. sadece bu kadarını anladım, bi de galiba bir noktada eşini kaybedip onun kardeşiyle evlenmiş. ikinci narativ'de emekli edebiyat öğretmeni madeline var. o da galiba mayhew okurken kafası mı karışıyo noluyo.

anladıklarım gerçekten sadece ve sadece bu kadar. biraz google araması yaptım, öyle aman aman review'leri de yok. hani onca çevrilmeyi bekleyen çağdaş şaheser varken, neden bu?

[Clare Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really is a beauty; flipping between contemporary and Victorian Walworth, this is an interesting and highly original exploration of love, sex and belonging. Questions are raised about prostitution, poverty and desire, but there are no easy answers. The writing is vivid and so sensual you can almost taste it on your tongue as you read. Highly enjoyable.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review for BookPage . I wasn't wild for this and don't think I'll pursue other books by this author.

https://bookpage.com/reviews/21948-mi...

[Stephanie J · Rating 1 out of 5]

That, writing, style, though. Couldn't finish.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the first page, I knew this was going to be one of those reads rich in historical scents and sensations, a story to lose yourself in. ‘The Walworth Beauty’ by Michèle Roberts is set in the London district of Walworth, just south of the River Thames and part of the Borough of Southwark. It tells the story of Joseph Benson in 1851 and Madeleine in 2011, 160 years apart but experiencing so many similar things.
Madeleine loses her job as a lecturer of English literature, as a result she moves to a garden flat in Apricot Place, Walworth. She is delicately attuned to the history of London, walking its streets and seeing Virginia Woolf walking ahead of her, Hilda Doolittle passing her by, and, in a basement kitchen in Lamb’s Conduit Street, a mistress instructing her new housemaid. Just how closely Madeleine is connected to the past becomes clearer in the second half of the story as she explores Walworth, researching its local history and meeting her new neighbours.
Joseph and his family live in a rented house in Lamb’s Conduit Street. He works for sociologist Henry Mayhew, researching the working conditions and social backgrounds of prostitutes in Walworth. Joshua is a contradictory character, perhaps a man of his time with contemporary attitudes and assumptions about women. Still mourning his idolised first wife Nathalie, he is outwardly respectable but has money problems. He is a spendthrift and betrays Cara his second wife [and Nathalie’s older sister] by visiting prostitutes, viewing it as a necessity so Cara will not conceive again, rather than unfaithfulness. His research takes him to a house in Apricot Place where he meets landlady Mrs Dulcimer, an exotic brown-skinned woman who Joshua mistakes for a madam but who in fact helps struggling young women to establish themselves with jobs and homes.
The theme of classification runs throughout this novel, the formal type of labelling as in Mayhew’s study and the Dewey Decimal labelling system for libraries, but also the informal way of labelling people, pre-judging, jumping to conclusions. Mayhew classifies prostitutes as criminals and it is with this view that Joseph conducts his first research. In meeting Mrs Dulcimer, however, he learns the true stories of struggle and abandonment in the lives of many of the women he labels so easily as whores. He is an unreliable judge of women’s characters, however, even those closest to him.
We see similar classifications in Madeleine’s story in modern-day Walworth. There are themes of grief, longing for what is out of reach, women’s position in society and men’s attitudes towards women and sexuality. Judgements based on class and sex. The two storylines are connected in places by hints of ghosts or presences, which I found a little unsatisfactory. This is a novel about the different parts of society, some isolated, some overlapping like a Venn diagram, and as true today as in Victorian London.
I enjoyed unpicking the connections between 1851 and 2011, handled so delicately that it would be easy to pass them by. Such as Mrs Dulcimer’s missing earring, surrendered as an identifying token at the Foundling Hospital when she handed in her baby, is seen by Madeleine in a display at the Foundling Museum. There are countless examples like this of mirrored details and parallel experiences, connecting Joseph and Mrs Dulcimer with Madeleine.
‘The Walworth Beauty’ is one of the most enjoyable books I have read this year and is worth re-reading to absorb the beautiful detail written by a novelist entwined with her story and subject.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-revie...

[Sam Still Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do love a story with a dual timeline, especially one that includes London and its history. When I first heard about The Walworth Beauty, I was really intrigued. I didn’t know very much about Henry Mayhew and to read about one of his researchers sounded like a great way to learn some history combined in fiction. But what really struck me on reading this book was the strength of Michele Roberts’ prose. It’s dense, poetic and lyrical. It sweeps you up in the London fog and puts you right in the place of some of the action, Apricot Place.

The story in split into two parts, almost modern day London (2011) with Madeleine and in 1851 with Joseph. Madeleine is discontent with her life – she lost her job as a lecturer and now living in the heart of London’s City district doesn’t feel quite right. So she moves out to South London to Apricot Place. The people there are different – friendly, exotic and somehow more real life. With more time Madeleine becomes interested in the works of Henry Mayhew and the past comes back to touch her. In 1851, Joseph used to be a police clerk, until dysentery and sickness took him away. Now he’s a researcher for Henry Mayhew, being paid to ask questions of the working class people of London, in particular prostitutes. It’s a tempting place for Joseph and after his coat is taken at one house, he is intrigued by Mrs Dulcimer who hides a lot of secrets…

No matter what time period you’re reading about, the setting is incredibly realistic. It’s clear that Roberts has done her research carefully, right down to the last detail. London is lovingly rendered, both the good and the less desirable. I felt that Joseph’s past was incredibly well rendered and true to the issues of the time. Another thing that struck me is the use of food – Madeleine cooks various dishes and reflects on those eaten by Mayhew’s subjects. Food also plays a role in Joseph’s home life – from the horrible chops to the more desirable street food.

I did find Joseph’s story more interesting than Madeleine’s, possibly because of the setting. It’s rich with detail unfamiliar to me, while I know already what Madeleine’s daily life looks like in London. Hence I didn’t always find her connections to the past convincing. I found myself more comfortable in Joseph’s world. But overall, I thought the prose was the standout of this story – rich and leaving me wanting more.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for the ARC of this book. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com

[Roxy Beek · Rating 2 out of 5]

• the interesting character development was Joseph starting to understand and appreciate women as complex and fully human where his employer was dead set on putting away prostitutes as evil

• too much descriptive language.

• Madeleine accidentally unearthed the baby’s tomb and popped them into the turquoise pot which had been miss Dulcimer’s, hence the haunting, we assume

• Madeleine’s function as a character seemed to be to demonstrate how women’s lives both had and hadn’t changed since victorian times, the freedoms a bit more but the loneliness and fear of a woman alone, the importance of found family and the delights of having a mind of one’s own

• she and Joseph (and Emm and Ms Dulcimer) meet each other because it is Halloween - the thinning of the veil allows for crossovers between worlds. But several times in the book Joseph is haunted by a vanishing blonde woman with curls and grey eyes, Madeleine, right?

• I was looking for some link- what with all the daughters and mothers and grandmothers- between Ms Dulcimer’s lost foundling daughter and either Nelly and Madeleine, or Sally and Rose. This did not materialize, which was a shame.

• Like why did Joseph think Madeleine was miss Dulcimer for that moment towards the end? Where did the other hoop earring / ms Dulcimers child end up?

• The names sort of refer to the Bible- Emmanuel and Madeleine are spelled out in the text and Joseph is father of Jesus. The actress Maria and realtor Marcia seem to be doubling Marys. We never find out Ms Dulcimers name but dulcimer sounds like gossamer (wings) and dulcet (tones), the name suggests an angel.

The author probably wanted to do a sensitive and nuanced story of real working women in Victorian London and does achieve this vast range of different characters and desires, needs, and interests. The restrictions for women are essentially one form of the restrictions present for all people in the tightly structured Victorian age. Joseph becomes wiser and calmer as he spends real time with these real people outside of his limiting performative roles of father and husband and breadwinner. His objectification of and patronizing attitude to women fades.
Stupidly the women don’t really drive the plot so much, they just respond to the chaos and changes brought upon them. Not sure what madeleines plot is supposed to be.

[Anne Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read 'Crossbones Yard' by Kate Rhodes earlier this year, I got quite interested in this little area of London I'd never come across before and researched other books set here. I've just read one which references this area and its history.
'The Walworth Beauty' by Michèle Roberts flits between the modern day and the 1800s. In the 1800s parts of the story, the protagonist, Joseph, is a man working for Henry Mayhew.
Mayhew was a real person who researched and wrote about the working lives of London's poor. He tasked our protagonist with researching the lives of 'immoral' workers; in this case, prostitutes. As his own family life falls apart, he becomes embroiled in the lives of the women he is researching, spending a lot of time at the home of the mysterious Mrs Dulcimer in Apricot Place, Walworth.
In the 20th century part of the story, Madeleine is a 60 something single woman who is fascinated with the history of the area and ends up moving into a flat in what used to be Mrs Dulcimer's house.
Over the course of the book many parallels between the two stories are drawn out. Sometimes in a factual historical way and sometimes in a ghostly, slipping through time, way.
I always like a modern novel that's based on historical facts. It's a really good way to learn about aspects of the past I had previously little or no idea about. I've read more into Henry Mayhew's work since reading this book.
I also like that a 60+ female character is portrayed like a real woman in her 60s - active, goes to parties and the pub, has a diverse set of friends, etc - rather than someone who is old and sits by the fire in her slippers.
This book did cause me to feel uncomfortable though. I read it over quite a few weeks, picking it up and then needing to put it down again. I don't mean this as a negative comment about the book as it's surely a sign of really good writing if a story can create this feeling in me. The times and situations Roberts writes about are not comfortable or nice and I felt myself getting drawn into a place I didn't want to be. I've read a few other books or seen a few films that have had this impact on me, but they are few and far between. Even now, several weeks after finishing the book, it's still taking up space in my head and I haven't completely detached from it.

[Leigh Library · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leigh Library Open Book Club meets on the third Saturday of every month.

The Set book for 22nd of July meeting was, The Walworth Beauty by Michelle Roberts. The Book promoted a lively debate and strong feelings, among the group. Here below are the group’s revues about this title.

“ To Begin with the style of the dialogue requires getting used to. It became natural by the time I was half way through. But it does become difficult if more than two characters are speaking.
I Liked the part when Madeline was taken to see the play at Bart’s great Hall. The Audience became part of the story. How her Red dress picked her out of the mass. It was an interesting concept but wethr it would hold general interest is debateable.
Joseph’s life is a curious one, it was difficult to feel sympathy for what happened to him. Joseph was employed as a researcher by a Newspaper, a job he didn’t care for too much. The story drifted from location to location and the character’s never met till the last page, it was all a bit frustrating towards the end. Even though they came together at last, they still didn’t quite recognise each other. Was it all a dream? The ending didn’t offer any closure or depth to the story.
The Juxtaposition of these differing lives in differing times didn’t quite gel for me. I can read them as two separate lives, It didn’t give any insight into their differing experience, (One in the 19th, one in the 21st Century.) The only link was the coincidence of the address of where they lived.
Having said this I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of Victorian and 21st Century London, but unfortunately The stories to me, didn’t entwine as much as the publishers advertised. “
Michelle Roberts

“The broken sentences did not make it easy Reading”
Margaret Williams

“I loved the beautiful evocative language. There were some well-drawn characters and an intriguing story concerning Joseph Benson, Well plotted and well told. I loved the glorious character of Mrs Dulcimer the Walworth Beauty.”
Patricia Neil

“I enjoyed the Poetic Language. However, there didn’t seem to be any workable plot for this story. The lack of speech marks, made it very difficult to know, if somebody was holding a conversation, or they were thinking. I didn’t Read the novel to the end, because even though I skipped a third of the book, It seemed I was reading about the same Situation.”
Pamela Buxton

[Snicketts · Rating 3 out of 5]

The person who loaned me this book told me she didn't know whether she had enjoyed it or not. At the time I thought that was an odd thing to say - either you do or you don't enjoy something. I decided I would give it a go out of curiosity.

The first thing you notice is the style. It's unusual and a tiny bit contrived. There are no speech marks, many of the sentences are not sentences in the classical sense of the word. It reads more like a stream of consciousness than a story.

The second thing is the way the narrative jumps forward and backward between the two timelines- the bohemian Madeleine in modern London and Joseph, struggling to keep heart and soul together in Victorian London. It takes time for the two stories to come together and I found myself preferring one over the other, then switching completely.

On the surface it's a ghost story. Madeleine and Joseph are linked by a place or an area of London and as their lives unravel they begin to overlap in an oblique way. But the twisting nature of the story makes it very hard for anyone to put a finger on exactly what the story is about or what it is meant to convey as a message.

The language is crude at times and some of the scenes were surprisingly gratuitous, adding little to the pace or direction of the story. The style was quirky at best, irritating at worst. The pace... well there needs to be a destination to be able to gauge how quickly you are moving towards it.

And yet... the characters were well written, if not terribly likeable. Some of the descriptive prose was very evocative and atmospheric. London comes out of the book like a character itself and in many ways was the star. The author's knowledge of the hidden gems of the city was well distributed and recorded.

So... do I like this book? Do you know, I have no idea! I'm not going to be hanging on to it to read again, but I suspect I will be thinking about it for some time to come.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Perhaps ghosts represent the possibility of stories. Something unfinished that needs recounting.'

This book flips from South London 1851 where we meet Joseph a researcher for Mayhew who has been assigned to collect data on prostitution.

We then move forward to 2011 where Madeleine is at a crossroads, she has been made redundant as a lecturer and decides to move to South London.

The story is set specifically in Apricot Place in a residence that impacts on both characters and timelines.

Michele Roberts prose enabled me to visualise what 19th century London would of been like; it's smells, textures and obstacles.

I also liked the development of Joseph's character his ghosts and flaws. However the ending just left too much unfinished.

I did find Madeleine a effective contrast initially but felt that opportunities were missed to make this part more interesting. What stories did she write? What characters did she research, none of this was fully revealed only implied. She just seemed to be going for walks, drinking wine and having half engaged conversations. I believe she was suppose to parallel Mrs. Dulcimer as the modern Walworth Beauty which didn't really translate to the end but was also weakly constructed.

There was so much I enjoyed in the first half of this book but the ending didn't work for me at all. Ghosts and feminine inequality were also strong themes that didn't really lead to an effective end.

[bríd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Firstly, the author does not use quotation marks. It can be confusing at times, trying to distinguish between the characters train of thought and actual dialogue - it takes about a third of the way through to get used to it!

The story is slow moving and whilst I did find the majority of the book a relaxed, pleasant read, the ending was awful (in my opinion).

Madeleine’s story seems to float around and in all honesty, not much seems to happen. The author throws in events similar to hauntings such as Madeleine smelling brandy in her flat, spotting a woman in her window. As a reader you expect this to amount to something worthwhile. Then a vase, which belonged to her grandmother, breaks and the hauntings stop. Despite the fact that the hauntings appear to be that of the Victorian period of which the other protagonist is from - so how do these Victorian hauntings and the breakage of her grandmother’s vase connect? I am not sure.

Joseph’s story I found more interesting as he works interviewing prostitutes for the writer, Mayhew. However the character and her baby who seem to be haunting Madeleine are not introduced as anything important far too along in the book. Even then, the prominence is not enough.

The ending is very odd - it seemed rushed and left far too much unanswered but not in the oddly satisfying way that other books do!

In all, it was a pleasant read but not much more.

[K Stott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting idea, short on plot
A south London neighbourhood forms the nexus for this split narrative novel, with half the story set in the 1850s and the other half in 2011. The 1850s portion follows Joseph, a middle class man who lives in the respectful north half of the river but researches the lives of the poor living in the rougher southern parts. Joseph is writing reports for his boss, Mayhew, who is a real historical figure. Madeleine is recently laid off lecturer who moves from central London to south London for a change of pace, and ends up living very close to the areas where Joseph once researched. Madeleine has been aimlessly filling her days since her layoff and slowly builds herself into the neighbourhood life in her new home.

If you’re thinking, ‘that doesn’t make a lot of conflict for a novel’, you would be right. I made it 170 pages before realizing that this was more of a character study and I wasn’t that invested in these particular characters. I really liked the idea of a novel that takes place in Mayhew’s London but this one didn’t grab me.