No More Meadows

by Monica Dickens

'Times are changed with him who marries; there are no more bypath meadows where you may innocently linger, but the road lies long and straight and dusty to the grave.' So wrote Robert Louis Stevenson. Christine felt bound to agree. 'My wife can do anything,' Vinson said. Even if 'anything' meant getting used to the size and pace of his country, America? Wearing a sycophantic smile for the wife of Admiral Hamer (who wore patent-leather shoes like bananas) Because Vin hoped to be promoted? Having a cold Turkey and a cold ham at every party? Smiling through The inevitable silences of marriage? Was Vinson what she really wanted? Even on the cold, bleak days when nothing went right, the crazy neighbour called while Captain Decker was having cocktails, Vin's mother had an appendectomy during a thunderstorm, she lost out on the TV quiz and she and Vin quarreled Bitterly?

In No More Meadows, Monica Dickens unravels the threads of a very real marriage, with her inimitable warmth and sense of idiosyncratic character.

Genres: Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

From the publisher: MONICA DICKENS, born in 1915, was brought up in London and was the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Her mother's German origins and her Catholicism gave her the detached eye of an outsider; at St Paul's Girls' School she was under occupied and rebellious. After drama school she was a debutante before working as a cook. One Pair of Hands (1939), her first book, described life in the kitchens of Kensington. It was the first of a group of semi autobiographies of which Mariana (1940), technically a novel, was one. 'My aim is to entertain rather than instruct,' she wrote. 'I want readers to recognise life in my books.' In 1951 Monica Dickens married a US naval officer, Roy Stratton, moved to America and adopted two daughters. An extremely popular writer, she involved herself in, and wrote about, good causes such as the Samaritans. After her husband died she lived in a cottage in rural Berkshire, dying there in 1992.
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Reviews

[Alice Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great discovery. Very little happens in this book which doesn't matter in the slightest. It's a study on an undramatically unhappy marriage. The dialogue and characters are beautifully well observed and Monica Dickens perfectly captures the intricacies and frustrations of every day relationships and always judges her characters fairly. I found it comforting, funny and sometimes terribly sad.

[Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at the early 1950's life of an English woman and her American husband.

[Megan Borrman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Looking past the narrow-mindedness of the Author, I thought the book was an interesting depiction of 50s life and values. Despite the mundane storyline, it was written well and quite unpredictable which kept the pace of the book going. Worst ending of any book I have ever read though.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe three and a half. I found the protag a bit annoying in her passivity and compliance, but suspect that this is actually dead-on accurate for a certain kind of woman at the period in question.

[Gina Dalfonzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monica Dickens creates a relatable heroine, facing some dilemmas that still feel very real and recognizable today. She's better at female characters than males (the opposite of her great-grandfather!), but she builds a believable world on the whole, bringing postwar England and America to life so vividly that you really do feel like you're there.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bookshop manager in her thirties decides to marry an American naval officer, despite her family's objections. How she gradually adjusts to married life in a new country is the main focus of this book. Realistic people and quite readable.

[Iyut]

bonus :)

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written but too depressing

[Unsolicited Book Reports · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://unsolicitedbookreports.com/rep...

7/10

Hysterical, incisive, and capable of satirising the most ordinary of scenarios.

I really enjoyed this very funny book. First, it ropes you in with its comedy and then begins to play with your emotions. Towards the beginning, I was interested in learning more about the mysterious Jerry, who turns out to be a bit of a disappointment. I will confess, I had a theory he was going to reappear later in the text which never happened. When dating Vinson, I enjoyed hearing about their adventures around London and I can’t believe the author killed off Aunt Josephine AND Tommie. It was jarring! The scenes that offered a glimpse inside Christine and Vin’s marriage felt real and it was engrossing to follow their highs and lows. “She was growing to believe that marriage went in cycles, with short seasons of coolness and warmth alternating rapidly, and that it would be as foolish to think that marriage could be all warmth as to think that the year could be all summer”. For instance, the passion that arose from jealousy and their bonding over their mutual annoyance and frustration of Vin’s mother felt believable. So, too, did the plotlines concerning the vacuum cleaner purchase and that about Christine hiding her mistake with immigration. From these, sweet and romantic moments arose. “He kissed her. He was sweet and tender and she felt very close to him. It was worth fainting in the Immigration Office to bring them together in one of these brief idylls when she felt that marriage to him was all she wanted in the world”. One part of the text reminded me of the differences in John and your approaches to dealing with Granny. “Matthew treated Mrs Gaegler less politely and was more successful with her. He treated her like an inconvenient child, and merely laughed at her when she was difficult. He did not look as if he took anything seriously.”

[Chelsea Masse · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very bleak tale, with a grim ending. A portrait of post-war American marriage and suburban housewife culture. It details the brutal subservience of women in marriage during this time. Over the course of the novel, you witness the breakdown of Christine. A woman who begins as a somewhat independent and modern woman, and ends as the subject of her husband. The ignition of this process is Christine's submission to being married. As if that is the only path for her, and because of her waning youth, takes the first offer, regardless of the enthusiasm from each party. How I understand it is Christine had her self-esteem tied to her marital status. Thinking wifehood would bring her meaning and happiness. Yet it brought her the opposite. The irony being Christine's life before marriage seemed to be somewhat filled with both. While the book reads easy, the portrait of Vinson and Christine's marriage leaves me feeling incredibly uncomfortable. A sobering story of the realities of male-dominated North American style marriage. Also, moments of blatant racism made it difficult to keep reading this novel. Honestly, this book haunts me and I'll be putting it in a Little Free Library. I can't have its presence on my bookshelf.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy Monica Dickens books. She writes characters very well, I’m always immediately invested in them. This story about an English girl who marries an American Navy Officer and moves to America shortly after the war, England still had rationing going on, was a nice a look at some of our differences. Christine and Vinson were as different as people as the US is from England. She came from a gregarious, loving, argumentative family and a house full of animals. He came from a divorce family that wasn’t close at all, in fact went years without seeing each other. I’ve never read a book that had such a sad and happy ending both at the same time. I was taken by surprise at the ending.

[Joan Morin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An "old-fashioned" type of book but I enjoyed it. The story of an English working girl who marries a Commander of the U.S. Navy and moves with him to the U.S. They don't know each other very well and so the story tells of their struggles to understand one another. Some twists and turns in the story. Well-written.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to rate because I remember the cover and remember the plot, but the details have gone - read because I just went through everything I could find by her after One Pair of Hands.
This one disappointed, probably too young for it.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet story of life in England in the 1950's. Very dated, yet I still enjoyed this novel from the great great granddaughter of Charles Dickens.

[Alex Ankarr · Rating 2 out of 5]

she has a knack for saying things without explicitly saying anything.

[Harriet Styles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating as a portrait of post WW2 England and America. Not as good as some of her other books.

[Jean · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't mind the book for the first 156 pages but when Christine went to America to marry her peculiar boyfriend her life became tedious and pointless. She would have been better to have remained in London, unmarried, and working in the book department of a London store. "Vin", a commander in the US Navy, was quite repulsive to me. as were his friends and their wives.

I decided last night that there was no point in finishing the book so I am shelving it and will never return to it in future. Apparently I had managed to read it all the way through some years ago but at the moment, having been in lockdown since March because of the coronavirus, I see no point in wasting the time left to me on earth by finishing it.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I imagine this book to be a cleanser, of sorts. It's a very flat storyline that I think would have appealed more to women in the age the book was written, because they could appeal to the character. It's a good book to have when you finish one book but are still invested in the characters.