The Snow-Woman

by Stella Gibbons, Elizabeth Crawford (Introduction)

I suppose I was lonelier than I knew.

It's the 1960s, and Maude Barrington, now in her seventies, has kept life firmly at bay since the deaths of her three brothers in World War I. But when an unexpected visitor convinces Maude to visit old friends in France (and an old nemesis, who persistently calls her "the snow-woman"), she is brought face to face with the long-suppressed emotions, sorrows, and misunderstandings of the past. Upon her return to London, she finds her frozen life invaded by a young mother and her son (born on great aunt Dorothea's sofa, no less) who have been more or less adopted by her long-time maid Millie. And Maude finds the snow of years of bitterness beginning to melt away.

In The Snow-Woman, first published in 1969 and out of print for decades, Stella Gibbons has created one of her most complex and poignant, yet still very funny, tales-of aging, coming to terms, and rediscovering life. This new edition features an introduction by twentieth-century women's historian Elizabeth Crawford.

'Stella Gibbons sees people as they really are but she observes them so lovingly as well as acutely that one loves them too' Elizabeth Goudge.

Genres: Fiction, Ebooks, British Literature

203 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Stella Dorothea Gibbons was an English novelist, journalist, poet and short-story writer.

Her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933. A satire and parody of the pessimistic ruralism of Thomas Hardy, his followers and especially Precious Bain by Mary Webb -the "loam and lovechild" genre, as some called it, Cold Comfort Farm introduces a self-confident young woman, quite self-consciously modern, pragmatic and optimistic, into the grim, fate-bound and dark rural scene those novelists tended to portray.

Reviews

[JimZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an OK read that had an unexpected ending that had me verklempt…😢, so I have to give it 4 stars now. 🙃

I read ‘The Swiss House’ last week and it was way too long and read like a travelogue of the Swiss Alps with a bunch of people most I would not want to meet. With this one, the story is told in the first person by a woman in her mid-70s, Maude, that certainly for most of the book I would not have wanted to meet…but it did change for me near/at the end. She certainly was honest with herself…she was snooty towards everybody. She had lost her three brothers in WW I and evidently that gave her license to be a real a++hole to pretty much everybody she met, including her maid, Millie, who lived with her for many years, and two acquaintances, Lionel and Frances.

In the first several pages of the novel, a young woman gives birth to her baby on Maude’s sofa. Much to Maude’s disgust…she left the house while the woman was in labor to go to a neighbor’s house and let Millie take care of the mess. Why in the world was there a young woman in the house about to go into labor….she had never met the woman in her life. 😲 Well, you’ll have to read the book. I shan’t tell you. 😐

After reading the book, I still didn’t get it (what the ending was really about). So I had to draw a family tree and try different permutations and go back to certain sections of the book, and finally I got it. It was a satisfying read. 😊

I feel happy now because I have two more of her books on my shelf that I ordered (Pure Juliet [1980/2016], A Pink Front Door 1959], and so now I will read them with some enthusiasm. Plus, there’s two more books from Dean Street Press by this author (The Weather at Tregulla [1962], The Woods in Winter [1970]). And it looks like several from Vintage Classics are available too in paperback.

Here is link to Furrowed Middlebrow/Dean Street Press — they have a number of authors that some GR friends have recommended so I will have to dip into their oeuvre: Margery Sharp and D.E. Stevenson, among others: https://www.deanstreetpress.co.uk/pag...

Reviews:
• I can’t find any reviews of this book .gadzooks! There are several comments from Goodreads reviewers here…

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a surprise delight!

Jessica and I buddy read this on a whim and we were both surprised early on by the main character, Maude Barrington. She's 70 years old and has no hesitation in doing exactly what she wants to, even when it's selfish and snobbish. The opening scene rather dramatically illustrates this. And yet Maude is immediately likable. We're seeing everything from her perspective and it's clear almost from the start that Maude's current behavior is a side effect of her long and lonely grief. Her three beloved brothers were all killed in the Great War. I've read lots of novels set right after the Great War that deal with grief but I haven't thought much about how that grief lingered on for people as long as they were alive to mourn--into the 1960s when this book is set.

Growing up, Maude and her brothers had next-door neighbors, the Croziers. Frances is Maude's age and Lionel is eight years younger. Lionel works for a renowned art critic, Charles Handel, who Maude first knew long ago and who now lives in France and is dying. Lionel convinces Maude to spend a month at Charles' house in France for a vacation and to see, for the first time in many years, her old friends. Clearly this journey is going to lead to transformation for Maude in some way.

And boy does it! Her trip forces Maude to come to terms with people and events from her past that have turned her into a Snow-Woman, as Frances calls her. There are many plot twists that contribute to melting Maude's icy exterior and the whole process is redemptively lovely to read about. Like Maude, plenty of Gibbons' other characters have spiky edges that make them hard to love. But behind the edges are the shining good qualities that each human being has access to as an Image-Bearer. I felt delighted many times as I read and moved, too. And there are lots of funny bits.

I've only read two other Stella Gibbons novels, so I had no idea what to expect. Now I'm excited to pick up the other novels I have by her on my shelves.

Note: If you're a seasonal reader, don't be fooled by the title. This book is set in spring and summer and the only snow is in Maude’s heart.

[Mary Durrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just wonderful so glad it’s been reprinted for others to enjoy!

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maude's life came to a halt fifty years earlier when her three beloved brothers died during WW1, since then she had become, what one of her childhood friends, Frances used to call her, a 'snow woman'. Her life takes a different course when Frances' brother turns up at her house with a young and heavily pregnant woman, who proceeds much to Maude's annoyance, to have her baby on old aunt Dorothea's sofa. After this, she starts to learn things about herself, her friends and her brothers that affests the way she wants to live her life. Will the snow woman start to thaw.

I thought the plot was a bit choppy, but actually everything is explained in the end and all the different threads were needed in order to reach the conclusion.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave it the old college try. I got 51% of the way through the book but aside from an attempt at some promising plot at the beginning, the first half of the book was almost entirely an exploration of the characters's feelings and their annoyances with each other. If I could find just one character likeable or relatable, one character I could root for, I would've persevered. But I was forcing my way through the book and it wasn't enjoyable for me.

I'm sure there are others who would get a lot more out of this because they read for the characters and not any semblance of a plot. They're welcome to give this book a try.

[Joy O’Toole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book about an old woman who, after years of grief and bitterness, learns to love someone other than herself. It’s not a perfect book, but I still loved it.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most people, I came to Stella Gibbons' work through the brilliant, hilarious Cold Comfort Farm. I've only read a handful of her other books, but all hail Dean Street Press for reissuing many of them, hurrah! Although thus far none of the others have captured lightning in a bottle as Cold Comfort did, they've all been intelligent, subtle, and astute. The Snow Woman, about a woman in her 7os confronting her own past and prejudices, is all of those things.

To be honest, I found many of the basic plot points predictable, but that didn't matter; the journey to the events and the revelations is thoughtful and interesting. I dog-eared a number of pages to mark clever, beautiful, or funny passages. She even makes a joke about Cold Comfort Farm!

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

A minor work (her penultimate published novel) but precisely written, with a couple of knowing nods to Gibbons' earlier work and not a little charm. Brief synopsis - in the early 60s, an old woman trapped in pre-WWI attitudes by the death of her brothers slowly unmelts and learns to love.

[Lory Hess]

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

This one reminded me of Jane Gardam -- a slow transformation and steps in self-knowledge, funny and heartwarming.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you loved Cold Comfort Farm, you cannot go wrong with this late novel by Stella Gibbons. Full of her wit and style, it is also perhaps the most autobiographical of her works. A delight.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I almost gave up half way through, the start was enjoyable and then the middle dragged and I began to lose patience with these well off people living a very comfortable life but not finding much enjoyment. The end picked up and the conclusion was lovely, I would have loved to have heard more about these characters lives after the story leaves them and had much less of the middle.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maude has never got over the deaths of her three beloved brothers, all killed fighting in WW1. For fifty years she has kept her emotions suppressed and people at a distance, finding consolation in music. But one day a very strange thing happens to her, her old friend Lionel, whom she has known all her life, turns up at her house with a young pregnant girl who is about to give birth. This is the beginning of a period in Maude’s life where she finds out a lot of surprising things about herself and other people, and the snow woman begins to thaw. This book is both happy and sad, with interesting characters and lots of surprises. I didn’t think I was going to like Maude at first, but as the story progressed I warmed to her. Very enjoyable.

[Karen (Living Unabridged) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gibbons writes with a harder edge and world-weariness than some of the authors brought back to print by Dean Street Press. But she's always insightful and witty (Cold Comfort Farm is even referenced in this particular story!). This story meanders a bit, but along the way the reader is being provoked to consider the long-lasting effects of two world wars (particularly the first), class, character, art, relationships, old age, generational differences (and similarities), and, just, life.

Maude Barrington is a great character - she keeps a reader off balance because the story is written first person and she's brutally honest and therefore not always likeable...but then I finished up really liking her. (Well done, Stella Gibbons!)

I chose to read this particular story in January for the title and the cover, but it isn't really a winter story. I'd call this a spring story: new understanding, new thoughts, new feelings, and new life in genera.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐
A gentle read to start the new year off.

[Sennen Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually cannot cope with how lovely this was. I love you Stella

[Sarah Healey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in the 1960s, this book is about Maude, a very prim, very stiff upper lip, very old fashioned woman in her seventies, who has shut herself away from people and love since her brothers died in the First World War. It’s a clever device to tell the story through a haughty narrator who suppresses her emotions - when other characters are trying to tell her gossip, she deliberately shuts them down, leaving the reader desperate to know more… And it turns out that a lot of secrets were being kept from Maude.
It’s a good read, well written at a decent pace, with humour. Ironically, of course, the ‘modern world’ that Maude was struggling to come to terms with in the 1960s seems old fashioned to readers now!

[Julia]

DNF @ 65%. I've lost interest and have no desire to pick it back up - in fact my Hoopla digital loan had expired and I didn't even notice. I feel like it never got compelling or even just focused on anything. Events just kind of happened without seemingly much holding them together and I never got invested in any characters or got curious about what will happen next. Some books where "nothing happens" are still compelling and the characters are interesting enough to hold interest and attention (e.g. the Mapp and Lucia series) but this one wasn't it. Short of a miracle, this book was never going to be a 4* or a 5* read for me, so...

[Debbie Cole-Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Gibbons, but this was just OK.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Doreen Mohr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything by Stella Gibbons! Quirky people!

[Naomi J · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There have been many occasions when I have longed to order Lionel out of the room. This was one. There he sat, wearing a boldly-striped suit of youthful cut, and from the curious way in which his hair was trimmed, to the rose in his buttonhole, he seemed to me pathetic. Irritating, too, but chiefly pathetic.”

Septuagenerian, acid-tongued Maude Barrington has hated people for years since her three beloved brothers were killed in World War 1. At the beginning of this wonderful novel, Maude’s childhood friend, Lionel Crozier, calls one March afternoon, to try to convince Maude to accompany him to visit a dying friend in the Swiss Alps in France. However, Lionel also brings a young female friend with him to visit Maude, who, to Maude’s utter disgust and horror starts giving birth during the visit, in front of Maude on a prized sofa.

Despite the indignity of the young woman’s behaviour and her many reservations, Maude decides to accompany Lionel to France.

This French holiday brings Maude back into contact with Lionel’s sister, Frances, Maude’s old nemesis who calls Maude “The Snow Woman”. The holiday enforces Maude to confront past events and examine long-held beliefs and emotions and, on returning home, she discovers, her delicate world has been completely infiltrated by the young woman and her baby son, who have been be-friended by Maude’s long- serving maid, Millie.

Piece by piece the snow woman begins to melt and rediscover joy and love in a world she has been convinced could offer her neither after the deaths of her close family and the loss of the society in which she had been brought up.

This is a very funny yet poignant, life-affirming read and I just loved Maude so much, even when she was behaving at her vilest.

[Lisa of Hopewell · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Interest
I had two reasons for picking this book: 1) I loved the author’s classic book Cold Comfort Farm and, 2) I have taken to seasonal reading and “The Snow-Woman” and the cover made me think it was a winter book. (Spoiler: it isn’t).

The Story
“All young people feel….that there has never been such laughter and delight as that peculiar to their own youth….But we–we who were under thirty in 1913–we were the archetypes. There never was before or ever would again be such gaiety, because never before or again would such a darkness fall.”

“I had loved my brothers so very much; they had been my all….”

Maud is a woman of a “certain age” (sadly, as I am). A woman from “another time.” She lost all three of her beloved brothers in World War I. It is Fab Four time in the UK now and she is an anachronism and then some.

Suddenly, the closely-guarded peace of her life is shattered by a young woman giving birth on her sofa! Before the dust settles on that she is whisked off to France by an old friend to stay with another old friend made-good who is dying. He has “invented” the vocabulary of modern art. It goes without saying that Miserable Old Bat Maud hates everything to do with modern art. Apparently, most of the folks gathered in France are her age and knew the now sainted brothers who died in the war.

Her nemesis, Frances, is there too. Frances calls Maud “Snow-Woman” because Maud is cold, heartless and unfeeling! “You’re a psychopath, Maude, that’s what you are…” Frances tells her. Maud has made keeping a grudge against Francis her life’s work. When Francis calls her on it, her life begins to change–to “thaw.” But oh the secrets lurking in the shadows!

My Thoughts
“For half a century, where there should have been the sense of God within me, there had been only bitterness and resentful pain.”

In the annals of Miserable Old Bat literature, Maud Barrington has a star on the Walk of Fame. She is Misery Become Flesh. I nearly gave up on this one–she was that awful, but I realized that like with Groundskeeping by Lee Cole, disliking a character so intensely is also a sign of good writing. As Maud changed though, she became only a tiny bit more likeable.

The humor woven throughout the story is good, but not Cold Comfort Farm good.

“She paused, and angrily lit a cigarette. (I have sometimes wondered what women did while making a scene before they took to smoking.)”

“Young! She was born forty. She bores the pants off me….”

“…sporting a great black wide-awake hat…”

[said of a servant] “I suddenly knew what it was in her expression that had been puzzling me; she had looked at me as if we were equals.”

I found the “secret” story that wraps it all up and ties everyone together to be “possible,” but not really that probable. [No Spoilers!] It mirrors a very minor storyline in Downtown Abbey and undoubtedly “could” have happened, but given the mores of the the Edwardian and post-war era I found it unlikely.

A comment on British English. I still find it so odd to hear of someone “nursing” a thing. A grudge or a hang-over maybe. But a box of chocolates? Or worse, “The first time I nursed the…baby….” or as Maud says and it meant “held” not “fed.” When you “nurse” a baby in the states either your a nurse working in a hospital or you are breastfeeding him!

Note to younger readers who pick this one up, there are a few brief statements that go against today’s thinking.

Review: The Snow-Woman by Stella Gibbons

I read this one on Kindle for Android.

[N.S. Ford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review first appeared on my blog - https://nsfordwriter.com - on 11th January 2022.

Despite the cover design and the title, this isn’t a seasonal book. The snow is metaphorical, referring to the protagonist Maude, whose icy character thaws throughout the story.

This is an oddity in the Stella Gibbons canon, as it’s the only one told in the first person that I’ve read so far. Usually, her narrator is omniscient and we follow several characters, but here we only know what one of them is thinking. The introduction to the book suggests that some facets of Maude are the author herself.

Set in late 1960s London, the story is about some events which change Maude’s behaviour and her outlook on life. In her seventies, unmarried and still grieving the loss of her three brothers in the First World War, she lives with a faithful servant. She’s somewhat prejudiced, likes things to be just so, and can’t stand anything modern. When an old friend brings a young woman in labour to her home, this is a turning point for Maude to become reluctantly involved with other people and to find that she does care after all.

I enjoyed this book to some extent and found that although Maude is quite unlikeable because of her prejudices, one can still root for her as she finds fulfilment. It’s also interesting to read the opinions of the older generation (who experienced both world wars) on morality, the arts and social class. Maude is prudish, emotionally repressed and horrified by ‘aberrant’ behaviour. It is worth noting that the book was published in 1969, only 2 years after homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK.

[Ms Jayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another strange but realistic novel where I completely connect with the characters. I am always surprised by Gibbons's understanding of human nature and capacity for presenting an utterly believable interiority in such a quiet and unassuming way.

This novel explores the effect of fifty years of grief and repression as well as the healing effect provided by love and friendship. There are some fantastic comic scenes: Maud and Lionel's drive across France and her corresponding drive back to Paris from the south with the brilliant Frances, both of them yakking about clothes all the way. Maud's transformation is quietly done but very moving.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread!

[Kay Robart · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review here:

https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2021...