Cecil

by Elizabeth Eliot

Lady Anne recuerda en 1917, en plena Primera Guerra Mundial, cómo conoció en 1875 a Cecil, el medio hermano de su marido. Entonces era un niño de nueve años que se coló secretamente en las habitaciones de su madre, lady Guthrie, a la hora del té: «Aunque estaba claro que no era nada estricta con él, tampoco parecía la clásica madre consentidora de un hijo único delicado. Más bien se diría que lo trataba como a un igual». Lo que sigue a partir de ahí es una historia que se prolonga más de treinta años. En ella abundan los misterios, los viajes, las casas (en Escocia, en Surrey, en Londres, en Cannes, en París), las sospechas y los giros imprevisibles; y, siempre al fondo, una madre continuamente enferma, afectada y espiritista y un hijo errático, enamoradizo, sin oficio, que parece adorarla incluso a riesgo de su propia felicidad y la de los demás. La narradora, también madre, con su forma alegre de entender la educación y la independencia de sus hijos, sirve admirablemente de contrapunto a la maternidad siniestra que ejerce su suegra. Va contando esta relación que nunca conoce ni de demasiado lejos ni de demasiado cerca y que, en su definitiva rareza, solo puede vislumbrarse por indicios y conjeturas. Elizabeth Eliot introduce además en Cecil (1962) un potente discurso sobre hasta qué punto y de qué manera es posible conocer la verdad. En conjunto, es una novela inquietante, con muchos sentidos, que trata realmente de lo inexplicable.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Modern Classics

235 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Elizabeth Eliot was the author of fiction, mainly romantic mysteries, that were most popular in the 1950's. Elizabeth Eliot was the pen name for Lady Germaine Elizabeth Olive Eliot.

Reviews

[natura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novela corta que he terminado en un par de días gracias tanto a la historia narrada como a la forma de contarla.
La dama de la alta sociedad inglesa que lleva la narración en primera persona es el contrapunto perfecto a otra de las co-protagonistas de la misma, su suegra, lady Guthrie. En realidad, con muy pocos personajes principales, alrededor de los cuales “pululan” otros ocasionales para poder incorporar detalles importantes de la historia, la autora desarrolla una novela con planteamientos muy ambiguos y abiertos.
Si el tema principal es el de una maternidad a la que se le da la vuelta de tuerca de una exclusividad dañina para madre e hijo, a partir de ahí aparece el de la amistad, la maternidad común encarnada por la propia lady Anne (la narradora), la falsedad en el trato social, los contrastes entre clases sociales, el papel de la mujer, el tema del espiritismo, las drogas… A pesar de estar narrado desde el punto de vista de una mujer de la alta sociedad, que reconoce en muchos casos que hay temas de los que no se puede hablar abiertamente en esos tiempos, enfrenta con sorprendente claridad muchos de ellos, desde la educación en colegios privados, los matrimonios por conveniencia o amor, o el tema de las drogas en las clases pudientes.
Me ha gustado mucho el tono tan natural y sensato que emana de la narración, los contrapuntos con los diferentes personajes (esa Nealie, sincera como ella sola en su crítica a lady Guthrie) dan una amplitud de visiones que contribuyen al tono general inquietante de la historia. Una historia de un hijo único, Cecil, híper protegido por una madre sin más sentido en su vida que dominarlo en todo momento y pensamiento.
Y aunque todo está claramente explicado, nada queda claro en esta historia, salvo el buen hacer de Elizabeth Eliot, que lo mismo te decora un castillo que te explica el sistema sucesorio inglés. Bien por ella.

[Libros Prestados · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subyugante novela sobre las relaciones maternofiliales y la subjetividad de la memoria, con esa narradora que no es que sea una narradora no fiable, pero que solo sabe una parte de la historia, y el resto o lo supone o somos nosotros, los lectores, quienes tenemos que rellenar los huecos. Incluido el final, que es abierto, hasta cierto punto.

Mira que no soy muy fan de los libros muy ambiguos en cuanto a resolución, pero la verdad es que he disfrutado de esta lectura y me he montado mis propias teorías. Está además escrito de una forma que emula muy bien las novelas de principio del siglo XX, aunque fue publicada en los años 60.

Sutil, misteriosa e intrigante me ha sorprendido y me gustó mucho.

[Lila Gloria Fernández de Castro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una escrirora y una novela que brillan con luz propia!!!!

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡¡Cómo he disfrutado esta pequeña joya!!
No conocía nada de la escritora Elizabeth Eliot, pero sin duda leeré más libros suyos en cuanto tenga la más mínima oportunidad.
En esta novela, con una prosa engañosamente sencilla, la autora nos narra la vida de Cecil desde el punto de vista de Lady Anne, esposa de su medio hermano por parte de padre.
Cecil, fruto del segundo matrimonio del diplomático Sir David Guthrie, quien ya bastante mayor volvió a casarse con una bellísima joven, Lady Edythe Guthrie, vivirá en sus carnes el resultado de una maternidad tóxica, asfixiante y completamente alienante, ante la frustación e indiganción (siempre latente, pocas veces verbalizada, ya que estamos hablando de british de la alta sociedad tardo victoriana -la acción se desarrolla entre 1875 y 1896, si bien Lady Anne escribe estas "memorias" muchos años después, en plena I GM-) de sus familiares más cercanos: su hermano mayor Sir Charles Guthrie, Nelie, prima del primero (al ser prima por parte de madre no tiene relación de parentesco directo con Cecil) y la propia narradora, Lady Anne.
Y a partir de ahí empieza el "salseo", las intrigas, y un misterio final, en una historia con más de un villano, en el que la víctima irremediable (y muchas veces autosacrificada) es el propio Cecil, y donde el egoísmo de su madre va en aumento hasta que te dan ganas de estrangularla con un calcetín sudado.
Ciertamente creo que la descripción que hace la autora de lo que es la maternidad tóxica y lo perniciosa y enfermiza que puede resultar (en este caso llevada casi hasta sus extremos) es realmente sobresaliente y, para mí, lo mejor de la novela.
En definitiva una novela mucho más que entretenida (la verdad es que no puedes parar de leer), que a mí me ha parecido muy buena, y que creo que gustará a todos los amantes de lo british y de los salseos de las familias de clase alta.

[Catie · Rating 4 out of 5]

**4.5 Stars**

This book gripped me from start to finish. On edge would be the best way to describe my reading experience throughout. I can’t wait to discuss with my reading group, the many twist and turns this book took. There are countless stories of mothers and sons out there, but this one was truly a frightful and twisted tale, that will stay with me for quite some time. Ms. Eliot can write!

#FurrowedMiddleBrowClub on Litsy (@CathyThoughts) - January 2022

[El Convincente · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth Eliot escribe como un Henry James resucitado al que hubiesen "convencido" para presentarse al premio Planeta con una novela de misterio. Y esto lo digo como un (gran) piropo: me la he bebido en un día.

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Eliot's "Cecil" is quite a masterful story of a mother and a son's relationship of the most possessive kind, with many mysterious circumstances. I have read all of Elizabeth's Kindle books and wish there were more. "Cecil" and "Mrs. Martell" are my favorites. I wonder how much she has drawn from her life, there are many things in common with her personal history and her stories. "Cecil" starts in 1875 and ends pre World War 1.

The below suggested Cecil is a step brother to Charles Guthrie but he is actually his half brother, they share the same father.

"Lady Anne’s position as the wife of Charles Guthrie gives her a unique (but limited) perspective on the relationship between her husband’s stepbrother Cecil and the attractive but dominating Lady Guthrie. As she narrates this, Elizabeth Eliot’s brilliant final novel, Anne creates a portrait of a ghoulish woman who ruins her son’s life as thoroughly as if she set out to do so intentionally. Yet there are no easy answers here, and Anne’s speculations and judgments sometimes shed as much light on her own relationships and experiences as they do on Cecil and his mother. In Eliot’s skilled hands, the apparently simple tale of a dysfunctional family becomes an elegant and witty meditation on our inability to ever know the complete truth about those around us."

"Nor do we know anything of Elizabeth’s relationship with her parents. What is one to make of the fact she dedicatedCecil, the story of a loathsome, manipulative mother, to her own mother? What is one to make of the tantalising information contained in the publisher’s blurb for Cecil that the book is ‘based on fact’? Which strand of Cecil’s plot might have been developed from a factual base? For the novel, quite apart from placing a ‘veritable ogress’ of a mother centre stage, also deals with drug-taking, murder, and impotency. Cecil was published in November 1962, a couple of months after Nellie Eliot, Dowager Countess of St Germans, committed suicide in a hotel room in Gibraltar, having arrived the day before from Tangier where she had been visiting her son Vere. Whatever their real-life relationship it is fair to say that in Elizabeth Eliot’s novels mothers tend to be seen in a somewhat negative light, while fathers are noticeable by their absence."

"She only liked them,’ Nealie said, ‘after Cecil had done with them. It was the same with Julie and now with this other.’"

Story in short- Anne and Charles Guthrie witness the too domineering Lady Guthrie to her only child, Cecil, hoping he can break away and be happy.


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Anne and Charlie Guthrie are married in 1875 & the present year is 1917 when Anne writes this story, in 1875 Anne meets Lady Guthrie for the first time, she is Sir David Guthrie's second wife. He lost his first wife after the birth of Charlie. Charlie had a younger half brother, Cecil who is 9 when Charlie marries and Cecil's comments about Anne, not particularly flattering. He is outspoken, delicate and treated like his mother's equal, yet she controls him. He is tutored at home doing well in languages but gets into a little trouble at Eton, he has to leave early and never has formal schooling. In 1887, Cecil is about to be engaged to Miss Lydia Marsden of Sussex and Lady Guthrie does not think at 21 years old Cecil is ready and wants Charlie to talk to him. There is a strange closeness that Lady Guthrie does not want anyone but her to have a clean sense relationship with Cecil. "Mother boasted that she shared his every thought." Anne has invited the Marshdens to Kilodnan, Charlie inherited the Scottish property from a relative, and Lady Guthrie was not too happy the estate went to her step son and tells them so when she visits. Lady Guthrie likes to play the sick part especially when Cecil is home. Sir David Guthrie starts to spend a lot of time in Baden for his health. Nealie Adair, a rich cousin of Charlie's is 15 years older, is quite outspoken female. Mrs. Marshden and her daughter, Lydie are to arrive in the morning, Lady Guthrie is not aware it was so soon otherwise she would have made her escape with Cecil. The mother son relationship is strangely too close for Cecil's good but nobody seems to be able to prevent this, Cecil thinks his mother is an angel and delicate. He likes to spend time with his mother and father, he is rarely away from them. He had not attended Oxford for his mother had the doctor say it was not good for his health, yet he attends many parties. Some how Edythe has found out about the Marshden's upcoming visit. Edythe has known the Marshdens for a long time. Willie MacLaughin is in love for the first time to Nealie, so Charlie wanted them to be together with Anne's help. Charlie also helped Cecil and Lydie in helping them spend sometime fishing together. Anne has the idea to have Mrs. Marshden, Edythe and herself to visit their friend Mrs. Lambert, while on the way there they see a boat overturned which worries Edythe thinking of Cecil, but there is laughing and no tragedy, Cecil and Lydie are with other neighborhood young people. Edythe is worried but they continue to the Lamberts. No engagement is announced during the Marshden's visit. Cecil has come to see Anne having just arrived from Cannes looking very worried and wanting advice. He had received a letter from Lydie calling their engagement off. Cecil did not tell his mom but hurried of to London. Anne tells him it might be the long engagement that is worrying her parents. Anne suggests that Lydie and her family would be pleased if the marriage happened soon. Cecil sees the Marshdens and a June wedding is planned but Cecil must go back to Cannes to see his parents. Cecil is anxious for Lydia and Mrs. Marshden to see the Manor House for he would like to live there. Cecil has never been happier. Cecil has to leave soon after his visit to the manor because Edythe says she is ill and when Anne tries to question, he says mother would not send for him if she was not ill. Nealie has help Willie with a position in London and Charles teases her about interfering. Nealie says that Edythe will not let Cecil marry and she will tie him to her until she dies and she will not die soon. Why doesn't Sir David Guthrie see the troubles ahead for his son and stop his wife from ruining him. Cecil is to marry Lydia but after coming down with small pox and the next year, Mrs. Guthrie being sick. Mr. Marshden sick of these delays, the wedding is cancelled but he relents after his daughter tells she will not marry anyone but Cecil, he okays the wedding but with a set date. Cecil's man has been told to have Charlie see his brother. He comes and a doctor is called who says that Cecil took something, maybe suicidal? Cecil is to come to Charlie's home and be watched. No messages are given to his parents for it would make things worse. Edythe's first husband's death is suspicious, nothing is made clear on this and is Cecil, a step son or natural son of David? The engagement is off because a letter was written by Sir David but it seems more like Edythe who wrote it, Cecil can not have children, it is uncear when Cecil found this out or if it is true. Lydia was standing with Cecil, though she had fallen in love with her fiance from years ago, having returned from being a soldier India and loves him again. Cecil has been ill and the doctor is taking care of him. Charlie has said that he thinks Lady Guthrie has written as her husband, so she had said to Lydia's father that Cecil cannot have children, preventing the marriage. When Anne is watching Cecil during his illness he talks about knowing Lydia not loving him any longer but he would do anything to have the marriage go through. He said he thinks he knows it was his mother not his father who wrote to Mr. Marshden. He then becomes very ill and it is weeks later in not remembering and testing Anne what he said about his mother weeks ago while he was feverish. She does not tell him that he says he did intimate that he had no sexual problems but maybe fear of insanity to children worried Lydia. He now says his mother is unselfish and waits to see what Anne says trying to determine how much he said to her. Anne does not say anything in agreement to his comments about his mother. He now says he wasted 5 years not doing anything waiting to marry, blaming it on Lydia. His mother is to blame for preventing him from living life. It is not until 1891 until Anne sees Cecil again with his mother coming to Scotland. Nothing changed in appearance except Anne sees Edythe as an ogress. Cecil and his mother are inseparable unless he goes on his yacht alone. Anne and Charlie have 3 children, one is a recent baby boy. Cecil who had blamed his lack of occupation on his continual engagement but these three years after, he has really not done too much. Frederic Helbert is in the military, he has been staying at a hotel near Kilodonan, he has been ill. Cecil, Sybil and Alistair (Anne's children) have found him over at the Andersons and Helbert is invited to stay at Kilodonan. Frederic's older brother is Alistair's tutor. Edythe is wanting Charlie to help Frederic in a promotion, but why is uncertain. Sir David Guthrie died in 1895 and Cecil has been with his mother until recently. Edythe has written for Anne to come, she is all alone. Charlie does not want her to go but they decide she must go to Cannes. Sybil thinks Aunt Edythe is up to her tricks and tells her the story of her friend Julie being engaged to Cecil. Last year when they met a week later, he proposed but it was a secret except to Edythe who semed happy but the delays started and this time Cecil had scarlet fever, one wonders if he really did. Julie was invited to stay at Cannes with Edythe who kept having a Duc continually over and when Julie went back to England, the Duc followed but only was enjoying himself, he has been engaged since he was young to another of his class. Before this happened Cecil found out and confronted Julie in a letter and considered their engagement over. Nealie and Willie are going to accompany their friend. I think that Cecil having to get away from his mother who keeps ruining his choices. Anne comes to Cannes and is amazed that Julie staying with Edythe. Lady Guthrie had heard about the way her parents treated her by having her be a governess in Ireland, so she invited her to stay after Cecil left. Edythe tells how a married woman in Paris has control over her son, and that she would kill her if she had the chance. Edythe no longer has control of her son and worries he is taking drugs. Anne and Charlie receive a cable that states Cecil has died and buried at sea. Edythe's letters to them told of Cecil being busy, he could not be near her. Cecil was traveling with Frederic Helbert who tells the story of Cecil being in pain, it seems he drank photography fluid by mistake, it was deemed an accident. Charlie believed the story until Helbert's voice changed and the mention of a will giving all Cecil's things to him, made no sense. Charlie feels Helbert murdered Cecil. There is something strange about Edythe and Helbert's relationship. Letter writing, help in the job, coordination in the sea trip when Cecil should have gone to the hospital for his morphine addiction that was better but it seemed Helbert supplied him and Edythe not looking to harm the man who killed her son. Thompson had told Anne and Charlie about all the money Cecil gave Frederic and that FrederIc had quit the military. The woman that was living with Cecil in Paris after seeing Cecil improve would not want him to start back on the drugs. I think that Edythe want that woman out of her son's life that she trusted Helbert in helping her accomplish this, not thinking he would kill him? Or did she think best her son died, highly unlikely? The case that Sir Terrance is to present about coercing someone with a will, with Reggie Cameron's testimony on the bad character of Helbert. Helbert worked under Cameron. Frederic had tried to sell government papers but could not sell them, he was heavily in debt. They worry that Edythe will side with him and persuades her that he did not kill Cecil. Hearing that Helbert might go to see Edythe to win her over, Anne hurries to the Manor but finds out that she is too late, Helbert has seen Edthye. In talking to Julie, who has been a companion to Edythe, Edythe does not think he killed Cecil, Anne thinks admitting this murder would bring guilt to Edythe who cannot accept it. Helbert shows up for tea but Anne tells him that he no longer to come here or see Edythe. Anne brings Edythe to there side by saying that Helbert could have prevented Cecil's death and after hearing that Edythe no longer wants to see him. If she admitted Hilbert killed her son, it would be herself that killed her son by putting him into Hilbert's hands. Thompson tells how Cecil's mistress spent some time with his mother. Julie is still staying with Edythe but she is not treated kindly and being poor without parents wanting her, it is hard for her and having no place to go. Anne remembers a painting in the Manor that was there 9 years ago when he was engaged to Lydia but Edythe says there was no picture. Why would she lie? Nealie has found a wife for Willie, for she feels too old for him, wanting him to have children, he marries but he is devoted to Nealie. Julie is dropped a week after Anne's visit, Nealie helps her find a position in Chicago to a rich family. Helbert afraid drops his claim, it was costly for the Guthries. Edythe sells all her estates and lives with Cecil's mistress for years but drops her before she dies. Helbert is living in Paris but his cap was found in Scotland by her son, and in disgust Anne throws it into the lochs. There is a small doubt, but very small if Cecil commited suicide, I think not but it makes me wonder. Was he so sick of life?

[Tabuyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Al final me ha gustado más de lo que esperaba esta historia sobre la 'tóxica' relación entre un hijo y su madre. Y digo 'tóxica' porque eso es lo que nos hace ver la narradora, no tendremos la visión desde la otra parte y seremos nosotros lo que tengamos que hacer nuestras propias conjeturas.

[Booksandfus · Rating 5 out of 5]

🍁Corre el año 1917, Lady Anne nos cuenta una historia que transcurre a lo largo de treinta años hacia atrás: la extraña relación que mantienen su cuñado y la madre de éste.
Una historia llena de misterios, casas y viajes, amoríos frustrados y giros imprevisibles. La narradora nos va contando esta relación y los sucesos que acontecieron y que en su definitiva rareza, están basados en conjeturas e indicios.

🍁 Nada más publicarse este título me llamó la atención inmediatamente, intuía que me iba a gustar, pero lo que no me esperaba es que me iba a fascinar de la manera que lo ha hecho, desde la primera página ya estaba sumergida totalmente en la historia, así tal cual.
Es increíblemente amena. Los extraños acontecimientos, cómo se nos crea la duda de si lo que sospechamos es cierto o no y unos grandes personajes, hacen que sea un libro digno de ser leído. En conjunto, es una novela inquietante que no os dejará indiferente.

🍁 ¡Una correspondencia grata y tranquila! Leyéndola, una se desespera por entender la relación que existía entre esta madre y su hijo. Los jóvenes normales y corrientes ¿expresan su pensamientos sobre el amor y las mujeres en las cartas que escriben a su madre? Mis hijos, desde luego, nunca han hecho nada por el estilo, pero ¿eso qué demuestra? "

🍁 la autora, injustamente olvidada hasta hoy, posee en su haber cuatro o cinco títulos más que me encantaría que fueran traducidos para seguir disfrutando de ella.
¿Lo conocíais? ¿Os llama la atención?

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuatro estrellas para una novela que ha supuesto un soplo de aire fresco, atractiva y bien escrita. Misteriosa en su planteamiento, dado que todo lo conocemos desde la perspectiva de un personaje que conoce al "Cecil" que da título a la novela, pero no es testigo de todos los hechos, algunos los recibe de tercera mano, otros los imagina..., nos encontramos, pues, ante el relato de una vida desde la perspectiva de un actor muy secundario en la misma. Esto ya me pareció interesante, pero el verdadero nudo de la trama es la relación enfermiza entre Cecil y su madre, una señora obsesiva, déspota, que ama a su hijo hasta límites que son realmente perversos y anormales... Una señora, en suma, que cree que, por ser la madre del joven, es dueña de él y de su vida.
Observar las artimañas de Edythe (la susodicha madre) para boicotear cualquier intento de Cecil por volar libre y ser feliz es, a la vez, indignante y extrañamente hipnótico.
Además, cuando aún queda un tercio de la novela (que tiene 300 pág. en lugar de 200 como erróneamente señala Goodreads), ocurre un giro de trama totalmente inesperado que te deja con la boca abierta y te pega al tercio de novela restante porque necesitas saber más.
Un grato descubrimiento que me ha ayudado a sobrellevar estas semanas un tanto (mucho) agotadoras.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este libro podemos ver cómo pasa la vida de Cecil, el hijo de una mujer de lo más interesante, desde la infancia hasta que llega a la madurez. Esta mujer es súper acaparadora, tiene celos de todas las mujeres con las que se relaciona.

La protagonista digamos que es la nuera de esa madre ( es que es madrastra del marido de la prota así que me confundo jajaj ). La novela empieza muy normal y luego empieza a volverse como si fuera una novela de misterio y cada vez hay más incógnitas.

A mí me ha gustado la idea un montón, pero siento como si hubiera leído un borrador y aún estuviera por acabar de perfilar y completar bien. Se ha quedado con vacíos por todas partes. Te deja al final con más dudas que certezas. Yo estoy muy confundida ahora mismo y esa sensación no me gusta.

Lo único que tengo claro es que el planteamiento era muy bueno y que la autora tenía potencial ( por lo que veo aquí ). No sé si en otras obras se habrá logrado desarrollar mejor. Realmente es que me siento rara ahora mismo porque me ha dejado como si hubiera dejado el libro a medias o quedará aún un poco de la trama y me lo hubieran arrancado del libro. Qué maldad !! Yo necesito saber las cosas ! No sé me puede dejar así !!

Con lo que estaba disfrutando yo de este libro y va y me deja así?? Qué despropósito, en serio 😭

[Ruthiella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a rather disturbing book. It read almost like a thriller. Narrated by Anne Guthrie and set in the late 1800s, the eponymous Cecil is Anne’s brother-in-law; the much younger half brother of her husband. Young Cecil has a complicated and twisted relationship with his mother, Lady Guthrie. It’s clearly not healthy for either of them, but neither the reader nor Anne know how far will Lady Guthrie go to keep her son close to her or what it might take for Cecil to free himself from her influence.

There was a lot of room for interpretation in this novel, since the reader only gets Anne’s perspective. Turning from Lady Guthrie’s words to the extracts, selected by her, from Cecil’s letters I find that they seem to corroborate much of what she says. Even so I am not satisfied. The truth appears and disappears like a shadow when the clouds pass across the face of the sun.”,/i> I particularly liked the ambiguity here which allows for different readers to come to different conclusions.

[Lisa of Hopewell]

I learned of this book via this post: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2022/...

[Bruiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desasosiego

[nats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una historia que plantea más preguntas que respuestas ofrece. La primera mitad no consiguió engancharme, pero sí el final.