Persephone Books discussion

Here's another question...what are the consequences that Alex has to deal with? Another way to phrase it would be - how does the title of the book relate to the story?

Alex has to deal with the consequence of being unable to successfully play the game of Victorian society. While we see that she quickly gets the childhood game of the same name she remains perplexed about the life of grown-ups and what she sees as a mockery of personal closeness for which she desires. The inability to play this game is of course inexcusable (particularly for women) during this time.

I completely agree--in most of the books we've read for this group, it's amazing how limited the female characters were in regards to the options that were available to them. There were very specific roles women were allowed to take on, and they were ostracized if they chose different roles. I'm glad things have changed since then!

I too am glad that things are changing for women. It must have been a desperate situation back then, to know that you were bred for specific purposes. It's applause- worthy that women writers during this time realized these things and could write for those that did not have a voice

Just wanted to share that this book is available for free on Kindle in the U.S.

Thanks for letting us know, Susan!

It's also available for .99¢ on a site called girlebooks. I got it on my nook thru them. There are a lot of very cool, forgotten classics on there, all 99¢.

I just finished and am still digesting this one. I had a hard time with Alex's character, and my first impression is that she was rather unintelligent.

I'm still reading this, but I also am having a hard time with Alex's character. She seems very emotional and inward in her responses and not very aware of others as individuals (at least so far).

I'm just finishing this one up. I think Alex is a tough character to understand. Do you think Alex has some kind of personality disorder??

I had wondered about that too, Gina. She seems so distant and unaware of what others are thinking. I don't think her sheltered upbringing can account for that, her two sisters were quite normal, though both were very selfish as well.

I agree she seems very inept socially, and relating to others seems quite alien to her. I think at the time she would just have been described as shy and awkward, but a psychologist these days would probably have other names for it.

I wrote in my review, "Alex tries desperately to conform but the more desperate she becomes, the less everybody likes her. Her dilemma is that she can't be real and be accepted by the people around her: she has to choose one or the other, and she vacillates disastrously between the two."

I thought there was a suggestion of lesbian feelings that probably would have made her feel estranged from the rest of the world at that time in history. The unisex nickname Alex is one factor. Then she seemed to have two motives in going into the convent: to be closer to a nun she has a crush on, and to escape her family, since she doesn't seem likely to do that through marriage. Neither one is a great reason for devoting oneself to the religious life, so I wasn't surprised she became disillusioned with it.

She seems very different from the Provincial Lady, and yet I've read that both were based on E.M. Delafield's own life in different ways. Or is the Provincial Lady also quite distant from people, although married and superficially very different from Alex?

I thought about the lesbian factor as well with the crush on her school mate that seemed so overpowering. And the nuns and her parents were so disapproving as well, but since Victorian girls were kept in the dark about even heterosexual sex, she wouldn't have had a clue about any of those feelings.

Another thing I was wondering about when I finished the book...was Alex's suicide inevitable?
I felt like Delafield was very persuasive in making the reader feel like that was the only option (or at least that Alex saw it that way).

For anyone with gumption and sense, there were other choices. For Alex however, probably not.

This quote from The Provincial Lady in Wartime, which I just finished, gave me a different perspective on Alex and the choices open to her:

“Felicity (friend of narrator) reminds me that she was never, in early youth, allowed to travel by herself, that she shared a lady’s maid with her sister, that she was never taught cooking, and never mended her own clothes.

Inform her in return that my mother’s maid always used to do my hair for me, that I was considered industrious if I practiced the piano for an hour in the morning, that nobody expected me to lift a finger on behalf of anybody else, except to write an occasional note of invitation, and that I had no idea how to make a bed or boil an egg until long after my twenty-first year.”

I still struggle with the character, but felt this quote gave me more insight into Alex's upbringing and why she was the way she was.

That is an excellen quote, Susan, thank you for sharing it. It is almost impossible for me to imagine the way that Delafield & her compatriots were brought up, and how greatly that conditioned their ideas about what they were able to do in life.

I can't find this book on Goodreads

Here you go: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...

Goodreads “search function” leaves a lot to be desired ;)