Reading the 20th Century discussion

My research suggests Celia Fremlin merits her own thread

Guardian obituary...


My aunt, Celia Fremlin, who has died at the age of 94, was a writer of mystery novels. Her first, The Hours Before Dawn, published in 1958, won a Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe award and with it she launched her own special style of mystery and horror, combined with evocative descriptions of married women's lives in the 1950s. In addition to her 16 novels, the last published in 1994, she wrote short stories, poetry and articles and was a member of her local writers' circle in Hampstead, north London.
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She was born in Kingsbury, Middlesex, to Heaver Fremlin, a doctor, and his wife Margaret. Celia was educated at Berkhamsted school for girls, Hertfordshire, and Somerville College, Oxford, where she studied classics. After her mother died in 1931, she was expected to look after her father, but she interspersed this with jobs in domestic service, unusual for a middle-class woman in those days, in order to "observe the peculiarities of the class structure of our society", she said. She described her experiences in her first book, The Seven Chars of Chelsea, published in 1940.

Rest here....

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardi...

Lots of titles published by Faber & Faber / Faber Finds...


https://www.faber.co.uk/catalogsearch...

Fantastic Fiction page...

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/ce...

Looks interesting, Nigeyb. I see her Ghostly Stories: Faber Stories is currently 98p

I see she is also compared to Shirley Jackson in one review - I am suitably intrigued!

Susan wrote: "Looks interesting, Nigeyb. I see her Ghostly Stories: Faber Stories is currently 98p"

Thanks Susan - I'll snap that one up

According to an Amazon review it's only 48 pages and contains two Fremlin stories - "The Hated House" and "The New House"

According to the reviewer both stories are excellent



Both stories first appeared in....

Don't Go To Sleep In The Dark (short stories), Gollancz, hardcover, 1970

The Quiet Game; The Betrayal; The New House; Last Day of Spring; The Special Gift; Old Daniel's Treasure; For Ever Fair; The Irony of Fate; The Baby Sitter; The Hated House; Angel-face; The Fated Interview; The Locked Room

I've also snapped up a copy of....


The Hours Before Dawn

...from eBay for a bargain £2.31

It's the title Elizabeth highlighted over at The Midnight Bell

The blurb....

Discover the original psychological thriller...

Winner of the 1960 Edgar Award for best mystery novel

Louise would give anything - anything - for a good night's sleep. Forget the girls running errant in the garden and bothering the neighbours. Forget her husband who seems oblivious to it all. If the baby would just stop crying, everything would be fine.

Or would it? What if Louise's growing fears about the family's new lodger, who seems to share all of her husband's interests, are real? What could she do, and would anyone even believe her? Maybe, if she could get just get some rest, she'd be able to think straight.

In a new edition of this lost classic, The Hours Before Dawn proves - scarily - as relevant to readers today as it was when Celia Fremlin first wrote it in the 1950s.

And if anyone fancies a buddy read of....



The Hours Before Dawn

...then I shall make it happen

Absolutely - count me in!

Great news Susan - I can fit it in any time, so just let me know what month suits you best....


https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

It is fairly short, I think, so whenever you want. I am keen to give her a try.

OK Susan. I've added it to mid February - I'm hoping a few more people will be inspired to join us

Great - have downloaded it ready to read.

Nigeyb wrote: "And if anyone fancies a buddy read of....



The Hours Before Dawn

...then I shall make it happen"

Me too! (Not that I need to acquire yet another book ...)

Oh, and I get more excited about this one. First paragraph of a GR review:

I read this brilliant and vintage novel in one big gulp of a sitting this afternoon - positively beautiful writing, immensely creepy yet wittily hilarious in places, Celia Fremlin gives a masterclass in the genre of Domestic Noir years before Domestic Noir was a thing.

Thanks Elizabeth. My expectations are high too. Here's hoping it's as good as it appears.

Hurrah! Good to hear you are joining in, Elizabeth. Thanks for bringing a 'new' author to our attention :)

Me too. I have a number of her books but having no idea who she was, have ignored them so far. Thanks Elizabeth.

Well, thanks to all of you, too. I learned of her from a member in another group and have not read her. If you all had not jumped on the band wagon, she'd be languishing on my wish list with no immediate read in sight.

So often the case, I find. Our reading commitments can, sometimes, not allow time for getting to those books, without a reason to move them up the TBR list.

I'm truly glad a few of us, including me, have found another author to embrace.

Yes, it just shows me how many wonderful authors there are to re-discover.

Not counting short stories, etc. Fantastic Fiction has the following novels listed:

Novels
The Hours Before Dawn (1958)
Uncle Paul (1959)
Seven Lean Years (1961)
aka Wait for the Wedding
Troublemakers (1963)
The Jealous One (1965)
Prisoner's Base (1967)
Possession (1969)
Appointment with Yesterday (1972)
The Long Shadow (1975)
Spider-orchid (1977)
With No Crying (1980)
The Parasite Person (1982)
Listening in the Dusk (1990)
Dangerous Thoughts (1991)
The Echoing Stones (1993)
King of the World (1994)

She was surprisingly prolific for many years.

You mentioned that not many of her books are available on kindle in the US, Elizabeth. Which are available at the moment?

Faber Finds have 22 books listed in the UK.

I thought I'd already ordered a copy of The Hours Before Dawn only to discover it wasn't on the shelf and I hadn't. I've put that right just now. I'll be late to the party over on the buddy read but will join you all eventually.

I hope you enjoy it, Nigeyb.

I'm very confident that I will Susan

Susan wrote: "You mentioned that not many of her books are available on kindle in the US, Elizabeth. Which are available at the moment?"

In addition to The Hours Before Dawn, there are:

Uncle Paul
The Jealous One
The Trouble Makers

I didn't look at the individual pages, but from the covers, I'm guessing all from Dover. Apparently more are available in the UK, and maybe this means more will be available here as they work through copyright issues. (Assuming that's the holdup.)

Uncle Paul. The second book she wrote does look good. Not too long for a buddy read?

Well, if anyone wants me to add Uncle Paul as a future buddy read, I am more than happy to do so? If Elizabeth can get it too then that makes sense.

Although this is not the right thread, I also mooted Finding Nouf / The Night of the Mi'raj (99p on kindle) as a possible buddy read, as Elizabeth fancied it and I always try to nominate literary choices, rather than crime, in this group.

I would be happy to see any Celia Fremlin worked into some sort of buddy read schedule. The Kindles cost just as much as a used paperback, so whatever you folks want to do. With a little lead time, I can get a copy and make them work in my challenge schedules. (For 10 years, every book I've read has been for my challenge, but it's not against the law to read something that doesn't work there.)

Yes. That was why I was surprised that this one was over here, rather than the crime group.

Jill wrote: "Yes. That was why I was surprised that this one was over here, rather than the crime group."

Do you think she's more crime than literary? From this one read, it seems she's not easily categorized. I chose to mention her here because of the Patricia Highsmith comparison.

I think she is more crime than literary, to be honest. However, who cares? We could add Uncle Paul and then I will nominate Finding Nouf and, if it doesn't win, we could buddy read it.

Finding Nouf May if it doesn't win the vote.
Uncle Paul in June?
How does that sound?

Susan wrote: "Finding Nouf May if it doesn't win the vote.
Uncle Paul in June?
How does that sound?"

Works for me, I'll put it on my sheet. Thanks, Susan.

OK, great. I will add it.

Just perusing more of Celia F's oeuvre and concluded this might make a good Xmas buddy read...


The Long Shadow

...according to the cover its...

A Christmas Story With A Difference

The blurb...

Jolted from sleep by the ringing of the telephone, Imogen stumbles through the dark, empty house to answer it. At first, she can't quite understand the man on the other end of the line. Surely he can't honestly be accusing her of killing her husband, Ivor, who died in a car crash barely two months ago.

As the nights draw in, Imogen finds her home filling up with unexpected Christmas guests, who may be looking for more than simple festive cheer. Has someone been rifling through Ivor's papers? Who left the half-drunk whiskey bottle beside his favourite chair? And why won't that man stop phoning, insisting he can prove Imogen's guilt.

Shall we schedule it in for mid-December 2020?

Yes, definitely! Good idea and count me in.

I'll sort it later - I'm sure there are plenty here who will embrace some Celia at Christmas

Thanks for adding that one. It is the favorite of my friend.

A pleasure Elizabeth and I think it's always enjoyable to read a Christmassy book during the seasonal period

Yes. Count me in.

Sounds great.

The friend who introduced me to Celia Fremlin has posted about some of Fremlin's short stories. When I saw this post last evening, she had not yet linked to all of the anthologies in which they appear. That was a nice addition to see this morning! Anyway, I did get permission to share her post because I thought one or two of you would be interested.

My opinion of Fremlin's writing has increased even more after reading these short stories. They might have been even more fun than her novels. A lot of the subjects are the same as in her novels

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Nice quote - thanks. The short stories sound very promising

Thanks for posting, Elizabeth.

I just received a copy of The Jealous One by Ms. Fremlin. The GR blurb made it look interesting and, at 4.11 stars it had the highest rating of Fremlins more popular books, if 90 ratings counts as popular.
I thought it was getting time for another Fremlin but, with busy months ahead, I would wait until February if anyone was interested in a Buddy Read for that month. It's a relatively short 198 pages.

I was going to say I’d never heard of this Celia Fremlin until I saw Nigeyb mention The Hours Before Dawn upthread. I have a yellowed hardcover from 1958. This group really does read everything!

Ooh, love Celia Fremlin. I would be up for another of her books in Feb, Brian.

Me too.

Hurrah! Shall I set up a thread for Feb then?