Virago Modern Classics discussion

In a poll for April 2025 won Mr Skeffington by Elizabeth von Arnim.

Who is going to read it? How do you like it?

If you have read it already, or you are reading it at another (later) time - write here what you think about the book too.

[Please keep in mind to hide spoilers in spoiler brackets.]

I will be reading this one.

I'll be reading it sometime in the next few days

I have started yesterday.

Finished - almost a DNF but I'm glad I did stick with it because the ending was worth it.

I was tempted to put it down at first. But eventually, I got interested.

I read this yesterday, but wanted to sleep on it before commenting.

I won’t go through the plot, and I will let the obvious anachronisms speak for themselves.

What I did find my self pondering, though is how far has this “virgo” come from the Anna Kareninas, Mme Bovaries, The Affair (Graham Greene). Is this all we can do for women who say “no” and choose to leave a marriage?

I’d love to read more on this theme/topic(I’m new to the book club, so maybe someone can point me toward other reads that work with this thread of women’s experience)

Hope I’m not vague-posting; I don’t want to spoil or prejudice.

🌹🍞

Fanny was fortunate that she had the finances to live in comfort because a lot of women through the ages haven't been able to.

Not completely sure if it was her illness or the fact she was turning "50" that was the start of her introspection.

On the whole I thought it was a good story but the problem was with myself.........I've read quite a few dark and gritty Virago's lately that I suspect I'm judging subsequent novels more harshly.

Ani wrote: "I’d love to read more on this theme/topic(I’m new to the book club, so maybe someone can point me toward other reads that work with this thread of women’s experience...

Hi Ani. Some books you might enjoy with themes exploring women's experience: The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann, A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor, and pretty much anything by Barbara Pym. Honorary mention to Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple; not a VMC, but Persephone. Carmen Callil famously said she wouldn't publish anything "below the Whipple line."

Ani wrote: "...I’d love to read more on this theme/topic(I’m new to the book club, so maybe someone can point me toward other reads that work with this thread of women’s experience)..."

I don't know which women's experiences you mean, but the VMC books touch on many topics. Yes, there are stories on the VMC list about a woman "ended up" with a man, but the VMC is a "valuable voice in women's literature", not a feminist list per se.

Keep exploring VMC books - I am sure you will find other points of view, too.