Status Updates From Lost Island

Barbara missed her calling as a travel writer; all her latter travelogues are wonderful.

'I continued to balance in the waterfall on the edge of nothing, without even a rope for company, and tried to philosophise. The world was coming to an end, but there was chocolate in my jacket.'

Everything after the island is fascinating. And no matter how you interpret the actual chapters, the actual final lines are tragic:

'The rain surged down with a steady drone. Well, it was time to go to work. Couldn’t hang about the window all day. She peered out once more into the gray. As far as she could see, not even a cat was out.'

'"You look as if you ought to know magic."

'"“I feel as if I ought. Some time I’ll try."'

'"I'm a heathen," Jane said. "I've always wanted to be free to go heathen without any interference or criticism."'

'"Do you realize how grand it is?" she questioned. Her eyes gleamed with eagerness. "There are no mirrors, Davidson! We're free of them. Oh, mirrors are one of the worst things about a hateful civilisation. No mirrors! Do you realise the glory of that? Do you realise what it means?… It means I can be beautiful, for the first time in my life!"'

The entire sequence of the storm and the crack-up and Our Heroine's disorienting return to consciousness in little fits and starts is totally tense and vivid.

Most of the rest of the story, up until now, has felt like a sort of children's book for grown-ups - a sparse fable along the lines of The Alchemist, albeit one full of gorgeous turns of phrase. This part feels like the work of a grown-up.

'Jane enjoyed these gatherings. She had found out that the atmosphere of coarseness which often prevailed in the crew’s conversation was unintended and unconscious, so that it was actually not coarseness at all.'

'"I want a red skirt," she announced. "Right away, if you want to save my life."

'The salesgirl looked at her in cool amazement. "Red, miss? I’m afraid we have nothing in red today. How about this little navy blue one, or a beige? These are the very newest tints."

'"Newest or oldest," said Jane, "red I must have. Why do you talk fashion when my soul pines for red?"'

'Jane awoke with a feeling that everyone in New York, perhaps everyone in the world, was unhappy or in trouble.'

'"You like that job of yours a lot, don’t you?"

'She dared not flinch at that, for her usefulness to her friends lay in giving them the firm conviction that she herself was content with life. "Sure," she answered steadily. "I'm lucky to have any job, these days."'

Barbara Follett's unpublished second novel, written 1930-1934.

I'm reading it online via Farksolia despite the inconvenience because the only print versions are uncredited, unscrupulous copy/paste jobs from the site and I don't think that deserves to be rewarded.