Our Village
by Mary Russell Mitford
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Not what my kindle edition looks like - I have nicked this picture from somewhere online. |
This was an unusual read. Not because the book was first published in a magazine in the form of about 100 literary sketches during the 1820s and 1830s and uses expressions you won’t find in more recent books; I have read many books from that period and am used to their style and vocabulary.
But in my free kindle edition, the foreword alone was nearly as long as the author’s work. It was written by a lady who greatly admired Miss Mitford, and could not resist turning it into almost a full biography. I was never quite sure whether I was still reading a foreword to something that was yet to come, or whether this was the actual book.
The book itself can not really be called a story, neither is it a proper diary. I’d rather call it a collection of vignettes describing places, people, walks and other outings in and around Miss Mitford's village, roughly following the span of a year with the changing seasons.
Several characters reappear "months" later after their initial introduction, but mostly, each chapter has its own location and cast.
A lot is about the landscape itself; hills, woods, single trees, hedgerows, village greens, lanes, becks and rocks, with flowers getting the most attention.
The weather, temperature, what the sky looks like, what a day feels and smells like – the author is very good at that, and more often than not, I fully understood what she meant.
Other elements are too typical of the author’s day and age for me to really relate to them, such as the taking for granted of children having to work (hard) for a living or the way society’s conventions restrict people’s lives.
Still, it was a quiet, largely enjoyable read, but not one I would highly recommend, in spite of the writer having been very popular in her time.
Both the book and its author have their own wikipedia entries, so you can simply click on the highlighted words in this post to learn more, if you like.
Interesting. I haven't heard of her before. Nowadays she'd be a blogger. :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if she's related to Diana Mitford, Jessica Mitford et al? I skimmed the Wikipedia entry and I don't think it mentions them, and I suspect it would if that were the case.
She could be, couldn't she! :-)
DeleteI've just had a quick look at the wikipedia entry for Jessica Mitford and the Mitford sisters. Theirs was an aristrocratic family from Northumberland; Mary Russell Mitford's mother (Russell) was descendant from an aristocratic family, but not her father (Mitford, sometimes spelled Midfort). And yes, I guess wikipedia would make the connection if they were related.
I shall investigate = it sounds my sort of book.
ReplyDeleteYou will love the bits about the author's dog, Pat!
DeleteI'm not sure if I would like that one, Meike. I just finished a good book called "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus. Not my usual mystery but I really enjoyed it and would recommend it.
ReplyDeleteYou commented on my review some time ago - I am glad you read and enjoyed it, too, Ellen!
Deletehttps://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com/2023/07/read-in-2023-20-lessons-in-chemistry.html
Oh, so that's where I heard about it! LOL! Thanks, Meike, it is a terrific book and I'm glad you told me about it! :)
DeleteYou are welcome - I am glad my Mum gave it to me in the first place!
DeleteSteve is right. These days we would all be following her, and certain parties making cheeky comments. It seems that even in the old days people loved to read about the old days.
ReplyDeleteThere were always old days compared to people's present, and somehow they were always longing for the past.
DeleteAnd did you know that even as far back as in the Gilgamesh Epos, the parental generation were complaining about the younger generation?
Will probably give this one a miss... Have enough on my list already! ;)
ReplyDeleteNo tragedy if you do not read this one, Monica - I do not consider it a "must read" :-)
DeleteThank you for your 'village' recommendation. I sent for it on my Amazon Prime and it came the next day. I am reading a chapter each morning and am finding it so interesting. I was brought up in a small Lincolnshire village maybe a couple of generations after this. So much of it is 'familiar territory' and I find it fascinating because it is describing my parents' generation - just as they spoke of it. I have read 'Violetting' this morning and it is just as it used to be with us as children - pick the violets into a basket, take them home, tie them into small bundles and take them to elderly infirm folk in the village.
ReplyDeleteThank you for letting me know about this - I am glad you are enjoying the book, and naturally, you can relate better to most of it than I.
DeleteThe sketches were written in the 1820s and 30s, so your parents can‘t have been around at the time. But many aspects of village life (such as violetting) have probably not changed until after the war, and therefore it is familiar territory to you.
I have enjoyed and read the novels of the Mitford sisters several times over but I have never heard of the lady author you describe; of course, she lived much earlier. Occasionally I quite enjoy zeitgenoessische accounts, when well written they give you instant flavour of the time and Lebensweise. As you are not recommending it I may give this one a miss, my Kindle is groaning with unread books which I upload far too often but mine costs 90p and are therefore no great loss if I don't get to all of them.
ReplyDeleteBefore this one, I had not read anything by any Mitford; maybe I would enjoy something by one of the sisters. Like you, I find that a zeitgenössischer read can do much to bring the period to life, but I must also admit that I am not always in the mood for the kind of language used. This one - like nearly everything on my kindle - came for free.
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