The Rector's Daughter (Virago Modern Classics)

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Thank you so much for your comment. It is indeed a book that has the power to greatly move and change you. The sorrow I felt for Mary seemed to me very real – as if I was mourning the loss of a friend I knew well. Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth I'm fairly ignorant – your review is all I know of this book – but I think I, too, would like to hear more from Dora. I like her in the passage you chose. Reply Excellent review – it reminded me that I read the Virago edition years ago. It was very well written, but I thought very sad, so I don’t think I will be re-reading it in the near future. This is one of my favourite books. When living in Angus the librarian offered this book to me. He considered I would enjoy it. It is most beautifully written with only a few passages frustrating. The pain I felt for Mary was piercing . She was the gentlest of creatures. I am very defensive of this book though found that The Squire’s Daughter frustrated me and could hardly believe it was written by the same hand. Of the declaration of love made by Herbert it is among the lanes during a March day has me in tears every time.

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This is such a brilliant book, worthy of being a classic, really, in that it so perfectly encapsulates how limited unmarried women’s lives could be before the advent of feminism”– Rachel, Book Snob Dora is also a spinster, but less angsty. I think I would have rather enjoyed a novel from Dora’s perspective…

I read this book many years ago. I think the copy I had was a Penguin Classic with a foreword by Susan Hill. She said that a very good book leaves you changed. I have an enduring memory of this book, of being unable to read the words for tears when Herbert remembers Mary. I was so moved by this book I bought endless copies for others and recommending it when people wanted an idea of which book to read next. It was also one of the forgotten classics on radio 4 which was won by The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico. I felt The Snow Goose was very well championed by Michael Morpurgo but thought it a novella not a novel. Susan Hill did not speak of The Rector’s Daughter with enough passion and did not give it the gravitas or joy it deserved. It is without doubt a book I treasure and one I take from the book shelf and read again of Mary. How I loved poor Mary who was brave and love the well written words. It is usually easy to give reasons why a book didn’t work for me. Indeed, they are few more satisfying activities than laying into a poorly written novel… but The Rector’s Daughter isn’t poorly written.

F. M. Mayor - Wikipedia

But I don't think I agree with your division… I love explorations of people's inner feelings, can't get enough – but when they tip from serious to earnest I am put off. But that dividing line is very subjective, of course! Reply Who can thatbe coming down the road? Why, it’s the pretty little girl with the dark curls we saw yesterday when the Canon took me out a little walk – your dear father. Oh no, it’s not; now she comes nearer I see it’s notthe little girl with the dark curls. My sight isn’t quite as good as it was. No, she has red hair and spectacles. Dear me, whata plain little thing. Did you say she would be calling for the milk, dear? Or is this the little one you say helps Cook? Oh no, not that one, only ten; no, she would be rather young. Yes, whatthe girls are coming to. You say you don’t find a difficulty. Mrs. Barkham – my new lodgings; I told you about her, poor thing, she suffers so from neuralgia – she says the girls now – fancy her last girl wearing a pendant when she was waiting. Just a very plain brooch, no one would say a word against, costing half-a-crown or two shillings. I’ve given one myself to a servant many a time. Oh, that dear little robin – Mary, you mustlook – or is it a thrush? There, it’s gone. You’ve missed it. Perhaps we could see it out of the other window. Thank you, dear; if I could have your arm. Oh, I didn’t see the footstool. No, thank you, I didn’t hurt myself in the least; only that was my rheumatic elbow.” This has been on my Wish List for ages – it's another of the books which Staffordshire's library service does not seem to have, which is a shame, because I am intrigued by the very different responses. Reply Condition: Very Good. Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects.The Rector’s Daughter (1924) concerns the life and ill-fated love of Mary Jocelyn, the rector’s daughter in question. She is motherless, and lives a life of obedient graciousness towards her father – who is deeply intellectual, but not able to show his love for his daughter. I think Mary was supposed to be in the mold of silently passionate women, having to be content with their lot. A bit like Jane Eyre, perhaps… but then I have always thought Jane Eyre a little overrated. Here she is: I have no problem with you being underwhelmed by this book Simon BUT I do take issue over Gaudy Night…….! Reply Condition: Very Good. Ships from the UK. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects.

The Rector’s Daughter’ by F.M. Mayor | Bag Full Of Books ‘The Rector’s Daughter’ by F.M. Mayor | Bag Full Of Books

Perhaps my ennui can be attributed to spinster novel fatigue? I have read quite a few recently, and have to say that May Sinclair’s Life and Death of Harriett Frean attempts a similar type of novel rather more (for me) successfully. The public debate about unmarried women between the world wars (covered fascinatingly in a chapter of Nicola Beauman’s A Very Great Profession, and less fascinatingly in Virginia Nicholson’s Singled Out) was loud and often angry; the 1920s novels dealing with this issue were written at a time when the issue was contentious, as well as potentially tragic. Maybe I’ve just read too many, now? I remember absolutely nothing about The Third Miss S… I read it in 2006, I think, and… no, gone! Reply Please let me know when you do . I am so in love with this book it is wonderful to hear of someone else captivated by it . Susan Hill was its champion on Forgotten Classics on Radio 4 some years ago. She wrote a wonderful forward in my copy . However she somehow did not get across how wonderful this book is and the advocacy fell flat …. The Snow Goose nominated by Michael Morpurgo won instead. One day I will visit her grave …. She deserves a visit. Afterwards she became an actress. She later turned to writing. Her first book was a collection of short stories, Mrs Hammond's Children, published in 1901 under the pseudonym Mary Strafford. I recently finished reading FM Mayor’s classic novel – ‘The Rector’s Daughter’, recently published by Persephone Books.Her best-known novel is The Rector's Daughter (1924). (In October 2009 this was described in the BBC's 'Open Book' programme as one of the best 'neglected classics'.) One winter day when Dora Redland had come to stay with Ella, she and Mary met for a walk. Mary suddenly started the subject. “I wish you would tell me something about love. I should think no one ever reached my age and knew so little, except of love in books. Father has never mentioned love, and Aunt Lottie treated it as if it ought not to exist. There were you and Will, but I was so young for me age I never took it in.” I agree, and believe that The Rector’s Daughter is nothing short of a masterpiece. My essay on it will be published in the Spring 2023 issue of Slightly Foxed.

Rectors Daughter by Mayor F M - AbeBooks Rectors Daughter by Mayor F M - AbeBooks

Had I simply missed this sort of thing at the beginning, or did Mayor alter the tone? I’m not suggesting that all novels ought to be comic novels, but without a slightly ironic eye, or dark humour, or even a slight reflective smile, I am rather lost. This came too late in The Rector’s Daughter– or at least I missed it. Hilary wrote in her review at Vulpes Libris that “There is no distancing irony or humour – its serious tone is relentless.” I didn’t find it quite relentless, but otherwise I agree with this sentence (although Hilary, as you’ll see at the bottom, was overall more positive about the novel.) I admire good comic writers so much more than I admire good poignant writers – it is so much more difficult to be comic – but maybe that is simply horses for courses.However, as I finish a lukewarm review of The Rector’s Daughter, I am chastened by the memory of my initial response to Mollie Panter-Downes’s One Fine Day. Who knows, perhaps a re-read of The Rector’s Daughter would give me an equally enthusiastic second impression? S. Oldfield, Spinsters of this parish: the life and times of F.M. Mayor and Mary Sheepshanks (1984) Thank you, Marybel. I loved to hear about your discovery of this beautiful book and that your librarian recommended it. I will be writing more about it soon. I haven't even heard of The Days of Abandonment – but I don't think you're selling it to me now! Reply Mary is thirty five years old when she meets the love of her life – a scholarly man, similar in this aspect to her Father – a man called Robert Herbert who becomes a close friend of the family. With Robert, Mary discovers an intelligent mind, a passion for reading and their friendship gradually develops into a very deep love – which consumes Mary in ways, she had not thought previously possible. As with all other things in life, Mary loves Robert passionately and in her mind contemplates a life with him, filled with love and light and family. But what happens to Mary is a fate too cruel to behold and as a reader we share Mary’s feelings of dismay and disappointment.