The best retros to be reading as Spring begins: NEVER MIND by Edward St Aubyn, THE SPRING
NEVER MIND by Edward St Aubyn (Picador Collection £10.99, 200pp)
Never Mind is available now
It may appear a slim volume but don’t be deceived: this devastating, semi-autobiographical first volume in the Patrick Melrose series throbs with cruelty, abuse and snobbery, all conveyed in brilliant, witty, satirical prose that seduces you to read on.
Lonely, five-year-old Patrick, the product of marital rape, wanders his wealthy, drunken mother’s family house in the south of France dominated by his controlling father, David.
Friends are coming for dinner but before they arrive, a shocking event changes the little boy’s life, yet no one except the outsider, American Anne, sees even a hint of the horror beneath the facade of English upper-class ennui and arrogance.
THE SPRING BEGINS by Katherine Dunning (British Library £9.99, 272pp)
Three very different women share the stage in this beautifully written, 1930s novel of supressed passion and longing.
Lottie, a nurse maid for the wealthy Kellaways, terrorised by Nanny’s warnings about men; Maggie, the scullery maid whose luscious looks give her a certain animal power; and Hessie, governess to a local family whose younger sister’s engagement has cruelly highlighted her lack of prospects – despite her inappropriate fantasies about an uninterested clergyman.
As each navigates her way through fear and ignorance, the inequality of gender and social class, they find that love, lust or simple opportunity can change their futures, with an unexpected final twist.
STORIES FOR MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS Edited by Simon Thomas (British Library £10.99, 224pp)
Stories for Mothers & Daughters is available now from the Mail Bookshop
This is a wonderfully varied collection of stories on mother-daughter relationships.
In The Week End, Just William author Richmal Crompton sketches a widow living in a rural idyll whose three boisterous daughters descend from London every weekend to stop her being ‘mopey’, youthfully unaware that she longs for solitude.
And Winifred Holtby’s The Silver Cloak portrays the bittersweet moment when beautiful, 36-year-old Annie, gifted a stunning outfit, realises she must relinquish her coquettish role to her teenage daughter –and weeps. (We’ve all been there . . .) The perfect present for Mothering Sunday.