Stevie Smith
The Holiday
Rather downbeat story set firstly in WWII then apparently updated to post war as it wasn't published until then. Follows a woman who's emotions jump up and down both in feelings to life and her relationships with others. You feel sorry for her as there seems to be a lot of bottled up emotion (although it does come out at times) but also that if she could let herself leave what is a fairly restricted and boring life then she'd blossom. It is autobiographical so I wonder if the author also didn't let herself follow a path better suited. There's a lot of inference as to her sexuality and I'm unsure as to whether some of the implications were taken as having sexual experiences back in most austere days. The author is mainly a poet and that comes through in the style and also she puts in snippets of poems into the plot. Has quite a few insights into post war politics including world wide changes such as independence for what was British India. Readable and enjoyable but I wouldn't say a classic.
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