A passing glance at the title of this book might lead you to believe that the Venerable Neels was making a pun on the name Valentine and Valentine's Day. You would be dead wrong. They are related insofar as a Valentine is another word for sweetheart but, as the timeline is mid-Summer-ish into Fall, it skips the February commemoration entirely.
Ah Young Love:
Daisy Pelham--yes, Daisy, there is no getting around it with a charming abbreviation--the name that only conjures feckless hippies and that spineless twit from The Great Gatsby. In the world of feminine flower names there are two sorts: offensive and other. For me, Daisy falls in with Hyacinth and Amaryllis as offensive. Lily or Rose do not make the bile rise, as it were. Such is the unfairness of life.
Daisy is 22, plain and plump with a pert nose--an Araminta down to her toes. Her sister Pamela (15) occasionally acts as the Deus ex machina in moving romantic disclosures along and helps Daisy chose semi-unflattering outfits from time to time but is otherwise happily unprecocious. Their mother is the sort of Neels woman so often littering up the landscape--widowed, cosseted,lazy and ineffectual. She is not cruel but is clearly a financial burden, slowly crushing our plucky heroine under her gauzy sleeve, spouting lines like, "We're having lamb chops for supper but I forgot to buy them."
Valentine Seymour is a paediatrician with dark hair and dark eyes which La Neels never fully gets behind but which gives me an excellent excuse to think of Clive Owen..........................Okay. We're back. No one ever makes fun of the name Valentine as he lives in a protective bubble wherein the name Valentine is entirely normal and certainly no excuse for levity. He owns a dark grey Rolls-Royce and homes in Salisbury (in the close) and London.
Act I:
Daisy peddles her bike and sees a stranger in a gorgeous car. She thinks to herself that this must be important. Replace the bike with a laundry cart and the Rolls-Royce with an industrial washer and instea
d of seeing his "thin-lipped smile" you saw...well, something else altogether, then you've pretty much got my meeting with Minjeer Nathan van der Voorhees down pat.Daisy works in a Victorian nursery school which, being Victorian, already foreshadows disaster. If a lame fiance's mother owns heavy Victorian furniture, or an elderly convalescent home is in the Victorian style or a house has Victorian architecture then you can bet dollars to donuts that a fire or an earthquake or an awkward schism will ensue. Beware Victoriana! There be danger.
A case of food poisoning (possibly engineered by the ghosts of dead Victorians?) sends the whole nursery school to the hospital. Demon twins, Katie and Josh, find their uncle and Daisy impresses him by catching throw-up in a plastic pinny (British word alert!).
Of course she is fired by the manager--a horrible woman named Mrs. Gower-Jones (who reads the Tatler!--clearly an indictment on her character). Daisy is told that Mrs. G-J will post her check. The "seldom roused" Daisy responds, "I'll wait while you write it."
"Seldom roused", huh? She rouses herself no less than seven times in 93 pages after which I stopped keeping track of how many times this "mild by nature" girl lit into somebody.
Briefly considering a job as a "pigperson" (true story), Daisy is tracked down by Lady Thorley (mother of the perishing terrors) and asked if she wouldn't mind being a temporary governess. Choices, choices...I myself would have gone with the pigs but there is no accounting for taste.
Daisy dreams of buying her mother new shoes and her sister "one of those baggy sweaters" she is mad about. Of course it was Valentine who recommended her for the job. At one point Valentine visits the nursery. Her neck is rubbed by his thumb. This is the apex of Betty Neels' carnal heat.
Act II:
Lady Thorley's husband (who as far as I can tell has never spoken two words to his children in their lives) has to travel to The Hague (or den Haag as they refer to it ever after). Would Daisy mind terribly...? Of course she goes and to round out her wardrobe dips into the stash of raspberry red brocade curtains (left to them by a dead relative--Is this normal?) to fashion herself a long skirt. I approve.
In Den Haag she meets ch
eerful Philip Keynes. If this were a Star Trek episode Philip Keynes would be wearing a red shirt. He would be shot by Romulans in an ambush and credited as "guy". But if Daisy's looks are redeemed by long-lashed grey eyes then Philip Keynes is redeemed by his unfailingly friendly manner and freaking awesome surname.Enter the good doctor who is none too thrilled about Daisy's new friend--made worse because he's a perfectly amiable fellow. (He wants to hate him but he can't!) Philip serves as a nice contrast to Valentine and while Daisy is not yet in love she thinks to herself that Keynes would make a great brother and that Valentine would be "romantic in a coal hole."
Meanwhile, Lady Thorley makes unreasonable requests on Daisy's time ("Hey, would you mind taking the twins off to the beach in the rain? I'm super tired!") and seems incapable of watching her own children for hours at a time, Valentine figures out the dress/curtain (though keeps mum) and Daisy is personally insulted by a Dutch tartlet.
ActIII:
Back in England, Daisy is once again jobless and worried enough to consider working in a shop ("But how would one help customers?!") or cleaning offices (horrors not bearing contemplation!). Happily she is saved by the suggestion (tangentially from Val) that she apply for a position as a hospital orderly which is described as "not a domestic", a domestic and ancillary staff. Either way it's rough going. Also, her co-worker is Maisie. Yes. Rhyming. Daisy and Maisie.
From time to time, just for kicks, Lady Thorley monopolizes her free time and pushes the kids at her. "Yipee! Run off my feet all week and a Saturday filled with tantrums and snot!" Can you tell I don't much care for Lady Thorley? Neels is clearly trying to communicate that she is a likable little feather-brain but I just can't work up any emotion more gentle than hostility. "Sorry to ruin your free time from your physically grueling job but these children are murder! Take them!"
Philip Keynes (ye
s, now I'm just doing it for fun) comes back into town and takes her out--rousing the jealousy of our good doctor. "Well, if that's what she wants..." he muttered so savagely...' But then Philip Red Shirt falls in love with a pretty Sister named Beryl (which name is so awful that it reconciled me at last to Daisy).Maisie gets sick.
"Kids on the rampage", "hooligans", and "louts" swarm the hospital chipping at long-dead consultant's busts (!) and then the founder's bust(Double !). Daisy makes a heroic stand, is saved by Valentine and bursts into tears at home.
It's okay though. He proposes the next time he sees her in the ward sister's office.
Whew.
Rating:
Queen of puddings! Daisy has just enough pertness without becoming a doormat or veering into waspish Enchanting Samantha territory. She is mostly irritated with him because she doesn't recognize Valentine's flirting for what it is. He is vexing but gently so and usually not without provocation. Her mother the widow never gets disposed of. Neels allowed annoying parents to die (if they were considerate), remarry or be taken care of by old nannies. Mrs. Pelham does none of these and presents a problem.
Food:
"not in a tin" vichyssoise soup, chestnut souffle, castle puddings with custard, cold lettuce soup with cream (ew.), game chips (?), beef sandwiches and "wholesome stew and ice cream" that causes the kids to vomit
Fashion:
Him--dark grey superfine wool waistcoat and an Italian striped tie (the proposal), and evening clothes (she admires "the inspired cut of his coat")
Her-terrible plastic mac, navy blue jersey dress, curtain/dress, good suit
I am so very impressed that you were able to bring Star Trek into a La Neels review. That takes talent.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother's name was Beryl; her sister was Amber. They were born in New Zealand; their father was something important in New Zealand's political history (vaguely equivalent to Alexander Hamilton here in the US), so that when Amber's daughter wanted to emigrate to New Zealand and the immigration folks were "discussing" this with her, she calmly informed them that her grandfather had written the laws they were trying to enforce. (They let her in, but mostly because her son was already living there...)
ReplyDeleteSorry. Got a bit off topic. Yes, so Beryl isn't the world's worst name (although I'll admit I wasn't fond of my grandmother -- when I was ten she told me I was a bulldozer: a prescient comment, as it turned out, but rather nasty for a ten-year-old to hear) and there was that Victorian tendency to give girls semi-precious gemstone names. (I had a great-aunt Garnet on my dad's side.)
Which is more family history than you all needed to know, but the name set me off. In Betty Neels books, names like Beryl usually go to the self-involved, trouble-making 20-something dea ex machina.
Garnet. You win.
ReplyDeleteMy Great Grandma was Olive Pearl - OLIVE!
ReplyDeleteOlive Pearl -- two great traditions in one: plant life (rather than the food, I would think) AND the birthstone! Whoo-hoo. That wins the prize by far.
ReplyDelete(Uh, what's the prize again?)
Bragging rights, of course.
ReplyDeleteOkay, two weeks later, I have actually read this book. Or re-read it. I must confess to you that a couple years ago, I made a desperate effort to a) figure out which Neels books I had and b) buy the ones I didn't have (hence the 14 duplicates!) and I'm not sure I read all the very latest books (i.e., 1995 and later). And as this isn't her first Daisy heroine (although I think Valentine was only used one, unlike "Oliver"), can I really be expected to know if I'm reading this book for the first or second time?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm making sure I've read all the books you've reviewed, so these out-of-date comments are going to pop up from time to time.
Valentine is actually used again - more or less...but it's a Dutch spelling - "Valentijn" (the book is "Hannah").
ReplyDelete"Hannah" is one of my favorites--the heroine actually makes fun of the hero behind his back all the time. However, I pronounced his name "Val-till-jin" in my head for years until it finally dawned on me that it was probably "Valentine"--doesn't seem quite the same since.
ReplyDeleteValentijn is my maiden name. I still laugh at how people tried to pronounce it, exactly the way you did in your head Betty JoDee. And you are correct it is the same as Valentine.
DeleteI finally got to read this book, after the Founding Bettys graciously sent it to me as a prize in one of the contests (thank you, thank you, thank you!!!).
ReplyDeleteThe big shock for me in this altogether charming (pigpersons notwithstanding) Neels tome is that very early on (not quite their first meeting but close) Dr. Valentine (okay, stop that snickering) ogles--yes, I stated OGLES--Daisy's legs! Is this the only case of LEG OGLING in Neelsdom?
The carnality of a neck thumb-rubbing versus leg ogling is a tough one.
A Match for Sister Maggy has Paul staring at Maggy's legs while she is under his mother's bed plugging in the lamp.
DeleteAnd "pigperson" makes me laugh as it features as an insult in Georgette Heyer's These Old Shades.
My Mum's name was Beryl, and because i was used to it, I never thought a lot about it. It is not a great name! I named my daughter Meryl ( long before Meryl Streep became a known name), because I wanted to honour Mum, but I just couldn't call a dear little baby Beryl. as to some of the other comments, I was in hospital after the birth of my first child ( a boy called Mark), and the person in the next bed to me had just had a girl. She called her Ruby Pearl because of her engagement ring. I have never forgotten that and wondered if RP ever got antsy about her name!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThere is a number of interesting Beryls among those listed in the Wikipedia article.
DeleteI think the Great Betty may have heard of Beryl Carnegy Joseph, Lady Oliver.
Dame Beryl Carnegy Joseph", Lady Oliver, GBE, RRC (20 August 1882 – 13 July 1972) was a British charity administrator as well as the British Red Cross Society's Director of Education.
She was born in Australia to British parents, Francis Edward Joseph and Isabella Eliza Butter Joseph (née Carnegy). Her mother came from a titled Scottish family. Her father, Patrick Carnegy of Lour, was a descendent of David Carnegie, 2nd Earl of Northesk. The family later adopted the Carnegy surname after Isabella succeeded to her father's estates in 1915. Beryl was educated privately in England and France.
On 10 June 1914, she married Rear-Admiral (later Admiral of the Fleet) Sir Henry Oliver" of the Royal Navy. Bettyesque age difference between the bride and groom - seventeen years.
In 1910, she joined the St John Ambulance Brigade and rapidly rose through the ranks. On the outbreak of the First World War she was put in charge of the Naval and Military Volunteer Aid Detachment (VAD) Department, which administered the combined nursing staff of St John Ambulance and the British Red Cross Society. She held the post throughout the war, but resigned in 1922 in opposition to plans to disband the VADs. She later joined the British Red Cross Society as head of its VAD department.[2][1] She was credited with keeping the British Red Cross alive after the First World War, as she was later eulogised by a friend in The Times.
Beryl Audley Bryden (11 May 1920 – 14 July 1998) was an English jazz singer, who played with Chris Barber and Lonnie Donegan. Ella Fitzgerald once said of Bryden that she was "Britain's queen of the blues".
Beryl Burton, OBE (12 May 1937 – 5 May 1996) was an English racing cyclist who dominated women’s cycle racing in the UK, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles, and setting numerous national records. She set a women's record for the 12-hour time-trial which exceeded the men's record for two years.
Beryl Ingham (1901 – 24 December 1960) was the wife and manager of singer/actor George Formby, as well as being a variety performer and champion clogdancer.
Beryl Markham (n̩e Clutterbuck; 26 October 1902 Р3 August 1986) was a British-born Kenyan aviator (one of the first bush pilots), adventurer, racehorse trainer and author. She was the first person to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic from east to west. She wrote about her adventures in her memoir, West with the Night.
Beryl, not from Wikipedia:
The image in the following link popped up during my search. The doll and the nurse’s uniform caught my attention. It wasn’t until later that I noticed that the girl’s name was Beryl.
Caption:
Beryl Morrin, who lost both arms as a result of a shark attack in the Georges River on New Year's Eve, with a nurse at Canterbury Hospital 10 February 1935.
By Sam Hood. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales, hood_11846 / Home Away 11846, Mitchell Library
Beryl Morrin, a 13 year old who lost both arms as a result of a shark attack on New Year’s Eve in 1934. Beryl was not expected to live but mirraculously did so. She went on to become a local legend, showing pluck and resilience after such a serious setback, riding bikes and swimming on regardless. We have a photograph of plucky Beryl recuperating at Canterbury Hospital.
There being no reference to a "generous compensation" or something of the sort re: the weekend in London with the Thorleys made me pause. Betty usually makes a point of telling us that the heroine's getting paid (handsomely or poorly)! Did Daisy not get anything, was the trip the "payment"??
ReplyDeleteHaving just finished reading the book, I can tell you Daisy got zip, zilch, nada for that weekend trip to London. Methinks Lady Thurley is taking Daisy for granted now.
Delete