Monday, January 4, 2010

A Gem of a Girl--1976

"It's been you, ever since I first saw you, all tangled up in the washing." Of course I have a soft spot for this book. Our hero and heroine meet while she's doing the laundry. The first time I met my husband he was bent over an industrial washer, tugging on a bundle of soaking rags. This book is pretty much all about me.

  • Gemma Prentice is 25-ish, plump and plain, with five younger siblings (all lookers) and Cousin Maud whom you would be forgiven for thinking important to the plot. No parents to speak of (I mean, they get a sentence about their grisly death stuck into the middle of the book in the most off-hand manner.) She is a nurse who is better than the geriatric hospital that she's working at for the benefit of her family. She's very friendly and sensible.
  • Ross Dieperink van Berhuys--no seriously, that's his name. Thank heavens she calls him Ross because that name is almost a deal-breaker. He's 38, tall, broad-shouldered with "pale" hair which was "probably silver as well". He's a doctor who is visiting the doctor who lives next door. He is happy to fetch her sausages (evidently Betty doesn't believe in deep freezes) and drive her sister Mandy around. Gemma thinks he's a dish but that's as far as it goes.
PLOT:
He falls in love with her over the laundry. She likes him very much but fails to read his willingness to hang wet sheets on the drying line as a declaration of undying love. We find out that she works in a sort of nursing home out of an old manor (so we've got crippling death taxes and the National Health Service). It is a hodge-podge of architectural styles but all the venom is saved for the Victorian wing.
Of course it burns down leaving Gemma without a job. The attending doctor, Charlie Briggs, who once dismissed Gemma as a romantic prospect fails to come on duty and is probably drunk. As this trope (lame heath worker showing impressive cowardice or dereliction of duty in the face of crisis) is used often I will call it The Charlie Briggs Effect.
Ross asks her to come to Holland to nurse his sister (and fall in love with him!) who has brucellosis and an allergy to antibiotics. She does and you can forget all about Gemma's nice family for the remainder of the book--she does.
Brucellosis is also called Bang's Disease, Malta Fever, Gibraltar Fever and rock fever. Bang's disease would have been funner. Anyway, Rienieta has joint pain and fevers and is described as "a handful". Despite a common Neels-ism being spoiled-brat womenfolk, Rienieta turns out to be nice but grumpy about being sick for a month. She also utters the most un-Betty line in the whole book: "...two dates in one evening!...You must be very sexy Gemma."
That's right. Two dates. Enter the villain.

Leo de Vos (whose name in Dutch must translate to "he who twirls a greasy mustache") is a classic Neels bad guy. Let's keep score, shall we?
  • Trendy clothes (strike!)
  • longish hair (strike!)
  • curses at hapless lorry drivers when he's on the road (strike!)
  • skips charming canals when sightseeing (strike!)
  • calls her darling (strike!)
  • drinks vodka (strike!)
  • takes her to an Indonesian restaurant in a semi-basement (spicy Indonesian food! A semi-basement! Double strike!)
  • He owns a Porsche 911s Targa (which must also be Dutch for jerk-mobile). Strike!
Our hero, on the other hand owns a Jag XL-S and an Aston Martin(Dutch for"I'm not a pansy"):We spend a lot of time with Gemma mooning after this pitiful excuse for a man while Ross pulls her out of one humiliating scenario after another with a brotherly manner and a magnanimous air. Betty really makes the most of his irritations with Gemma's stupidity but he only ever erupts once: "Why do you have to be such a child--the eldest of six and still wet behind the ears!"
But you know they're destined for each other. For one thing, he knows how to figure out what she wants when she dances past him on the arm of a long hair. "Hullo," he said matter-of-factly. "I hope I interpreted that look correctly. It was rescue you wanted, wasn't it?" If nothing else seals their future happiness, his ability to know when to leave a boring party on a pre-textual medical call just because she's wiggled her eyebrows from across the room does.
But back to the rat. He throws a party for her that ends with Ross knocking out his front teeth (and the rat that Leo made a bet with (to have Gemma fall in love with him, naturally)). Our Neels heroes rarely punch the daylights out of anybody but street toughs and this was delightfully...er...matter-of-fact. Gemma ends the evening by bursting into tears (always unattractive in a Neels heroine--here Betty reaches gritty realism with puffy eyelids and blotchy faces) and throwing up into a ditch. (It's cuter than it sounds.)
Ross rallies her by taking her out on the town for a few nights to show the slimy de Vos that his evil machinations were all for naught. Her self-respect is restored and we get to hear about a wild silk cream outfit that she'd not even worn yet.
She flies home after a pretty public farewell in the airport terminal and only in the bus queue does the lightning bolt come. Ross! (smacks forehead).
But Ross is in Holland.
Er...no he's not.

Curtain!

Due to the villain's missing front teeth and the happy occurrence of each of our hero's kisses coming at perfectly reasonable times, this one deserves a solid boeuf en croute. If the end had also tied up the vexing question of "What to do with Cousin Maud and the kids?" it might have earned a lashings of whipped cream but as it stands Gemma will have to pucker her brow for a moment before Ross produces an old Nanny looking for a job, perfectly happy to housekeep for Gemma's window-breaking brothers.

19 comments:

  1. You can pretty much divide Neels' books into three categories: Heroine is family-less; Heroine has family she's responsible for; Heroine has family she's better off without (the demanding mother, the selfish but pretty sister, etc.). No one is ever taking appropriate care of the heroine. Until the hero, of course. :-)

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  2. Giggle, snerk, "must be Dutch for jerk-mobile." I'm laughing so hard!

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  3. Oh, Magdalen -- you malign the early years of Neels, the halcyon days of country GP/vicar/veterinarian/solicitor dads, loving mums by the Aga, and random siblings passing the buttered scones around the fire after a tramp through the woods to collect kindling. Think of little Tishy's family, or Sophie's in Shellow Roding, or Claribel Brown's loving mum anxious to see her beautiful, Juno-esque daughter happy and appreciated in the arms of her baron. Lots of more... I know... I've got a spreadsheet...

    And why am I back in January 2010? I don't know; that's not in the spreadsheet.

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  4. Betty van den Betsy --

    With 134 books/stories, there's an exception for pretty much any rule.

    Notice I wrote "pretty much"? We know there are some ironclad rules, like no premarital sex, but a lot of other stuff is one way in almost all the books but there there will be that one outlier.

    So, yes, in 134 books there are a few in which the heroine has a loving family who don't die. But seriously? It's not a large number.

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    1. 135 books/stories. 🧐
      I know that you know. Your spreadsheet proves it. 💖

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  5. By my count, 40, or 30%, have nice parents who stay alive through the whole book. I'd write a thesis, but I really dislike the selfish, 'poor-little-me' families (Mrs. Proudfoot, Mr. Payne: gag! What part of 'escapist literature' flummoxes you?).

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  6. This is a pretty little story, well written, but I have never warmed to it. Don't know why, so I am going to re-read it and see if I can find out why!

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  7. Betty Grace here:

    I liked this book because I can kind of identify with Gemma, except I'm not so small. But having been blessed with very ordinary looks ("pretty enough for everyday purposes" to quote Dame Judi Dench) and a great dislike of nightclubs and noisy parties, I've often felt like a bit of a social outsider. So it's very nice to read about a quiet girl like me coming out on top.
    All Betty heroines, whatever their family dynamic, are solidly middle or upper class. I'd rather like to read a Betty-type story about a girl from a working class background, who's nice but doesn't shop at Jaeger. Maybe her Dad could be a tradesman and her Mum could be one of those married nurses who work part-time. Just a thought!

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  8. Another major strike against Leo. He waved off the waiter so she didn't get dessert after that spicy Indonesian food. He also didn't get out of the car when he picked her up, just honked the horn and pulled away before she was settled. The only time he got out of the car with her was when someone was watching. I heart Betty!

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  9. I noticed that, too! It’s reassuring to know that I’m not alone in what I consider to be good manners - or what makes a gentleman. Thank goodness for this blog! Thank you, all of you Bettys!

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  10. I did the re-read, 5 years later and found much more to this book than I did previously. (By the way I used to be Betty Del, but decided to incorporate my country into my name). I found a lot of items I really liked and maybe that is because I have been doing so much re-reading lately.

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  11. This is not a favorite of mine. It started off pretty well, but then there was too much Leo and not enough Ross.

    What really struck me this time was her family situation. Gemma is 25 years old. She tells Ross that her parents were killed in a car accident 5 years ago and things were difficult for her raising her siblings until Cousin Maude came to live with her 2 years back. That means that at age 20 she assumed sole responsibility for 5 children ranging in age from 5 to 15 (including 8 year old twin boys) and managed alone for 3 years! When did she have time to take her nursing training? Where was the faithful family retainer or loyal nanny?

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  12. The review was far better than the book.

    Gemma was annoyingly slow and the interactions with Leo dominated the book.

    A book that definitely languishes at the lower rankings of preference.

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  13. On re-read, the first impressions still hold but this time we realise how manipulative the RDD is. Ross, cognisant how socially arrested Gemma is, condoles Leo's free use of her so that in comparison to the infatuation that owes so much to her loneliness she believes she "loves" Ross.

    Gemma is never really allowed to develop an independent identity. We presume she commenced her nurse training at 16.* No time to develop any friendships as she was obligated to spend her weekends off/holidays looking after her siblings. Also, she would be younger than most of her peers. Her parents die just as her career takes off so at 20 she raising her five siblings. Her social sphere consists of her younger siblings and elderly care home patients. That her parents' death barely makes a ripple is suggestive that Gemma was already enslaved to their care.

    She is dragged out of that situation to repeat it in Holland. Her siblings swapped with Ross's children. Gemma never really finds herself and ultimately will be groomed to someone Ross can control.

    * We would copy the link but are unsure if it allowed. A comment on "A vanished age of nursing: How things have changed since the 1970s when matron ruled, nurses learned on the job not at university and caring, NOT paperwork, was the order of the day" by Maggie Groff for the Daily Mail referenced that their mother commenced her training at 16 so it is not inconceivable that Gemma was also this age.

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  14. I feel I may have missed the boat on this blog but I am enjoying it so much I just had to join in. A Gem of a Girl was my first Betty - She was hiding on a shelf in the midst of of a collection (a horde, a testosterone?) of Wilbur Smith and Bernard Cornwall books on a shelf in a holiday cottage we stayed in in Cornwall about 20 years ago. For me it was love at first read (though I was rather surprised to discover the 1st published date was not in the early 50’s as I had assumed) and I had to buy my own copy as soon as we got home . I did buy another Betty but it must have been a bad one ( this reminds me of “George found a pen, but I think it was the wrong one” from https://allpoetry.com/The-Four-Friends ) as I was put off from exploring any further until I had the fortune to come across this marvellous site. Armed with all the wonderful reviews I will return confidently to the land of Betty.
    I seem to like A Gem of a Girl rather more than the other commenting Bettys - although the RDD is extremely managing I can forgive him as he is pushing Gemma (albeit rather forcefully) towards a future that will be perfect for her-a beautiful home, staff and in- laws who adore her, plenty of nights out for super meals followed by not too modern dancing, intense kissing and delightful offspring.
    Thank you so much founding Bettys
    Betty Late-than-Never

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    1. Welkom, Betty Late-than-Never. ☕ 🍰 📖 📚

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  15. Welcome, Betty LtN! Looking forward to reading your opinions/ruminations/questions...

    B. Baersma

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  16. I think I have read and liked most the the TGB's novels, a few a bit nurgghh and more than a few made me smile a lot. There was one I can't remember the title of where our hero met and clearly fell for our heroine for the first time and muttered "oh bother, that's a bit complicated" - I think he was engaged? Any ideas, anyone?

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  17. The hero was engaged to Another Woman in quite a few of the books (is the exact number on a spreadsheet, Betty van den Betsy?). Admittedly, I haven't read them all but it's more likely the heroine said something like that, probably right in the middle of surgery, and the RDD asked her to clarify or maybe just smiled in his inscrutable heavy-lidded way, knowing at that moment that their HEA was a done deal.

    B. Baersma

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