Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple

I'm a big believer in judging books on their writing, rather than plot - and Whipple is a prose writer par excellence. And all the time the reader is asking him/herself - who is the 'someone at a distance'? Whipple sometimes creates some great titles that make you think all the way through the novel, and while I have set views on which character the 'someone' is, others disagree.

What starts as a not unusual trio is given enormous depth and believable emotion when we investigate why Louise acts as she does witness Avery's confusion and attempts to organise his life and mistakes Ellen's need to look after her two children as well as retain her dignity and integrity.

The narrative moves back and forth across the channel, looking at the dignified devestation of Ellen and the homeland and family of Louise, the French interloper. A contentedly married couple, Ellen and Avery, are disrupted when a French companion arrives and runs off with Avery. The plot appears, on the surface, to be conventional. A lot of people agree that it's her best novel, and it should have been treated with fanfares and red carpets. Knight, Greenbanks, The Closed Door and other stories, all except Greenbanks published by Persephone - but Someone at a Distance is the best of those. I've only read four of Whipple's books - SaaD, They Knew Mr. For a once bestselling novelist, this was quite a blow - and, what's worse, it was a wholly undeserved silence.

Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple was Whipple's last novel, published in 1953 and received no reviews at all. Appropriately eno ugh it was one of the first three to be published, so it's now ten years since it came back into print. Continuing the week of Persephone Birthday celebrations here at S-i-a-B (and do keep telling us in the previous post about your favourite Persephones and how you found out about them, and put your request in for a chance to win a Persephone book of your choice) - I don't think I've ever talked about one of my favourite Persephone books.