[b:Mothering Sunday|26014651|Mothering Sunday|Graham Swift|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453057614l/26014651._SY75_.jpg|45935437] was a splendid suspenseful escape from pandemic preoccupation. Graham Swift has lost none of his moxie, his lovely writing of the English countryside, about a young maid and her tryst with a neighboring gentlemen which unfolds to include revelations of her long life as a popular 20C author. A very short book but worthwhile and entertaining. ( )

Basking in the afterglow of an illicit sexual encounter with an affianced gentleman, maid Joan Fairchild ponders what next. She knows he is leaving, and she is sure that their tryst will not come to light, but otherwise things are unclear to her as an orphan on Mothering Sunday. The author reveals that future, which Joan could never have anticipated as she lay on his bed and roamed naked in his house.

This is a fairly inconsequential novella. Swift writes about the literary muse and how experience informs a novelist's prose, but there will always be some truth held back. Hardly a searing insight, but the book is a pleasant enough read for people who like Downton Abbey and similar Edwardian aristos and servants stories. Swift writes beautifully of the period, although I could have done without his fixation on cum stains. ( )

A marvelous morsel that's whetted my appetite for more Swift. Not quite Remains of the Day, but then what is? ( )

Graham Swift has a wonderful way with words, creating characters and scenarios artfully from just the minimum. Over the course of Mothering Sunday, he reveals how one day shaped the life of Jane Fairchild, gradually revealing the rest of her life in this novella.

On the exceptionally warm and sunny day in March, Jane is a servant for the Nivens, a couple who lost their sons during the Great War. Mothering Sunday is a ‘day off’ (post breakfast and before dinner) for the servants, an opportunity to visit their own mothers. For Jane, that’s not possible as she’s an orphan. Her plans are to find somewhere quiet and sunny and read one of the books from the Niven’s library (with permission of course, Mr Niven is supportive of Jane’s reading). But a phone call to the house beckons her to ride to her lover’s house, where he is alone. Paul is about to marry someone else, and Jane is not quite sad, not quite envious. She’s curious as to what Paul’s fiancé Emma is like and fairly accepting of the class differences between them. Afterwards, Paul must meet his fiancé for lunch but tells Jane to stay in the house as long as she likes. Big houses don’t really hold an allure for her, so she returns to the Nivens early, only to meet Mr Niven. A shocking thing has happened, and knocks both of them for six. In a way, this defines a turning point in Jane’s life and sets her towards becoming a writer.

Jane’s future is gradually revealed over the course of the novel, first via a sentence here and there until it takes over the last part of the novella. It’s in contrast to the slow, lazy morning of that day and its shocking conclusion. Piecing together Jane’s life over the novel was fun, as was languishing over each of Swift’s sentences. He captures the melancholy post-war as well as the change in the air as the end draws near for big houses and servants. It’s beautifully constructed, creating emotion through experience of one woman’s eyes. This is the kind of novel that makes a reader’s heart sing.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com ( )

Book drones on about the love affair of a maid who becomes a celebrated author. Author’s annoying style presents a scene out of order and time and then returns later to fill in what preceded and followed scene . Too complicated and not worth effort. ( )