Lost in the Stacks: Love Among the Daughters

I've very excited about this week's library find as I've started reading and am quite enjoying it.  I'm not sure what I was looking for now but I was in the PR6015s and came across Elspeth Huxley's books.  She of the The Flame Trees of Thika fame (and I am told on good authority the BBC adaptation is also excellent). Did you know she was actually quite a prolific writer?  She wrote thirty books including a number of novels, biographies and even a few crime novels as well as several volumes of memoirs.  The Flame Trees of Thika is the first volume, followed by On the Edge of the Rift and concluding with Love Among the Daughters: Memories of the Twenties in England and America.  It's this latter book that caught my eye (my library has ten of her books but only this and The Flame Trees of Thika from her memoirs). 

She was born in England but moved with her parents to colonial Kenya in 1912 when she was five where the family ran a coffee plantation.  Although published in 1968 Love Among the Daughters is about her return "home" (as England was always called) in 1925 when she lived with her aunt and uncle and cousins and attended Reading University.  She also attended Cornell in New York where she received a degree in Agriculture.  From what little I've read of Love Among the Daughters, Huxley has an amusing, easy-going writing style that I find very engaging.  Also it is interesting to get a peek into this now vanished world of England and America in the Twenties.  The New York Times reviewed the book very favorably.

"With the clarity of thought of a witty and brilliant mind scientifically trained, Elspeth Huxley expresses herself in scalpel-precise language.  Whether she is detailing the past and present of friends relations, describing the death of a fox or Prohibition picnic orgies, she is funny, bawdy, serious, nostalgic and always entertaining."

For a little taste of her prose style here is how she describes her three cousins.

Gertrude, the eldest:

"Gertrude had always been my anunt's least favoured daughter.  Either because of that, or the other way round, she was Uncle Jack's favourite; She was also the prettiest, in fact more or less a beauty, with wonderfully deep eyes, a perfect skin and clear-cut, well-proportioned features.  Also she was slim, and had a fashionably straight figure."

Kate, the middle daughter:

"Although Kate was often cheeky, disobedient and infuriating, my aunt liked her the best, and Uncle Jack the least, of their daughters."

"I thought she was at school."

"She has been expelled."

"As my aunt did not sound really angry, and might even have been faintly amused, I ventured to ask why."

"Insubordination, going out at night and gambling on race horses."

"Gambling on race horses isn't exactly a crime."

"It is in a convent.  Especially when you start a book and persuade the others to gamble and don't pay out the proper odds on winners."

And Joanna, the youngest:

"I inquired after Joanna.  'At school in suffolk,' Aunt Madge said.  'One of those so-called smart places where they learn nothing except how to paint their faces, fall in love with the games mistress and don't get enough to eat.  They wear hideous pleated things called gym tunics that show their knock-knees.  Joanna says she has chilblains all the year round and plays scales on a broken-down piano for an hour every day.  It was Kitty who insisted on her going there so Kitty must take the consequences."

I've already decided I'm going to have to backtrack when I finish this and read her other memoirs, too.  Until then, perhaps I'll share more of this as I read?

Comments

[Katrina]

Thanks. I had completely forgotten about Elspeth Huxley although I've handled her books in the past. I'm sure I'll enjoy her writing.

[Lisa]

I read The Flame Trees of Thika years ago, after seeing the TV version - which I remember liking very much. But I had no idea she had written so many books. This one sounds like great fun!

[Danielle]

Katrina--I'd heard of her but never really considered picking up any of her books. As she was in mind since someone suggested watching the BBC production of Flame Trees...when I saw the books by her I scanned the shelf and grabbed one. Serendipitous, and I am glad I did!
Lisa--I must read it now, too! Maybe that is one that is worth buying even. I assumed Flame Trees was her one book and was surprised to first see so many on the library shelf but then even more when I read her Wikipedia entry. So far this one is very amusing and entertaining!

[Nicola]

I've read and enjoyed Huxley's Flame Trees of Thika last year alongside Karen Blixen's Out of Africa. Although I have to say I thought Out of Africa a better book I would certainly read more Huxley. I would be interested in more posts on Huxley's writing.

[Jennifer Dee]

I have started reading The Flame Trees of Thika. I couldn't decide on this or Out of Africa. I love her writing and will definitley read her again.

[Kathy]

I have heard of The Flame Trees of Thika, but didn't realize it was part of a series of memoirs. I love reading about people's lives at different periods in history, and this one sounds particularly interesting. Thanks for checking it out for us (pun intended).

[Caroline]

I never heard of her but she sounds like another find. I would be interested in her Kenia years as well.
And the the 20s... I wonder if she really felt at home in England. So many who lived in the colonies were torn between two countries.

[Danielle]

Nicola--I have Out of Africa, too, and when I was reading about Huxley I thought it might be fun to read both books side by side, though maybe it would be a better idea to space them out? I'm reading this book now so I will hopefully post more about it as I go. I have a hard time writing about nonfiction when I finish a book so I think writing about it while reading is a better idea for me.
Jennifer Dee--I think I may have to read Flame Trees of Thika, too, now. Although I had heard of the book and heard it was good, I wasn't all that interested to pick it up. Now I am, of course!
Kathy--I didn't realize it either. As a matter of fact I didn't know anything at all about the author and assumed it was her only book--so this is a nice surprise. I also like reading memoirs and learning how other people live/lived!
Caroline--I read another book about Colonial Kenya last year--it was a little racy to be honest, so Flame Trees sounds a little more conventional. I think the expatriate community in the 20s in Kenya mostly led a pretty loose lifestyle! I'd like to read more about Africa in general as I read very little by African authors. It's funny how the expatriate community in places like India or Africa considered England home even though many had never even visited or lived there for very long! I'm not sure but I think she actually went back as an adult in lived in Africa again.

[Liz F]

I have three of her books, all memoirs of Africa: The Flame Trees of Thika, The Mottled Lizard and Out in the Mid day Sun which follow on from each other.
Haven't read them for ages - in fact I don't think I have read the latter at all - but I now want to go home and pull all of them out and start reading again because I really enjoyed the first two.(Back to the familiar cry of 'so many books, so little time!')
The TV series was very good - I remember being a bit wary of it because I had enjoyed the book so much, but I thought that they did a really good job with it!

[Stefanie]

What fun! And the time period has your name written all over it!

[Danielle]

Liz--She must have written a number of memoirs--I saw the list of books but couldn't tell what each was about. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the books (and movie--I also am leery of movies made from books). I am enjoying this particular title and would love to read her books on Kenya, too.
Stefanie--I am so predictable, aren't I? Still, this one does have definite appeal to me and I am enjoying it--so I guess it's good to know your tastes!

[litlove]

I remember watching The Flame Trees of Thika years ago! I loved the excerpts you quoted - so funny. Do let us know how you get on with this one, as it sounds like an excellent find.

[Danielle]

Litlove--She is a humorous writer and I like that. I really must watch Flame Trees of Thika as everyone seems to have really liked it. I've not done well with nonfiction this year, so I hope to actually stick this one out! :)