Love Among the Daughters: Memories of the Twenties in England and America

Sometimes a book comes along that is not only enjoyable and utterly delightful but leaves you perplexed as to why it ever went out of print.  Elspeth Huxley's Love Among the Daughters: Memories of the Twenties in England and America is just such a book.  This is a hidden gem of a memoir and is a book ripe for the picking by one of the many small presses out there who is working to bring back into print undeservedly forgotten books.  I can totally see this in a lovely dove grey wrapper with a suitable end paper and accompanying bookmark for example.  Happily for me it was in my library's stacks and there are still used copies floating around for those who don't mind searching around for a copy.

Elspeth Huxley is probably best known for her memoir of her childhood spent in Colonial Kenya, The Flame Trees of Thika, but she also wrote more than thirty other books, some of which are novels as well as a few nonfiction works and I do hope there might be a few more memoirs mixed in as well.  My library has a small selection of her books and I will most certainly be browsing the offerings and bringing home a few this week.  Love Among the Daughters was the last book I read in 2011 and had I finished it sooner would most certainly have added it to my favorites list.  Although it's been a while since I've read anything by the Mitford sisters, it reminded me a tad of Nancy Mitford's style or at least that same milieu. 

Although Huxley was born in England and considered it her home, she grew up in Kenya and only returned to England as a young woman after WWI.  Love Among the Daughters is about her time spent living with her mother's sister's family in the mid-1920s.  She went to Reading University and spent a year in New York where she attended Cornell, and it is with a acerbically witty eye she writes about her experiences as a 'foreigner'/Colonial in these places.  She's wise and funny and her writing style is sharp and humorous.  If you're curious about life at this time you could do worse than pick up this book as you certainly get a flavor for the period as told by someone who lived it. 

Since this is a memoir spanning just a few years she picks and chooses the experiences she writes about.  She doesn't really write about her youth in Africa or her immediate family, but she does write about her extended family in Britain.  This was one of my lost in the stacks books and I shared a few excerpts about her cousins last fall.  They are a quirky family and she writes about them with fondness and lightness as well about the family home, Nathan's Orchard.  The family seems upper middle class, wealthy enough to have at least one servant and well connected to allow visits to country houses complete with parties and hunting. 

She went to study agriculture at Reading University and then later an uncle sold a horse so she could travel to America to continue her studies.  For Americans of this period France was all the rage, but for Europeans, apparently America was the popular destination.  It's interesting to read about the cultural differences between the two places, particularly so since Huxley was sort of twice-removed.  British, but raised outside Britain she is an astute observer of society and while she doesn't shy away from writing about cultural foibles she can also be generous and lavish in her praise.

I enjoy memoirs, maybe even a little more than straightforward fact-filled biographies (though I like those too) as there is always a slant towards the personal.  There is lots of history here--life for a woman in the 1920s at both home and university, the General Strike of 1926 in England, Prohibition and student life in America, as well as a look at a vanished way of life--wealth and opportunity when the world seemed at one's fingertips just before the Great Depression.  But everything about the period is filtered through this one woman's own perception.  It's filled with interesting information but it reads almost like a novel as she re-imagines situations and conversations, and as it was written, or at least published in 1968, it's a backwards-looking and more informed view she writes from.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and now I think I will likely go back a bit further in time to read about her childhood in Kenya. 

Comments

[Cath]

Think I'm going to have to try and find this as I love the sound of it.

[Eva]

Ohhh: I'm jealous your library has this! It sounds great; I might have to ILL it one of these days. :)

[Penny]

I loved The Flame Trees of Thika when I read it years ago, so, I'm sure I would enjoy Love Among the Daughters as well, Danielle. Your review of it is wonderful. I must, must, must tackle a few of my piles first. Sigh.

[Kathy Johnson]

Sounds like a wonderful way to end the 2011 reading year. I'm going to see if my library has it, or if I can find a used copy somewhere.

[LindaY]

I loved FLAME TREES OF THIKA. You should try to see the miniseries as well. It was quite well-done.

[Danielle]

Cath--I knew when I read a little of this last fall I would have to read the whole book and I am so glad I did. I love this period and this was a unique sort of memoir by a very good writer! I hope you find a copy for yourself.

Eva--I do find the best books on my library's shelves--am very spoiled for choice! I had fun reading this and can totally see it published again--I checked and there are loads of libraries who own this, so if you do decide to ILL you should have no problem getting a copy!

Penny--I brought home Flame Trees of Thika today! I have already started a new NF, but I might just take a little peek inside...I think it will be my next NF to read. And oh, I do understand those piles. It'll be there for later, too.

Kathy--This was a great last read--especially after I had squeezed in a quickie crime novel that didn't quite click with me. This was totally delightful--I loved her writing style. I looked online and there are copies out there, so I hope you come across one easily.

Linda--I have Flame Trees of Thika lined up next and fully plan on watching the miniseries, too. I had heard it was good, but I like reading the books first. Something nice to look forward to!

[Claire (The Captive Reader)]

This sounds so wonderful and I was very excited to discover that my library has a copy! I haven't read The Flame Trees of Thika but I do remember watching and really enjoying the miniseries.

[Danielle]

Claire--I had never read anything by Elspeth Huxley--it was all purely chance that I happened to pull this book off the shelf, though I had heard of Flame Trees of Thika--then others mentioned how good that book was. Now I have brought it home to hopefully read next! I'm glad your library has a copy of this and hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to read it.

[Joanne]

This sounds a fascinating book, I love reading about this period in history. It sounds like a good one to read as a companion to Downton Abbey!

[litlove]

Ooh would you believe it, my university library actually carries this one - Woo-hoo! It also has about five copies of The Flame Trees of Thika. I will have to get hold of one or the other, I can see.

[Caroline]

This sounds marvellous.
I want to read loads of memoirs this year. I also like them better than biographies although I like those too.
I can picture that grey book as well...with the loevely end paper and maybe a matching bookmark. :)

[Stefanie]

This sounds like so much fun! I expect it will end up on your best of the year list at the end of 2012 :) My library has it and a bunch of her other books too. Now to just figure out when I'll have time to investigate.

[Aarti]

This sounds wonderful and exactly the sort of social history of the interwar years that I love. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

[Kathleen]

I love how you always call my attention to books and authors that I might not hear about otherwise. I will add this to my list to seek out when I am on one of my frequent trips to the library.

[Danielle]

Joanne--I will be reading more from and about this period for sure this year! I can't wait to see the next series of Downton Abbey, and while that family is probably richer than I imagine Huxley--the book certainly gave the same impressions of lifestyle!

Litlove--Yay--It's always nice to have access to a book you've just read about--especially an older book. I brought home Flame Trees of Thika and will be reading it sometime in the near future. I already have another memoir started, so will finish that one first.

Caroline--This would make such a great Persephone or Bloomsbury Group book! She's a very good writer and I can't wait to read more of her books. I love memoirs as they seem more personal somehow and don't always go for the broad sweep of a life.

Stefanie--It's very likely it will end up on my favorites list--I wanted to finish it earlier, but I literally read the last few pages on the last day of the year. She seems to have been very popular and her books are still around in libraries, which is a good sign!

Aarti--It is good social history, and so interesting, too. Now I am looking forward to reading about her childhood in Africa, which must have been around about the war years. I'm looking for some of her other books as well now.

Kathleen--This was such a good find. I'm so glad I kept it back and had the opportunity to read it. I'm looking forward now to exploring more of her books--hopefully your library will have a few of her works, too.

[Liz F]

I know that our library doesn't have this particular book because I looked last time you mentioned it so I might have to have a scout around online for it. Just looking you understand ....!

[Danielle]

Liz--Looking is always free! :) Can you get books via ILL at your library? Of course if you have to pay for the ILL service, sometimes it is just as cheap to look for a used copy. I really enjoyed this one and am looking forward to reading more of her books.

[Liz F]

I looked again after commenting and what do you know - a copy has appeared in the county library store (I picture a sort of dimly lit bunker deep in the Dales but it's probably a warehouse on an industrial estate!) so hopefully it will be in my library request pile either amusing or irritating the library staff (depending on how well they know me!)

[Danielle]

Liz--Oh, lucky find! I really liked this book--and it is a quickie read, too. It's a nice thing you are doing by checking this out and showing it the light of day! It was probably all dusty and lonely wherever it happened to hide itself. Do let me know what you think of it. I'll be reading more of her for sure.