I came across A.P. Herbert's The House by the River in a circuitous manner. I was looking for Rainer Maria Rilke's The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, which Litlove plans on reading later this summer and I was contemplating reading as well. My library indeed owns it, but our copy is old and water damaged and when I cracked it open to read a bit the pages started falling out. Not a good thing. Before I sent it to the mending cart (though it is likely to be discarded and replaced with a new copy), I still had a good look through it and noticed in the back there was a list of books published by the same publisher. A.P. Herbert was one of the authors listed, though not for this particular book. Whatever the publisher was pushing I'll have to pass on, but my library does own a few of his other books. I love finding books purely by accident.
I hadn't a clue what The House by the River was about, but the New York Times has been a reliable source for me for these unknown books and authors from earlier decades. The House by the River was published in1928 in the lovely little Borzoi pocket edition that we own. I love these little books as they fit so nicely in the palm of the hand and can easily be slipped into a purse or bookbag. The NYT seemed suitably impressed with Mr. Herbert's book. They call it "a novel so striking, so unusual, so artistic and so powerful". When it hit the reviewer's desk it was an apparently memorable moment.
The story is a witty satire with elements of humor, which sounds really interesting as at the heart of the story is a murder. It's not a conventional detective story or mystery since the reader sees the murder being committed and witnesses the disposal of the body. Rather the story is told, sympathetically it seems, from the point of view of the murderer. This is more of a psychological study than anything else and from the rave review it sounds like a good one. It was made into a movie in 1950.
I only share the books that I'd really like to read here, but this one seems especially suited to my reading tastes. I'll leave you with a little taste of the story.
"The Whittakers were At Home every Wednesday. No one else in Hammerton Chase was officially At Home at any time. So every one went to the Whittaker's on Wednesdays."
"There are still a few intimate corners in London where people, other than the poor, are positively acquainted with their neighbours. And Hammerton Chase is one of these. In heartless Kensington we know no more of our neighbour than we may gather from furtive references to the Red Book and Who's Who, or stealthy reconnaissances from behind the dining-room curtains as he goes forth in the morning to his work and to his labour."
Did anyone spot the error on the title page? The author's name is listed as A.B. Herbert rather than the correct A.P. Herbert. Oops.