RETRO READS
THE WEATHER IN THE STREETS by Rosamond Lehmann (Virago £9.99) iF eveR there were a literary marital affair deterrent, this 1936 classic is it. Olivia, 20 and separated, has swapped her genteel background for a rackety London life of dancing and partying with Hooray Henry types.
she falls for stinking rich Rollo, who has butlers, chauffeurs and a fragile wife. Cue wild, forbidden passion, furtive rendezvous, sneaking off for blissful weekends, etc.
The subterfuge plays havoc with Olivia’s nerves: ‘it gets so wearing, always the worry of being found out.’
it’s the old, old story and, set in pre-Pill days, you can guess what’s in store for Olivia . . . soon to discover cheating husbands invariably return to their betrayed wives.
THE MASTERS by C.P. Snow (Bello £15) GeT a life, boys! That was my reaction to this vivid Fifties portrait of privileged, envysmitten Cambridge academics. at their college, the Master lies dying, while his male underlings scheme and plot to appoint a replacement.
Huddling in corners, conniving in whispers during sumptuous formal college meals, they conspire, oblivious to the real world outside the Porter’s Lodge. and talk about knocking back the booze . . . Phew!
as for women, the dreary old eggheads scarely give them a thought, though one candidate stands no chance because his wife is ‘unsuitable’. it’s all strangely compelling, if only because this rarefied, all-male world of clashing egos and cutthroat ambition is so ludicrous.
THE PARASITES by Daphne du Maurier (Virago £8.99) Raised in the shadow of famous showbiz parents, three self-absorbed adults seem not to have grown up. ‘You’ve none of you done a stroke of honest work in your lives,’ rages the husband of one, accusing them of being parasites.
Flashbacks reveal how their selfish parents both spoilt and ignored their precocious offspring.
at the heart of this story is a disturbing, quasi-incestuous love affair between two siblings. The alcoholic father becomes a manipulative monster, stifling one loyal daughter’s own ambitions. The son, a gifted musician, wastes his life in frivolity and the actress daughter is a callous egomaniac.
sexy, disturbing, funny: sunbed heaven.