The Fortnight in September

   

    An annual holiday, its patterns and customs established over twenty years, triggers expectations and longings, reveals insecurities, and feeds anxieties as it fosters pleasure.

    R.C. Sherriff's simple account of the ordinary events of the Stevens family's two weeks in Bognor Regis in The Fortnight in September holds up a mirror to their larger lives. It's a bittersweet tale, utterly touching in its sincerity and its fellow-feeling for its protagonists' aspirations, and its appreciation of their small joys, regrets and sorrows.

    It's about making the best of things when disappointment and disillusionment are only ever a coin-toss away, family cohesion and friendships founded on loyalty and tolerance when both can be testing, and the bolstering optimism derived from keeping the world in check by conservative habits which creates its own momentum and ultimately carries the day.

    The Stevens' holiday gives them perspective. For young Dick, a sudden insight as to his future career brings a change of attitude to his earlier life and fresh colour to his present one; for Mary, a little venturing into the adult world reveals her romantic naivety and the growing up she has yet to do; for Mr. Stevens, familiarity and continuity provide strength, and while his leadership and management skills come into their own over the logistical and financial challenges of the family's break, the two weeks at the coast with their reassuring rhythms are as bracing for him as the brisk wind off the sea.

    Charming in its detail of an era and customs long past, it's as relevant today in its portrayal of human nature as it must have been when it first appeared in 1931.

    "I would gladly publish it," said Victor Gollancz at the time, "I wouldn't alter a word."

    He's to be congratulated on his judgement, as are Persephone Books for bringing it to a 21st. century readership.

Comments

[Mary]

I do love this book, I really must go back and read it again. He was such a versatile writer. I've just seen the new Journey's End film, though I don't think it's anything like as good as the play.

[Cornflower]

I must read Greengates now - it's been waiting a while.

[Joan Kyler]

I love this book, too. I think it's one of my favorites. I've read four or five of Sherriff's books and have been disappointed by none.

[Cornflower]

That's good to hear. Thanks, Joan.

[Toffeeapple]

I thoroughly enjoyed it too; I read it slowly to savour it. I thought that I had read Greengates, but I cannot locate it here...

[Cornflower]

It is indeed one to savour.

[Tanya van Hasselt]

Do we always want to read about conflicted characters torn apart by violent emotion or caught up in deadly conflict? Certainly not, however excellent the writing. At a time when chilling domestic and psychological thrillers are sprouting up everywhere, it's a relief to have quietly perceptive books like A Fortnight in September to read, and re-read, each time with a sense of continuing belonging.

[Cornflower]

I so agree, Tanya.

[Sue Scott]

Hear, hear.

I enjoyed A Fortnight in September enormously.