Summer Pudding by Susan Scarlett
Noel Streatfeild, of Ballet Shoes* fame, wrote many novels for adults as well as children, and she wrote several light romances under the pen-name Susan Scarlett. These books are extremely hard to find, despite having been previously republished by Greyladies, a small independent publishing company specialising in women writers from the early-mid 20th Century. Even the Greyladies reprints are now out-of-print and fetch quite astonishing prices on ABE Books, so it’s fantastic news that all the Susan Scarlett novels are being republished by Dean Street Press (as part of their collaboration with Furrowed Middlebrow) this August. I am lucky enough to have all of the Greyladies editions of the books, but I’ll still be adding the Dean Street Press reprints to my shelves, as they have much more attractive covers than the Greyladies designs (and I’m always keen to support the republication of a favourite author).
The reprinting of the Susan Scarlett books has inspired me to read them all again, as for the most part I first read these stories in my early twenties, and my recollection of the plots is hazy to say the least! I started with Summer Pudding, which turned out to be the perfect choice for June, as it is mainly set in this month and is a delightfully light, frothy summer read.
The Dean Street Press cover of ‘Summer Pudding,’ which reflects its war-time setting.
First published in 1943, Summer Pudding opens with its heroine, Janet Brain, gazing excitedly out a train window at the passing British countryside. Born and raised in London suburbia, Janet is a confirmed city girl, but has insisted her mother, Maggie, and younger sister, Sheila, escape the heavy bombing of London to the comparative safety of the countryside. Janet has been warned her mother’s health is weakened from an over-strained heart, and that it is essential she lead an easier life away from the city. To Janet’s surprise, Sheila has found a cottage at an exceptionally reasonable rent, and Janet is travelling by train to see her and Maggie after her London office has been bombed, killing Janet’s former boss and leaving her without a job. Determined to join the Wrens, Janet is looking forward to spending a short holiday in the countryside before signing up.
As soon as she arrives at the cottage, however, Janet realises that her sister has failed her: always the spoilt youngest child, Sheila has grown into a lazy and conceited young woman. Convinced she should have been a movie star, with her head-turning good looks, Sheila holds a grudge against the world and is determined to get what she wants at any cost. She spends her time endlessly reading film magazines and refuses to do any work about the house. In consequence, Maggie is more overworked than ever, and Janet is shocked to see how ill her mother has become. She determines to give up her dream of joining the Wrens and stay at home to care for her mother. On top of everything, Janet learns of another duty that Sheila has shirked and that now falls to her: teaching the daughter of their widowed farmer landlord, Donald Sheldon.
Janet and Donald take an instinctive liking to each other, but both are puzzled by seeming inconsistencies in each other’s character. Janet feels Donald blows hot and cold with her, and much as she enjoys teaching Iris, Janet is disturbed by Donald’s housekeeper, Gladys, a young woman who keeps a jealous, possessive eye on the farmer. Fortunately, however, happy endings abound, not only for Janet, but also for her mother, a particularly likeable character. However unpleasant Gladys is, it’s hard not to have a little sympathy for her too, but it’s highly satisfying when Sheila finally gets her comeuppance (although one fears she will soon shrug off any embarrassment and continue to be just as self-serving as ever).
Invasion Preparation in an English Village, Charles Alfred Mozley. Circa 1944. Imperial War Museums.
As well as being an entertaining read, Summer Pudding offers a fascinating slice of social history, as it follows the lives of ordinary people in the midst of war. Although romance is at the heart of Summer Pudding, it is very much a war-time story, and the preoccupations of a country at war are ever-present in the background: Janet confers with Gladys over coupons when it’s agreed she’ll be staying for lunch most days at the farm; the shortage of sugar is referenced; army lorries trundle through the dusty country roads and wearing old clothes is considered a sign of patriotism.
Noel Streatfeild always writes particularly well about clothes, whether in her children’s books or adult novels. In Summer Pudding, clothing is used to great effect: when she begins her job teaching Iris, Janet dresses in a very prim and proper blue wool dress, which she feels makes her look like a first-class governess. As the summer progresses and she falls in love, Janet relaxes and pulls out her old (but still flattering!) print dresses. Sheila, in contrast to her industrious sister, lounges about in ‘a yellow sun-suit, very brief flared shorts and a brassiere top held in place by straps crossed over her back’, which she feels makes her look like Judy Garland.
A young Judy Garland poses in a sun-suit. Could this be the outfit that inspired Sheila?
Streatfeild fans will notice some of her other signature traits in Summer Pudding: a glimpse of the ballet world creeps into the plot when Janet notices that Iris dances particularly well, and she isn’t surprised to learn that Iris’ mother was a dancer previous to her marriage. Female friendship, as well as female rivalry, are familiar themes to Streatfeild readers, and in Summer Pudding, Janet discovers the pleasure of having her first close female friend, but must also learn to deal with spiteful jealousy from another woman.
I particularly enjoyed reading about Janet’s growing love for the countryside, which recalled my own joyful first summer in Yorkshire, when I’d moved from London to the depths of the Dales on a hot day in June almost exactly two years ago. I could also sympathise with Janet trying to learn to distinguish between wheat and oats in fields that looked like simple grass to her Londoner eye! There are some particularly evocative passages on the beauties of the English country landscape in Summer Pudding:
‘Janet had never before spent a whole summer in the country. Every day it seemed to her there was a new and lovely change. The fields round the cottage flamed into flower. The scent of the beans was intoxicating.’
I am sure that anyone who enjoys Noel Streatfeild’s books, or is interested in women’s lives during World War Two, will find Summer Pudding an enjoyable read, and I recommend adding a copy to your shelves when it’s republished in August.
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