Old Friends

Anne here, and the 'old friends' I am talking about are books. In the last few weeks I've been catching up with some books I haven't read since I was a teenager. Not that they're "young adult" books — no, they're written for adults, sure enough.

We moved a lot when I was a kid, and public libraries and school libraries kept me occupied and happy, and my imagination well-fed all through my childhood and adolescence. But the trouble with moving, and borrowing all the time from libraries is that it's very easy to lose track of authors and books that you loved. So rediscovering a beloved author after many years is a joy.

The author in this particular instance is Madeleine Brent, and I remember the first book of 'hers' I read — and the library in which I found it. I say 'hers' in inverted commas because a few years ago I learned she was a man, an Englishman called Peter O'Donnell. And recently I discovered he was also responsible for the creation of Modesty Blaise — which was originally a comic strip, and later a popular series of novels and a less successful movie. Modesty Blaise was described on wikipedia as "a female action hero/undercover trouble-shooter/enforcer."

I never read the Modesty Blaise books, but I adored the Madeleine Brent books, and in the last few months have been buying them up and rereading them — with, I have to say, as much enjoyment as when I first read them as an adolescent. And although I've often said that Georgette Heyer was a huge influence on my writing, I think I also need to add Madeleine Brent to that list.

I suppose you'd describe the books as Victorian era romantic adventure, with the emphasis on adventure, rather than romance. All the stories are narrated from the point of view of a young English woman, sometimes a child, orphaned and growing up in a culture not her own — Afghanistan, Tibet, China, Mexico, the Australian desert. The heroine usually has more affinity with the exotic local culture than England, and through her eyes we learn much about the local culture.

For instance in Merlin's Keep (which won the 1978 Romantic Novel of the Year Award in England) the heroine, Jani, has been raised by an old British soldier she calls Sembur. They live in a tiny village in the Himalayas, and Jani, like all children caught between two cultures understands and accepts both points of view. For instance:

Chela died when I was in my tenth year. Sembur said it was something called a busted appendix, but what had really happened was that a demon had entered her and made her belly swell up very painfully until her spirit was driven out and she died.

Sembur earns a precarious living — and a certain acceptance as a foreigner— by using his good English rifle to protect the trade caravans from marauding Khamba tribesmen. In Jani's words. . .

They had become used to travelling in safety under Sembur's protection, and this was why they were never unfriendly to us as foreigners for long, even when the omens said we brought bad fortune. They knew well enough that Sembur had brought good fortune with the caravans. They also knew that in his last life he had been a snow leopard, which was why the Khambas were so afraid of him.

Sembur himself did not know he had once been a snow leopard, and I never told him because I knew it would make him cross.

Madeleine Brent heroines are always admirable — courageous, tenacious, loyal and modest, though by no means perfect. They've usually been raised by some English person with strict moral codes, a missionary or an old soldier who was displaced by warfare or disaster of some kind in the far flung outposts of the British Empire or beyond.

Usually she has grown up not knowing who she really is, and her journey to discovering her identity -- legal as well as her personal who-I-choose-to-be identity-- is a big part of the story.

Reading his obituaries — Peter O'Donnell died in 2010, aged 90 — his Madeleine Brent books are barely given a mention, possibly because as "gothic romances" they are judged to be some kind of lightweight fluff, mere women's stories. I don't know. I think they're wonderful.

The Guardian obituary described his creation of the Modesty Blaise character thus: She "was inspired by an incident during O'Donnell's second world war service in northern Persia. Camped at a Royal Signal Corps observation post, he and his comrades spied a young girl, obviously a refugee, who eyed them warily but accepted some food. Before she left, O'Donnell gave her two tins of stew and showed her how to use a tin opener. "To this day, I can see in my mind's eye the smile she gave us and the sight of that upright little figure walking like a princess as she moved away from us on those brave, skinny legs," he recalled."

To me, he might have been describing any one of his Madeleine Brent heroines.

So that's one of my old book friends. Do you have any beloved old books from your past? Have you read Madeleine Brent, or any of the Modesty Blaise books? What were you reading when you were sixteen?

Comments

[Sharon Osenga]

I love the Madeleine Brent books and have been picking up a complete set as public libraries discard them. Merlin's Keep is my favorite. Another old favorite is Happy Now I Go by Theresa Charles, a WWII amnesia story. I also have a complete set of the Betsy-Tacy books and the Sue Barton books.

When I was 16, I was reading all the romantic suspense writers of the time: Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney.

I still reread all these authors with pleasure. Most of them wrote with much more depth than writers today and I do miss that.

[Maria M.]

I have a vague memory of having read a couple of these books by Trent from a library long ago, but it is very hard to remember what I read when I was 16.

I had already read all of Heyer, or just about, by that age. P.G. Wodehouse was a great favourite, as I remember, and I read a lot of mysteries. Also the first SF novels - I really liked The Day of The Triffids, The Chrysalids and Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham, for instance. I also read 18th and 19th century novels - Trollope, Fanny Burney, Henry Fielding, and so on, and of course Jane Austen. Never liked Dickens much, however.

[Janga]

Anne, I have recently revisited a lot of books that I first read when, as a pre-teen, I was allowed to read from my mother's bookshelves. Some of them have not aged well, but others are just as wonderful as they were the first time I read them. I'm delighted that Sourcebooks is reissuing older books by Victoria Holt and D. E. Stevenson. I wish someone would release Mary Stewart's books in electronic format.

I believe I read all the Madeleine Brent books. Tregaron's Daughter was my favorite. I loved the Venice setting. And I didn't know until I read a posthumous tribute in College English that MB was not a woman.

[Donna]

I haven't read any of the books you mention, Anne, but the first adult book that I remember reading and loving (I was in grade school) was Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow. It was a Revolutionary War historical romance and belonged to my mother (of course). I loved the picture of Celia on the dust jacket. I still have that 1959 hardcover book and have re-read it many times.

[HJ]

Thank you for identifying a new author for me who I know I'll like! I read all Mary Stewart's romantic suspense books in my teens and loved them, and these sound similar in some ways. I've recently discovered Elsie Lee and Hester Rowan.

I agree with Sharon that these older books have more depth. Maria could be me - including never caring for Dickens! I also enjoy going further back into my childhhod and re-reading children's books by Malcolm Saville, Monica Edwards, Geoffrey Trease and Rosemary Sutcliffe.

[Marian Chivers]

I too have recently rediscovered Madeline Brent and in my research on warrior women I came across Modesty Blaise and Peter O'Donnell. The Modesty Blaise books are more action adventure, of course, and Modesty doesn't just have one love interest. Peter O'Donnell famously said when that he was stuck he would ask the his wife, mother or daughters for a female perspective.

[Mary Jo Putney]

I LOVED the Madeline Brent books, and still have quite a few of them. MERLIN'S KEEP and TREGARON'S DAUGHTER are high on the list. I've known for quite a while that MB was really Peter O'Donnell, and I read all the Modesty Blaise books I could find, too. THey were high action and sometimes a little too violent for my tastes, but I loved Modesty, a kickass superwoman, and her platonic relationship with her sidekick.

Gwen Bristom was alsos a favorite of mine, especially Calico Palace and Jubilee Trail. Mary Stewart goes without saying. I read all the Phyllis Whitneys, too. There weren't masses of these kinds of books being published, so I think that kept the level of writing high.

I need to go pull out a Madeline Brent...

[Anne Gracie]

Sharon, Merlin's Keep is my favorite, too, I think. And I also read all of Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney -- all from the library.Of those, Mary Stewart was my favorite and I have all of her books — some of them ex-library copies, because my sister was a librarian and used to bring home anything they were getting rid of that she thought might appeal to me.

Sue Barton rings a bell, though vaguely — was she a student nurse or something? And I haven't heard of Theresa Charles or Betsy-Tacy. Thanks for sharing.

[Anne Gracie]

Maria, I adored Heyer, of course, and I loved (and still love) P.G.Wodehouse and I remember devouring the John Wyndham SF books when I was 12 or 13.

Janga, I've been following your blog posts on your mother's books and enjoying them greatly. Some are authors I also read from my mothers shelves or from libraries, and others I've never heard of.

I hope they'll rerelease the Mary Stewarts in e-format, too, though I'm still reading everything in hard copy. Yes, my house is full of books. :)

[Anne Gracie]

Donna, I haven't read that Gwen Bristow book, but I do love that you loved it and have kept it still. Maybe because we moved so often when I was a kid and left stuff behind at every move, but I really do look on some of my childhood and teen books as beloved old friends.

HJ, I'll look out for Elsie Lee and Hester Rowan. Never heard of them, but I've been enjoying the older books so much and I'm always on the lookout for good, new-to-me authors. Rosemary Sutcliff was a favorite of mine as a child, too. And Henry Treece -- a much darker more adult kind of story, through written for children.

[Deanna]

I too have always loved Gwen Bristow books. Those mentioned as well as Deep Summer, The Handsome Road, and This Side of Glory.

[Andrea Penrose]

Anne, thanks so much for reminding me of how wonderful "old friends" are! I loved Mary Stewart's romantic suspense novels when I was around fourteen—and still do! In fact, just recently reread The Gabriel Hounds and enjoyed it thoroughly.

[Gail Mallin]

Thanks for the post, Anne. I loved Madeline Brent's books too. I think old favourites are great when you feel in need of a comfort read. My copies of Heyer and Mary Stewart are all pretty ancient and a bit battered, but I wouldn't swap them, they are part of the fabric of my life.

[Ella Quinn]

I read them as a child, but was really hooked on Nancy Drew, all the Louisa May Alcott books and Jane Austen.

[theo]

I never read Mary Stewart's romance, but I loved her Merlin series and still revisit it. I also have found some original paperback copies of my favorite Victoria Holt hovels and revisit them as well.

[Anne Gracie]

Deanna, thanks for those Gwen Bristow suggestions -- I'm guessing she's an American author who never made it downunder. I plan to chase her up.

Andrea, The Gabriel Hounds wasn't my fave of Mary Stewarts -- I loved Madam Will You Talk and Nine Coaches Waiting best.

Gail, I love this that you said — "I wouldn't swap them, they are part of the fabric of my life." I feel just the same.

[Karin]

I never read(and was barely even aware) of romance till I was in my late 20's! Even though I was an incessant reader, my parents never had much 'light' reading around the house, so I was never exposed to it. I think when I was 16 I was reading classics like John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and Pearl Buck, and I also remember enjoying "The Mouse That Roared", "Kon-Tiki" and books by Tom Wolfe(the journalist). You have made me want to seek out the Madeleine Brent books.

[Anne Gracie]

Karin, I was much the same— I read all those books too, from my parents shelves. If my oldest sister (librarian) hadn't brought home books by Mary Stewart and Catherine Gaskin and my school friend hadn't dared me to borrow a Heyer when I was eleven, I wouldn't have read any romance. But I didn't really think of them as romances -- just good stories.

[Janice]

When I was 16, I wasn't reading romance per se, but I was reading Dorothy L. Sayers, and I read and reread Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night (even though I didn't understand much of it as the Brit college experience was so different from anything I knew here in LA) and Busman's Honeymoon (which was redlined - for adults only - at my library, meaning it had a sex scene in it, but a kind librarian broke a rule for me and let me borrow it). I am sure I loved these particular books because of the romance and feminist elements even though I didn't categorize them that way at the time.

I was mainly reading a lot of science fiction - Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Raymond F. Jones, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, Clifford Simak, Andre Norton, CM Kornbluth, Henry Kuttner and every other monthly selection of the Doubleday Science Fiction Club, for which my mom kindly wrote two dollar checks to pay my subscription bills. These books weren't exactly heavy on the romance element; women tended to be the hero's reward rather than characters on their own -- but I forgave this because the rest was so interesting. I probably learned more from sf about prose skills, logical thinking and general physical sciences than I ever did in school.

At 16 I hadn't discovered Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer yet -- that came in university and afterwards. The most romantic book I knew was Mara, Daughter of the Nile, which I loved for its Egyptian atmosphere and for the Mara/Sheftu love story. I still think it's a great book.

I have read Madeleine Brent and Peter O'Donnell, but they aren't particular favorites. I knew Brent was really a man when in one book (The Golden Unicorn, I think it was), the writer spent 3 or 4 pages describing a dinghy. Only a guy could get 3 or 4 pages out of describing a crummy boat :)

[Artemisia]

Frances Parkinson Keyes, Daphne du Maurier, and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, which took me two years to get through between school reading assignments but impressed the h*ll out of the nuns in study hall.