I think Holtby has a bit of a thing about subverting the expected romantic happily-ever-after ending—both the two other books of hers I've read also avoid the 'obvious' endgame couple, though in different ways. It's very refreshing!
between Sarah Burton, and Joe Astell, and the general poignancy of novels from the mid-1930s that are sort of impossible to tangle from the fact that WWII started just a few years later...?
I know! It's this whole wide-ranging social and political situation and historical moment that the book builds up, and that a book about local government is so uniquely well-placed to build up—and which is all going to be torn apart in a few years' time by the war. The fact that Holtby, who died in 1935, never knew it makes it all the more poignant, I think...
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2022-08-16 07:11 pm (UTC)between Sarah Burton, and Joe Astell, and the general poignancy of novels from the mid-1930s that are sort of impossible to tangle from the fact that WWII started just a few years later...?
I know! It's this whole wide-ranging social and political situation and historical moment that the book builds up, and that a book about local government is so uniquely well-placed to build up—and which is all going to be torn apart in a few years' time by the war. The fact that Holtby, who died in 1935, never knew it makes it all the more poignant, I think...