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La Señorita Hargreaves (1940)

by Frank Baker(Favorite Author)

3.29 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Alba

review 1: Written in 1940, "Miss Hargeaves" is as timely a writing as if it were written this year. The story, though quite humorous, is haunting. The strength of this work is its characters, each defined so finely and each complementing the other. I especially liked Norman's father with his lack of focus and total absorption on his own musings. Miss Hargeaves herself is a work of art, one feels drawn to this woman in the hate/love relationship that Norman has with her. I am giving this work four stars. I would like to read other books by the author.
review 2: This book, I think, should be much more widely known. It has the feel of a classic and I am pleased both that it was reprinted by the Bloomsbury Group (in 2009 - it was originally published in 1939) and that... more it happened to catch my eye in the library.On holiday in Lusk, Ireland, Norman Huntley and his friend Henry Beddow happen to visit the local church. It appears to be very unkempt but the Sexton who opened it up for them is inordinately proud of it. Since Henry was the one wo was so keen on visiting it this puts Norman in a foul mood. So, on the "Spur of the Moment" (a dangerous thing according to his bookshop-owning father, Cornelius) he invents the eccentric old lady Miss Hargreaves (pn 'Hargrayves' according to the author), niece of the Duke of Grosvenor - supposedly a great friend of the former incumbent of the church, Rev. Philip Archer. Henry gets caught up in the spirit of it and addso some embellishments of his own to this, as they think, fictional character. But they get the shock of their lives when, on returning home, she actually turns up for an extended stay (replete with her cockatoo, dog, harp and bath) and proceeds to wreak havoc on their hitherto orderly lives.She is a marvellous character and I love the whole idea of imagination bringing forth life. Something of the magic of children's books has seeped into a novel for grown-ups and it is an absolute delight. It seems to be a commentary on teh whole creative process and how writers live with the characters they have conjured up. At one stage Norman remarks to Henry, "I hate her and I love her and - I'm half-afraid of her" p109. I assume that authors must have feelings like this about some of the people they have brought forth from their imaginations - presumably Frank Baker did at any rate.It is very well written and I was drawn in from the very first page. I found myself quite willing to suspend disbelief (as I did when reading E Nesbit books and so on as a child) and enjoyed the reactions of the other residents of Cornford to the phenomenon that was Miss Hargeaves (later Lady Hargreaves) and the way this affected their perception of Norman. All the threads of the narrative are cleverly drawn together to bring the narrative to a satisfactory conclusion. In short, this is a wonderful novel and I recommend it without reservation. less

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