This one wasn't worth disinterring
I'm normally a great fan of Persephone Books ... but it defeats me why they revived Mariana. It's like an old-fashioned Woman's Own serial that goes on and insipidly on. Not even interesting as a period piece, this long-forgotten novel should have been allowed to Rest in Peace.
Different world, same feelings.
Mariana is a story that takes the reader through a girl's life - from child to young woman. It's point of view is flawless, changing and developing with the character as she moves from a naieve and unsure girl to an individual who is happy with the role of being herself; who comes to realise that whatever happened 'all one could do was to get on with the job that nobody else could do, the job of being oneself'. But it isn't just a 'coming of age' novel. It is beautifully descriptive - taking us back to the 1930s and giving a glimpse of a world that seems so different, where girls did wait for a husband to turn up, and could be saved financially by making a good marriage, and when London, Paris, the world, somehow seems more exotic, more finely presented, and more innocent, but none of it is portrayed in a saccharine way. The novel starts with Mary, the main character, waiting for news of her husband who is away from her, as a naval officer in WW2, and then flashes back to her youth. As you approach the end of the book you can't help remembering the start of the novel and hoping, very much, that the news of the man - who she feels is as close to her as to almost be a part of her - will not be bad.
an excellent and enjoyable read
I found 'Mariana' surprisingly gripping and was hooked from start to finish. Whilst awaiting news of her husband during the Second World War, Mary looks over her life's experiences and the resulting novel has moments of real humour and poignancy. Whilst the novel is bursting with likeable and realistic characters, Mary is undoubtedly the star and is both lovable and wonderfully fallible. She is a character I could easily identify with and I finished the novel feeling as if I really knew her! She recounts her teenage years and early adulthood with honesty and a lack of pretension, which is characteristic of the novel as a whole. Dealing with romance, friendship and growing up, Mariana has similarities to 'The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets' by Eva Rice but I felt it was an even more interesting and satisfying read!
A real delight
I really enjoyed this book, it's the story of Mary, told in flashbacks. We first meet Mary, as she awaits news of her husband during WW2. The novel then follows Mary through her 1930's childhood, starting when she's about eleven. We follow her through holidays at her grandfathers large country house with her cousins, schooling, a hilarious spell at a dramatic arts college, an art course in Paris, her first job, and a couple of misjudged romances. There are a host of loveable charcters - one of my personal favourites being Uncle Geoffrey. The novel is written with gentle humor, and is a wonderful chronicle of 1930's life.
A timeless tale of growing up
I picked this up just after reading Monica Dickens' autobiography, An Open Book, in which Dickens explains how much she drew from her own life when writing Mariana (her second book). With this personal experience to guide her, she paints a lovely, unvarnished portrait of a girl's growing up in London between the wars. She touches on issues that nearly every female can relate to: the excitement and pain of a first love; the joys and struggles of making friends; the often difficult task of fitting in at school; and the search for excitement and purpose in life. In refreshingly unpretentious prose and in a deceptively simple style, Dickens, like her great-grandfather Charles, gets to the heart of basic human emotions and dramas. It's a book to take to bed on a cold night or to read while on holiday: fun, honest, and heartwarming - another Persephone delight.
