20 March 2014

Book Review: The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price Purveyor of Superior Funerals

You know how sometimes you see a book cover, or you read a title, or occasionally you see the two in tandem, and you think, "I've got a good feeling about this"?  Well, that is precisely how I felt upon seeing this book for the first time.  I mean, just look at it.  How can a book with a title and cover like that not be just the most delicious thing?

It turns out that my expectations for what this book contains and what it actually contains are two very different things. The title is so ridiculous that I was expecting a lot more humor, quirky situations, a great ensemble cast of characters, and perhaps an ending whose poignancy would take me by surprise. Basically, I was expecting something rather like Oscar Wilde meets The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.  What I got was a lot more like Thomas Hardy meets The Remains of the Day, but with fewer pages. Which is obviously still a pretty good thing, but not what I happened to be expecting.

The novel opens at a picnic in the village of Narberth in Wales in 1924. So far, so good.  It's been a little quiet, a little awkward, as Wilfred doesn't have much experience with young ladies, and he's never seen a butter-yellow dress such as the one Grace is wearing. He's been brought up properly, so he knows he cannot let his gaze linger on inappropriate places on her person, and yet for the life of him, he yearns to know how she can take that dress off, it's so fitted around the bodice, with no buttons going up the back.  Grace catches him off-guard, staring at her, and instead of asking what he really wants to know (which is clearly improper), he instead asks her to marry him. Uh, oh.  Worse, Grace says yes.

Awkward, that. And by the time Wilfred muster up the courage to tell Grace that he didn't actually intend to propose, and that it's ridiculous to get married after going on one picnic, Grace has told her parents, and the whole village knows.

Clearly author Wendy Jones has laid the perfect groundwork for a comedy of manners, but she takes the book in an entirely different direction. I'm not saying that Wilfred Price is devoid of humor altogether, but it is definitely not a distinguishing characteristic of this novel. It's far more a tragedy of predestination, where the characters' secrets are burdens that can never be lightened and whose utter lack of birthright, by dint of gender or class, dictates the course of their lives.

Grace is pregnant after being raped but knows she cannot go to her parents or the magistrate about it, so  marriage to Wilfred would be her saving grace. Wilfred has fallen in love with somebody else who lost her fiancee in the Great War, but not only is he honor-bound to marry Grace now, his and his da's livelihood depend on it. You see, in a village like Narberth and for miles around, no righteous family would trust their dearly departed loved ones to a man who abandoned his own fiancee and her baby.

More than anything, Wilfred Price is a novel about limited horizons and a time when what your neighbors thought of you was more important than pursuing your own happiness. It's a good novel but overall a pretty sobering one. The jacket flap tells me that the producers of Downton Abbey have optioned the rights to this novel to create a mini series, which I look forward to viewing.

NB: The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price Purveyor of Superior Funerals, by Wendy Jones, was published in February 2014 in the US by Europa, though it has been available for some time in the UK already. I read a copy that was sent to me by the publisher at my request.

11 comments:

  1. Oh man, that sounds depressing. Even if the writing is good. Sounds exactly like the sort of mini-series the BBC would love to make, and exactly like the type of story that I would love to hate. I would have judged exactly the same way as you, based on the cover/title, and more power to you for sticking with the whole thing!

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    1. I will absolutely watch this mini series if it's ever produced, because (1) BBC is peerless at period drama, and (2) I love historical films set in small villages. But yeah, that cover + that title end up being WAY misleading about the content.

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  2. So even though in your review you SAID it wasn't going to be funny, still looking at that title and reading your description of the beginning I was thinking "Well how can this NOT be a comedy." And then the rape and oh, that's how. What a waste of a hilarious set up.

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    1. Yeah, I'm still surprised when I look at the cover + the title, and I KNOW what's in this book. I wouldn't call it a waste, but maybe a missed opportunity?

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  3. It's so frustrating when you expect a book to be one way and it turns out to be another!

    I keep meaning to read some more Europa Editions. So many readers rave about them!

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    1. I really admire the work that Europa is doing. Not every book has been for me (nor should it be--it's not MY publishing company) but there is nothing on their list that is bad.

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  4. What an odd quirky choice of title for the subject matter. This feels like one of those books I could love if I ever got around to actually reading it, but will never find the time for. Perhaps I'll just wait for the mini-series

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    1. Waiting for the mini series isn't a bad thing when it's the BBC and the folks behind Downton Abbey doing the producing!

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  5. I actually hate covers with women with their heads cut off. It must be the most bizarre publishing trend.
    But then I do love Europa editions, so I can overlook the cover. :)

    Also "Thomas Hardy meets The Remains of the Day"(which I loved) sounds absolutely awesome, actually a lot better than "Oscar Wilde meets The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" (which I didn't love at all).

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    1. Yes! What IS it with women's heads being cut off on book covers?

      I'm the opposite of you, as I'd MUCH rather read Oscar Wilde meets Harold Fry over Thomas Hardy meets Remains of the Day just about any day of the week, so maybe this book will be completely up your alley.

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  6. period piece charming and well thought out

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Please, sir, may I have some more? (Comments, that is!)