Review -The Second Mrs Clare

                                                   Novel by Mike Langridge 



I had not really been convinced about the value of sequels and prequels written by modern novelists inspired by well known works by dead authors : But have to say that I enjoyed this book very much. Certainly some knowledge of the  plot of 'Tess of the 'd'Urbevilles' and perhaps a familiarity of Thomas Hardy's main novels, are a great help. 

Starting with Angel Clare and Tess's sister Liza-Lu seeing the black flag raised marking the hanging of Tess for the killing of Alec D'Urbeville whose malign actions had contributed to Angel Clare abandoning Tess shortly after he had married her. Alec had at least financially supported Tess's family,and with his death. a crisis soon looms. Angel Clare, still feels contrite for his treatment of Tess, and for leaving her once she disclosed on their wedding night that she had previously had a child out of wedlock after being seduced by Alec. 

Angel takes Liza-Lu to meet his father, who is a rural vicar and the rest of the family. They have a pleasant enough supper party. It is almost getting too cosy, nearly everyone is being far nice too Liza-Lu. But thankfully the troubles start , everything goes wrong for Liza-Lu, and a whole chain of calamities begins. New characters are introduced who are not from the cast of 'Tess'. A convincing range that includes a villain, or two, a busybody, some quite good natured and sympathetic individuals, along with a Victorian feminist. The plot is lively and unpredictable at times. And the identity of 'the second Mrs Clare' takes some time to emerge. 

'The Second Mrs Clare' seems far more representative of the 1890's than the original. Train travel is in the financial reach of huge swathes of the population, agriculture is in crisis, women's suffrage, trade unionism make an appearance . Though 'Tess' was published in 1891 , I always felt that the novel was evoking the world of a generation or so earlier. The story line takes in more urban settings than 'Tess', though Talboathy Dairy, and the trio of milkmaids, Izz, Retty and Marian,come back briefly. 

Jude, as in the lead character of 'Jude the Obscure' makes a cameo appearance. Casterbridge, Hardy's fictional recreation of Dorchester, as in the county town of Dorset, provides a setting for a large part of the novel. The nearby hill fort of Maiden Castle, provides the backdrop for a scene or two, which is a welcome touch. We do need some mysterious earthworks for a work inspired by a Hardy novel. The questioning of Christianity becomes a theme, which would have pleased Hardy himself. 

The Second Mrs Clare was published independently in January 2022. Available in paperback or kindle via Amazon or  The Thomas Hardy Society online shop

Thank you to the Thomas Hardy Fans on Facebook  ( public group) for wider discussion about Hardy's influence on subsequent novels. 

Other posts from this blog of possible interest to Thomas Hardy readers: 

Bonfire Night as featured in 'The Return of the Native'.

Egdon Heath as featured in 'The Return of the Native'.

Lady Dedlock ('Bleak House') v. Tess of the d'Urbevilles , a comparison concerning women characters who had children before marriage. 

Thomas Hardy Society 


OTHER BLOGS BY THIS WRITER 

A Burnt Ship  17th century war & literature 

World War 2 poetry 

Contact Michael Bleak 

Twitter 

Mr Bleak 5@ShipBurnt 

Mastadon 

Michael@BleakChesneyWold

Instagram  

Mr Bleak (@MrBleak5 )



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lady Dedlock from 'Bleak House' v. Tess d'Urbeville

Image
                                                         A Comparison      Les Foins (Haymaker)  by    Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884), from 1877.Public Domain, courtesy of 'Wikipedia'. The purpose of this post is to look at the plight of two fictional characters 'Lady Dedlock' and 'Tess', created some 40 years apart, but dramatically  depict how a woman who had a child 'out of wedlock' could be 'ruined'. Both Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy were highly critical of the treatment of their plight. A great deal of  Charles Dickens's 'Bleak House' (first published via installments 1852-1853)  concerns hidden past, and how the power that those individuals who have discovered a secret  about another person can wield. Lady Honoria Dedlock,  has had an illegitimate child before her marriage. She keeps this from her husband Lord Lester Dedlock, but once this fact is discovered, her life crumbles. The child is actually the joint narrator of
Read more

Good Lady Ducayne -Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1896)

Image
                                       A Vampire Story or Science Fiction ?           Mary Elizabeth Braddon  (1835-1915) is most famous for the novels   Lady Audley's Secret (1862)   and Aurora Floyd ( serialised in 1862; published as a novel in 1863 )  . Dozens more novels, short stories, children's tales, poems, followed. Mary Elizabeth Braddon was also an actress, and magazine editor.  The genres Braddon explored included ghost, horror, and crime fiction.  Pleased to have found the Classic Ghost Story Podcast version of  Good Lady Ducayne  read by Tony Walker. Originally appeared via installments in 'The Strand Magazine' in 1896. A year before Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and Richard Marsh's 'The Beetle'.  Good Lady Ducayne appears to be set in the decade it was written. Fiction now and then is often placed slightly in the past, usually to get a time line going for the story concerned. (Lady Ducayne maintains that she was born the days that Loui
Read more

Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native -Egdon Heath

Image
                                                                                 Painting :   October (1878) by Jules Bastien-Lepage  * 'Return of the Native' was Hardy's sixth novel and is centred around an area he called Egdon Heath. As a physical location it is not easy to place. Edward Parnell in 'Ghostland' has proposed that geographically Black Heath and Duddle Heath in Dorset fulfil this role PARNELL .Mr Parnell has also cited Hardy's  own view of  his own  creation of 'Wessex' as being "partly real, partly dream country". Egdon Heath also features  in 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' and Hardy's short story 'The Withered Arm'.  The novel opens with an anonymous narrator offering a description of the Heath (  " heathy, furzy, briary wilderness--"Bruaria"" )  Chapter One   , and there are some magnificent passages depicting a wild landscape with its stubborn soil. " T he face of the heath by its mer
Read more