Note 4 : The Hours before Dawn by Celia Fremlin

What is it?

Published and set in the late 1950s, this book is about Louise, a young mother who takes in a lodger – Miss Brandon, who turns out to be not at all what she claims. Although often described as a thriller, what differentiates the book from others of the genre is its detailed focus on Louise and her domestic and family life.  This is described in painstaking and often very funny detail. Louise is seriously sleep-deprived thanks to her young baby Michael, something that not only has an impact on her ability to cope with everyday life  but also affects her interaction with others and her interpretation of the strange events that follow Miss Brandon’s arrival.

Why read it?

We found Louise’s character  engaging  and sympathetic  and we felt we got to know her pretty well. She is honest, admits her failings – domestic tasks undone, children fobbed off, an inability to stand up to imposing friends- yet often doesn’t give  herself credit for her achievements.  Her struggles with domestic and family life come across as real -  lack of sleep, the demands of her self- absorbed husband Mark, two young daughters and baby Michael, yet in spite of all these,  she is able to see the humour in many of the situations she finds herself in. She is particularly funny about Mark and his foibles, while the dialogue of the two young girls really captures the way young children talk and behave and is cleverly observed and  amusing.   We also felt that the book gave a good sense of life for a suburban housewife at that time. As far as the thriller elements of the story were concerned there were some that we found tense and even alarming – particularly where they involved a threat to baby Michael.  Miss Brandon’s character is well developed as the plot unfolds to reveal her as not only odd but also increasingly predatory and menacing.   Louise’s feeling that she is losing her grip on reality also adds to the tension.

Why give it a miss?

While we all agreed that the book’s strength was the detail about Louise and her life though as a thriller it worked less well.  This may have been due to the period when the book was written – perhaps we are more used to this kind of story now. We realised fairly early on what Miss Brandon was up to, though her reason for doing so was a good reveal. Other criticisms were that the writing could be a touch repetitive, though arguably this was to represent the repetitive nature of Louise’s experiences; some of the detail too about the minor characters (her old school friends etc) was a bit tedious; as a plot device the children finding the diary in the attic felt clunky. We all thought that if Louise had had to struggle more to find out the truth about her sinister lodger the story would have been more satisfying.

What we asked

Do Louise’s experiences still resonate with mothers today?

Do we believe that Miss Brandon would behave as she did?

Does the humour mitigate against or add to the tension of the story?

Is the title apt?

Was the ending satisfying?
What was the point of the minor characters?

Score

 Most scored it 4, and 1 scored it 3. So overall an almost 4.

Keep?

Most of us would keep it, but one of us had already given it away by the time we got together!