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Cope Books print on demand edition, 2007 |
Although it was August, the night was very cold, and Harriet sat close to her new husband and kept her right hand in his pocket. They could see the moonlight through the windows of the station wagon, but it was yellowish, distorted by the smoky isinglass which showed the prints of dogs' paws and human fingers.
In the front seats, Harriet could see the heads of Joel's family. The car light silhouetted them into four black knobs. They were singing, soprano, tenor, alto and a tuneless bass. In the darkness Harriet smiled at them tenderly. Joel had said that she would like them, but he had forgotten the important thing, which was that they would like her. Joel hadn't realized yet how uncertain she was, and afraid of people. But there could be no fear where people were so friendly. Harriet had never known that a family could be as affectionate as this and at the same time as unpossessive. The only other warmth she had ever known had been grasping.
The Novel: It is 1938 and shy, socially awkward Harriet has
just married the handsome and confident Joel Randolf, a man who is in many
ways the antithesis of her stodgy professor father — the kind of parent who, by
simply being himself, ensured she had a lonely, emotionally deprived
childhood. She and Joel have just returned from their honeymoon in
Mexico and are visiting the Randolf estate in South Wales, Connecticut
before returning to New York City where her charming new husband will shortly
resume his promising career in advertising.
Harriet feels dazzled and humbled by the Randolfs — Joel's elder sister
Kit and her PhD candidate husband Gray, the pretty younger sister Pris and
their somewhat dim if eminently respectable mother Elaine — and the ease with which
they conduct their lives and seem to take their inherited wealth and its
associated privileges for granted.
But, unbeknownst to Harriet and her new in-laws, this
carefree lifestyle is about to come to an abrupt and permanent end. A visit from the family lawyer, the man charged with
handling their finances following the death of Joel's father,
reveals that their investments are practically worthless thanks to the
combination of poor decision making and the late John Randolf's long term mismanagement of the family's money. The lawyer advises Elaine to sell the family home — which
is now worth much less than her deceased husband paid for it — and re-locate to a
cheap apartment in the city.
Although shocked by this unexpected news, the Randolfs strive to adopt a
positive attitude to their situation, telling themselves that being poor
will be an adventure and not necessarily something to fear and
dread. Harriet, forced to raise herself in a cash-strapped household following the death of her mother, admires their grace and
fortitude. Joel and his family, she generously decides, are very brave
people. 'They had never been used to anything but luxury; the prospect of being
without it must be more frightening to them than it was to her.
She knew, even with her limited experience, that pressure of this sort
can bring out all sorts of uglinesses in people. But here were the
Randolfs, not only being strong, but actually making a joke out of the
whole thing.' Soon, everything is settled between them. They will move to
the city, with Kit and Pris declaring themselves willing to look for
work should the need arise. But for now, the family decides, they'll try to retain the South Wales
house, expensive though it is to run.
By September 1938 Elaine, Kit, Gray and Pris are sharing an apartment on
Riverside Drive near Columbia University (where Gray is studying for his
doctorate) while Joel and Harriet are installed in an apartment of
their own on the outskirts of Greenwich Village. Money remains tight but
Harriet has a gift for economizing and providing the small wifely
touches which mean that Joel hardly misses his former luxurious, semi-rural home. There's even cause for cautious optimism after Joel,
having breezed in late from work with liquor on his breath, takes Harriet to
their favorite Italian restaurant to celebrate the news that he may be on
the verge of landing a very important advertising account courtesy of an
old college friend. Do a good job with it, he confides to his delighted wife,
and he'll be in line for a promotion and a raise, the implication being
that they will then be in the position to start a family of their own.
But life is not looking quite so promising for the other members of the
Randolf clan. Kit has had no luck finding herself a job, while Pris
and Elaine hardly seem to have acknowledged their changed circumstances,
continuing to spend so much money that selling their beloved family estate has now become a matter of urgent financial necessity. Joel agrees this is
the only course of action open to them and jokes that he looks forward to
being rich again. Again, Harriet admires the family's fortitude,
thinking it wrong that people as fine as the Randolfs should have to
scrimp and save as she's been obliged by necessity to do all her
life.
Things begin to look up again when, a few months later, Kit invites
Harriet to lunch to pass along the news that she's at last found a job as
a salesgirl at Considine's department store, a place she often patronized
as a customer and at which she once held a charge account.
This small success appears to have changed Kit, filling her with an
undisguised ambition she formerly did not possess. "I've changed, though, Harriet," she admits to her slightly stunned sister-in-law over cocktails. "Just the feeling of earning my own money has changed me. I want
to be independent all the way through. Can you understand that?" Harriet can understand this but is nevertheless surprised to see Kit gradually
change from a laconic lady of leisure into a hardnosed businesswoman,
determined to capitalize on every opportunity she's offered or can
negotiate for herself by ethical means or otherwise.
Kit also distances
herself from her family, ending the longstanding tradition of joining them
each week for Sunday lunch. Elaine is hurt by this defection, while
Pris seems too preoccupied with the loss of a former beau — a Harvard man
named Fulke — who once wanted to marry her to be concerned by her
sister's uncharacteristically grasping behavior. Pris jokes to Harriet that her only hope
of enjoying a stable future will be to marry a rich man. Concerned
that Pris may be serious about this, Harriet raises the issue with Joel,
only to learn that, on his advice, Elaine invested all the money she
received from the sale of the family home in a company whose share price has
plummeted, effectively bankrupting her. With Kit now doing well
enough to afford an apartment of her own, their next step is obvious — they must give up their cosy flat and move in with his mother and
Pris.
A pattern soon begins to emerge. As Kit does better at her job,
eventually stealing the position of the woman who mentored her with no concern for
the ruthlessness of her actions, so too does Pris's situation improve when she
begins to date a wealthy 'scientific' farmer named Kenneth Tryson.
Tryson is a pretentious boor but his money makes him an acceptable suitor,
particularly in the eyes of the perpetually bewildered Elaine, even though
Harriet is fully aware that Pris is far from being genuinely attracted to the man.
Harriet, however, has her own problems to contend with. She notices that Joel has begun to drink much more than usual, unaware that he's
doing so because he's lost the big account he was given and been put on
notice by his boss to either shape up or be fired. He stumbles in drunk one
afternoon when he should be out visiting a client, full of remorse and self-pity
and behaving as though he wants to be scolded for having failed to provide
for her. But Harriet can't bring herself to scold him. She
pities him and takes his side, insisting he can turn things around if only
he'll regain a little of his former confidence and make a concerted effort
to apply himself.
But Joel's almost too frank confession of inadequacy
also disturbs Harriet, prompting her to take the unprecedented step
of enrolling in a typing course in case her husband does get fired and she needs to
find paid work in a hurry. 'Probably every man was as full of doubts and uncertainties as Joel,' she loyally reminds herself while practicing at her typewriter one
night. 'It wasn't fair to expect to lean entirely on him, she must be able to
give him support too. But in spite of all her arguments, she knew
that she had been happier the old way. There had been something
exciting and poetic about their marriage then… The trouble was that she
hated to lose that sensation now. It was wrong and unintelligent
of her, but she hated to see it go.'
Yet go it does despite her growing list of anxieties and regrets. As his sisters appear to pull their lives together — with Kit becoming ever more ruthless and ever more ashamed of her floundering relatives while Pris secures her future by
paying a clandestine late night visit to Kenneth Tryson's bed — the formerly sparkling Joel comes to feel burdened by his responsibilities and
resentful of his wife's desire to acquire some basic secretarial skills. They argue
about this on their way home from a concert neither of them has enjoyed,
only to forgive each other and make love as soon as they get home. Although
they agree to forget all the hurtful things that were said in the heat of anger,
Harriet is aware that something is still bothering Joel who, when pressed
by her to come clean about his feelings, admits that he lost his job the week before but has
been too afraid to say so.
With no other option available to them, Harriet finds a job as a
secretary to a 'difficult' writer named McIlvaine. "He's sort of a literary hack," the woman at the secretarial agency informs her. "He's an odd sort of duck, it's hard to get on with him." Harriet, however, finds McIlvaine a remarkably easy man to work
for. Impressed by her talent for editing and organization, he comes to rely on her more and more, even listening to Harriet's suggestions for improving the
articles he churns out with such impressive if monotonous regularity. So useful do her suggestions prove that Harriet herself is soon offered a job, with McIlvaine's full knowledge and consent, by his editor.
In the meantime Pris announces that she and the lumpish Mr Tryson are
going to be married, shocking Harriet, when they meet by chance on the
street, with the news that she's pregnant and that their civil wedding ceremony will be taking place that same evening. The family are briefly
reunited for this event and a few days later, at Kit's invitation, Harriet
visits her in the apartment she's now in the process of leaving. Kit
confides that she's recently argued with Joel because he expected her to
find him a new job in the advertising department at Considine's, stating
bluntly that she has no intention of jeopardizing her position by doing that and can't understand how Harriet can bear to remain married to such a feckless weakling. When Harriet suggests that Kit doesn't really mean to criticize her brother,
Kit responds with a smile and asks if Harriet realizes why all the
Randolfs have always been so fond of her. "Because you always think the best of us," she explains. "We're a bunch of bums, really, but you couldn't be persuaded of it,
could you?" Harriet denies this and asks Kit where her husband is, only to
be informed that she and Gray are now in the process of filing for divorce. Again, Harriet is taken aback by this news, only to be told
that Kit feels Gray is too spineless for her to remain married to
him. "I didn't know how things like this can work on people. I didn't
realize that every little word would have to be watched, that I would be
stepping on Gray's toes continually. I can't go on living that
way, Harriet, it's too damned much of a strain."
These words, upsetting though they are, cannot help but strike a chord in
Harriet regarding her own floundering marriage. Things come to a head
during another Sunday gathering, with Kit on hand to stir up old
resentments while she and Joel criticize the absent Pris for having duped
Tryson into marrying her while Elaine, confused as ever, fumbles to defend the actions
of her youngest daughter. This is too much for Harriet, who begins
to feel ill and flees to the roof to escape not only her squabbling in-laws but also the oppressive
summer heat. 'I am tired of them, she thought. Elaine, who's so foolish; Kit
with her thoughtlessness, striving so hard to imitate a type of success
that only that kind of intelligence would tell her is desirable.
And Pris. Pris had wanted more than the rest of the world and she
had gotten it even if she had to cheat the rest of the world by breaking
their rules… They had lost consecutiveness, she hadn't the strength to
organize them. She missed Gray, he had been on her side, Gray
would have helped her now, he had already faced these things.' Joel appears and leads Harriet back downstairs, his attempts to comfort and console her not only unwanted but suddenly intolerable. The family are equally solicitous of
her, telling her to lie down and rest, something she's more than
happy to do if only to keep her distance from them. When she awakens again several
hours later Pris and her husband are there, discussing their impending
move to the country and Pris's now obvious pregnancy. Only
when she and Pris are alone, discussing the latter's morning sickness,
does Harriet connect how ill she felt earlier that afternoon with the fact
that she too must be pregnant.
The story concludes as it began, with Harriet visiting Joel's family in the
country. But this time it's Pris and Kenneth's home that she and
Joel and Kit are visiting — a household that has now expanded to include
Elaine, who will be staying on, they're told, to help care for her new
grandchild. Harriet, formerly so dazzled by the Randolfs, now feels
suffocated by them and plans to tell Joel, after informing him
that he's about to become a father, that she plans to leave
him. Her desire to part from him becomes even stronger after Joel
rejects a new job Kenneth has gone out of his way to arrange for him with the brokerage
firm he uses. Joel is grateful but adamant that the job will not
suit him, that he'll be destined to fail at it just as he failed as an
advertising salesman. But his attitude changes when he learns that Harriet is
expecting. Suddenly, there's a hint of the old, confident Joel, the
man Harriet once loved so passionately, the charming stranger who has been absent from her life for so long. He agrees to accept the job and starts babbling about his son going to college some day, leaving the
deeply conflicted Harriet with an extremely difficult choice to
make.
The Writer: Anne Brooks was twenty-five when her debut novel
Kingdom On Earth was published in 1941. It was praised by the
critics and was followed in 1942 by Hang My Heart,
a second novel that was greeted even more enthusiastically and saw her touted as a
writer from whom great things might be expected in the future.
Sadly, this was not to be the case. According to Brad Bigelow, whose
post on his excellent 'forgotten literature' website
Neglected Books
was what first drew me to read Brooks's work, she subsequently disappeared
from public view and never published a third novel. Nor is her fate
an uncommon one. Many writers, promising and otherwise, stop writing
due to discouragement, illness or that pernicious condition known as
'writer's block.' It's a great pity that someone as gifted as Brooks gave up writing fiction. As should hopefully be clear from this review, she was a writer of exceptional
talent with an eye for telling personal and atmospheric detail that was nothing short of extraordinary. Unfortunately, there's not a single photograph
of her or either of her novels — both of which are long out of print — available to view online.
Use the link below to download a free legal copy of
Kingdom On Earth, published by William Morrow and Company in
1941, from the Internet Archive. (I recommended downloading the PDF
version which, despite missing two pages, is the most
readable version available.)
Several online publishers, including Cope Books, have offered both
Kingdom On Earth and Hang My Heart as print-on-demand
books in previous years but neither title now appears to be available.
Special thanks to BRAD BIGELOW for alerting me to the work of ANNE
BROOKS and to that of so many other wonderful 'forgotten writers' via
his unfailingly informative Neglected Books website:
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