It is the 1950s in England, where well-brought-up young women are meant to aspire to the respectable life. Meg Bailey duly follows the rules and conventions—until she gets a job and moves to London, and her best friend Roxane marries a man selected by her mother. Then Meg does something truly shocking—shocking not only by the standards of her time, but by her own.

Don't Look at Me Like That

3.75 stars This is Diana Athill’s only novel and was written in the mid 60s (set in the 1950s). She wrote a few short stories and several volumes of memoirs in her long life. Her main work was in publishing and the list of authors she worked with is impressive. Her personal life was also very interesting and much too complex to examine here! The novel revolves around a young woman called Meg Bailey. She has a cloistered upbringing, the daughter of a clergyman who is as impecunious as the mythical church mouse. When grown, following art school, she moves to 1950s London and has some of the usual adventures of youth, but in particular an affair with her best friend’s husband.  The opening and closing of the novel are striking: “When I was at school I used to think that everyone disliked me” “There’s something almost enjoyable in having one person in the world I can truly hate.” At one level this is a simple coming of age novel that focuses on belonging: “I wanted to rush on into unknown territory forever, safe in the warm intimacy of the car, the blanket rough against my chin, the men singing and joking, Roxane reaching into the back from time to time to feed me a chocolate, and neither of the two in front knowing that my hand was fast in Dick’s. I was eighteen and no one had ever held my hand before. Wilfred had always been too shy to attempt physical contact beyond bumping into me occasionally. This was a new move in the game, and a big one.” It is also an examination of women of a certain type and class and at one level not a great deal happens, but with Athill there are twists. One of the significant characters in the book is Egyptian. The novel covers the period of Suez and Nasser and Jamil’s reaction is nuanced and complex.  On the whole this is fairly short, easy to read, though a little flimsy, but the ending is interesting and it evokes 1950s London.

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