Books we like ... and books we're not too fussed about
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HG Wells
Oxford University Press 1983
Love and Mr Lewisham has been languishing unread on my shelf for just over twelve years, according to the inscription on the inside of the cover. Short of anything else to read a few days ago, I thought I’d give it a go. I’m glad I did. HG Wells is best known now as a writer of science fiction who saw all too clearly the way the world was going. However, he also wrote a number of more conventional novels, and this was one of them. Partially autobiographical, it tells the story of Mr Lewisham, a hard-working, highly disciplined young man with huge intellectual ambitions and a rigorous plan of how to achieve them. All goes awry, however, when he falls in love with Ethel, the stepdaughter of Chaffrey, a clever confidence trickster, masquerading as medium, who could teach even New Labour something about the self-justifying use of spin. It’s a tragic tale humorously told, that gives not just an interesting insight into a classic conflict, but also a fascinating picture of London towards the end of the nineteenth century. As always, Wells also has a drum to beat - social convention is stifling and destructive - but he creates a convincing character in Lewisham, even if some of the others are more thinly drawn. Chaffrey seems a bit of a diversion, there to show the difference between pseudo-science and the real thing, but otherwise this is a well-crafted engrossing novel. Though very different in style, it reminded me of Orwell’s later accounts of aspiring paupers, and of Patrick Hamilton’s doomed heroes also betrayed by love. It’s well worth a look.
19th April 2009
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jwells.htm
See also: The History of Mr Polly
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