Miss Granby's Secret by Eleanor Farjeon

“An Advanced Woman: that is how Aunt Addie would have described herself. It is a pity she couldn’t write her own obituary (16)." 

Eleanor Farjeon’s book Miss Granby’s Secret or the Bastard of Pinsk is full of funny lines, like the one above. Originally published in 1940, it is about Adelaide Granby, a prolific author of Victorian romances, who dies, leaving her great-niece Pamela with a house, Pelham Place, a stack of papers, and an unpublished manuscript. Amongst the flowers and condolence cards is an impressive arrangement with a card signed, “From Stanislaw,” alerting Pamela to the fact that along with material possessions, her Aunt Addie has left her with a mystery to uncover. Who was this “grande passion” of her Aunt Addie’s? And was her aunt really as naïve as she seemed? 

Addie left a big impression on Pamela. Knowing how her aunt would have responded on a given occasion, Pamela often hears Addie’s voice in her head. On one occasion, Pamela, who is a suffragette and prides herself on her knowledge, remembers the time she offered to tell her aunt the facts of life, and how Addie declined (18). 

“I always shocked my public. That’s how I made my name. If I had known the facts of life, I couldn’t have done it. I should have been much too coy. But fortunately, I had only my inklings, so I have been able to run on to my forty-ninth novel unimpeded (23)."

Written when she was 16 years old, the unpublished manuscript that Addie leaves behind, entitled “The Bastard of Pinsk”, was her first attempt at a novel. As Pamela reads it, we are privy to the full text. In it we discover just how innocent young Addie was, as evidenced by her belief that a bastard is “A very noble Hero of Royal Blood”. On one occasion a woman in Addie’s novel confessed that she had given a man “her all”. Next to it, Addie has written herself a note “Mem: What is it? Find out.—A.G." (115).

At first I thought Miss Granby’s Secret was simply a book within a book, but after some reflection it seems to be more like three books, the present, Addie’s manuscript, and excerpts from Addie’s diary, all woven together. You cannot appreciate one without the other and I think this bears keeping in mind. About halfway through the manuscript portion I found myself tiring of the joke, despite how humorous it was. It took until I was two-thirds of the way through the manuscript before I felt like I understood why it needed to be there in its entirety. On top of that there are notes, letters, funeral announcements, etc… all adding to a collage of texts, conversations, and interviews that not only relate the fictitious writer, Adelaide Granby, to the novel she has written, but providing similarities between the character and her creator, Eleanor Farjeon. 

Admittedly, I could have approached this book with more knowledge if I had first read the wonderfully insightful introduction by Elizabeth Crawford provided in the Dean Street Press edition, or perhaps if I had read the blurb all the way through. What can I say? I like to approach most books with minimal knowledge, leaving me free to form my own opinions and stumble where I may, allowing the text to reveal itself to due time. This one revealed itself to be a work of genius, it just took me a while to realize it.

As Elizabeth Crawford writes in her introduction, Eleanor Farjeon herself retained an innocent understanding of sex well into adulthood as recounted by her niece Annabel, though at 18 years old Eleanor Farjeon’s verse was so knowing that it was wondered where she got her knowledge from (11). There are other similarities between Eleanor and Adelaide, but I will leave you to read the introduction for yourself to discover those. 

One of the things that stood out to me about this book is the built up to Pamela finally visiting Pelham Place, the home Addie grew up in. It isn’t until late in the novel that Pamela visits and her impressions took me by surprise, though it probably should not have.

“About an acre and a half of shrubs, flowers, vegetables, and weeds. Only near the house were the weeds not dominant. It was a two-storied grey stone house, neither large nor small, attractive nor unattractive. Nondescript. Perhaps the back had more to offer (274)."

“I went though the other rooms, all much of a character, characterless.” (277)

I found myself on the top of a circular spur enclosed by a castellated battlement, and crowned with a dilapidated erection which I recognised at once as the "Gothic Temple." Seated within it, one looked down on the cedar and the roof of the house, across to the ravine where the river flowed. It was damp, and smelled dismally of decay. It would have enchanted Caroline Tarletan [a character in Addie’s manuscript], but not me. That was all the grounds could offer me. A constricted little effort at romance. (279)

The disconnect between the dramatic and romantic setting as depicted in Addie’s novel and Pelham Place as see through Pamela’s eyes made me wonder if it was solely the romanic notions of a young girl in love that gave a rose-colored tint to the place, or if Eleanor Farjeon was commenting on the inability of a person to return to the past. After the breakup of Addie’s relationship that wasn’t to be, she never returns to Pelham Place.

Mrs. Chester, the housekeeper remembers Addie, describing her at 15 as “pretty as a picture” (276) and that’s how she would remain in that woman’s memory. By not returning to Pelham Place, Addie would never have to see it diminished to the “characterless” surroundings that Pamela sees. Perhaps, the contrast would have been all the more stark for Addie had she visited years later.

Eleanor Farjeon is best known for her children’s books, though this is the first book of hers I have read. I would love to learn more about the author’s life and then come back and read this one again in hopes of discovering more of the Easter eggs hidden secreted away by Miss Granby and her author.

This book was fun, joyful, ridiculous, surprisingly poignant, and a little like falling down a rabbit hole at times. I loved it!

Miss Granby’s Secret comes out on 5 August and is the first Furrowed Middlebrow release as Dean Street Press Ltd. transitions from Dean Street Press. I actually squealed with joy when I opened the email from the DSP that said they would be continuing to release new titles. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for a review.