Reading the 20th Century discussion

Welcome to our group read discussion about...


Table Two by Marjorie Wilenski

This is the Amazon blurb:

“It’s awful to think that there are nine of us here to-day at this table and in six months’ time we may all be dead,” said Miss Purbeck. “There were thousands killed last night, so the bus conductor told me.”

“You certainly are our little ray of sunshine,” said Elsie scornfully.

Marjorie Wilenski’s only novel, as biting and funny as Barbara Pym at her crankiest, follows an office of women translators at the fictional Ministry of Foreign Intelligence in London as they bicker, manoeuvre, and shift allegiances just before and then in the thick of the London Blitz. Its two main characters are sharply contrasted—the clever, efficient but terminally bitter middle-aged Elsie Pearne and the cheerful, pretty young newcomer Anne Shepley-Rice, whose once affluent family has fallen on hard times. Their colleagues include a fresh air fanatic, a busybody, an inept supervisor and her trusty deputy, the dithering, chatty Mrs Jolly, and a former lady’s companion who delights in bad news and disaster.

The cast of Table Two are instantly recognizable to any office worker of today. But this portrayal of a 1940s office is a rare treasure for modern readers, showing, with vivid detail and dark humour, how a group of independent, capable women experienced some of the darkest days of World War II.

‘The most striking novel about women war workers this war has produced’ Elizabeth Bowen

Who is reading this one? I really enjoyed it and found it quite hard to put down. It makes me want to read more of the Furrowed Middlebrow reprints from WW2 as soon as possible.

For me the most fascinating thing about it is the descriptions of life in the translation department during wartime and the office politics, jealousies etc.

I'm not sure if I can fit it in Judy but, I must say, you have piqued my interest and I notice the UK Kindle edition is a very affordable £2.49

I'll be following this discussion with great interest

I've just started this, I'm finding the style a bit jerky at times, like the author is throwing in bits of backstory that she feels is missing, but I'm really enjoying the content - the office politics - and the characters.

I really enjoyed this one. I think you're right about the office politics, not much changes apparently. If people weren't complaining about having to go down to the bomb shelters all the time, there would be something else getting in the way of work.
Yesterday I started Miss Carter and the Ifrit, which is another of the WW2 titles released in this batch. Really good so far.

It was a bit jerky, especially at the beginning. I think it a bit unfair to compare this to Barbara Pym; that may give people too high an expectation, this was her only novel, after all.

I have started this one, but not yet finished. I would agree with Judy that this has made me keen to read more in the Furrowed Middlebrow series.

Tania wrote: "It was a bit jerky, especially at the beginning. I think it a bit unfair to compare this to Barbara Pym that may give people too high an expectation, this was her only novel, after all."

I haven't tried Pym yet, but I think this is often a problem with book blurbs, that they make out one author is just like another and in fact, not surprisingly, the two are usually quite different! I agree it was a bit jerky at times but I still really enjoyed it. On the whole I thought the parts about Elsie were often stronger than the parts about Anne.

Nigeyb wrote: "I'm not sure if I can fit it in Judy but, I must say, you have piqued my interest and I notice the UK Kindle edition is a very affordable £2.49

I'll be following this discussion with great interest"

It's quite a quick read if you do have a chance, Nigeyb - I get the feeling it was mainly aimed at women readers, as with many Furrowed Middlebrow reprints, but I think you would find it interesting.

Thanks Judy

Susan wrote: "I have started this one, but not yet finished. I would agree with Judy that this has made me keen to read more in the Furrowed Middlebrow series."

I have read most of this batch now, I particularly liked The House Opposite, also set during the blitz, certainly not cosy, and Nothing to Report, set during the run up to the war, and its sequel.

I have started this one. Hoping it improves. It is going by fits and starts so far. But I'm not very far in yet.

I haven't had much reading time lately and I started this, liked the beginning, then stalled. I will try to get back into it. I am really near the beginning, but I was amused at the idea of the two tables in the room and the women not really interacting outside of 'their' table!

I also sympathised with the women over the fresh air fiend. We've all worked with one of those in our time, I expect! Now it is those who want the air conditioning on, opposed to those who don't, though.

I'm not wild about this one, it has some interesting moments and I'm enjoying the mechanics of how the translation department works, but the writing seems stilted and it's becoming very snobby. I'll finish it though, it's not terrible.

I wasn't sure what to think about all the snobbishness, Pamela - there seems to be a lot of it aimed at Elsie by the other characters, but I think she is nevertheless far and away the most interesting character.

I felt as if the author sympathises with her strongly but somewhat has things both ways by also mocking her.

I don't think the upper-crust Anne is as convincing a character as Elsie, and I found it hard to sympathise with her a lot of the time when she was being described as so sweet, lovely, etc - but I think she comes alive in the sections where she has problems.

Interesting that most of the women are in their 40s or 50s, except for Anne - Elsie is in her 40s, so I was somewhat surprised to see her constantly referred to as "old". I believe the author was actually around the same age as her, or a couple of years older!

Judy wrote: "I wasn't sure what to think about all the snobbishness, Pamela - there seems to be a lot of it aimed at Elsie by the other characters..."

Yes, Elsie (clever but badly brought up so no manners) and Mary (new money so obviously vulgar and shallow compared with the noble gentry) are the main victims of it. These aren't unusual viewpoints for the time, but it's laid on so thick here.

Elsie was also very bitter about having her dream of university taken away from her and having to go out to earn her living at a young age. I think she could have been a very different character if she'd been allowed that opportunity.

Finished it now, it picked up a bit towards the end so overall it was OK. I was horrified at the petition, but Elsie was her own worst enemy too.
Here's my review

Great review, Pamela. I do agree the real-life elements were the best part of this - fascinating to see what it was like in London during the "Phoney War" and how at that early stage people sometimes felt as if the Blitz would never reach the capital.

Yes, the petition was appalling - I did wonder how Anne would have reacted if she had been asked to sign it?

Yes, what I liked reading about was the shock that was felt when the bombs actually got through and started to drop. To begin with, everyone had their own bomb story but it quickly became something you didn't talk about.

The part where Anne goes and helps after a nearby dogs' hospital is bombed is really compelling.

Judy wrote: "The part where Anne goes and helps after a nearby dogs' hospital is bombed is really compelling."

I liked that too, Anne was a real dog lover. The scene where she saw the Italian restaurant destroyed was quite powerful too.

A great review here of Table Two from the Furrowed Middlebrow blog, by blogger Scott, when he had discovered it as a rare novel before it was reprinted.

http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.co...

I see he thinks the parts seen from Elsie's standpoint are much stronger than those seen from Anne's, which I would definitely agree with - I don't think Anne is all that interesting as a character.

I have finally finished this. Totally agree that Elsie is, by far, the most interesting character in the book. I found Anne a little insipid, and most of the other characters a little wooden. What made this work for me back the wartime, and office, background, with all the intrigue, gossip and cliques.