Book Review//Tension by E. M. Delafield

Lady Rossiter is a character you love to hate. She is the wife of one of the directors of a technical college and she believes it is her mission in life to spread sweetness and light into the poor, benighted lives of those who have to work for their living. She is heavyhanded and interfering and possibly well-intentioned. She lives by the mantra of “Is it kind, is it wise, is it true?” Somehow, much of what she says is none of those things and yet she continues to be convinced she is doing her all for the people around her.

I am tired, Julian. I shall go to the boudoir and enjoy the silence till it’s time to dress. Nothing is so restful as complete silence, after all.”

Julian honoured the assertion by making no reply to it whatever.

“I’ve been told,” said Edna, with gentle solemnity, “that my spirit is burning itself away, I know you don’t sympathise with that necessity for pouring out, Julian–this afternoon, for instance, has taken a great deal out of me–but I noticed that you gave out nothing at all–not one spark. Isn’t it rather a pity? One can do so little materially, but the things of the spirit …Ah well, I grudge none of it.”

She went upstairs, however, very slowly, and leaning heavily upon the banisters.

Julian’s gaze did not follow her.

Miss Marchrose joins the college in the role of Lady Superintendent. She is a hard worker and liked by all until Lady Rossiter discovers that Miss Marchrose is the woman who was once engaged to her cousin Clarence and who then jilted him after he was paralyzed in an accident. When Mark Easter, Sir Julian’s agent, begins to be attracted to Miss Marchrose Lady Rossiter decides it is her duty to protect him and in so doing she does harm to Miss Marchrose.

“Satire is a very cheap, unworthy weapon,” said Lady Rossiter, not without inward reminiscences of Sir Julian as she spoke. “but to be quite fair, I don’t think I’ve ever heard poor Miss Marchrose try to be satirical or anything of the sort. She’s generally rather tongue-tied and awkward when I’m there. You see, Iris, I’m afraid she knows that I have heard a good deal about her, one way and another.”

Lady Rossiter hesitated, remembered Mark, and decided to go on.

“I am afraid there is not much doubt that Miss Marchrose once did a very, very heartless action, and I am afraid that heartlessness and meanness are only too terribly apt to go together. There is something about the hard lines of her mouth–but after all, can I cast the first stone? I had rather let the facts speak for themselves.”

Facts don’t speak for themselves. Rumor speaks and whispers run through the college. Miss Marchrose becomes unpopular and unhappy. Lady Rossiter goes on to interfere in every way possible and never bothers to find out of her version of things is correct. Slowly, the atmosphere in the college becomes more and more intense. Sir Julian sees what is happening around him and knows his wife is impossible but does nothing.

Sir Julian thought of many things. For a moment he wondered whether he should say them aloud. Then the habit of apathy that had possessed him for a number of years asserted itself anew, and he did as he had almost always done–he left things alone.

The swirling emotions and the tension of the novel’s title eventually force Miss Marchrose to take action. The reader is left feeling angry for her and yet a bit hopeful. Maybe she will find some contentment in her life. Many of the other characters will go on to repeat the same mistakes, be blinkered by the same prejudices, and hobbled by their own inanition. Delafield’s strength as a writer is that she can create these annoying or weak characters and the reader is frustrated by them but, at the same time, knows they exist in real life. Lady Rossiter is self-centered, domineering, and considers herself superior but she isn’t an evil woman. She causes havoc while convinced she is doing good. Sir Julian is an observant man who cares about others but doesn’t have the strength to do anything to help. Mark Easter is a charming man who doesn’t make waves even in regard to disciplining his own children. Delafield writes so we laugh, cringe, and nod in recognition all at once.

My thanks to the British Library for the review copy of this book.