Book Review//Which Way? by Theodora Benson

There was a fire in the room; very comforting and gay. It threw a lovely liquid sheet of orange on the big armchairs each side of it. It sent a flickering glow on to the gallery table where lay weekly and daily papers, magazines, a few books thrown down. In front of the fire was a low stool, behind that a deep, soft sofa. Against one wall were shelves of books; opposite, a writing table framed by the dull, peach-coloured curtains of the windows, Branches and trails of flowers stood in great jars, drained of their colour in the shadows but not of their faint sweetness. The cushions were fluffed out, inviting. An antique clock marked time in a hushed monotone. Only the fire was alive, consuming its life–for what? Then the door opened and as Claudia came with hurried steps into the fire’s glow, two open letters in her hand, the telephone began ringing. She shut the door and turned up the lights.

Claudia returns to this time and place three times during the course of Which Way? Each time she makes a seemingly small decision about where she will spend a weekend and each time it takes her life in a completely different direction. The book begins by showing the reader Claudia’s childhood and personality.

Claudia, when she considered the future at all, supposed that she would marry. But she seldom looked ahead and when she did she misdoubted her fate. She could only marry if she loved some young man and if he loved her too and if they loved each other at the same time, and really all that might never happen. Some people could marry from respect and affection, for suitability, community of tastes, safety and real worth. But this admirable course, so often successful, would never fit her temperament no matter how desirable it should appear. Therefore it was better not to think about the future as a continuous whole, but to live in the present and in that immediate future in which she had a contradictory and touching confidence. She liked to flirt a little and she liked people to be pleased with her. She did not want scalps; she disliked the attention or admiration of any man who was not himself attractive to her. All she tried to do really was to get and to give as much pleasure as might be.

Which Way? is set and written in the 1930s and Claudia is an interesting portrayal of a society woman of the time. She is knowledgeable and yet, innocent. Her life is full and busy but she does not do much. She is a product of the people around her as is seen by the ways in which her personality and interactions change depending on which way she has chosen for her life.

There is nothing science-fictionish about this book. Claudia does not go back in time and repeat her life. The reader is the only one who is presented with the different life choices. In each life, Claudia is surrounded by the same people but her interactions with them are markedly different and, as a result, Claudia herself is different. Claudia is not always particularly likable or admirable but she is very human. She makes silly choices. She hurts people. She loves her child. She loves her husband. She doesn’t love her husband. She is a good friend and a bad friend. She is a mix of good and bad and that is what all people are. She is also limited by the society in which she lives and that can be true of all of us as well.

This is an interesting portrayal of a time period and of the ways in which our seemingly small decisions can affect our lives. And yet, in many ways Claudia’s life was very similar in all the iterations. She, and those around her, occasionally said “if only” but the reader knows that that “if only” did not always lead to the result Claudia thought it would.

Which Way? is a novel full of possibilities. Which way does Claudia choose? We never know for sure because the book ends with Claudia still a young woman. I think any reader will set the book down and think about the decisions in their own past and wonder which way they could have gone.

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