Book Review//Keeping Up Appearances by Rose Macaulay

Born of one father, but of two quite different mothers, Daphne and Daisy looked alike, though Daphne was the better looking, the more elegant, and five years the younger. But in disposition, outlook, manners, and ways of thought, they were very different, Daphne being the better equipped for facing the world, Daisy for reflecting on it, though even this she did not do well.

Keeping Up Appearances is an interesting commentary on class, identity, position, and deceit. Both Daisy and Daphne try to “keep up appearances with the Folyot family because they are attracted to the son, Raymond. Slowly, the book begins to concentrate on Daisy and her life. She is very determined to keep the Folyot family in the dark about her background and the work she does. Daisy is an author and writes columns for the newspaper. However, she knows that Raymond and his family will not approve of the type of writing she does.

But Daisy knew that, instead of poetry, she ought to be writing her weekly article on Women. Dreamily she mused on it, while the bees hummed round her in the thyme. Should Clever Women Marry Stupid Men? Should Clever Men Marry Stupid Women? Should Women and Men Marry at all? What is the Religion of Women? The Post-War Girl: is she selfish, rude, clever, stupid, drunk, thin, tall, dark, fair? Is one Post-War Girl different in any respect from another? No, that wouldn’t do; the press knew she wasn’t; it would regard the question as heresy. You might admire or blame the Post-War Girl but you must not deny her existence as a separate entity. That was left to the Folyots and other highbrows, who had never heard of her owing to not reading the Human Press.

Slowly, life becomes more and more complicated for the sisters as the life they build up and present to the Folyots does not match the life they actually live. Daisy is pulled between the lower-class family she actually loves and the image she is trying to present. Eventually, the edifice of her life that she has built around her starts to crumble.

It is hard to say much else about this book because there is a bit of a twist in the middle that I don’t want to spoil. It took me a little while to get into the book. I actually started it three times before I managed to finish it. That isn’t a reflection on the book itself. Sometimes you just need the book to fit your mood and I think that was the issue here. When I finally managed to finish it I was left reflecting on the way we present ourselves to others and the juxtaposition of our inner and outer selves. As with any good author, Macaulay left me wanting more. I closed the book wanting to know where the characters went from there.

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