I can’t help but think that the shift of style and tone of the novel was meant to mirror the experience of the characters themselves, from a beautiful and peaceful summer in a lovely town to the utter horrors of wartime. The action and the timeline speed up, the stakes get much higher, and soon the parochial concerns are entirely eclipsed by the conflict–trench warfare, shell shock, senseless slaughter, trauma, and grief on an immense scale. Refugees from Belgium arrive and are warmly welcomed and housed–at least until some of the uglier ramifications of war make themselves apparent. Later, a declaration of war, parades, a performative patriotism…and enthusiastic and innocent young men begin to sign up to fight. Kent’s husband is in the Foreign Service) at first. Throughout, though, there are hints of the storm to come–the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and some diplomatic troubles (Ms. Simonson subtly but clearly demonstrates the parochialism and classism of society, the deficiency of options for women, the small town gossip and rigidity–but it’s a comedy of manners, and the pure of heart do tend to triumph in this genre. Tillingham, a stand-in for Henry James, who really did live in Rye), garden parties, country dances, a harvest festival, glorious weather. There’s a hint of potential romance, a famous author (Mr. Beatrice begins to enjoy the beauty of the coastal landscape while winning over the hearts and minds of (most of) the townspeople. Kent soon draws her into her family circle. Fortunately, she is clever, attractive, and charming, and Ms. Beatrice, still reeling from the death of her father, is fleeing her controlling and unsympathetic relatives and has taken the job in an effort to maintain her independence, something rather hard to do, as the relatives control the purse strings, and female Latin teachers are not paid particularly well. Beatrice Nash, a young woman, has been appointed the local school’s Latin teacher, due to the machinations of Agatha Kent, who has used much of her social capital promoting this slightly scandalous bit of gender progress. It starts as a slow-moving, low-stakes story in Rye, a small English town, in 1914. The Summer Before the War is actually rather ingeniously constructed. I took it along with me on a driving trip from the east coast to the midwest and back this summer, dipping into it at rest stops and while lounging at the hotel pool.
I can’t explain why on earth it took me until 2021 to read it, but I’m glad I finally did.
I’d enjoyed Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand tremendously and was looking forward to seeing what else Helen Simonson had to say. The collection as a whole (which includes the author's most famous story, 'Rain') is highly recommended.I was really quite excited to read The Summer Before the War when the book came out in 2016. Maugham can create tragedy too : 'The Unconquered' is a powerful story set in wartime France, in which a German soldier tries to ingratiate himself with an initially resentful farmer and his family and eventually pays a high price for his efforts. A talkative busybody, who irritates his fellow passengers, turns out to be unexpectedly perceptive and sensitive when, in his role as an expert on pearls, he saves the reputation of an errant wife. 'Mr Know-All', which is my very favourite Maugham story, involves events on an ocean liner. The boy casually involves himself in all three activities, very much to his advantage and his father's exasperated dismay. There is, for example, the amusing irony of 'The Facts of Life', in which a stern father cautions his teenage son, a talented tennis player, not to lend anyone money, gamble or consort with women. This first volume contains a number of my favourites. Coming back to them, now available in four paperback volumes, has been a great pleasure. It was a very long time ago when I first enjoyed the short stories of Somerset Maugham, who was surely the middlebrow master of the genre.
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