Mary Wesley
Encyclopedia
Mary Wesley, CBE was an English
novelist. During her career, she was one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including 10 best-sellers in the last 20 years of her life.
, Surrey
, the third child of Colonel Harold and Violet Mynors Farmar. As a child, she had 16 governesses. When she asked her mother why they kept on leaving, she was reportedly told "Because none of them like you, darling."
She had three sons. Her first husband was Carol Swinfen Eady (the 2nd Baron Swinfen
) with whom she had a son Roger (now Lord Swinfen). She had an affair with the Czech war hero Heinz Otto Ziegler
, with whom she had Toby Eady, who became the literary agent of her biographer Patrick Marnham. She then had a son, William Siepmann, with her second husband, Eric Siepmann. Wesley became an author late in life after Siepmann's death in 1970 left her nearly impoverished.
Wesley had a lifelong complicated relationship with her family and especially with her mother. She had a sharp tongue. Following the death of her father in 1961, her mother said: "I'm not going to let that lingering death happen to me. When the time comes I'm going to crawl to the Solent
and swim out". She replied with feeling: "I'll help you".
Her family didn't approve of her books. Her brother called what she wrote "filth" and her sister, with whom she was no longer on speaking terms, strongly objected to The Camomile Lawn
, claiming that some of the characters were based on their parents. Wesley identified the appalling grandparents in Harnessing Peacocks, who bully the pregnant Hebe, as the nearest she came to a portrait of her own parents in old age.
. The publication of Jumping the Queue in 1983 was the beginning of an intensely creative period of Wesley's life. From 1982 to 1991, she wrote and delivered seven novels. While she aged from 70 to 79 she still showed the focus and drive of a young person.
Her best-known book, The Camomile Lawn
, set on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, was turned into a television
series, and is an account of the intertwining lives of three families in rural England during World War II
. After The Camomile Lawn
(1984) came Harnessing Peacocks (1985 and as TV film in 1992), The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (1986 and filmed in 1995), Not That Sort of Girl (1987), Second Fiddle
(1988), A Sensible Life (1990), A Dubious Legacy (1993), An Imaginative Experience (1994) and Part of the Furniture (1997). A book about the West Country with photographer Kim Sayer, Part of the Scenery, was published in 2001. Asked why she had stopped writing fiction at the age of 84, she replied: "If you haven't got anything to say, don't say it."
In Wesley's books there are some references to her own life, although she denied that her novels were autobiographical. Her books usually take place in or around the everlasting house, the idyllic refuge, recalling her time with Siepmann, living in a remote cottage in the West Country
. Other recurring themes such as the dysfunctional family
, the uncertain paternity, the affirmation of illegitimacy, can also be linked to her own life. In addition, thanks to her flighty youth, sex would become her trademark in her books though she wrote about what went on in the head rather than a user's manual. Incest also plays a part in several of her novels, but Wesley never mentioned this as a feature of her own life. She may however have gained her insight from her years working as a Samaritan.
, on the condition that nothing would be published prior to her death. She provided her reminiscences from her sick bed, and commented "Have you any idea of the pleasure of lying in bed for six months, talking about yourself to a very intelligent man? My deepest regret was that I was too old and ill to take him into bed with me". The authorised biography (published in 2006), was titled Wild Mary, a reference both to her childhood nickname, and to her sex life as a young woman, when she had many lovers. In her biography nothing is held back: "It was a flighty generation" ... [W]e had been brought up so repressed. War freed us. We felt if we didn't do it now, we might never get another chance". "It got to the state where one woke up in the morning, reached across the pillow and thought, 'Let's see. Who is it this time?'"
But Wesley finally did get tired of her wartime lifestyle, she realized that her way of life had become too excessive: "too many lovers, too much to drink...I was on my way to become a very nasty person". When her son Toby Eady read the book, he was so amazed at how much he did not know about his mother that he did not speak to anyone for a week.
Late in life Wesley ordered her own coffin from a local craftswoman and asked it be finished in red Chinese lacquer. She kept it as a coffee table for some time in her sitting room. She suggested that she be photographed sitting up in it for a feature in the magazine Country Living - this idea was politely declined.
She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995.
and a blood disorder on 30 December 2002, aged 90, at her home in Totnes
, Devon
.
Novels for Adults
Autobiographical
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
novelist. During her career, she was one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including 10 best-sellers in the last 20 years of her life.
Background
Mary Aline Mynors Farmar was born in Englefield GreenEnglefield Green
Englefield Green is a large village in northern Surrey, England. It is home to Royal Holloway, University of London, the south eastern corner of Windsor Great Park and close to the towns of Egham, Windsor, Staines and Virginia Water...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, the third child of Colonel Harold and Violet Mynors Farmar. As a child, she had 16 governesses. When she asked her mother why they kept on leaving, she was reportedly told "Because none of them like you, darling."
She had three sons. Her first husband was Carol Swinfen Eady (the 2nd Baron Swinfen
Baron Swinfen
Baron Swinfen, of Chertsey in the County of Surrey, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the lawyer and judge Sir Charles Swinfen Eady upon his retirement as Master of the Rolls. He died only two weeks after his elevation to the peerage and was succeeded by...
) with whom she had a son Roger (now Lord Swinfen). She had an affair with the Czech war hero Heinz Otto Ziegler
Heinz Otto Ziegler
Heinz Otto Ziegler was a Czech political scientist, who became an RAF pilot. He was killed in action in May 1944. Had a son with the English author Mary Wesley, who worked for MI5 during the war...
, with whom she had Toby Eady, who became the literary agent of her biographer Patrick Marnham. She then had a son, William Siepmann, with her second husband, Eric Siepmann. Wesley became an author late in life after Siepmann's death in 1970 left her nearly impoverished.
Wesley had a lifelong complicated relationship with her family and especially with her mother. She had a sharp tongue. Following the death of her father in 1961, her mother said: "I'm not going to let that lingering death happen to me. When the time comes I'm going to crawl to the Solent
Solent
The Solent is a strait separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland of England.The Solent is a major shipping route for passengers, freight and military vessels. It is an important recreational area for water sports, particularly yachting, hosting the Cowes Week sailing event annually...
and swim out". She replied with feeling: "I'll help you".
Her family didn't approve of her books. Her brother called what she wrote "filth" and her sister, with whom she was no longer on speaking terms, strongly objected to The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn is a novel by Mary Wesley about the lives of Richard and Helena Cuthbertson and their five nieces and nephews; Calypso, Walter, Polly, Oliver and Sophy. The title refers to a fragrant camomile lawn stretching down to the Cornish cliffs in the garden of the main characters' aunt's...
, claiming that some of the characters were based on their parents. Wesley identified the appalling grandparents in Harnessing Peacocks, who bully the pregnant Hebe, as the nearest she came to a portrait of her own parents in old age.
Novels
She wrote three children's books, Speaking Terms and The Sixth Seal (both 1969) and Haphazard House (1983), before publishing adult fiction. Since her first adult novel was published only in 1983, when she was 71, she may be regarded as a late bloomerLate bloomer
A late bloomer is a person whose talents or capabilities are not visible to others until later than usual. The term is used metaphorically to describe a child or adolescent who develops more slowly than others in their age group, but eventually catches up and in some cases overtakes their peers, or...
. The publication of Jumping the Queue in 1983 was the beginning of an intensely creative period of Wesley's life. From 1982 to 1991, she wrote and delivered seven novels. While she aged from 70 to 79 she still showed the focus and drive of a young person.
Her best-known book, The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn is a novel by Mary Wesley about the lives of Richard and Helena Cuthbertson and their five nieces and nephews; Calypso, Walter, Polly, Oliver and Sophy. The title refers to a fragrant camomile lawn stretching down to the Cornish cliffs in the garden of the main characters' aunt's...
, set on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, was turned into a television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series, and is an account of the intertwining lives of three families in rural England during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn is a novel by Mary Wesley about the lives of Richard and Helena Cuthbertson and their five nieces and nephews; Calypso, Walter, Polly, Oliver and Sophy. The title refers to a fragrant camomile lawn stretching down to the Cornish cliffs in the garden of the main characters' aunt's...
(1984) came Harnessing Peacocks (1985 and as TV film in 1992), The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (1986 and filmed in 1995), Not That Sort of Girl (1987), Second Fiddle
Second Fiddle
Second Fiddle is a term that refers to something that plays a secondary role in support of something that plays a more major or leading role.Second Fiddle may also refer to:* Second Fiddle * Second Fiddle...
(1988), A Sensible Life (1990), A Dubious Legacy (1993), An Imaginative Experience (1994) and Part of the Furniture (1997). A book about the West Country with photographer Kim Sayer, Part of the Scenery, was published in 2001. Asked why she had stopped writing fiction at the age of 84, she replied: "If you haven't got anything to say, don't say it."
Writing style and themes
Her take on life reveals a sharp and critical eye which neatly dissects the idiosyncrasies of genteel England with humor, compassion and irony, detailing in particular sexual and emotional values. Her style has been described as "arsenic without the old lace". Others have described it as "Jane Austen plus sex", a description Mary Wesley herself thought ridiculous. As a woman who was liberated before her time Mary Wesley challenged social assumptions about the old, confessed to bad behaviour, recommended sex. In doing so she smashed the stereotype of the disapproving, judgmental, past-it, old person. This delighted the old and intrigued the young.In Wesley's books there are some references to her own life, although she denied that her novels were autobiographical. Her books usually take place in or around the everlasting house, the idyllic refuge, recalling her time with Siepmann, living in a remote cottage in the West Country
West Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
. Other recurring themes such as the dysfunctional family
Dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is...
, the uncertain paternity, the affirmation of illegitimacy, can also be linked to her own life. In addition, thanks to her flighty youth, sex would become her trademark in her books though she wrote about what went on in the head rather than a user's manual. Incest also plays a part in several of her novels, but Wesley never mentioned this as a feature of her own life. She may however have gained her insight from her years working as a Samaritan.
Final years
Only in the last year of her life did she agree to a biography being written. She cooperated fully with Patrick MarnhamPatrick Marnham
Patrick Marnham is an English writer, journalist and biographer. He is primarily known for his biographies, where he has covered subjects as diverse as Diego Rivera, Georges Simenon, Jean Moulin and Mary Wesley. As a journalist, he has written for Private Eye, The Independent and The Spectator...
, on the condition that nothing would be published prior to her death. She provided her reminiscences from her sick bed, and commented "Have you any idea of the pleasure of lying in bed for six months, talking about yourself to a very intelligent man? My deepest regret was that I was too old and ill to take him into bed with me". The authorised biography (published in 2006), was titled Wild Mary, a reference both to her childhood nickname, and to her sex life as a young woman, when she had many lovers. In her biography nothing is held back: "It was a flighty generation" ... [W]e had been brought up so repressed. War freed us. We felt if we didn't do it now, we might never get another chance". "It got to the state where one woke up in the morning, reached across the pillow and thought, 'Let's see. Who is it this time?'"
But Wesley finally did get tired of her wartime lifestyle, she realized that her way of life had become too excessive: "too many lovers, too much to drink...I was on my way to become a very nasty person". When her son Toby Eady read the book, he was so amazed at how much he did not know about his mother that he did not speak to anyone for a week.
Late in life Wesley ordered her own coffin from a local craftswoman and asked it be finished in red Chinese lacquer. She kept it as a coffee table for some time in her sitting room. She suggested that she be photographed sitting up in it for a feature in the magazine Country Living - this idea was politely declined.
She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995.
Death
Mary Wesley died from goutGout
Gout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. The metatarsal-phalangeal joint at the base of the big toe is the most commonly affected . However, it may also present as tophi, kidney stones, or urate...
and a blood disorder on 30 December 2002, aged 90, at her home in Totnes
Totnes
Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
.
List of works
Novels for Children- Speaking Terms (1969)
- The Sixth Seal (1969)
- Haphazard House (1983)
Novels for Adults
- Jumping the Queue (1983)
- The Camomile LawnThe Camomile LawnThe Camomile Lawn is a novel by Mary Wesley about the lives of Richard and Helena Cuthbertson and their five nieces and nephews; Calypso, Walter, Polly, Oliver and Sophy. The title refers to a fragrant camomile lawn stretching down to the Cornish cliffs in the garden of the main characters' aunt's...
(1984) - Harnessing Peacocks (1985)
- The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (1986)
- Not That Sort of Girl (1987)
- Second FiddleSecond FiddleSecond Fiddle is a term that refers to something that plays a secondary role in support of something that plays a more major or leading role.Second Fiddle may also refer to:* Second Fiddle * Second Fiddle...
(1988) - A Sensible Life (1990)
- A Dubious Legacy (1992)
- An Imaginative Experience (1994)
- Part of the Furniture (1997)
Autobiographical
- Part of the Scenery (2001)
Suggested reading
- Marnham. Patrick, Wild Mary: The Life of Mary Wesley. Chatto and WindusChatto and WindusChatto & Windus has been, since 1987, an imprint of Random House, publishers. It was originally an important publisher of books in London, founded in the Victorian era....
, 2006, ISBN 0-7011-79910
Sources
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn, Oxford University Press, January 2006 accessed 25 June 2006