Sing Me Who You Are by Elizabeth Berridge was first published in 1967 but it has just been reprinted in the British Library Women Writers series. I was sent a copy of the book for review by British Library, for which many thanks.
Harriet has given up her job as a librarian and is moving to a big green bus which has been left to her in her aunt’s will. The bus is situated in a field which had belonged to her aunt, and now belongs to her cousin Magda. That might be a problem in the future but Harriet is just happy to be free of work, although she might have retired too early. An alternative lifestyle is beckoning, she’s converting the bus into living accomodation, sectioning bits off and installing a stove, hooking up water pipes and insulating the bus, getting it ready for winter. For company she has her two Siamese cats.
Cousin Magda is one of those very managing sort of women and she has inherited Uplands, a large house, hundreds of acres of farmland. She’s married to Gregg who had been in a Japanese prisoner of war camp and he’s still very much haunted by his experiences. Gregg is delighted to have Harriet staying so close by, they’ve always had a close relationship, possibly Harriet can help him – or make matters worse between him and Magda.
I enjoyed this one which was written at a time of change. Harriet is a bit of an incipient hippy to begin with, and Magda is the opposite, only interested in money and always being dissatisfied with all that she already has. WW2 was still very much in some people’s minds and environmental issues were beginning to come to the fore – for some.
