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A novelist in the grand tradition, and, more than this, an innovator, the first writer to filter her stories through a woman's feelings and perceptions (Anita Brookner )
Lehmann has always written brilliantly of women in love, of mothers, of daughters, of suffering (Margaret Drabble )
No English writer has told of the pains of women in love more truly or more movingly than Rosamond Lehmann (Marghanita Laski )
Lehmann has always written brilliantly of women in love, of mothers, of daughters, of suffering (Margaret Drabble )
No English writer has told of the pains of women in love more truly or more movingly than Rosamond Lehmann (Marghanita Laski )
Review
A novelist in the grand tradition, and, more than this, an innovator, the first writer to filter her stories through a woman's feelings and perceptions Anita Brookner Lehmann has always written brilliantly of women in love, of mothers, of daughters, of suffering Margaret Drabble No English writer has told of the pains of women in love more truly or more movingly than Rosamond Lehmann Marghanita Laski
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THE village, in the hollow below the house, is picturesque, unhygienic : it has more atmosphere than form, than outline : huddled shapes of soft red brick sag towards gardens massed with sunflowers, Canterbury bells, sweet-williams. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE village, in the hollow below the house, is picturesque, unhygienic : it has more atmosphere than form, than outline : huddled shapes of soft red brick sag towards gardens massed with sunflowers, Canterbury bells, sweet-williams. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This novel failed at first to grasp me. I had started it once and ditched it. Haven't we seen the homes and lives of middle England, circa 1920, portrayed a thousand times? On a weekend break in the country, I tried again. I had been too hasty the first time. Lehmann's prose is captivating. She describes Olivia's first dance, her attempted elegance in a poorly assembled gown, her own and her sister's disappointment with the 'suitable young man' fetched up from somewhere to accompany them. The agony of appearing in a room full of strangers, relying on a lacklustre escort was particularly appropriate as I too attended a dance the weekend I read the book. I too had to face a room of strangers, and eighty years on, the same pain is still palpable in that situation.. Lehmann's writing becomes subtle and arresting. Scene after scene is written with truly fine comedy entwined with delicate reflections on adolescence, class and love . I howled with laughter, then blinked back tears at a poignant description of a blind man. Olivia doesn't enjoy as immediately successful an evening as her sister Kate but her 'Invitation to the Waltz 'of life is much more arresting.
Perhaps Lehmann borrowed a little too closely from Jane Austen's 'Mr Collins' in her portrait of the stuffy escort. ( Is there a bibliography of comic literary clergymen somewhere?). Perhaps the elision from comedy to tragedy played a little too obviously with the reader's emotions, but these reservations are curmudgeonly. The book is a toast to a young woman's debut into the world written with expert comic observation, and consummate prose. Delicious. Please read it!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first read this book nearly ten years ago, when I was not much younger than Olivia and just as naive! Olivia is a wonderful character, rather sensitive and not quite sure of her place in the world, wishing for that magical transformation that will turn her into someone graceful and beautiful, like her older sister Kate. However, despite her awkward ways and the disappointing escort, Olivia's 'waltz' turns out to be very interesting indeed. Lehmann's stream-of-consciousness is first rate and leaves you wanting more.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first read this book when I was seventeen, the same age as Olivia. The experience of reading this was so strong that I could afterwards remember every episode in my head as if it had really happened.
Although Rosamond Lehmann's style is laden with adjectives, three or four at a time sometimes, this technique really works in Invitation to the Waltz, and the impressionistic style is so powerful, that it's hypnotic and deeply memorable.
Reading it again at 24, I can see how naive Olivia is: it's not that surprising she gets into the mess she does in The Weather in The Streets: she's extremely gullible!
But still I love living every moment of the book through her: the cringiness of feeling obliged to buy pieces of lace from the manipulative salesgirl, being sickened by lecherous old men, being starstruck by the knowable but untouchable Spencers - for Olivia, used to a comfortable middle-class schoolroom bound environment - this is her chance to experience life, glamour and excitement. It's our chance too, to be taken away into the world of the novel, to be swept by the heady sense of expectation, and forced to witness and take a part in the little emotional dramas that make this novel so sensitive and finely tuned.
Although Rosamond Lehmann's style is laden with adjectives, three or four at a time sometimes, this technique really works in Invitation to the Waltz, and the impressionistic style is so powerful, that it's hypnotic and deeply memorable.
Reading it again at 24, I can see how naive Olivia is: it's not that surprising she gets into the mess she does in The Weather in The Streets: she's extremely gullible!
But still I love living every moment of the book through her: the cringiness of feeling obliged to buy pieces of lace from the manipulative salesgirl, being sickened by lecherous old men, being starstruck by the knowable but untouchable Spencers - for Olivia, used to a comfortable middle-class schoolroom bound environment - this is her chance to experience life, glamour and excitement. It's our chance too, to be taken away into the world of the novel, to be swept by the heady sense of expectation, and forced to witness and take a part in the little emotional dramas that make this novel so sensitive and finely tuned.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A coming-of-age novel in microcosm
A beautifully-written and very insightful story of a young girl on the verge of knowing who she is, "Invitation to the Waltz" is like a coming-of-age novel in microcosm. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Secret Spi
Brilliant prelude to 'The Weather in the Streets'
This deceptively light, witty, sparkling book introduces us to the characters who are going to appear in the later much, much, stronger 'The Weather in the Streets. Read more
Published 9 months ago by smartesthorse
Still relevant
Anyone who has ever been a 17 year old girl will relate to this charming tale. Given that it was written in the 1920's I was surprised by how amusing the book is in places. Read more
Published 13 months ago by IDJB1
A bit girly, but utterly absorbing
I read this little girly gem in two hours. I wouldn't have thought it was my kind of book, but the writer convinced me to care about the characters. Read more
Published 20 months ago by chemistrykaren
A first dance
Invitation to the Waltz travels into the life, indeed into the mind, of Olivia Curtis.
The plot is simple. Read more
The plot is simple. Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2009 by Fleur Fisher
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