Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim

 

"Her father had died at nine o'clock that morning, and it was now twelve."

If you're a fan of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, then I suspect this might be firmly in your wheelhouse. While the introduction, as intimated above, was a little raw for me to read, having recently lost my father, I carried on regardless and was not disappointed.

The author, Elizabeth von Arnim, was born in Kirribilli, NSW in 1866, the cousin of Australian author, Katherine Mansfield and her life story is a book I really want to read!! Actually there’s a new biography coming out in July 2021, and I’m definitely going to secure a copy. 

I really enjoyed The Enchanted April by von Armin and was eager to discover her other works. I’m also currently reading her Mr Skeffington novel which formed the basis of the Bette Davis movie with the same name (it is a fabulous film that I would wholeheartedly recommend). Back to the book...

Lucy is a complete innocent, left unguarded against the machinations of a much older man. A man, Everard Wemyss, who is beholden to the fact that “public opinion was forcing him into retirement and inactivity at the very time when he most needed company and distraction”. 

This need to retire is based upon the recent death of his wife, the eponymous Vera, under rather suspicious circumstances. All the newspapers are a flurry with his story, except for this innocent girl he happens upon.

Lucy’s only protector is her aunt, Miss Entwhistle, and Wemyss works hard to win her confidence, leaning on the fact that everyone assumes that Wemyss is a former friend of Lucy’s father. Neither Lucy or Wemyss is prepared to counter that narrative. He worries that this ‘maiden Aunt’ will take away his companion, a young girl now thoroughly entranced with him and resolves to marry Lucy to ensure she will not go anywhere.

Miss Entwhistle takes on a sort of Miss Marple role, acting as the voice of reason, cautious about Wemyss and particularly of his finances. Things get really interesting once the pair are married.

“Marriage, Lucy found, was different from what she had supposed; Everard was different; everything was different.”

 The comparisons to Rebecca are enlivened here, young girl marries guy, guy changes immediately. Left alone after the honeymoon, Wemyss shows his true narcissistic spots, incensed that his wife dare to be ill and unable to accompany him to London. Wemyss’ expectations of marrying a young innocent is that she will bend to his every whim and not dare to have a thought of her own. Needless to say the marriage isn’t a good one

“But now, after her experiences to-day, she had a fear of him more separate, more definite, distinct from love. Strange to be afraid of him and love him at the same time. Perhaps if she didn't love him she wouldn't be afraid of him. No, she didn't think she would then, because then nothing that he said would reach her heart. Only she couldn't imagine that. He was her heart.”

Weymss is such a creepy man, brilliantly described by von Arnim, a villain who reminds me of the hideous ex (marriage to him would be horrendous). He epitomises everything I hate about self-centered chauvinist pigs and his plotting is nefarious in the extreme. That being said, he makes a great literary character and the pages will just fly by!!

5 out of 5 - needs a trigger warning.