THE HOURS BEFORE DAWN, Celia Fremlin
Louise Henderson is the mother of three, the last being a baby who cries too much, putting her into a state of constant tiredness and anxiety. Clearly she's the victim of an undiagosed case of postpartum depression.
Onto the scene comes Vera Brandon, a teacher who is eager to board in a
third floor room. She is able to talk intelligently to Mark Henderson, (Louise's husband) a
source of jealousy for Louise. The new boarder does not seem disturbed
the infant's constant crying. Although she's supposedly employed,
Louise begins to wonder just how often she actually leaves the house.
As Louise tiredness mounts, little things begin to go wrong, mostly
issues with the baby. Much of the trouble seems to come from that quiet
woman on the third floor--someone that seems vaguely familiar to nearly
everyone.
Fremlin does a terrific job of giving the reader the domestic details that make this familial portrait come to life.This is a subtle mystery. At times, is is funny and at other times suspenseful. And Fremlin gets nearly everything right. This was her first novel, but it seems like the work of a seasoned professional.
Obviously she mined a terrain familiar
to her.
Fremlin won the Edgar for THE HOURS BEFORE DAWN in 1958. She went on to write 15 more novels.
6 comments:
I like it when you choose books like this, Patti, that sound appealing but that I haven't read before. I've not read Fremlin's work, but it sounds as though I ought to try...
I've had Celia Fremlin's THE HOURS BEFORE DONE on my shelf for decades. Time to read it!
Long on my wishlist.
She published her first book (nonfiction-from her work in sociology) in 1940...she had a running start before turning to domestic suspense among other crime fiction and some horror. (It won't surprise you at all that I first read her work in "Hitchcock" anthologies...Robert Arthur didn't miss too many tricks.) And, as several note in linked info below, she had more than her share of tough going...
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/sep/06/celia-fremlin-obituary
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=1424
It took MWA 2 years to give her the statue (waiting for a US edition, presumably)
win 1960 Best Novel The Hours Before Dawn Celia Fremlin Lippincott
nom 1960 Best Novel The List of Adrian Messenger Philip MacDonald Doubleday
...one of Robert Bloch's few recorded petty comments was one about how obscure Fremlin was, when MWA awarded her for Best Novel and didn't nominate him, for PSYCHO...but he did have some reason to be bitter about how various folks tried to erase him from PSYCHO and, later on, act as if it was the only notable thing he'd ever done. (Bloch was MWA president, eventually).
I got a copy of this about two years ago but I still haven't read it. I am sure I will like it.
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