Last year, Sally on the Rocks by Winifred Boggs was one of my favourite reads, and I’ve made no secret about the fact that I’d love it to be a British Library Women Writers title at some point. But it wasn’t the first of her books that I read. The reason I got interested in Boggs in the first place was The Indignant Spinsters (1921). I figured I couldn’t help but love an author who would write a book with a title like that.
I love a slightly ridiculous premise, particularly if it involves convoluted lying and disguise, and that’s what The Indignant Spinsters provides in spades. The first section of the book tries to get the reader comfortable in what’s going on, and I’ll admit I had to re-read bits of it several times. The long and the short of it is that there are three unmarried sisters, the Miss Smiths – Kit, Doll, and the narrator whose name I can’t find. Maybe unnamed? They have lived oppressed lives with an uncle who, when he dies, leaves them with a fair chunk of money but not enough to live on forever.
How easy to be good on a few thousands a year! How difficult on a hundred or so! Oh, the daily grinding sordid things that threaten to make us sordid too! We may manage, a few of us, to afford a heart; we know we cannot afford a soul. We have got to ‘make two ends meet’ instead, perhaps spend fifty years at it – and fail at the last. I also told myself that there were few things I would not do to get a chance at the big things of life.
The Miss Smiths have some tangled connection with the housekeeper of a house where the son moved to Australia and cut ties with the Wanstead family – and had three daughters, all of whom died. As luck would have it, these three daughters are about the same age as the three Miss Smiths. They decide to announce themselves as the missing women, and move into the ancestral home.
The plan is concocted in order to find them eligible husbands, as they no longer wish to be indigent spinsters – or indignant, as is misheard, for such is the origin of the title. They know that wealthy women are far more likely to find men who want to marry them. Their plan is not cruel, as they don’t want to take anything away from the Wansteads. And there is no emotional manipulation at play, since nobody they’re meeting has any fondness for the absent son, or any personal knowledge of his three daughters. Boggs does a good job at keeping us on side, and sympathetic with them.
But – oh, of course – things go wrong. The missing women’s uncle John – also believed dead – turns up, and he is rather dubious about their claims. And that’s just the first of the obstacles that gets in their way, as they deal with their plan crumbling and their moral resolve following suit.
In all of this, there are a few delightful character-types – like straight-talking Aunt Susannah:
”I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. I was discussing spinsters. Be good enough not to interrupt and to speak when you’re spoken to, Miss Pert! I say spinsters are maligned. If half of them are ‘couldn’ts’, the other half are certainly ‘wouldn’ts’, and when one sees what some of their fellow women pick up and endure with complacency one hardly wonders or blames them. In the old days they had a regrettable taste in curates; now they prefer motor cars, and again I don’t blame ’em!”
So, it’s a ridiculously silly plot and it’s good fun to read. And it’s not an awful lot more than that, but sometimes that’s all one needs. There isn’t much emotional depth to the characters, and the stakes feel relatively low. Which is why I found it a surprise when I read Sally on the Rocks which is so much more impactful – a genuine feeling of the desperation of unmarried poverty, and characters who are so well drawn. I found a lot to enjoy for a few frivolous afternoons. It was only when I saw what else Boggs was capable of that I realised this wouldn’t be the one of hers that I would be pushing on everyone.
Which reminds me! I forgot to tell you how much I enjoyed Sally On The Rocks. So amusing and also poignant. Not as cutting as Elizabeth von Arnim, but it did remind me of her type of novel.
I immediately looked for other Winifred Biggs titles- in old bindings. I found Vagabond City. Do you know it?
Thanks again for introducing me to another wonderful author.
Oh I’m so glad, Deborah, thank you for letting me know! I’ve only read these two Boggs novels so far, though have The Return of Richard Carr waiting. I don’t know anything about Vagabond City, but please do let me know what it’s ike when you read it.
I’m happy to discover yet another lost author, and enjoyed the assertive quote on what women settle for when they give up spinsterhood. A report from a New Zealand newspaper of 1928 gives an amusing spin on Winifred Boggs writing under the pseudonym Edward Burke.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19280204.2.89?phrase=2&query=Winifred+boggs
Oh that’s hilarious! I didn’t know she wrote under a pseudonym too.
I think this one sounds like the perfect read for these times – I’ll certainly be looking out for her, although I suspect it won’t be easy to find!
Yes, I had an abebooks alert for a long time and it cost a bit, but good luck!!
This sounds like a lot of fun! What are your most favorite obscure comfort reads? I’m in the mood for fluffy.
I love Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert Jenkins for this! Totally silly and very comforting.
Looking at that cover, I’m intrigued to know what The Sale of Lady Daventry is about. I’m still working on tracking down Sally on the Rocks (I may have to make do with the e-book) but this sounds very entertaining too.
Yes, I haven’t had luck getting that one, though it’s odd that all her other books seem to think it’s her biggest deal! I wonder if it’s a Mayor of Casterbridge situ.
Add me to the list of people who want this book reprinted! I would definitely buy it if you add it to your BL series.
Sally on the Rocks is currently published by Forgotten Books (another retro publisher!) and is available from £9.59 on Amazon.
Yes, they’re one of those slightly dodgy POD firms that puts out hundreds of thousands of books, but better than nothing!
Hi,
I could not find “Indignant Spinsters”, not even in pdf form, is that completely our of print? “Sally on the Rocks” is available in the British Library Women series.
And there’s another book by Winifred Boggs (written under a male pseudonym, Edward Burke), which is newly available in print or ebook, in case you want to review it. “Bachelors’ Buttons”! I thought it was funny. Thanks!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1777277590
Yes, I am the series consultant for the British library series! I’m so delighted that Sally on the Rocks is finding a new audience. I have Bachelor’s Buttons but haven’t read it yet – I managed to stumble across an old copy of it.
Indignant Spinsters isn’t in print anywhere, so far as I know. I don’t think it’s anywhere near as good as Sally, but a fun read if you can find it.