Because of the Lockwoods

Because of the Lockwoods by Dorothy Whipple, Persephone's bestselling writer, was first published in 1949. It was her penultimate book. As described by novelist Harriet Evans in the preface, 'Because of the Lockwoods is one of my favourites of [Whipple's] novels. The story is deceptively simple: the entanglement of two families in a northern town called Aldworth. One, the Lockwoods, wealthy and powerful, in a position to patronise and help the second family, the poor Hunters, who have been left fatherless with a weak, ineffectual mother. Though the thudding heart of the story draws the reader inexorably along, hoping for the meek to conquer the strong, it is a surprising book in many ways, not least for its subversive portrayal of family – the children are often the adults, the parents the untrustworthy, unwise ones, and Whipple makes it clear that what we call today the nuclear family is not the answer to happiness. But what may be most satisfying about the book is how the climax is reached as a result of character. This is twentieth-century British fiction at its very best.' Evans continues: 'If, like me, you are one of the thousands of readers who discovered Dorothy Whipple through Persephone's reissues, you know well that feeling of resigned bewilderment suffusing the sigh of satisfaction you utter after finishing one of her novels. Why isn't she better known? Why is she not acclaimed more widely, when so many of her less talented contemporaries are still in print?... For the case does need to be made for Dorothy Whipple's entry into the pantheon of great British novelists of the twentieth century.... There is something about the clarity of expression and calm curiosity of Whipple's prose which is hugely pleasing. She never employs excess to drive her point home but uses each word carefully and simply. Then there is the readability factor: perhaps that is what mostly damages her reputation, the fact that she is so damned unputdownable. The thinking is the same as it has been for years: shouldn't real literature be hard to read?' Here at Persephone Books we all reply in unison: 'No!'