From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Jesse Larsen
Rose, the youngest daughter and perceptive narrator of The Fountain Overflows, is a mildly fictional, youthful Rebecca West. In early 1900s London, Papa, misunderstood writer and never-successful politician, goes away - again - to earn money. The children stay very busy being young, trying hard to respect, reconcile, and live with Mamma's tradition of genteel Englishness and Papa's foolishness while their worrisome - and embarrassing - poverty deepens. Mamma is discouraged but brave, "a nerve-jerked woman" able to "straighten her shoulders and cock her hat and assume the character of a smart and undefeated woman." A concert pianist turned wife and mother, she makes music a constant for her children. Rose and Mary play the piano; Cordelia performs on the violin "with the air of somebody who is being photographed," determined to make it her road to fame and fortune. The Fountain Overflows is a reader's feast of subtle, penetrating, and hilarious observations on childhood, social posturing, and anglo-saxon heritage. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14.
Book Description
Though the Aubreys’ lives have long been clouded by their father’s genius for instability, surely his new editorial appointment in London will turn things around. Seen through the merciless, loving eyes of young Rose, one of four siblings, Rebecca West’s 1957 novel is a vital, witty, and devastating family portrait -- a brilliant re-imagining of her own volatile childhood. Remarkable for its evocation of the Edwardian age, The Fountain Overflows is every bit as penetrating as West’s great work of nonfiction Black Lamb and Grey Falcon and has a dash of the supernatural thrown in for good measure.
The Fountain Overflows (New York Review Books Classics) FROM THE PUBLISHER
The lives of the talented Aubrey children have long been clouded by their father's genius for instability, but his new job in the London suburbs promises, for a time at least, reprieve from scandal and the threat of ruin. Mrs. Aubrey, a former concert pianist, struggles to keep the family afloat, but then she is something of a high-strung eccentric herself, as is all too clear to her daughter Rose, through whose loving but sometimes cruel eyes events are seen. Still, living on the edge holds the promise of the unexpected, and the Aubreys, who encounter furious poltergeists, turn up hidden masterpieces, and come to the aid of a murderess, will find that they have adventure to spare.
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