I’m a great believer in the fact that there is a right time for every book – which is probably why I have a gigantic TBR, because all those books are just waiting for me to find the appropriate space to get to them! A case in point is today’s book, which is the last one I’m going to be covering for our #ReadIndies event. The book is “Monica” by Saunders Lewis and it’s been sitting on the TBR for quite some time, but was on my wish list for even longer before I finally found a copy. Even though we visited Wales every year when the Offspring were young, I eventually found a copy in the local Oxfam Bookshop! Which just goes to show you should always check out your local shops!
My interest in reading the book actually grew out of those regular visits to North Wales, as I stumbled across mentions of Lewis in relation to his politics; as well as his writing, he was also an activist and one of the founders of Plaid Cymru, and it was the plaque mentioning this which I saw in Pwhelli. I was exploring a number of Welsh authors at the time, including Idris Davies and R.S. Thomas, but a problem for me was finding translations; I simply don’t have the linguistic skills to learn Welsh… However, “Monica” has been translated by Meic Stephens and as it’s published by indie outfit, Seren, it also counts for #ReadIndies as well as the #Dewithon – result!!
Invalids are not the only victims of ill health. It can sometimes ravage the strength of youth, snatching it from the joys of life and shackling it to a bedside where it has to wait, amid the fug and stench, on death’s victim. If there is no relief, it comes to bear the marks of futility, of separation from joy. Monica spent the years of her youth like a bird beating against the bars of the cage.
“Monica” was first published in 1930, and it’s a dark and perhaps unexpected story from a Welsh author at that time. The 90 page novella compresses much into its narrative, telling of the life of the titular Monica McEwan, and the story is one of thwarted and warped desires, as well as something of a critique of suburban Welsh life. As the book opens, Monica and husband Bob are living in a suburb of Swansea, having moved away from Cardiff where her sister and father live. Monica is unburdening herself to an invalid old lady neighbour, relating her youth , which was mainly spent taking care of an invalid mother, her dreams and fantasies of romance, and her eventual marriage to Bob after stealing him from her younger sister. You would think, therefore, as the neighbour does that Monica would be happy having got her man and being pregnant with his child; however, nothing is as simple as that…
Terror is mute and shapeless. The skull and grave are but the playthings and bogeys of the imagination. It is not they which inspire terror but the last minutes, the ceasing to be.
Monica is a character who’s been damaged by her upbringing, longing for love, escape, something more than the everyday burden of caring for others. She’s older than Bob, had thought she would not be able to carry a child (which she doesn’t seem to want much) and the passion she felt for her husband seems to have turned to hate. The suburban life, with petty gossiping neighbours and a rigid social strata, is portrayed in all its nasty glory, and as the book goes on, Monica sinks into sloth, despair and filth. Bob strays (as has a neighbouring husband) and receives a dark reward for his unfaithfulness, and the distance between the two is shown starkly in his inability to do anything to improve Monica’s condition. The future does not look good for either of them…
She was the same person now as she had been all those years ago in the streets of Cardiff. Nor would she ever be different. She had lived long enough to know that character is formed by what we make of our early years. That is what is so cruel about our fate: it is what takes shape inside us during the self-conscious period of our lives, when neither reason nor judgement exercises control over our blood, which rules us right up to our dying breath.
It’s not hard to see how shocking this book must have been to 1930s Welsh sensibilities; without wanting to make any kind of sweeping statements, I can remember how conservative North Wales still was when we began to visit in the 1970s/1980s, with Sundays dry and everything closed, chapels on every corner and a sense of a strong religious ethos. Step backwards to the 1930s, and a book covering the kind of subject matter this does would have really caused a stir, and it’s been described as a ” shallow story (which) leaves a foul taste in one’s mouth”. I think that’s missing much of what’s going on here – let me explain why…

By Alan Fryer, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14550753
For a start, it’s been suggested that Lewis, who was a convert to Catholicism, was making a moral point with the book; although that’s belied by the sympathetic portrait of Monica. She may have stolen her sister’s fiance, she may be driven by her desires, but Lewis shows how her thwarted upbringing stunts her emotional growth. She’s not capable of a deep relationship, simply one driven by physical passion, and her husband is really no better; he’s easily seduced away from the sister, and his weak character fails to save Monica from herself at a number of points.
As the afterword by Bruce Griffiths points out, the book is closer to something like “Madame Bovary” or Mauriac’s “Therese” than anything in the Welsh canon; and it seems to me that Lewis was doing something very radical by taking what would be regarded as a ‘continental’ storyline and transposing it into a very traditional Welsh setting. Confronting the realities and hypocricies of that kind of crushing suburban life was obviously too much for many critics to handle; and in fact, still is, from what I can see of the online response. Monica’s life and fate are not happy ones; but where was it written that fiction has to have a happy ending, as life certainly doesn’t!
Personally, I thought “Monica” was a powerful and poignant story; the subject matter may not be palatable to some, but it explores sympathetically yet realistically the effects of a person’s upbringing, the problems of domestic life and boredom which faced many women in the 20th century, and the risks of a relationship with only the physical and not the emotional or intellectual. It’s not a perfect book; sometimes a little melodramatic, sometimes a little unreastic (for example, how did Bob not know how much older Monica was than him since her date of birth was presumably on their marriage certificate??) But Lewis has created a memorable setting and heroine, tackled some difficult themes and created a novel that, if it had been published for example in French, could well be regarded quite differently. “Monica” was a great book to finish #ReadIndies on, and I really do think it deserves to be better known.
Mar 15, 2022 @ 09:41:26
Fabulous stuff, Kaggsy. You’re a star. 🌟 Thank you so much! 🤗
Mar 15, 2022 @ 11:36:31
Thanks for hosting, Paula – I’ve had this on the TBR for so long, so it was lovely to have a push to finally read it. A fascinating book and author!
Mar 15, 2022 @ 09:45:00
Mar 15, 2022 @ 10:47:10
What an interesting work and what a very interesting writer (just did a quick goggle, as Saunders Lewis was totally unfamiliar to me). I’m quite interested in tales of suburban life, in “all its nasty glory” (great phrase BTW) and not at all adverse to a little melodrama, so I’ll definitely check out Monica (which sounds ripe for republishing by someone).
Mar 15, 2022 @ 11:35:59
Intriguing from the point of view both of the book and the author! It’s a shame the English version is hard to track down (I see the original Welsh is still available) as it’s a fascinating read!
Mar 15, 2022 @ 11:16:13
I think you make some fine points here about the connection between one’s upbringing and one’s adult self. It’s interesting that Lewis explores that in this way. And against the backdrop of a conservative Wales, the story must indeed have made all that more of an impact.
Mar 15, 2022 @ 11:35:19
Thanks Margot – it’s certainly an intriguing book to come from where it did, and when it did – I can see why the reactions to it were so strong. I think it’s a fascinating read, though!
Mar 15, 2022 @ 14:00:35
Sounds fascinating! I’d hope Lewis’s faith helped him be compassionate to a woman in Monica’s position.
Mar 15, 2022 @ 14:42:18
Yes, he never condemns her it seems to me – instead he tried to understand how her life ended up the way it did. A really interesting and perhaps unexpected book!
Mar 16, 2022 @ 00:47:07
What an interesting story of a book and author! I can’t say Saunders Lewis has ever crossed into my ken, but I enjoyed reading about him and what might have happened if he came from a different tradition.
Mar 16, 2022 @ 11:45:24
It was really fascinating – I shall have to see if I can find anything else in English…
Mar 16, 2022 @ 08:22:01
This does sound very powerful, and a brave novel to write at the time. He must have felt strongly about the subject, which makes me think there could have been many Monicas out there…
Mar 16, 2022 @ 11:45:04
Yes, it certainly highlighted the hypocrisies of marriage and relationships at the time. It can’t have been easy living in such a restrictive environment for both parties involved…
Mar 16, 2022 @ 08:56:41
This sounds excellent, what a great find for #Dewithon – tales of suburban life always interest me, especially the nastier side of it .😁
Mar 16, 2022 @ 11:43:40
It really was interesting, and such a clever look at the limited options available in that time and place.
Mar 17, 2022 @ 01:00:34
Didn’t Simon have a spell where he was only reading books titled for women’s names not too long ago? This would have been perfect. (It made me think of Monica Dickens’ Marianna for a moment: I had to think, what WAS her name!)
Mar 17, 2022 @ 13:22:05
I haven’t tried any Saunders Lewis, though his is a name that keeps coming up. Some day, hopefully, and maybe even this one, given your sympathetic but fair review!
Mar 17, 2022 @ 15:51:03
He’s a fascinating person, and I just hope more of his work is available in English – my linguistic skills are really not up to the Welsh language I’m afraid!
Mar 17, 2022 @ 21:24:42
Ooh, interesting – Saunders and Meic feature heavily in Richard King’s Brittle With Relics, which I’m still reading at the moment. I didn’t know this existed, though!
Mar 18, 2022 @ 11:18:55
Oh, that’s interesting! Will look forward to hearing about that! I really don’t know why Monica isn’t better known, it’s a fascinating work.