With the final book I’ve read for our #1940Club, I’m very happy that I’ve managed to succeed with a plan which has been lurking in the back of my mind for quite some time! If you read my January post, you’ll have seen me pondering on 2023 reading and one idea I had was that I would like to finally embark on C.P. Snow’s “Strangers and Brothers” sequence, which I’ve had sitting on the TBR for years. I mentioned that the first book was published in 1940, so this would fit in with our April reading club; and I’m happy to report that I have indeed started on my Snow journey! 😀

“Strangers and Brothers” (now generally known as “George Passant” after the central protagonist) was the first of the series which was published, and although there is a reading order which follows the chronology of the storyline, I’m always someone who prefers to read in publication order. The books are sometimes known as the Lewis Eliot books, as he’s the narrator of many of the stories, and that’s the case here.

Set in as unnamed town the Midlands between 1925-1933, S&B relates the story and fate of George Passant, managing clerk at the solicitors’ firm of Eden and Martineau. George is something of a leader, gathering around him a group of young disciples, looking for identity and trying to discover a new way of life. Our narrator Eliot is one of those, and as the story begins another acolyte, Jack Cotery, approaches George for help. Jack is employed as a clerk in the local newspaper office, and the son of the owner, 15 year old Roy Calvert, has developed a passion for Jack, presenting him with an engraved silver cigarette case. This simple act will set off a chain of events, which will involve Jack’s effective dismissal, George’s intervention to help him, and the involvement of both Jack and George in situations which may well permanently affect their future.

George is a fascinating character study; a man with idealism and a commitment to the idea of personal freedom. So while he works at the solicitors, he also lectures at the local Technical College and School of Art (known as the School), as well as gathering his ‘Group’ around him and helping them where he can to find the right path. Amongst these are Olive Calvert, Arthur Morcom and Rachel; other characters are the Eden and Martineau of the firm, who will play significant parts in the narrative, as well as solicitor Martineau’s brother, Canon Martineau, who holds an influential position.

The Group meet regularly at a place called the Farm, hired by George so that they can meet, hang out and discuss the meaning of life in peace. Both male and female gather there, and initially the meeting are intellectual; any physical needs George and his male friends have are dealt with by a short jaunt to Nottingham where they can rendezvous with some ladies of the night. However, things will not stay like this; George’s attempts to intervene on behalf of Jack meet with resistance from the establishment; Martineau the solicitor takes off to become a weird sort of religious missionary; George encourages Jack into business agreements which don’t go so well and aren’t quite above board; and the visitors to the Farm often move from the intellectual to the physical. Local society is less than happy, and when there are suspicions about the business transactions, things gradually begin to unravel…

I shan’t say more about the plot, but I will say that “Strangers and Brothers” was a quite brilliant read from start to finish; I couldn’t put it down. The book is wonderfully evocative of time and place, and Snow’s writing is somehow much better than I expected (I had a false memory of having tried the book once and struggled, but I think that was the first Anthony Powell). He pins down life in a provincial town, the conventions and proprieties, and the need of the post-WW1 generation to break out and create a newer life with more freedoms. However, early on, both reader and narrator can see that George’s position is potentially precarious; this is the 1920s and his unconventional behaviour is not always acceptable in a small town. Inevitably, too, there are class issues; George and his group are all from middle-lower class origins, and although the aftermath of WW1 might have blurred the lines between classes in large cities like London, the old structures still exist in the provinces.

What should we have been? We were poor and young. By birth we fell into the ragtag and bobtail of the lower middle classes. Then we fell into our jobs in offices and shops. We lived in our bed-sitting rooms, as I did since my mother’s death, or with our families, lost among the fifty thousand houses in the town. The world seemed on the march, we wanted to join in, but we felt caught.

“Strangers and Brothers” is also a novel of ideas; the Group are happy to discuss moral and ethical issues, and the divide between generations is definitely on display here. Ironically, it’s morals as much as anything else which will lead to the climactic sections of the book; when hints of sexual freedom leak out, George and his group will be judged on this as much as any business misconduct. In the end, George is revealed as unrealistic and naive, and with the passing years and the replacing of his original friends in the Group with younger people, he seems to have lost his grasp on things.

As you might gather, I found this to be a throughly absorbing and transporting read! I can understand why it was later retitled, as the focus is firmly on George Passant; much to do with the other characters is hinted at and off-camera, and I suspect more about Lewis Eliot himself will be revealed in the next book. If I had one criticism to make it’s that Snow does have a habit of just chucking his characters into the narrative without any real introduction, which can be a little disconcerting, but it does usualy work itself out in the end! And I confess that, although the Midland town is not named, I couldn’t help viewing it as Leicester, where Snow was born – the quick hops to Nottingham cemented that view in my mind, as my Offspring are prone to pop over there to take advantage of the Gaming Arcades!!

I had a bit of a browse online after finishing this first book, and was surprised to see that there seems to be very little discussion of the book around, and I couldn’t help wondering why. I did see inevitable comparison with Powell’s “Dance to the Music of Time” sequence which I read some years back; but although they might be considered to cover similar territory, I think they’re quite unalike. There’s the obvious class difference, for a start – Powell’s characters are very upper class, particularly in the early part of the sequence, as was the author himself; whereas Snow’s focus on those who are struggling to make a living was much more interesting for me. And there’s style of writing; Powell, it has to be acknowledged, can be quite difficult to read and although I appreciated his work, I found I loved Snow’s writing more. It’s less complex, yes, but there are some beautiful and evocative passages which really brough alive the characters and the places and simply the experience of being alive. Of course, I’m only one book in, but I’m already very invested in them and am looking forward to continuing with the series!

So my final book for the #1940Club was a real success, and I’m so glad that our club year nudged me into finally starting with the Snow sequence! It’s been a great week, and I’ve loved all the books I’ve read; but “Strangers and Brothers” really was the icing on the cake! I’d love to hear if anyone else has read this and what your thoughts on it are! 😀