A Game of Snakes and Ladders by Doris Langley Moore

Title: A Game of Snakes and Ladders
Author: Doris Langley Moore
Publication: Dean Street Press, paperback, originally published in 1938
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century Egypt and London, between the wars

Description: Lucy Kendon was the second lead in a second-rate theatrical company touring overseas, now in Egypt. With help from kind-hearted Lucy, Daisy Joy joined the company in Australia when a cast member dropped out. The two became friends, despite some awkwardness now that Daisy has become the mistress of the company’s owner, Mr. Mosenthal. However, when Lucy gets typhoid fever, she misses sailing back to England with the rest of the cast and owes Mosenthal money which Daisy suggests she must repay by working at the theater as a gofer. Poor, having lost her looks, being considered a spy by her coworkers, and painfully aware that her aristocratic lover in England has married someone else, Lucy recognizes her future is bleak while Daisy becomes a lady of leisure. The friendship is also a casualty of their differing fortunes: when Mosenthal finally makes an honest woman out of Daisy, she becomes even more dismissive of Lucy, not wanting to be reminded of her origins, even when Lucy’s livelihood is at stake. Years pass while Lucy is stranded in Egypt but her kindness to a younger woman finally results in the opportunity to return to England, which becomes a ladder to happiness.

My Impression: This book is a dangerous warning of what can result from a simple desire to see the world! When Lucy embarked with this theatrical company, she never dreamed it would be 20 years before she saw her home again. Lucy may think she is worldly-wise but, as the author observes, she grew up in a vicarage; she is not a good judge of character and is exploited by those around her, some of whom owe her kindness and fair dealing, at the very least. I found this a painful book to read because Lucy’s downward spiral plunged her into a hard and bleak life, made worse by Daisy, a selfish and false friend, whose situation is dramatically improving. It was only too easy to identify with Lucy and visualize oneself far from home and impoverished, in an era before a credit card would have bought a ticket back to England.

“Surely she wouldn’t deliberately keep me here when she knows I hate it!” cried Lucy, but the words did not ring true. She recalled, not for the first time, with what indifference to her shattered hopes Daisy had announced the scheme which deprived her of her fare to England. Now that she had been given the clue, it was easy, only too easy, to believe that, partly through selfishness, partly through a lack of understanding, Daisy had fostered a stratagem for detaining her.

Thank goodness Lucy has made another friend, Constance, who lives in her building and is young and foolish but gives Lucy someone to laugh with. In the most amusing part of the book, Lucy prevents Constance from being seduced by a careless Italian by locking her in her room. Constance is angry and stops speaking to Lucy, which distresses Lucy because she knows she has also lost Daisy as a friend. Years later, Constance writes to apologize, and their renewed friendship ultimately leads to improved fortune and happiness for Lucy. I was very relieved by this development as I did not think I could handle any more disappointments for Lucy!

I chose this book for its title and because it was compared to Jane Austen. In fact, while Moore is clearly a fan of 19th-century authors, her style is less ironic than openly tongue-in-cheek, and she says at the beginning that Fanny Burney would not approve of certain chapters of this book. Although Lucy is a victim, she also made some hasty comments and poor decisions that contributed to her bad luck, so there is slight editorializing by the author that implies she deserves what is happening to her. Later on, Lucy is dispirited and stops saving every penny for her fare home, which is human but not what a heroine should do. Overall, a very good but not a relaxing read.

Source: Library