Spring Magic by D.E. Stevenson

Frances Field knows she was lucky to be taken in by an uncle and aunt when she was orphaned at three but whatever she owes them has been amply repaid – she has acted as housekeeper and slaved for her indolent aunt since her late teens, without payment or time off. When the war begins she is eager to do her bit but is forced to go on catering to her aunt’s every demand until a bomb lands near their home, breaking most of the windows in Wintringham Square. 

Her uncle and aunt decide to go stay with relatives in Devonshire and are astounded when Frances, desperate for a life of her own, says she is going to take a holiday in Scotland.

“I shall need you,” said Mrs. Wheeler. “It’s a busy house and Clara has several evacuees. There will be plenty for you to do –“

“I’m not coming,” said Frances.

She said the same words over and over again. She clung to them as a drowning man might cling to a raft, but more than once she was tempted to let go of the raft and drown.

Frances had seen a painting of Cairn, a coastal village in Scotland and, encouraged by her aunt’s doctor, decided she would have several weeks’ holiday there, then look for a job. She winds up at the Bordale Arms, where the locals are puzzled by her arrival and assume she must be an artist because she doesn’t look like a fisherman! Taking a room, she is perfectly content to take walks and observe those around her, but fate has more in store for her than the passive life she’s has thus far! A battalion is about to make its camp in Cairn and she meets three of the officers’ wives who have come ahead to look for houses to rent, so they can be close to their husbands. Tommy, Elise, and Tilly are Frances’ first friends (she always had a governess so never went to school) and they sweep her along into their plans and worries. She is shy at first, especially when their husbands and other officers arrive, but slowly she gains confidence and is able to hold her own and feel part of a lively group.

Although WWII is ongoing and the army is on the alert for air raids or invasions, it is a happy time for Frances, who is making decisions about what she does and where she goes for the first time in her life. She becomes particularly close to Tommy and Elise and to Tilly’s son Winkie. She learns how to tell stories to Winkie and to make jokes to dashing officers. She even gets cut off by the tide with a handsome officer, just like one of the improbable romances by Janetta Walters that her aunt used to insist they read. Frances notices her new friends rarely talk about the war – they are used to focusing on life as part of a community, which means a stiff upper lip about the underlying danger facing the military.

Of course, there is danger on the home front as well, not just from bombs but also from misunderstandings. However, Stevenson creates a magical atmosphere—capturing the arrival of spring as a time for new opportunities for Frances and others. Rereading this made me think it might be my favorite DES novel. In addition to Frances’ awakening, the book is full of appealing and relatable characters, including elegant Elise, who tries to give Frances the lowdown on being an army wife (Frances is clueless to any possible motive); the local laird, who develops a crush when Frances help organize his papers; Alec, the pensive fisherman; Tommy, caught in an unhealthy marriage; and the kindly Colonel of the battalion, who is oblivious to the trouble his spoiled daughter is causing in the battalion. 

I love the overall warmth of this book, the army background, the outgoing wives, and the relationships of the officers to everyone else. While there is romance, I think this is more of a coming of age story with the army and the village of Cairn as a pleasing backdrop. Although my copy is an old paperback, Dean Street Press and Furrowed Middlebrow have brought this and other quasi-classics back into print so this is one to try if you have never read DES.

Title: Spring Magic
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Ace paperback, 1969 (originally published in 1941
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal copy

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