Love in a Mist by Susan Scarlett #DeanStreetDecember

This is one of 12 light-hearted novels that Noel Streatfeild wrote for adults under a pseudonym, and the only one I’ve read that wasn’t a romance. Instead, this is more of a Tring family story, a grocery business in its fourth generation as backdrop, and the gentle dictatorship of Dad-Tring and Mum-Tring over their adult sons, especially the two who work for their father. George, the eldest, is a solicitor, married to Anna, who believes she married beneath her and feels she is not sufficiently valued in the community. Andrew, the youngest, is married to Doris, who attended the London School of Economics and could have had a promising career.

Both women are annoyed that their sister-in-law, Ruth, married to Peter, seems happy with her marriage and gets on well with Dad-Tring and Mum-Tring (Emma).

Ruth had been a trained stenographer in the United States, until she met a handsome Englishman, Peter Tring, studying American business methods, and followed him back to Britain. She is worried about her four-year-old son Paul who recently began primary school and has had a difficult adjustment. She doesn’t know that he is being bullied by the other children, especially his cousins, and wrongly concludes he is having psychological challenges. His aunts, teachers, and probably his father would instead say he is just spoiled and needs to toughen up. But Ruth, portrayed as an over-earnest American obsessed with neuroses, stops at a bookstore and buys a book on child psychology, and reads it cover-to-cover several times. She concludes that Paul needs something to make him special and, conveniently, a movie company has been at the children’s school and, rather than choosing Anna’s lovely daughter Wendy, is interested in featuring Paul in a film. This causes a lot of jealousy with Ruth’s sisters-in-law, who have an uneasy alliance:

It was with difficulty that Anna restrained herself. . . .  Her easy friendship with Doris was of value to her, so she bit back what she would like to have said; Doris would not stand rough handling from her, and more than she would from Doris. Between them it was impossible to snap out, “Don’t be an idiot!” Impossible to trust her far enough to moan, “Why haven’t I heard from the film people?” Only real friends could have the relief of being able to confide absolutely anything, the relief that came from unburdening. Frustrated, Anna changed the conversation to the safer one of babies.

Emma realizes it will cause a family crisis if Paul is chosen over his cousin but she wants to support Ruth, who is excited about the opportunity for Paul. She begins to strategize - and this is what makes the story entertaining - first, Emma has to persuade her appalled husband not to oppose the movie concept; then, he has to sell his son on the idea, getting help from his best friend, Dr. Wilks. When the doctor says the movie project will be good for Ruth, not just Paul, Peter misunderstands and thinks the doctor is hinting it will help Ruth get pregnant again and is delighted. Emma continues to plot, coming up with a plan to give Anna the improved status she needs and a way to persuade serious Doris to have her two children christened, which would please Dad-Tring, a churchwarden.

Soon Ruth and Paul are spending their time at the Rose of England Film studios and Paul turns out to be a film natural. His face shows every expression and he is responsive to coaching. He impresses the director and the film company starts looking for future roles for him. However, the part requires excesses of imagination and little Paul has difficulty understanding what is film-set wizardry and what is real, which worries Ruth. She has no desire for him to be a film star and wishes she had never let him get involved. Ruth is lucky that she’s made friends at the studios who are willing to perjure themselves to let Paul escape from his contract.

The story was sweet and the family dynamics entertaining. Still, I didn’t like the cliché of American Ruth being obsessed with child psychology (especially when it doesn't make sense for Paul to become conceited about his performance). I really disliked smug Doris encouraging her son to make fun of a four-year-old, not just once but twice. I suppose Streatfeild thinks it’s part of the maturation process but there’s a difference between being spoiled by your mother and being unfairly taunted by your own cousin in front of strangers. I do give Doris credit for being the only person who realizes Emma is the family strategist, pulling invisible strings:

“I’m not going because of your father, but because of your mother. I don’t like leaving the children with a baby-sitter, and you know it, but I will this once, for she interests me. I think she’s pretty deep, you know, and it’s given me a jolt. I hate being wrong about people.”

Andrew doesn’t believe his wife's assessment of his mother but it is true that by the end of the book Emma has engineered outcomes for all her sons and daughters-in-law that improve their well-being and Doris is the only one who realizes it. What changes things for her is the realization that her cozy but poorly-educated mother-in-law has provided a happy home and lasting influence over her family, which Doris has to respect. And the issue of Paul being spoiled will ultimately be cured by something that humbles all of us eldest children – a younger sibling!

Conclusion: not as charming as the other Susan Scarletts but enjoyable and another good entry for Dean Street December (yes, I realize I'm late but I got an extension!), hosted by Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home. These books can be ordered from most booksellers.  I have also requested that my library purchase several (if you do that, make it easy by providing the title, author, and ISBN).  For those, like me, who are not English gardeners, there is a flower called Love-in-a-Mist!

Publication: Trade paper and eBook, 2022 (originally published in 1951)
Setting: 1950s England
Genre: Fiction
Source: Library