I've been quiet lately...

...because I can't find my copy of the book! I'm leaving for vacation in the morning, so I'll be on hiatus for the next week or so anyway, but in the rush of packing I've completely forgotten the book's whereabouts. Sorry!

Awakened Heart, chapter 7

It's rare for a Betts heroine to have a shopping spree without the Betts hero paying for it, but aided by a check from her father, Sophie manages to do this. She buys a jersey outfit, natch, a brown and gold brocade blouse, and a wide-skirted dress for the evening. Betts heroines rarely, if ever, wear a sheath.
Also, Sophie settles on a winter-white wedding dress, complete with coat and hat. This reminds me of the Dowager Duchess in Sayers's Busman's Honeymoon who rambles on about Jane Eyre, "who I always think behaved so ungraciously to that poor man - so gloomy to have your bride, however bigamous, insisting on grey alpaca or merino or whatever it was, and damping to a lover's feelings..." (Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon, 5 October in the Prothalamion).
Rijk arranges for a choir and flowers at the wedding, and then flowers again when they arrive at his home in Friesland. So his feelings can't have been too dampened. It's worth noting that every Betts hero and heroine who have an arranged marriage make an agreement not "to live as man and wife", at least for a while. There's one Betts, can't remember which, where the Betts wife says that she's glad that they're married on the last page, with the fairly strong hint that she's looking forward to sleeping with him. But not Sophie and Rijk.
Rijk makes it clear that he'll be returning to work within a day or so, so there will be no honeymoon. Frighteningly, this quotation comes as an epiphany (not as a given) to her: "She suspected that he [Rijk] expected her to have her own interests when he was away..." (p. 146). Sophie takes the reins of the house, insofar as a Betts heroine ever does: she inspects the linen, does some tapestry work and knitting, and takes over some light shopping.
She probably also arranges the flowers, consults with the cook about the meals, and helps with some children's charity in the village, but we don't hear about it. All those are typical activities of the Betts wife.
At the end of the chapter, she goes to meet Rijk at work, but she sees him driving away in the other direction with - gasp! - an attractive woman. I'll be astonished if jealousy isn't one of my tags tomorrow.

Awakened Heart, chapter 6

This wasn't as uneventful as the last chapter, but it was close. Rijk owns a farm, so they go to see it - I'm not absolutely sure that he owns the farm house, so this isn't house #3, but it could be. They go to Groningen for no apparent reason, except that Betts might have needed padding (this book has relatively little plot, after all), and so that Sophie could say that she doesn't like heights. I'll be surprised if nothing comes of that - usually, when Betts heroines reveal a fear, they have to confront it later in the book (never for a good reason, by the way).
They travel back to England just before Christmas. Sophie spends most of the chapter on the verge of telling Rijk that she'll marry him, but it takes her days to say it.
They set a wedding date for mid-January and start preparing for the wedding. Rijk dives into a pile of work, presumably so he'll have time for Sophie later. Sophie starts thinking about wedding clothes. It's a small wedding, so of course she'll wear a winter-white or grey suit. Heaven forbid she wear a wedding dress! Very strange.
At the very end of the chapter, Sophie realizes she is is love with Rijk.

Awakened Heart, chapter 5

Half-way through The Awakened Heart! It doesn't seem possible.
I can't imagine a chapter of any Betts, ever, in which less happens. The chapter covers the first few days of Sophie's visit with Rijk. She meets his family and tours around the house and the village. By the end of the chapter, she's sure she'll marry him.
The best line of the chapter (as evidence of its dullness): Rijk 'fesses up that he's rich, but admits that "a good deal of my wealth is the result of no doubt ill gotten gains from my merchant ancestors" (p. 103).

How referential of Betts!

When Sophie announces her plan to marry Rijk to the other nurses, one of them says, "When you're married you can invite me to stay; there must be lots of people like him out there" (p. 74-75). This is funny, of course, because the Netherlands are well-stocked with men who are almost identical. It wouldn't do Sophie much good to invite her friend, though, because each of those similar men is already married to an English nurse.

Awakened Heart, chapter 4

Sophie goes home to think about whether she should marry Rijk or not. Of course, despite no compelling reasons to do so (aside from her secret love for him), she decides to marry him. So she packs up (the usual for a Betts heroine: a velvet dress with a wide skirt, a silk dress, a Jaeger suit with plenty of silk blouses, a quilted jacket for the cold weather, etc.) and goes to Holland with him for a trip.
The chapter ends as Sophie and Rijk pull up to his huge house in Friesland.

Awakened Heart, chapter 3

Sophie and Rijk see each other a few more times in this chapter. They eat together, go on walks, and even see his house - yes, he has a house in London. Of course Rijk has a house in London, given that he's there for - what? probably about 40 days of the year? Clearly, one would need a house with two servants for those times.
At the end of the chapter, Rijk proposes to Sophie. I wish I were making this up:
Rijk: "May I take it that we are now good, firm friends, Sophie?"
Sophie: "Oh yes."
Rijk: "Then perhaps you know what I am going to say next. Will you marry me, Sophie?"
Sophie: "Marry you? Why? Whatever for?"
After a few minutes of chatter, during which she tells him about the man whom she loved when she was 19, and who left her for a small girl (that's where Sophie's fixation with height comes from! Good to know), they go on:
Rijk: "I think that we may be happy together, Sophie. We do not know each other very well yet, but we have so little opportunity to meet. Would you consider marrying me and getting to know me after?"
A bit more chatter, then:
Sophie: "I'm not sure, but I think this is a very funny kind of proposal."
And how!

Sophie's mom has got it goin' on

Here's a description of Sophie's mom from chapter 2 of The Awakened Heart, p. 32:
"She was a tall woman, as splendidly built as her daughter, her dark hair streaked with grey, her face still beautiful."

Awakened Heart, chapter 2

At some point in the chapter, Sophie's mom reflects that "She didn't want her Sophie to be hurt as she had been hurt all those years ago" (pp. 43-44). The second "she" is vague, but it's highly unlikely that in a Betts, her mother is reflecting on her past life before she married Sophie's father. So we'll assume that a man hurt Sophie at some point.
That's a relief, because little else besides a protective armor could excuse Sophie's lamentable cluelessness. The chapter details Sophie's busy work nights, interspersed with time spent in the car with Rijk. He drives her home for nights off, doesn't mind that she spends quite a bit of time sleeping, becomes instant friends with her family, etc. And she's still thick enough to think, "Just because he had taken her for a drive didn't mean that he had any interest in her" (pp. 27-28). And she's right, so far as that goes. She left out the offer to drive her home, the vaguely creepy knowledge of her address and memory for when she'll have nights off, etc. By the end of the chapter, after a kiss or two on the cheek and some familiarity with her family, she feels that he is going too fast, and she's skittish.
But not too skittish: by the end of the chapter, after several weeks' acquaintance, she finds herself thinking that "it would have been nice to find the professor waiting for her outside the door" (p. 45).

Awakened Heart, chapter 1

This is a ridiculous set of tags to have on one post! Betts wrote by formula, natch, but this is ridiculous.
Sophie is a beautiful Night Casualty Sister at a London hospital. Dr. Rijk van Taak ter Wijsma (!) is a visiting brain surgeon. They meet because she gets the heel of her shoe wedged in a gutter. She has two plastic shopping bags in her hands, so she can't bend down to unlace the shoe, because heaven forbid she get a plastic bag on the wet ground. She just stands there in the rain, patiently waiting until the Betts hero comes to free her.
No, no, I'm not speaking metaphorically. This is what happens, really!
This is a first so far in this blog: Rijk thinks Sophie is attractive and good at her work, so he comes over to ask her out. He asks her out, as though they're ordinary people, not a controlling man and a doormat of a woman! She's not thrilled by the idea of going out with him, because he's arrogant about so doing, but still - I'm encouraged by any signs of normalcy in a Betts novel.
Oh, but then at the end of the chapter he becomes something of a stalker - coming over to ask whether she wanted a date was forgiveable (though: how did he know exactly where she lived?). But when they go out for a few hours (the aforementioned, almost normal date - or so I thought), he has found out which small town she came from. He asked a co-worker. Despite this rather creepy invasion of privacy, he's less awful than other Betts heroes I could mention.

Apple from Eve, chapter 9

If you'll remember, chapter 8 ended with some sort of catastrophic disaster (it turns out that a gas main exploded, wrecking most of Euphemia's ward, though the rest of the hospital escapes with minor damage). Tane comes to save the day, helping Euphemia and half a dozen sick men get out the fire escapes.
The next day, Euphemia is informed that her patients will be sent to another hospital while her ward is rebuilt, and that Tane has suggested that she take over as relief Sister for a while. I'm not sure why this idea bothers Euphemia so much, unless it's because Tane is interfering to arrange her career. (If you'll remember, Euphemia is annoyed with Tane, because he bought the mortgage to her house).
The doctor on staff insists that Euphemia go to her own home to recover for a few days (Tane has given permission for her to use the house). I mean, he makes her promise, and won't let her switch her days off. Astonishingly, this doesn't make Euphemia suspicious. Tane shows up on the second day, as she is cleaning the kitchen floor and crying. I'm not sure why Betts decided to go for this Cinderella image of the heroine crying in the muck, as the hero tells her he loves her and gives her the papers for the house, but there you go.
To my amusement, this last scene takes place with Tane dressed in "a trendy waistcoat", among other items of clothing. My SO swears there is no such thing.
Tomorrow: The Awakened Heart!

a sampler motto

Here's a sampler motto for every Betts heroine to stitch:
"He was a tiresome man and she couldn't stand the sight of him, although she loved him with all her heart."
(An Apple from Eve, p. 180).

Apple from Eve, chapter 8

Euphemia's back at work, and for a little while she doesn't see Tane. She's avoiding him - she even switches her days off so she doesn't have to see him. He realizes this, and is amused. Ellen gets engaged to her curate (who has a name, as it turns out: Tom), which puts an end to Euphemia's pipe-dream of Ellen marrying a millionaire and paying off the mortgage.
Tane comes to see Euphemia while she is staying with Ellen and their aunt, and catches Euphemia eating an apple. He egocentrically asks her: "Can it be pure chance [that she happens to be eating an apple when he arrived with no warning whatsoever], or are you tempting me?" (p. 153) Of course Tane's not egocentric - yet. This is Betts's heavy-handed way of trying to tie in the lame apples/temptation joke that Tane made in chapter 2. Sigh. I'm afraid that humor is not Betts's strong point.
Any goodwill that Tane has built up in these seven and a half chapters completely evaporates for me (and for Euphemia, aside from that tiresome part where she's in love with him) when he buys the mortgage for Euphemia's house from the small private company that had held it. Euphemia's furious - as she points out, if she fails in a payment, he could foreclose at any time. And it doesn't make much sense - now Tane pays Euphemia rent, which she sends right back to him in the form of a mortgage payment. She tells Tane that she doesn't "want to see you or speak to you ever again!" (p. 159).
Sadly, this resolution won't last, because at the very end of the chapter, there's a catastrophic disaster! Of course, this means that (sigh) Tane will come to save the day in chapter 9.

Apple from Eve, chapter 7

To my surprise, I enjoyed this chapter. Most of the chapter takes place in Tane's home.
Diana finally susses out that Euphemia likes Tane. Her sniggering response: "Don't tell me that the starchy Miss Blackstock has been turned on at last, and what a pity he doesn't even know you're there....And [in response to Euphemia's earlier comment about Diana's orange brocade jumpsuit] I'll wear what I damn well please" (p. 129). Of course, Tane does know that Euphemia is there. To this end, he invites a boring rich man to dinner, and Diana is quite taken with him. I have no idea why, as he's described as being pompous, boring, and stout, but apparently Betts needed this plot device to work.
Tane and Euphemia talk quite a bit in this chapter. He finds out that she's in love with someone, and that she feels it's hopeless to expect the man to love her back. He also finds out that she is horrified at the idea of selling her house - although she'll have to work to pay off the mortgage for the next 15 years, she's very serious about her brother living there someday.
The chapter ends with Euphemia's return to her home for a few days. Tane drops her off there from the airport (Diana went to her home with her father) and stays for tea.

Apple from Eve, chapter 6

This is one of my days off, but I worked for literally ten hours. So this will be very brief, because my head's a bit muzzy.
Euphemia is in love with Tane, and he kisses her and calls her "Phemie" (memo to self: write a post about the names Betts chooses for her heroines!). Diana doesn't know about the kiss, but she realizes that Euphemia is competition. Diana invites Euphemia on an outing with Tane and Diana, so that Euphemia can see Diana mark her territory, as it were; Tane seems uninterested in Diana's increased demonstrativeness. (Query: is "demonstrativeness" a word? Heavens, I must go to sleep!)
On the way back to England, Tane takes the women back to his home in the Netherlands. It's very similar to every other house that a Dutch hero owns - basically, a stately home (this one's 17th-century) with servants and manicured lawns. Tane's parents are there to greet everyone - predictably, Euphemia enjoys their company and is charmed by the house as it is, but Diana is bored by Tane's parents and planning to put modern furniture (gasp!) into the house. They're like Goofus and Gallant, honestly.

Apple from Eve, chapter 5

The end of chapter four was such a cliffhanger that I didn't even notice that I read chapter five as well! Well, no, I'm not quite serious - I was eating dinner while I read Betts last night, and so I wasn't paying attention to how much I read.
Anyway, Euphemia's walking down the driveway with this injured child, and Tane pulls up in a taxi. So they take the kid to the hospital - he'll be fine in a few days. He escorts her back home, because she's untidy from her morning's efforts, and while she's changing, Tane finds out about how unhelpful Diana and her aunt were. Euphemia is thanked by the friendly housekeeper, who is related to the injured boy, and who resents Diana's aunt's attitude (while talking about "peasants", Diana's aunt made no effort to keep her voice down). Diana makes every effort to be charming to Tane, so maybe he doesn't mind. Euphemia and Tane go shopping and sightseeing while Diana rests, and Euphemia realizes she has fallen in love.
Looks aren't essential to me - I mean, I don't define a character by them - but it does seem strange that although Euphemia was described unfavorably in chapter 1, she is called beautiful in chapter 4. Then in this chapter, both Tane and the omniscient narrator describe her that way as well. Odd!
Diana's actions in the last few chapters have earned this book an inappropriate fiancee tag.

Apple from Eve, chapter 4

I removed the jolie laide tag from a post a few days ago. Euphemia is supposedly too plump, and her mouth is too wide, but a Spaniard meets her and tells her she's beautiful almost before saying hello. So the jury's out on her looks.
Diana and Euphemia get to Spain, and it's a dreary time for Euphemia. Diana's aunt (with whom they are staying) is languid and boring, and her continual dieting means that Euphemia rarely gets quite enough to eat. Diana complains a lot, and has to be encouraged to swim even a short distance in the pool. Euphemia isn't given any time off, though she's supposed to have some time to herself every day. One morning she starts off for town, both to sightsee and to do errands for Diana, but as she is leaving the house she finds a small boy who has been hit by a car. She takes him back to the house, in hopes that Diana and her aunt will help out, but Diana's aunt is horrified by the idea of a small unwashed boy in her house. She even suggests that "They're tough, these peasants, he'll get over it if you put him by the side of the lane - anyhow, someone will find him" (p. 83). So Euphemia trudges off again with the unconscious and increasingly heavy child - and Tane pulls up in a taxi.

beef without mustard

In chapter 4 (p. 78), Euphemia tells Diana that "I should think that being married without having children was like eating beef without mustard." To which Diana replies, "What an extraordinary thing to say!"
I don't usually agree with Diana, but - beef without mustard? Hunh.

Apple from Eve, chapter 3

It didn't seem like it at first, but this is a medical plot. I've tagged it accordingly.
Quick synopsis: Euphemia meets Diana, and learns that Tane has accepted a position as a consultant at her hospital. She visits her sister Ellen, who has met a nice curate whom she'll almost certainly marry in the future. A few weeks later, Tane asks Euphemia to accompany Diana to Spain; Diana is recovering from mumps, and wants to get away from everyone. In exchange for this favor, Tane proposes to let Euphemia and her family stay in her house for a month,which is handy because Euphemia's brothers have a holiday coming up.
Diana and Euphemia have a catty exchange, in which Diana remarks that anyone who weighs more than eight stone seems huge to her. Euphemia looks scrawny Diana over and gently comments,"Not really, just normal" (p. 46). So Diana complains to Tane that "anyone would think she [Euphemia] owned the place", and is reminded that Euphemia does. Hee!
Betts gets very referential in this chapter - when she mentions Ellen's curate, Euphemia reflects that "That sort of thing [falling in love with the curate] happened in novels" (p. 53). Two pages later, Euphemia reflects that Diana "was like the Other Woman in a bad novel." I'll ignore the obvious comment here, har-dee-har-har.

Betts can't write dialect...

...and here's a sample of what I mean from chapter 2, p. 34. It should be noted that this scene is not set in London, despite the Dick-Van-Dyke-in-Mary-Poppins quality to this dialect: "Got to get 'his breakfast most mornings and cook 'im a meal at night, but 'e's almost never 'ome for 'is lunch and I'm ter suit meself 'ow I'm ter work."

driving is difficult!

Yesterday I was a bit busy, so I didn't post about this bit in chapter 2 (p. 32): "Euphemia stood in the open doorway, staring after him as he climbed into his Bentley and drove away. Part of her mind registered the fact that he did this with a calm skill and careless ease, just as though he were mounting a bicycle."
This makes me wonder whether Betts was a nervous driver, because this idea of a Betts hero driving off without fuss comes up more than once - Never Too Late mentions this as well, if I recall correctly. (And I'll be scared if I do recall correctly, honestly). But seriously - Tane drives a Bentley; it doesn't seem likely that he would have bought it if he were a nervous driver. One hopes that every driver on the road has "calm skill and careless ease"!

Apple from Eve, chapter 2

For some odd reason, Euphemia decides that when Tane comes to see the house, it must be spotless, and there can't be any sign that they need the money. One would think that renting out the family home would, in fact, give this impression, and that all the Sevres china and polished silver in the world wouldn't help, but Euphemia doesn't come to this conclusion. So we're treated to pages of Euphemia cleaning, polishing, and making a lovely tea for Tane.
Tane rents the house for a year, and throws a party. Euphemia is invited, and she meets thin, elegantly dressed Diana. Diana is the daughter of a baronet, and she is Tane's fiancee. She's also cold, and all too aware of her father's title. Euphemia has a rude little moment when she reminds Tane's housekeeper that, "Dr van Diederijk rents this house, Mrs Cross. I still own it" (p. 43).
The name of the book comes from an exchange between Tane and Euphemia. He sees her eating an apple, and says, "Eve and the apple" (p. 44). She asks whom she is tempting, and he assures her that she is not tempting him. That will turn out to be hogwash - but this is still a pointless title. Still, I suppose Betts couldn't name every book Marrying a Doctor.
By the way, I missed a tag in the last post: this is a older sister plot.

An Apple from Eve, chapter 1

Oh, dear. This will be a long nine days, I'm afraid. I'm not crazy about the book, though perhaps it will improve when the nasty fiancee comes on the scene. On the bright side, it features a Dutch doctor - I've written over 20 posts, and none of them featured the Dutch doctors that gave the blog its name!
By the way, the title of this book doesn't make much sense to me. We'll see whether that improves.
As the book starts, Euphemia Blackstock is driving home from the hospital she works in, because her father is having heart trouble. You'd think that under the circumstances, she would be too distracted to notice a steel-grey Bentley pulled up beside her at the traffic light, but she does notice. When she gets to her home, it turns out that the driver of the Bentley is a heart specialist who has been called in to consult on the case. This is our hero, the Dutch doctor, Dr. Tane van Diederijk. He advises that surgery won't help - it would only extend Colonel Blackstock's life for a few days.
Though, to be precise, Tane doesn't mention this at all until the next morning, after the Colonel has died in the night. This is so high-handed that I can't even grasp it - although the family was present, Tane decided not to tell them that their father would probably die in the night, unless he had surgery to extend his life a few days. And of course it's likely that they would have decided against the surgery, but how would he know that? There might have been one more relative that needed the extra day to arrive (to say goodbye), or some alteration to the will that wouldn't be ready until the next day.
The Colonel has left the house mortgaged, and Euphemia decides that it would be best to keep the house, but rent it out until they can come up with some way to pay the mortgage and afford to live there again (it's early days yet, but so far her best plan is to hope that Ellen, her 20-year-old sister, marries a millionaire. Practical!). It turns out that Tane wants to rent out the house, because he needs a house for a few months that is handy to London, and he offers a rate that is twice what Euphemia had hoped for.
By the way, Euphemia is not strikingly beautiful, but she's not plain either. She's a bit plump, which for Betts means "a serious cold, and drop a few pounds and be perfect".

Always and Forever, chapter 9

Chapter 9! Tomorrow I'll be starting a new book, which I don't think I'll enjoy as much as this one. Though there might be a nasty fiancee in it, IIRC. Here's hoping. Sorry - back to Always and Forever:
Oliver works out that Miriam had lied to Amabel, so he makes a point of meeting Miriam so he can crush her dreams of marrying Oliver forever. Meanwhile, Amabel is at home. Her mother and stepfather have laid off the woman who came in to help every day, on the assumption that now Amabel will do that work. They don't need to save the money, but they're cheap. By the way, characterization of Amabel's mother flies out the window in this chapter - it was believable that she was willing to turn a blind eye to Keith being a jerk because she was newly married to him, but it's not likely that she would accept Amabel having to give up her job to work for her, unpaid.
Anyway, Oliver delays his visit to Amabel, because he's busy. By the time he gets to Lady Haleford's house, Amabel has been at her mother's for nearly two weeks. He makes quick work of extricating her and proposing. To my amusement, Amabel asks whether he'll always kiss her so enthusiastically when they're married; when Oliver answers in the affirmative, she replies, "Then I'll marry you, because I like being kissed like that" (p. 250). It's rare for me to be surprised, or amused, on the last page of a Betts, so I'm savoring this one.