Mothering Sunday (novel)

Last updated

Mothering Sunday
Mothering Sunday (novel).jpg
First edition
Author Graham Swift
Cover artist Amedeo Modigliani
Nu couché (1917)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre Novel
Publisher Charles Scribner's Sons
Publication date
2016
Media typePrint
Pages132
ISBN 1-4711-55234

Mothering Sunday was published in 2016 by English author Graham Swift, and won the Hawthornden Prize the following year. In 2021 it was adapted into a film of the same name directed by Eva Husson and starring Odessa Young, Glenda Jackson, Olivia Colman and Colin Firth.

Contents

The entire novel is set on March 30, 1924—which is when Mothering Sunday occurred that year—when a young maid, Jane Fairchild, goes to meet her lover, Paul Sheringham, who she has been having an illicit affair with for seven years and who is about to be married in a few weeks to a rich young woman in his social circle, Emma Hobday.

Plot

On March 30, 1924, the Nivens, an upper class family who lost both their children in World War I, still observe Mothering Sunday, a day in which servants are permitted the afternoon off to return home and spend the time with their mothers. While the Nivens plan to spend the day away with their neighbours, the Sheringhams, their maid, 22-year-old Jane Fairchild, thinks about spending the afternoon on the Nivens' estate reading a book loaned to her by the Nivens. Her plans change when she receives a phone call from her lover, Paul Sheringham, inviting her to the Sheringham estate, Upleigh.

Jane and Paul have been lovers since childhood, with Paul initially paying Jane for sex and the two eventually developing a close relationship. Paul is the only surviving son between the Sheringhams and the Nivens and is thusly treated as a son by both families accordingly. He is due to marry a woman in his social circle in a few weeks and Jane wonders whether this is to be their final encounter.

After they have sex Paul dresses to go meet his fiancée, Emma Hobday, and leaves Jane alone in the house, warning her of when his parents plan to return. Jane uses the time to wander through the house nude, examining how Paul lives. Finally leaving Paul's home she returns to the Nivens' estate, Beechwood, early planning to spend the rest of her afternoon reading. She is met by Mr. Niven who informs Jane that Paul has died in a car accident.

Jane goes on to eventually leave the Nivens to work in a bookshop in Oxford. She marries a famous philosopher and goes on to become an incredibly successful author.

Back on Mothering Sunday Mr. Niven informs Jane he has returned early to inform the maids of Upleigh that Paul has died. It is also implied that Mr. Niven is there to clean up after Paul as there is some thought he might have left behind a suicide note as his car accident was caused by his car driving directly into a tree on a route that was familiar to him. Mr. Niven asks Jane to accompany him to Upleigh where they find that Jane's counterpart, Ethel, has returned. She takes the news stoically and Jane is relieved that any signs that she was there have already been cleaned away by Ethel. On the way home Jane comforts a weeping Mr. Niven as he is devastated that all 5 of the sons of the Sheringhams and the Nivens are now deceased.

Later that night unable to sleep Jane finally continues to read her book which contains the short story Youth by Joseph Conrad. He becomes an influential writer to her, triggering the series of events that leads to her becoming a writer. Later Jane reflects on how even in her old age she keeps the secret of what happened on Mothering Sunday to herself.

Reception

Related Research Articles

<i>Pride and Prejudice</i> 1813 novel by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of the book, who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness.

<i>Sense and Sensibility</i> 1811 novel by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility is a novel by Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously; By A Lady appears on the title page where the author's name might have been. It tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne as they come of age. They have an older half-brother, John, and a younger sister, Margaret.

<i>Jane Eyre</i> 1847 novel by Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first American edition was published the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York. Jane Eyre is a Bildungsroman which follows the experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall.

<i>Dolores Claiborne</i> 1992 novel by Stephen King

Dolores Claiborne is a 1992 psychological thriller novel by Stephen King. The novel is narrated by the title character. Atypically for a King novel, it has no chapters, double-spacing between paragraphs, or other section breaks; thus, the text is a single continuous narrative, which reads like the transcription of a spoken monologue. It was the best-selling novel of 1992 in the United States. The story introduced the fictional community of Little Tall Island, which Stephen King later used as the setting for the original TV mini-series Storm of the Century.

<i>Mrs. Parkington</i> 1944 film by Tay Garnett

Mrs. Parkington is a 1944 drama film. It tells the story of a woman's life, told via flashbacks, from boarding house maid to society matron. The movie was adapted by Polly James and Robert Thoeren from the novel by Louis Bromfield. It was directed by Tay Garnett and starred Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon appearing together as husband and wife for the fourth time.

<i>Alex Haleys Queen</i> American TV series or program

Alex Haley's Queen is a 1993 American television miniseries that aired in three installments on February 14, 16, and 18 on CBS. The miniseries is an adaptation of the 1993 novel Queen: The Story of an American Family, by Alex Haley and David Stevens. The novel is based on the life of Queen Jackson Haley, Haley's paternal grandmother. Alex Haley died in February 1992 before completing the novel. It was later finished by David Stevens and published in 1993. Stevens also wrote the screenplay for the miniseries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Martha Sherwood</span> English childrens author and editor (1775–1851)

Mary Martha Sherwood was a nineteenth-century English children's writer. Of her more than four hundred works, the best known include The History of Little Henry and his Bearer (1814) and the two series The History of Henry Milner (1822–1837) and The History of the Fairchild Family (1818–1847). Her evangelicalism permeated her early writings, but later works cover common Victorian themes such as domesticity.

<i>The Pigman</i> 1968 young adult novel by Paul Zindel

The Pigman is a young adult novel written by Paul Zindel, published in 1968. It is notable for its authentic depiction of teenagers, and was among the first YA books to take the genre in a more realistic direction.

<i>The Greengage Summer</i> 1961 film by Lewis Gilbert

The Greengage Summer is a 1961 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More and Susannah York. It was based on the novel The Greengage Summer (1958) by Rumer Godden. Set in Épernay, in the Champagne region of France, it is the story of the transition of a teenage girl into womanhood.

<i>Imitation of Life</i> (1959 film) 1959 film directed by Douglas Sirk

Imitation of Life is a 1959 American drama film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal International. It was Sirk's final Hollywood film and dealt with issues of race, class and gender. Imitation of Life is the second film adaptation of Fannie Hurst's 1933 novel of the same name; the first, directed by John M. Stahl, was released in 1934.

<i>Happy Anniversary</i> (1959 film) 1959 American film

Happy Anniversary is a 1959 American picture starring David Niven and Mitzi Gaynor. Directed by David Miller, the movie's cast also included Carl Reiner and a young Patty Duke.

<i>One, Two, Buckle My Shoe</i> (novel) 1940 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club in November 1940, and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1941 under the title of The Patriotic Murders. A paperback edition in the US by Dell books in 1953 changed the title again to An Overdose of Death. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) while the United States edition retailed at $2.00.

<i>The Old Maid</i> (1939 film) 1939 film by Edmund Goulding

The Old Maid is a 1939 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1935 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Zoë Akins, which was adapted from the 1924 Edith Wharton novella The Old Maid: the Fifties.

<i>Girl with a Pearl Earring</i> (novel) 1999 novel by Tracy Chevalier

Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 1999 historical novel written by Tracy Chevalier. Set in 17th-century Delft, Holland, the novel was inspired by local painter Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. Chevalier presents a fictional account of Vermeer, the model and the painting. The novel was adapted into a 2003 film of the same name and a 2008 play. In May 2020, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a new dramatisation of the novel.

<i>Pollyanna</i> (1960 film) 1960 film by David Swift

Pollyanna is a 1960 American comedy-drama film starring child actress Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Karl Malden, and Richard Egan in a story about a cheerful orphan changing the outlook of a small town. The film was written and directed by David Swift, based on the 1913 novel Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter. The film won Hayley Mills an Academy Juvenile Award. It was the last film of actor Adolphe Menjou.

<i>The Way We Live Now</i> (2001 TV serial) British TV series or program

The Way We Live Now is a 2001 four-part television adaptation of the Anthony Trollope 1875 novel The Way We Live Now. The serial was first broadcast on the BBC and was directed by David Yates, written by Andrew Davies and produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark. David Suchet starred as Augustus Melmotte, with Shirley Henderson as his daughter Marie, Matthew Macfadyen as Sir Felix Carbury, Cillian Murphy as Paul Montague and Miranda Otto as Mrs Hurtle.

<i>The Help</i> Novel by Kathryn Stockett

The Help is a historical fiction novel by American author Kathryn Stockett and published by Penguin Books in 2009. The story is about African Americans working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bennet family</span> Fictional family

The Bennet family is a fictional family created by the English novelist Jane Austen, in her 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice. The family consists of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, and their five daughters: Jane, Mary, Catherine, Lydia, and Elizabeth, the novel's protagonist.

<i>Gillespie and I</i> 2011 novel by Jane Harris

Gillespie and I, published in 2011, is the best-selling second novel by British author Jane Harris.

<i>Mothering Sunday</i> (film) British romantic drama film

Mothering Sunday is a 2021 British romantic drama film directed by Eva Husson, from a screenplay by Alice Birch, based on the novel of the same name by Graham Swift. The film stars Odessa Young, Josh O'Connor, Olivia Colman and Colin Firth. The film also marks the first appearance of Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson in a theatrical release in over 30 years, having last appeared in King of the Wind (1990).

References