Mrs Ames is a delightful novel dealing with the dynamics of married life and the usual social one-upmanships that have been wittily portrayed in Benson's Mapp and Lucia novels. However, this novel delves into the more serious topic of marital infidelity and Benson's touch is therefore more sympathetic and introspective. Published in 1912, it predates the first of the highly popular Mapp and Lucia novels by eight years but one can already see Benson's trademark observances of day-to-day petty preoccupations and rivalries between neighbours.
This novel is set in a hilly Kentish village named Riseborough and we are introduced to a group of characters (indeed mostly all married couples) who are largely retired and who fill their days with the three G's: golf, gardening and gossip - and relentless stabs at social supremacy. The undisputed doyenne of the village social scene is Mrs Amy Ames, a fifty-something lady married to a Major ten years her junior. With a son at Cambridge, and obscure connections to royalty, Mrs Ames sets an example which all follow... until the recently arrived doctor's wife, the dubiously shy Mrs Evans, takes an interest in Major Lyndhurst Percy Ames and unintentionally begins to usurp the throne.
The book opens sedately on a scene of domestic life between perhaps the only couple in the book who are truly comfortable and happy with each other. It proceeds at a gentle pace as we are acquainted with the main characters and tension slowly begins to build as events unfold. I found Benson's treatment of middle-age quite touching as he seems to understand women's preoccupation with greying hair, wrinkles and so on and Mrs Ames' endeavours to turn back the clock were humorously though sympathetically portrayed. Indeed, all of the main woman characters are quite solidly portrayed whereas the men appear a little more like caricatures and regarded with greater mirth. It is a tribute to his writing that I started out liking all the characters (whilst having luke-warm feelings about Mrs Ames) but by the middle of the novel I could not stand Mrs Evans and was wholly on Mrs Ames' side!
There are quite a few surprises in this book - for its time - such as a comic portrayal of a suffragette uprising and one or two schemes that go awry, including a farcical fancy dress party. The novel is delivered in beautiful prose - such as I have come to expect from Benson - and is peppered with witty phrases and portraits. This is not of the same sharp quality of the Mapp and Lucia novels but it is a worthy read. If you are new to E. F. Benson, and are not sure if this is your cup of tea, I would highly recommend starting with Mapp and Lucia or even his excellent stand-alone novel Secret Lives, before acquanting yourself with the indomitable Mrs Ames.
