When I first read The Half-Crown House by Helen Ashton in 2016, it was only my second encounter with her work and it became my second-favourite of her books. Eight years and many more encounters with Ashton later, my opinion is unchanged. While no where near as good as Bricks and Mortar (the only one of her books currently in print), it is for me the only other Ashton book that should be reprinted.
Like so many once well-to-do families, the Hornbeams have been crippled by a flurry of death duties and the rising cost of living following the Second World War – a familiar story in 1956, when the book was published. And, like so many other families, they try to make what they can of their only remaining asset: Fountain Court, their small stately home. It is no rival to Blenheim or Chatsworth, but from April to October it provides an opportunity for the family to make a small income by opening it to the public for half-crown tours and sharing their history with the gaping hordes.
We arrive at Fountain Court on October 30, 1954, the last day of the tourist season and, as it turns out, an eventful one for the Hornbeam family. With old Lady Hornbeam bedridden in an upstairs room and attended by her devoted maid, the estate is now run by her granddaughter Henrietta and distant cousin Charles. But today brings the exciting arrival of a new resident: Henrietta’s nephew Victor, the little Baron Hornbeam for whom all this work is being done to maintain his inheritance. Victor has lived happily with his (rather common, if you ask the Hornbeams) mother all his life, never knowing the father who was killed at Arnhem before Victor was born. The boy is now old enough to be going off to school and it is time for him to know his father’s family, so from now on he will live with them rather than his mother. Even knowing it was his father’s wish and wanting to be away from his new stepfather, Victor is struggling with the change and his new surroundings.
For Henrietta, single and in her late twenties, Victor is one more responsibility in a life already overburdened with them. But what is one small boy in addition to an estate, a grandmother, and a handful of devoted servants? Her twin brother’s death changed the course of many lives, but hers especially. She can rely utterly on Cousin Charles who, minus one eye and one arm since the war, capably runs the estate alongside her but it is a heavily burden nonetheless.
And is it even a burden worth preserving? The world around Fountain Court seems to be rejecting all that it stands for. The bustling nearby American Air Force base has brought a new prosperity to the area and certainly new expectations for how to live and the necessary comforts. What does it matter that Queen Henrietta Maria once slept at Fountain Court, and what do the old paintings and furniture mean when all people want now are tidy little things to put in tidy little houses they can keep clean and warm? For Henrietta, a visit from her determined American suitor – happy to pick up a wife as well as antiques while in England – makes this a pressing question.
In typical Ashton fashion, the story bounces between characters, breezing through their thoughts over the course of the day. We touch on neighbours who drop by for a tour and tea with the family and various long-standing servants, as well as the members of the family themselves. A fixed time period is a favourite conceit of Ashton’s (see Dr Serocold or Yeoman’s Hospital) but it doesn’t invite much intimacy or exploration. What you get are vignettes – glimpses of scenes or family history – that together form a story that fascinates without ever truly absorbing the reader. I think that is Ashton’s great weakness: the constant sense of distance between the reader and her characters. There are many (rather too many) dramatic happenings and yet they don’t have the same weight they would if you were experiencing them through a single character you cared for.
This sounds rather lukewarm from someone who in 2016 said she “loved, loved, loved” this book. I will retract two of those “loves” as my enthusiasm has tempered but retain one. I do love this book for what it is, even as I regret some of its weaknesses, and thoroughly relished revisiting it. And I would truly love, love, love to see it reissued someday so more readers can enjoy its charms.
I have to find my copy because it does sound appealing (and I like books about aunts, given I am one). I think I mentioned that I (ahem) borrowed it from a community center several years ago while being tortured at an audience participation poetry reading. If it had not been sponsored by my library and had I not been begged to attend lest no one show up, I’d have been gone. But by moving very stealthily I was able to sit by a bookshelf and help myself. I did bring them two discards to make up for my theft a few weeks later.
I adore this acquisition story and heartily believe you earned your copy after sitting through that terrifying experience. Poetry readings are bad enough, but audience participation brings a whole new element of horror to them.
Gosh, I loved this book when I read it a couple years ago. If Bricks and Mortar is even better, I’d better get reading the Persephone copy I have on my shelf!
Excellent that you have Bricks and Mortar close to hand already! I hope you love it.
I also greatly enjoyed this novel as well as Bricks and Mortar. It’s interesting that you believe that these are the best two of Ashton’s novels and that the others aren’t worth reprinting. I’ve wanted to track some of the others down but haven’t come across affordable copies yet. Grier
Yes, her books can be hard to track down – thank goodness for libraries! Most of what I’ve been able to find has come through inter-library loan from university collections.
Rachel is such a fan of her that I’m keen to read more – I did enjoy this one, though lost track of who quite a few characters were. Interesting that others don’t seem worth reprinting to your mind.
Definitely easy to lose track of characters since there are so many and you see most of them only briefly. I don’t think Ashton’s other books are awful (except for one of them, which is abysmal) but just not worth the effort, very similar to how I feel about Stella Gibbons and all the reprints that were done of her middling books.
I really enjoyed this one, I found the racial politics quite interesting and was moved by the mention of Queen Elizabeth, as I read it in 2022… https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2022/06/17/book-review-helen-ashton-the-half-crown-house/ I did like Yeoman’s Hospital as well as Bricks and Mortar.
Glad to hear from another fan of this one!
I liked this one too, but it isn’t as good as Bricks and Mortar. I read a few of her books some years ago and Bricks and Mortar is definitely the best.
It really, really is. Persephone knew what they were doing when they picked Bricks and Mortar to reprint.