Sheila Kaye-Smith (4 February 1887 – 14 January 1956) was an English writer, known for her many novels set in the borderlands of

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

and

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in the English regional tradition. Her 1923 book ''The End of the House of Alard'' became a best-seller, and gave her prominence; it was followed by other successes, and her books enjoyed worldwide sales. Interest in her novel '' Joanna Godden'' (1921) was revived after it was adapted as a film titled '' The Loves of Joanna Godden'' (1947), which had a different conclusion. In the 1980s, this novel and ''Susan Spray'' were reissued by Virago press.

Life

The daughter of a physician and his wife, Sheila Kaye-Smith was born in

St Leonards-on-Sea St Leonards-on-Sea (commonly known as St Leonards) is a town and seaside resort in the borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. It has been part of the borough since the late 19th century and lies to the west of central Hastings. The origin ...

, near Hastings, in Sussex. She lived most of her life in that county, apart from a period in London in her youth. She was a distant relative of writer M. M. Kaye (''The Far Pavilions''). In 1924 Kaye-Smith married Theodore Penrose Fry, an Anglican clergyman. The following year she published a book on

Anglo-Catholicism Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...

. By 1929 she and her husband had converted to the Roman Catholic Church. Penrose Fry had to give up his Anglican curacy, and they moved to

Northiam Northiam is a village and civil parish in the Rother District, Rother district, in East Sussex, England, 13 miles (21 km) north of Hastings in the valley of the River Rother, East Sussex, River Rother. The A28 road to Ashford, Kent, Ashford ...

in Sussex, where they lived in a large converted

oast house An oast, oast house (or oasthouse) or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. Oast houses can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas, and are often good examples of agricultu ...

. Soon afterwards, having noted their own and some of their neighbours' need for a nearby church, they bought land on which they established a Catholic chapel dedicated to St Theresa of Lisieux, at

. It still has a large congregation. Kaye-Smith is buried in the churchyard there. Their house, Little Doucegrove, was later owned by novelist

Rumer Godden Margaret Rumer Godden (10 December 1907 – 8 November 1998) was a British author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably ''Black Narcissus (novel), Black Narcissus'' in 194 ...

, another writer who had converted to Catholicism. A new biography of Kaye-Smith by Shaun Cooper, ''The Shining Cord'', was published by Country Books in June 2017.

Writing

Kaye-Smith's fiction was noted for being rooted in rural concerns: the nineteenth-century agricultural depression, farming, legacies, land rents, strikes, the changing position of women, and the effects of industrialisation on the countryside and provincial life. Admirers of her work included her close friend G. B. Stern. They collaborated on two books about authors

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...

, and

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

. Kaye-Smith's novels encompassed more than one genre of fiction. Her earliest novels partly fit into the 'earthy' rural category, together with those of Mary E Mann,

Mary Webb Mary Gladys Webb (25 March 1881 – 8 October 1927) was an English romance novelist and poet of the early 20th century, whose work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and people whom she knew. Her ...

, D. H. Lawrence, and

. This genre inspired Stella Gibbons's parody '' Cold Comfort Farm'' (1932). Kaye-Smith's response to the latter was amusement: she placed a good-natured riposte in her novel ''A Valiant Woman'' (1939), set in a rapidly modernising village undergoing some gentrification. (Pearce, 2008). A subplot has an upper middle-class teenager, Lucia, turn from writing twee rural poems to undertake the great Urban Proletarian Novel: "… all about people who aren't married going to bed in a Manchester slum and talking about the

Means Test A means test is a determination of whether an individual or family is eligible for government benefits, assistance or welfare, based upon whether the individual or family possesses the means to do with less or none of that help. Means testing is ...

." Her philistine grandmother is dismayed, as she prefers cosy rural novels and knows Lucia is ignorant of proletarian life:

That silly child! Did she really think she could write a novel? Well, of course, modern novels might encourage her to think so. There was nothing written nowadays worth reading. The book on her knee was called Cold Comfort Farm and had been written by a young woman who was said to be very clever and had won an important literary prize. But she couldn't get on with it at all. It was about life on a farm, but the girl obviously knew nothing about country life. To anyone who, like herself, had always lived in the country, the whole thing was too ridiculous and impossible for words.

Kaye-Smith's descriptions of the Sussex countryside, coast and marsh are still regarded as some of the finest. Several of her heroines are single parents and most face various gender-related trials, reflecting her early feminism as well as influences such as George Moore and Thomas Hardy (Pearce, 2004). Kaye-Smith also produced many short stories, and her journalism was published in national journals, magazines and newspapers. ''Joanna Godden'' (1921), arguably Kaye-Smith's most famous novel, was set in

Romney Marsh Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about . The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until the ...

. More than two decades later, a film adaptation was made, released in 1947 as '' The Loves of Joanna Godden.'' Starring Googie Withers, it had a score by noted composer

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

. The screenplay by H. E. Bates includes however a very different conclusion to the story. Kaye-Smith's later books increasingly reflected her personal religious preoccupations, featuring characters tussling with spiritual crises and conversions within subtle discussions of the differences among Anglicanism, Anglo-Catholicism, and Catholicism. Her plots (e.g. in ''The Lardners and the Laurelwoods'', ''A Valiant Woman'', and ''Mrs Gailey'') continued to reflect pre- and post-WW2 preoccupations of women's "middle-brow" fiction of the time. She explored national anxieties about social class, divorce, and women's "role", within a mainly rural but rapidly modernising milieu (Pearce, 2004, 2005). Her books share similarities with contemporary writers such as Barbara Pym, Marghanita Laski and H. E. Bates. Her descriptions of farming practices and economics, and village vernacular, are noted as particularly detailed and accurate for this genre (Cavalliero, 1977). ''Joanna Godden'' and ''Susan Spray'' were reissued in the 1980s by feminist publishing house Virago. Since then her books are out of print, but are readily available on the used book market.

Literary society

The Sheila Kaye-Smith

literary society A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of writing or a specific author. Modern literary societies typically promote research, publish newslet ...

is based in St Leonards-on-Sea, meets regularly, and has published a chronology of her life and works, as well producing an annual journal, ''The Gleam''. There are extensive archives relating to Sheila Kaye-Smith in West Sussex County Library in Chichester.

Works

References

External links

* /www.sheilakayesmith.org.uk/ Sheila Kaye-Smith Society official website
Sheila Kaye-Smith Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...