The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott grew on me very slowly and it took me ages to read the first half. I finished it some six weeks ago. However as I was changing the beds this morning I found myself thinking about the life and views of one of the characters, Clover. Book characters popping in to your head during housework is a sure sign of a job well done in terms of characterisation. This thought also leads me to the conclusion that had I done more housework as a student I might have written even better essays. Anyway ...
It starts off as a well-wrought but not especially exciting study of life in Vaudeville. If you are fascinated by the theatre this is a winner for you straight away. In terms of character however the first part of the book largely focuses on the eldest of three sisters who perform in a sweet sister act, The Belle Auroras. Aurora, the eldest, is indeed beautiful and is regarded as the one most likely to be a success, in highly predictable ways, including making an advantageous theatrical marriage of convenience. Their widowed mother, who had performed on the stage in her youth before becoming respectable and marrying a teacher, battles to keep standards high and food on the table. They're poor, cold, hungry - so far so predictable. The theatre world is focused on Aurora: who is attracted to her, does she draw crowds, are impressarios impressed with her? But we see the theatre as much through the eyes of her younger sisters, the 'baby' Bella and quiet middle one Clover whose name is not part of their act. They watch the stage, and the acts and the grown-ups from backstage and suddenly as these two develop we learn much more than when the lovely Aurora was the focus of all gazes.
As the book progresses and the girls and their mother get older, cracks appear in the tight facade of family and we see them with their individual talents and lives as the first world war looms on the horizon. This later part of the book made it for me. The newer, more mature relationships, Clover's battles with her traumatised soldier lover, the new successes and failures, and their ways of adjusting to life and each other were fascinating and beautifully, subtly done. From the height of vaudeville to the dawn of the movie age this novel, in the end, ceates a wonderful arc of character through a slim plot and lots of theatrical atmosphere. Not my favourite novel of the year, not my favourite novel of the theatre, but in the end a very satisfying read and I am glad I stuck with it.
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