PatH, yes, indeed. And Veneering's taking a cruise to Malta, where Betty and OF had been, and meeting there apparently the same group of British expat, still living it up there, including the one to whom OFhad offered a job years earlier when he and Betty were there. A nostalgic pilgrimage for Veneering ? That is rather touching, isn't it ?
JoanP, these books may be easy to read but they turn out to be quite demanding. We are presented with circumstances without direct antecedents, then left to draw our own conclusions -- which may not be what JG intended at all!
The characters are brilliantly portrayed, and all of us had strong reactions to them, which proves the point.
We may not like the characters or (even less) the things they do. But they are the protagonists in a story, not real people. I, for one, have never felt the need to like a character, to identify with him/her in any way, or to approve of behavior or condemn it.
JGhas written several books about the relationships between men and women, about jealousy between women, and the compromises necessary in most marriages. In life, she seems to say, is ever black or white. They are many grey areas. Besides, how much did we know about the Empire, its glory and its downfall, India, the jewel in the crown, life and opportunities in the colonies ? The Kipling reference was useful to explain the Raj orphans, but I'm afraid the story of OF, Betty, Veneering and the fawning over-protective Loss, for whom the second book is named, has to be taken as is - until we hear from JG.
True, we meet Betty briefly in OF, long after they returned from H.K., too brief to form an opinion of her. It is obvious that JG wanted to describe OF's youth, mid-life and old age. There is more abut Betty in the second volume, and we see her interaction with the other people in her life. She resigned herself to the fact that hers would be a marriage without passion. OF later said later "Betty was undemanding". Doesn't that say a lot ?
Something tells me that JG was gently disposed toward Betty. She made Betty come into her own.
Often alone when the Judge was occupied and preoccupied with one of his cases on land reclamation (Loss had steeredOF to this ,endlessly lucrative field), Betty volunteered for children's causes and was officially recognized for her work. In retirement she "took over the church", as OF put it. Not quite, of course. She had a great organsational talent and became an indispensable member of the Altar Guild. Flowers on the main altar and chapel altars are important in Anglican churches, and so they are in the Episcopal Church (which is member of the Anglican Union). In her capable hands everything bloomed and flourished.
There can be no question that she suffered in silence all he life for loving and losing a man who wasn't hers, and for never having children. Even so, her life was productive and I think JG forgave her. There are other things in the second book that I am anxious to reread, e.g. the letters she wrote from her honeymoon, and the friendship with the people in London and also Dulcie and her actor husband.
There's a relatively small thing in OF, a sort of political observation by Eddie in conversation with Loss on the boat to Singapore. He referred to Churchill as a buffoon and, with some asperity, to his "siren suit". (I had to look that up). There is no follow-up. Hmmmm
