The Jewel Box Part 27

"Well, there's some sort of march on in the West End. Them peculiar wood-cut people. All camping and funny green cloaks and then a bit of nationalism thrown in. Know the ones?"

"Do you mean the Kibbo Kift?"

"Yeah, them's the b.u.g.g.e.rs. John Hargrave or whoever he is. Funny bloke. Give themselves fancy names and all, don't they? White Dove, Golden Eagle, all that sort of rubbish."

The taxi had slowed to a halt now. Grace gazed out at a tall gray house with a red door. Three or four months back she'd been to a jazz party in the upper rooms of that house. She'd capered about with two Vorticist artists-one in a ridiculous beret, the other with a pointlessly pointy beard-and got giggly on gin c.o.c.ktails, aware that somewhere on the other side of the room, d.i.c.kie was watching. She must have looked like she was having the time of her life. Actually, she was terribly lonely that night.

"Bunch of overgrown Boy Scouts with a bit of a nasty underside, if you ask me," said the taxi driver. "Haven't heard that Hargrave say anything that's worth getting the streets all clogged up."

They'd been still for almost two minutes now. She leaned forward and peered out at the choked-up street. Cars, buses, trams, all motionless. "When's the march due to finish? Do you think we'll be moving again soon?"

"No idea, love. What time's your train?"

Round and about them, drivers were changing their minds and directions, pulling out of the jam and peeling off east.

"Can't we go another way?"

"Not unless you want me to go all down through Clerken-well. Don't fret, I'm sure we'll be moving again in a minute."

"But you just said you had no idea how long the march was due to go on for!"

The bus driver ahead of them was sticking his arm out the window to signal a change of direction. A bus bound for Waterloo, like them, about to swing out east through Clerken-well.

"If you ask me that's downright irresponsible." The cabbie tutted. "He'll have people on that vehicle wanting the West End."

"Will you please please make a detour," asked Grace through gritted teeth. make a detour," asked Grace through gritted teeth.

In her head, John was walking slowly up the gangplank onto a s.h.i.+p-not a modern ocean liner, but a Spanish galleon with sails and cannon and a skull and crossbones flying from its mast, all set to spirit him away.

"What time does your train go?"

The advertis.e.m.e.nt on the side of the bus read: "Let's go to Lyons." A small boy sitting inside was drawing with his finger in the muck on the window. A baby was crying, its face red, its mouth wide. There were several old women in hats.

"My life is slipping away from me while we sit here. I have to get to Waterloo!"

There was a dark-haired, dark-eyed man on that bus. He was gazing out at the street with a face entirely absent of expression. The look of one who has abandoned hope.

John!

No, it couldn't be. Could it? Surely he'd be at Southampton by now. He'd left hours ago. Though maybe, just possibly, he'd gone somewhere else first...Errands to run, people to say good-bye to...

She blinked. Strained for a clear view of him just as the bus swung out to join the stream of eastbound traffic.

It was him. It was was.

"Stop!" Though, of course, they were stopped already. Shoving her cigarette into the ashtray, she groped for the door handle.

"Hey, what d'you think you're up to?" The driver was twisting around in his seat.

"Got to go." She delved in her purse and randomly shoved a handful of coins at him.

"You sure, love? Ta."

She had the door open, and was clambering out, holding her hand up to try to halt the moving cars, scissoring her way through to the bus.

"Your bag, miss. You forgot your bag."

The bus was lurching into motion, pulling away into the moving traffic.

"John!" she yelled, waving her arms. "Wait! John!"

She began to run. Running in high heels, her arms flailing, after that bus. Running in a stupid, girlie, chiffon-floaty sort of way. Desperation personified, her heart hammering. Some schoolboys were laughing and pointing. A woman with a pinched face tutted. A workman whistled. But all Grace knew was that she had been given another chance and she was d.a.m.ned if her chance was rumbling away with that bus.

The bus was picking up speed. Inside her head, she pleaded-not with G.o.d, in whom she didn't believe-but with herself. Got to catch that bus. Got to catch that bus. Got to catch that bus. Got to catch that bus. Hitched up her dress and pushed herself to run even faster. Hitched up her dress and pushed herself to run even faster.

A tightening of the traffic-just a momentary one, but enough to narrow the gap. The back platform of the bus was almost within her reach. She could jump for it. A flying leap of faith and a grab for the pole.

Scared to get what she wanted, eh? She'd show them. Oh yes, she'd show them now.

She wasn't close enough...

"Stop, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d driver!"

A pink-cheeked young conductor appeared, looking down at her. Dinged his bell.

"Now, now, miss, I won't have language like that on my bus." It was slowing up. He was reaching down for her. "No need for all that. Just ain't ladylike, is it? And running like your very life depended on it!"

She grabbed his arm, hard, and up she went, with a half jump, half step, onto the platform.

"But it does, you see." She was panting so hard that she could barely get the words out. "My life does does depend on it." depend on it."

The conductor pushed his cap back and scratched his head, as the crazy girl flashed a smile at him and went lurching past, along the bus, teetering on her heels, struggling to keep her balance as the bus. .h.i.t a pothole. Cheeky sort of smile, she had. Not his type, of course. Hard as nails, you could see that at a glance. Good-looking, but she knew it a bit too well. One of those faces it's difficult to forget. He'd choose commonplace prettiness over her sort of looks every time. Would tire you out, waking up each morning to that face. None too young either. Probably one of those modern girls, would give you a verbal thick ear soon as look at you. Uppity madam. Still, she had something, there was no doubt about that. Plucky sort. That was quite a sprint she'd just made. And all to catch her man, by the look of things. He heard her shout the name "John!" and then, "It's me." He saw a man's head turn, startled eyes and then the widest grin.

The bus lumbered on.

Afterword.

The Columnist The first columnists appeared in the mid-nineteenth century, with the rise of ma.s.s market newspapers and magazines. The earliest columns were political essays, satirical sketches or caricatures, many of them one-off articles. But it wasn't long before the cleverest, funniest and most popular obtained regular spots, bylines, headings and avid readers.h.i.+ps. first columnists appeared in the mid-nineteenth century, with the rise of ma.s.s market newspapers and magazines. The earliest columns were political essays, satirical sketches or caricatures, many of them one-off articles. But it wasn't long before the cleverest, funniest and most popular obtained regular spots, bylines, headings and avid readers.h.i.+ps.

The column, as a form, established itself most rapidly in the United States, where its proponents could earn a good wage, thanks to the syndication system. In the United Kingdom, the columnist had to scratch about for income from other sources, whether through journalism or otherwise, and consequently it took longer for the column to take hold. Had Grace Rutherford really lived and written her column in 1920s London, she would have been something of a pioneer.

Not that Diamond Sharp would have been the first frivolous gossip writer in London, nor the first Englishwoman to try her hand at it. As early as 1846, Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington, was commissioned by Charles d.i.c.kens as a "purveyor of fas.h.i.+onable intelligence" for his Daily News. Daily News. Her reign lasted only six months, however. When d.i.c.kens stepped down as editor, his successor swiftly ditched Lady Blessington. Her reign lasted only six months, however. When d.i.c.kens stepped down as editor, his successor swiftly ditched Lady Blessington.

Viscount Castlerosse, author of "Londoner's Log" in the Sunday Express, Sunday Express, is often credited as the first English gossip columnist. For fifteen years from 1926, he wrote as an eligible, roving bachelor sharing intimate secrets. English readers enjoyed a blend of gossip, opinion and self-revelation, and the is often credited as the first English gossip columnist. For fifteen years from 1926, he wrote as an eligible, roving bachelor sharing intimate secrets. English readers enjoyed a blend of gossip, opinion and self-revelation, and the Daily Express Daily Express emerged as its princ.i.p.al supplier. Notable columns included "Talk of the Town" by Dragoman, D. B. Wyndham-Lewis's "By the Way," J. B. Morton's "Beachcomber" columns and my personal favorite, Tom Driberg as "William Hickey." emerged as its princ.i.p.al supplier. Notable columns included "Talk of the Town" by Dragoman, D. B. Wyndham-Lewis's "By the Way," J. B. Morton's "Beachcomber" columns and my personal favorite, Tom Driberg as "William Hickey."

Women columnists established themselves earlier and more conclusively in the United States than the United Kingdom. In 1879, Louisa Knapp Curtis began a monthly column on housekeeping in her husband's magazine. This was so successful that ultimately Cyrus Curtis sold his Tribune and Farmer Tribune and Farmer in order to back his wife's new in order to back his wife's new Ladies' Home Journal Ladies' Home Journal. In a rather more glamorous arena, Louella Parsons became the first Hollywood movie gossip columnist in 1914. By the 1930s she would be joined by Hedda Hopper, and the two would lock horns in a fierce rivalry. Dorothy Thompson, meanwhile, started out as a newspaper reporter, and from the mid-1930s became a significant anti-appeas.e.m.e.nt and anti-isolationist voice in "On the Record."

Diamond Sharp owes something to many of these, as well as to later columnists such as Jill Tweedie, who wrote for the Guardian Guardian from the 1960s to the 1980s; a campaigning feminist who exposed her own struggle with the difficulties of putting feminist principles into practice in life. Also Anna Quindlen's "Life in the 30s" column, written for the from the 1960s to the 1980s; a campaigning feminist who exposed her own struggle with the difficulties of putting feminist principles into practice in life. Also Anna Quindlen's "Life in the 30s" column, written for the New York Times New York Times during Quindlen's three-year extended maternity leave, and finally abandoned when she began to tire of the self-exposure. Diamond's biggest influence, though, is the 1920s during Quindlen's three-year extended maternity leave, and finally abandoned when she began to tire of the self-exposure. Diamond's biggest influence, though, is the 1920s New Yorker New Yorker columnist "Lipstick," alias Lois Long. This das.h.i.+ng flapper-about-town delivered spiky and highly opinionated verdicts on New York's restaurants, dinner-dance clubs and illicit drinking dens. In one column she even reviewed a police raid on an after-hours club. columnist "Lipstick," alias Lois Long. This das.h.i.+ng flapper-about-town delivered spiky and highly opinionated verdicts on New York's restaurants, dinner-dance clubs and illicit drinking dens. In one column she even reviewed a police raid on an after-hours club.

As to my other characters-well, Dexter O'Connell, John Cramer and Eva owe something to (but are certainly not based on) F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre.

John Cramer's mustache actually belonged, however, to a youthful Ernest Hemingway.

Oh, and Ciro's nightclub really did have a gla.s.s dance floor.

Acknowledgments.

Thanks are due to the following, for their help: My agent, Carole Blake at Blake Friedmann. My editors, Katie Espiner at Transworld, Lauren McKenna at Simon & Schuster, and Jeanne Ryckmans and Larissa Edwards at Random House Australia.

My lovely colleagues at Curtis Brown. Bronwyn Cosgrave, in her role as the Savoy's Brand Amba.s.sador.

Rhidian, my brother. Simon, my husband-thanks always and most of all. And Natalie and Leo, who were not helpful but were extremely cute.

Introduction.

The Jewel Box Anna Davis 1927: This year, London girls are wearing their hair and dresses shorter than ever, copying the Hollywood flapper look. They want the life that goes with it, too-dancing the Charleston all night, having romances with das.h.i.+ng young men. It's the dream. A life just a little bit wild. This year, London girls are wearing their hair and dresses shorter than ever, copying the Hollywood flapper look. They want the life that goes with it, too-dancing the Charleston all night, having romances with das.h.i.+ng young men. It's the dream. A life just a little bit wild.

In her weekly newspaper column, Diamond Sharp gives her readers a taste of that little bit of wild. She dances at the newest clubs, throws back the best martinis, and flirts with London's most eligible bachelors...all in the name of research.

What her readers don't know is that Diamond, the woman with the sharpest bob in town, isn't all sparkle and s.h.i.+ne. Her real name is Grace Rutherford; her real job is that of a lowly advertising copywriter; and her real life is spent supporting two widows, her mother and sister.

But when two handsome American writers begin to compete for her attention, Grace's reality becomes a drama that spins out of her control. As she seeks to understand the dark past that binds the two writers, Grace realizes she must deal with her own dark secrets-and those of the people closest to her.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION.

1. "And at the heart of this ever-changing city, there is a fundamental core of values which remain unchanged, and which must remain so". What were the values of this time, and how were they changing? How was this change reflected in London's society?

2. "The bobbed hair...it's symbolic". What does the bob symbolize in The Jewel Box The Jewel Box? How do you think men viewed this hairstyle? Do you think the bob is still a powerful statement today?

3. Did you like the book-within-a-book plot? What is the significance of O'Connell's t.i.tle, The Vision The Vision? What do you imagine the cover for this fictional book looked like?

4. Compet.i.tion is a large theme in this novel. Who are the players, what are they competing for, and does anyone win?

5. Compare and contrast the two men who made these statements: "You're beautiful girls, and you're so alive and so different-and each of you is more special, more valuable, for the existence of the other one". "You're like a couple of gems in a jewel box, you two". How does the t.i.tle of this novel pertain to not just one woman but to all women of that time?

6. Do you believe O'Connell when he says: "I like the not knowing. I like life to be unpredictable"? Does Grace share that sentiment? Do you think they are similar or complete opposites?

7. a.n.a.lyze Grace's dream: "Grace was dreaming about Margaret the typist, her coiled black hair transformed into a snake. John Cramer was in the dream, too, playing a wooden flute, and the hair snake uncoiled and reared up to its hypnotic tune". How is this dream meaningful? Where else do dreams appear in The Jewel Box The Jewel Box? Why do you think the author used dreams in such a manner?

8. "You couldn't actually say what you most wanted in bed, but you could use a form of subtle insinuation to make the man think it was he who'd wanted it and initiated it". Do you consider Grace to be a feminist? Why or why not? Are there other characters in The Jewel Box The Jewel Box whom you would describe as feminists? whom you would describe as feminists?

9. "She didn't know how to explain why she had suddenly taken to writing frequently to her sister's husband. It seemed such an odd thing to be doing. And the longer it went on, the less easy it was to speak of, particularly as George was keeping quiet, too". What do you think of Grace's relations.h.i.+p with her brother-in-law? Do you think he is her true love? Or do you think Grace is guilty of only wanting what she cannot have?

10. "They'd both have been fine if it wasn't for that girl". How do you see Eva-as a predator, destroying the lives of everyone who loved her; as a confused, mentally ill woman; as a woman who was simply living, and loving, like a man might do; or some other way?

11. "There are thousands and thousands of women across the country whose voices are simply not heard when it counts most". What does Catherine's history as a suffragette add to The Jewel Box The Jewel Box? What other elements of Catherine's past are revealed? How do these secrets affect Grace?

12. What do you make of O'Connell's "message from a toiling scribe to his Muse"? Did you think it was respectful or glib? What do you think the future holds for him? Will Diamond/Grace be a character in his next novel?

A CONVERSATION WITH ANNA DAVIS.

Q. Your last novel, The Shoe Queen, The Shoe Queen, was also set in the 1920s. Why did you stay with this time period for was also set in the 1920s. Why did you stay with this time period for The Jewel Box The Jewel Box?

A. It's a time period that I loved reading about and researching. I wrote The Shoe Queen The Shoe Queen, but I wasn't done with the twenties. It's often described as the first "truly modern" decade, and I was very interested in the idea of all that change and how it affects society. London (my home) was the world's biggest city in those days. It was a vibrant and buzzing place; the world's nerve center to a great extent. And yet London was and is a city steeped in history and long ingrained in tradition. I enjoyed reading about and thinking about that conflict between old and new values, and how the conflict is played out in individual lives. I also adore the fas.h.i.+on, the art, and the wild stories of the ultimate-party decade. The First World War was firmly behind them, but the Great Depression of the 1930s was just about to appear over the horizon; and beyond that, the Second World War. Those flappers were dancing the Charleston on the edge of the abyss, really. The Roaring Twenties is a decade with many parallels to our own.

Q. Why did you have Charles Lindbergh flying in the background of this novel instead of Amelia Earhart?

A. I think the story could have worked very well with Amelia Earhart's transatlantic flight appearing in place of Lindbergh's. But Earhart flew across the Atlantic in 1928, and I wanted to set my story in 1927. This may seem like an odd quibble, but in order to have the story working properly with its setting, I had to think very carefully about what was going on in the world I was writing about, and particularly the London I was writing about. I gave considerations to quite a few years in the 1920s and weighed up a number of issues. I wanted this story to take place in summer so I could feature those long balmy evenings and hot romantic summer days that we have in London at that time of year. So, for example, the summer of 1926 wouldn't have been good for my purposes because there was a General Strike in May that brought London to a standstill for ten days, and I didn't want this to take over my novel. I also couldn't use the summer of 1928 because the Equal Franchise Act was pa.s.sed in May 1928, giving the vote to all women over twenty-one in Britain. If women under thirty had the vote in my novel, all the tension and energy of Grace's conflict with her mother, and to an extent her conflict within herself, would have just bled away.

Q. How did you come up with the scene with the psychic in the library? Have you been to seances before?

A. I've never been to a seance, but they were very popular at that time. Quite a few of the key characters in my story are dead, and I liked the idea of Grace and O'Connell going along to an event like this in search of a bit of fun, and actually coming away feeling rather troubled. It's not so much that either one is haunted by spirits from the "other side" but rather by their own dark memories and past actions. It also gave me the opportunity to give Grace and the reader an early hint about what might have happened to Eva.

Q. "Perhaps, Grace realized, somewhat randomly, it was the very fear of finding that she herself was the bright-but-plain type that had always driven her to shun that kind of girl and to strive so hard with her appearance, her persona...". This is an interesting epiphany. Have you met many women who fit this description?

A. I think it fits many women-particularly young women and girls-and I suspect I'm not entirely innocent of it myself. We want to be glamorous and to appear to others to be glamorous. But we have a sneaking suspicion that we're actually not, and that we're about to be found out. We steer away from people who appear drab because we see ourselves reflected, and we fear exposure by a.s.sociation. Grace is rather insecure behind her Diamond persona, and this is exemplified in her att.i.tude to Margaret. She can't see beyond the fact that Margaret is a "lowly" typist and wears thick gla.s.ses. Margaret appears to Grace as bright but ordinary, and this is how Grace sees herself (shown when she frets about O'Connell finding out her true ident.i.ty). Ultimately, she comes to know Margaret and to value her, and I'd like to think she may have learned something about herself from this experience.

Q. Have you ever written under a pseudonym? If so, what was that experience like for you?

A. Yes, about five years ago, when I had a regular column in a British national newspaper. I was writing the story of a fictional teenager, in weekly installments, told in the first person voice of the teenager. The column was published under the character's name, Jane Lockett. It was comical, and a lot of fun to write. But I have to confess, I felt frustrated that people didn't know I was the author behind it. I like to see my real name on books and articles, even though the name itself is not a particularly striking one!

Q. Diamond Sharp could be the 1920s version of Carrie Bradshaw. Did shows/novels like s.e.x and the City s.e.x and the City spark your imagination to go back in time and find such independent women at a time when their independence was new? spark your imagination to go back in time and find such independent women at a time when their independence was new?