Book Review: The Division Bell Mystery

[osprey_archer]

I read The Division Bell Mystery mostly because I was intrigued by the author: Ellen Wilkinson was a Labour MP in the 1930s with flaming red hair and flaming red opinions, which she mostly but does not quite suppress in this mystery novel about a young Tory MP who turns amateur detective when someone murders a visitor in a private House of Commons dining room. (The young Tory MP is rather against his will turning Labour, although this is a very minor subplot and he does not complete the transformation in the novel.)

This is a fairly standard Golden Age mystery. What sets it apart is its wealth of detail about Parliament - the physical layout of the building, the rules of procedure - both official and unofficial. Robert West, our MP detective, comments that Parliamentarians avoid spending too much time listening to debates because if they spend too much time listening, it’s assumed they have no real power. All the real work gets done in the Parliamentary pub and dining rooms.

There’s also this delightful quote, which expresses a sentiment that I suspect Wilkinson would have liked to fling in a few men’s faces:

“The attitude of Robert West to the modern young woman was typical of that of a very young man. He preferred the intelligent woman. He liked to be seen about with one who was making a name for herself. But while he was interested in her he expected her to put her own affairs into the background, and devote herself to his. When she was no longer needed she might be permitted to pick up her own threads again, but she must not trouble him. This he called allowing a woman to live her own life.”

Comments

[landofnowhere]

This sounds charming!

All the real work gets done in the Parliamentary pub and dining rooms.

I'm sure that's still relevant political commentary :-/ I've heard that the New York State Capitol has walk-in fireplaces which are now used for the senators to have quiet chats.

[osprey_archer]

I suspect that it's pretty much inevitable, honestly. If all the speeches in a debating chamber are taken down publicly, then inevitably a lot of what people say will be basically empty grandstanding, and in any case it's all but impossible for hundreds of people to have a real conversation/debate all at the same time - you have to break into smaller groups.

[landofnowhere]

Valid point. Does the book comment on the ways that holding these meetings in the pub could be exclusionary to women?

[osprey_archer]

Not really. It is mostly concerned with being a murder mystery; the political commentary is mainly about the rise of working class discontent and the possible inevitability of socialism.

[sovay]

"This he called allowing a woman to live her own life."

That's very good.

[osprey_archer]

It's very pointed. I think Ellen Wilkinson knew a lot of men like this.

[skygiants]

oh wow yes I now also want to know everything about Ellen Wilkinson, and will to that end be reading this book for sure.

[osprey_archer]

Ellen Wilkinson was clearly a BAMF, and even though the book isn't all that impressive as a mystery, I feel it has enriched my life because through it, I learned about its author.

[asakiyume]

When you submit short stories to several of the big SF venues, they tell you not to bother adding personal details about yourself to your cover letter unless it's relevant for your story--like you're a rocket scientist and writing a story with a rocket in it, or a seismologist, which is going to make your details on an earthquake extra accurate and so on. ... So I guess Ellen Wilkinson wins when it comes to accurate parliamentary details.

I definitely feel like I've met people like Robert West.

[osprey_archer]

The sad thing is that this passage isn't meant to make West look like a jerk. It's pretty much Ellen Wilkinson's description of What Men Are Like, Even the Best of Them.

[asakiyume]

I always wish for people like her to have met/known a better class of men.