A review by ruthieduthie
Misadventures of Margaret * Exp * by Claire McGlasson

4.0

There is, I think, a whiff of Barbara Pym about this thoughtful novel, even including a clergyman, albeit a defrocked one. Set in the late 1930's, its backdrop is the Mass Observation report on Lancashire holiday-makers in Blackpool. Margaret is an ace Observer, and as it turns out not only of the people around but also of herself. Her self-confidence as a woman was squeezed out of her by her stepmother (the ominous 'Mother') and all that's left is her cerebral abilities.
Unfortunately that is not enough to sustain her, and she falls prey to morphine (in kaolin and morphine, something that I was prescribed for stomach ills in my youth) and drink.
Through the book she begins to rely on her relationships with the Rector of Stiffkey, a Blackpool sideshow, and James, her immediate boss at Mass Observation, and the results are startling and emotional.
I did enjoy this book, and would recommend it to all and sundry.