It’s summer reading season! That means more book lists and endless definitions of what summer reading means. Me? I’m all about thrilling page turners, spooky European destinations, and women who aren’t playing by the rules. That’s all encapsulated by one of the most popular literary classics, Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. But we all know that book’s great. I’m more interested in talking about where we go from there. The answer: Iris Murdoch’s The Bell. 

I’ll also share an episode of one of my favourite podcasts, Articles of Interest, in which Avery Truffleman explores modest dressing, the needs of different modest dressers, and the style they possess. 

Note: this is a short one so you can get away from the screen and back to the dock or the park or the café, wherever you’re doing your summer reading. 

"In this holy community she would play the witch"

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is experiencing a resurgence of late, inspiring lit girls everywhere (I admit I am one of them), and 2020 remake of the Hitchcock 1940 adaptation. The book is a woman’s story, a gothic tale, a psychological thriller. It’s everything I love in a summer page turner, but where do us litgirls go from here?

Enter The Bell by Iris Murdoch, published 20 years after Rebecca in 1958. 

Dora Greenfield—free spirited, a little silly, curious to a degree, easily bored—returns to her husband Paul Greenfield after leaving him to pursue the unmarried city-girl life she once enjoyed. Paul, an art historian, wishes Dora was more malleable, and endeavours endlessly to shape her mind and behaviour to adhere to his vision of a wife. Paul has taken up with a lay religious group housed at Imber Court, a crumbling English estate with an adjoining convent. When Dora tells Paul she’s coming back, he invites her to Imber Court, hoping to instruct her in art and perhaps even to temper her wild spirit with influence from the hardworking ethos of the religious group. Once she arrives, Dora discovers Imber Court holds a dark history, replete with secretive nuns, spooky architecture, and suspicious death. I won’t say a thing more about the plot because it’s one of those books where the thrill of discovery is key to its enjoyment. 

Ostensibly, The Bell is about a silly woman who is confronted by a religious cult and ghostly gossip. She should grow up and be serious, but she just can’t stop being silly! Really, The Bell is about a young woman dealing with control from various sources: her older husband who wishes she was someone else (sounds like Rebecca, no?), the newly formed religious cult, the old established Christian order, and 1950s-style patriarchy. The big difference between Rebecca and The Bell, and why this book appeals to me, is that while the unnamed narrator of Rebecca is lost for most of the book, Dora Greenfield rages against those that seek to quell her spirit. She kicks and screams and throws tantrums, storming out of rooms, running away, and sneaking off to play out her own adventures. Call her silly, as she would have been called in the ‘50s, or call her a queen who won’t be managed. 

The Bell has Iris Murdoch’s incredible brand of feminist psycho drama, but it also has everything you want in a summer page turner: a gothic mansion, nuns, murder, religious cults. It’s spooky. It’s embarrassing. It’s frustrating.

If you loved Rebecca, get into The Bell. It turned me on to Iris Murdoch and I hope it does the same for you. 

Spooky house fiction, a brief list

I read pretty wildly but there are a few elements that will instantly get me to crack a cover. Spooky houses are one of them. Spooky houses don’t necessarily need to be old or host ghosts, but they need to be ornate, a good place from which to watch a storm, and hint that there may be magic here. A few of my favourites:

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The Magus by John Fowles

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (I will also always read a witch book)

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (okay this one is a hotel)

On modesty, thinking about clothes from all angles with Avery Truffleman

Avery Truffleman, who came to podcast fame through her work with 99% Percent Invisible, hosts Articles of Interest. It’s more than a fashion podcast. It undresses the history of what we wear, with episodes on paisley, the closet in Clueless, prison uniforms, diamonds, and an entire season on preppy style. Of all the recent episodes, my favourite is “Modesty,” in which she interviews people from Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim communities about what modesty requirements they ascribe to, the challenges they face in finding clothes, their motivations in dressing modestly, and how they express themselves. The episode is a look at fashion beyond the runway, and a great first episode to start your Articles of Interest binge.

Modesty

Why would God care what we wear?

Articles Of InterestArticles Of Interest