The Testing of Rose Alleyn
Vivien Freeman
Genre
Comedy, Historical, Romance
Publication Date
21/11/2021
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About the Book
England in the year 1900. A vibrant young woman must take control of her destiny.
Vivien Freeman’s atmospheric novel brings late Victorian England hauntingly to life in the mind of the reader. In this beautifully written romance, we explore the choices facing an independent-minded woman at a time when women struggled for self-determination.
Book Excerpt
The year is 1900. In the market town of Widdock, sixteen-year-old Rose Alleyn works in a bookshop run by Leonard Pritchard. When the shop is empty he sometimes reads his poems to her. He has encouraged Rose to write herself by giving her a beautiful pen and notebook for her birthday. July is unbearably hot, and on this afternoon the town is deserted.
A fierce, drumming squall follows the thunderstorm. The temperature drops.
We go through to the shop. Mr. Pritchard turns the sign and opens the door. A sweet, rain-washed fragrance gushes in, but the wind is too strong to leave the door ajar. I start unpacking books and finding their corresponding orders. My employer works on his accounts. It is quiet except for distant mutterings, subdued flashes on the skyline like a lamp lit and then extinguished.
Mr. Pritchard closes his ledger. ‘I’ve been thinking about your piece of writing, Rose. No, not in a critical way, not at all. I know I said I didn’t need to be curious because it stands alone, and that’s true, but I just want to see if I have understood… certain things. Do you mind me asking a couple of questions about the subject matter?’
‘My family, you mean? Of course not.’ I’ve stopped working and I’m standing facing him, my back to the window and its sullen gleams. I realise I’m feeling tense.
‘Your family and you,’ he says, gently. ‘Will you come and sit next to me?’
I cross the room and take the stool beside him. He turns to face me.
‘When, in the piece, your mother says, ‘we must be brave again, Rose,’ I assume you had already lost a brother or sister.’
‘My brother Jim died before he was six.’ I hear how flat my voice sounds, as if I didn’t care.
‘I’m sorry.’
I can’t look at him. I stare out of the window at the deserted street, occasionally lit up by lightning.
‘I have to ask – and then I’ll stop – in the writing, it sounds as if your mother was heavily preg–’
‘She lost the baby,’ I blurt out, ‘like the five miscarriages and the stillbirth and Lucy, who lived a week.’
‘Steady on, Rose.’
But I can’t stop now. ‘Shall I tell you something else?’ My voice sounds hard, unrecognisable.
‘All right, but please don’t shout. I’m on your side.’
I try to be calm. ‘When I was born I was small and very poorly. The midwife told my father she thought I’d be going back to the angels. He ran for the doctor – not the young one we have now, the previous old man. He came and examined me and said nothing except that he’d call back later. When he did, my mother was feeding me. ‘Oh,’ he said, as if remarking on the weather, ‘I didn’t expect her still to be alive.’ His casual manner,’ I know I’m grinding the words out but I can’t help myself, ‘made my mother furious – and determined. She thinks – thought –’ I gulp, ‘that’s what kept me alive, her determination.’
‘And your anger,’ says Mr. Pritchard.
‘I’m not angry.’ My voice sounds high and silly, choked. I take several deep breaths.
‘Please look at me, Rose. I want to apologise – no, you’ve no need to protest – for putting you through that, but thank you. I now think I understand why you feel as you do about marriage.’
CopyrightVivien Freeman 2021
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About the Author
Vivien Freeman
Vivien Freeman grew up in North London and graduated in Art History from the University of East Anglia before settling in Ware, Hertfordshire. A published poet as well as a novelist, she taught Creative Writing for many years and has an M.A. in Scriptwriting from Salford University. She now lives in rural Wales in the Vale of Glamorgan with her husband, the poet, John Freeman.
