Description

[From review in The Sydney Morning Herald Oct 9, 1931]

The trend of Miss Ruck's cheerful romance, "The Lap of Luxury," is perfectly obvious from the first. While at the seaside, Sylvia, an unbelievably pretty teashop waitress, meets Bert, a mechanic, whose personable figure cannot be entirely effaced by his oily overalls and workman's cap. They appear to have fallen in love at first sight, but Sylvia suddenly discovers she has rich relations who frown upon Bert so long as wealthier suitors are available. Sylvia's adventures among her patrician friends, with Bert lurking tenaciously in the background, are related with Miss Ruck's accustomed vivacity. The old-fashioned moral of the story -- to the effect that wealth and happiness are not synonymous -- is not assisted by the author's over-indulgence in italics.

NOTE: I'm using the original artwork by Leon desRosiers, Sr. for the Dodd, Mead cover in the book photo. My own copy is Cassell 1933 (Cheap Edition) reprint but the dust jacket of the Dodd, Mead is more accurate and way more charming. Most of the Dodd Mead covers just were.

Notes

"Lap of Luxury" is Berta's meditation on the price of wealth, especially to women. The rich women she depicts aren't happy in "the lap" -- Sylvia's beautiful, tragic-eyed cousin Dolores is trapped in marriage to an older financier, a bully of "colossal meanness", and gentle, silly May is bossed around by her expensive household staff. Sylvia, on the other hand, cut off early from their grandmother's largesse by her dad's imprudent marriage, might thoroughly enjoy some aspects of her unexpected dip into the good life -- the pretty gowns, the guest soap "...all round and golden and fat and scenty!", the stationery "(yellow, gold-stamped, and thick as kitchen-linoleum)", but she's far from an addict. Her cousins may scheme for her to pair off with "the Perfect Sweet" of a forty-something barrister, but she's just hanging around in the hopes they'll fund her tea shop so she can come to Bert "a bride of independent means." (196)

There's nothing especially novel in these reflections, and the story moves more slowly than some of her others, but she hits the usual Berta notes well and true. Her female and male MCs are refreshingly angst-free and she emphasizes, yet again, her preference for age-appropriate pairing. The older barrister may be a successful, basically decent man of the world, but he's stodgy -- she listens "silent with astonishment" to the "Arkishness" of his proposal -- like something out of the "obsolete plays of dad's Day" (166) -- and what's worse, he's sexist. As Bert sums it up: His generation didn't understand making friends with girls." (192) Sylvia and Bert's relationship, in contrast, is one based (as much as a 'love at first sight' situation can be) on an understanding of, and respect for, each other as people. In thinking about their future, Sylvia is realistic about Bert's prospects -- "Feel that Bert, that energetic angel, isn't going to be able to do more than he's able" (175) -- but that in no way affects her estimation of his worth as a partner: she sees that "Bert Stevenson said 'yes' to the whole of Life!" (187) and she'll choose that joy every time, even if it means she has to shoulder part of the economic load. Then, too, the italics, another Berta note, which we find kind of endearing.

Also, fun descriptions of the aerodrome where Bert works -- "Alive; alive!"; "gathering-places of the nation's promise" (273) -- and a real sense of what developments in aeronautic technology and travel were coming to mean.

Flags: Some negative language around "gypsies" but also a sympathy and respect for their way of life. Also, the inevitable "work like a..." phrase.

Tags

1930s, Big Mis(understanding), English, Europe, England, Europe, Wales, athletic, beautiful as the day, beautiful/handsome, cheerful, clever, competent, determined, eccentric/quirky/neurodivergent, engineer, f/m, family, eccentric, female, forthright, fortune teller told me, hair, blond(e), hair, red, how the other half lives, humorous, idealistic, independent, intelligent, love at first sight, love over money, lovers, spoiled for choice, mechanic, money isn't everything/can't buy happiness, orphaned, pilot/aviator, poor, poor little rich girl/boy, practical, quicksand, romance, scarred, single, strong, tall, third-person, waiter/waitress, young

Flags

insensitive or outdated language (race/ethnicity/disability/sexual orientation), suicide