A re-edition of a novel set in Cardiff and London in the 1930s portraying a middle-aged business woman trying to live with the negative reactions of herself and others to her late husband's stand as a conscientious objector in World War I, and her thoughts on the longing of Jews to return to Palestine. First published in 1933.

Adargraffiad o nofel a leolwyd yng Nghaerdydd a Llundain yn yr 1930au am wraig fusnes ganol oed yn ceisio ymgodymu a'i hymateb negyddol hi ac eraill i safiad ei diweddar wr yn wrthwynebydd cydwybodol yn y Rhyfel Mawr, a'i meddyliau am hiraeth Iddewon i ddychwelyd i Balesteina. Cyhoeddwyd gyntaf yn 1933.

Lily Tobias, who died in 1984, came from a Polish Jewish background and spent her youth in the Swansea valley. She was the author of four novels which enjoyed some success in the nineteen-thirties.

Eunice Fleet centres around one of the author’s abiding preoccupations, for she was an unwavering pacifist. The narrative of the novel unfolds in three long sections. The first takes place at about the time when the book was originally published, 1933, while the second opens at the outbreak of the 1914-18 war. In the final part we are back again in the interwar years.

Eunice marries Vincent Fleet and they live a very comfortable middleclass life. But when the war comes along in 1914, Vincent decides that he cannot assist the military effort on conscientious grounds. He is branded a coward by the authorities and imprisoned. Eunice also takes a wholly unsympathetic view of what she regards as his moral weakness and refuses to visit him in the prison where he is incarcerated or to respond to the letters which he writes to her. This proves to be a bitter blow and when he eventually falls sick and dies the implication is that this has been due as much by Eunice’s indifference as by the illness itself.

As is the case with a number of other works of fiction from the nineteen thirties, Tobias’s book is unashamedly polemical at times, and although this may detract from the purely literary qualities of Eunice Fleet, it has considerable historical importance in its reflection of important public attitudes of the period.

It was an excellent idea to reprint it in Honno’s admirable reprint series of classic titles. Jasmine Donahaye has contributed a very helpful introduction to a novel which deserves to be read by a new generation of readers.

Dewi Roberts

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgement should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatad Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.