Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Day 11: Betty Neels, part two

(edited 12/21/15)
So if they're so predictable, why do I enjoy them so much? Lord knows, but I'll try explain. Part of it is because they're like a security blanket, you know what you're getting. Pure comfort read. Part of it is because given Neels' background and her generation--and that's a caveat that must always be remembered when reading Neels--her heroines are strong, interesting people. Part of it is to see what she does with her standard format--she gets a surprising amount of variety out of her strict formula. Neels is the master of the great hook--the setup that sucks you into the story. Some of her first chapters are like mini master classes in how to reel in the reader. She's amazingly inventive (again, within the constraints of her formula).

Betty Neels bonus: learn interesting Briticisms. A moggy is an elderly cat. "Lashings" of cream means an abundance of cream. It is possible to "eat" your tea (since tea is a meal in the UK). etc.

But there's plenty to be irritated about as well, and the more of them you read, the more obvious that becomes. Everybody's white and straight. Pretty much every single Neels heroine longs to be a wife and mother, no "career girls" allowed. And if the heroine falls in love with the hero early, HE MUST NEVER KNOW, and she will lie and evade to make sure he doesn't. Also, I've said before that one of my pet peeves in romance novels is when the conflict between the hero and the heroine could be resolved if they just sat down and talked, and that is true in about 80% of Betty Neels novels.

Whatever the relationship dilemma is, it is usually resolved in two pages at the very end of the book. Sometimes Neels has to go to great lengths to invent ever-more-ridiculous reasons why the resolution hasn't happened yet--even resorting to the worn out important phone call that happens right as hero is about to finally explain/listen/confess his undying love. Only very occasionally is there a logical, understandable reason why they can't talk-- "I couldn't say anything while I was still your employer," or, "I thought you were in love with my brother and I just want you both to be happy" or something that makes sense.

You know, after reading quite a few Neels and also Georgette Heyers (which also are almost always resolved on the last page), I've come to the conclusion that several generations of women in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century must have loved the idea of a surprise ending for the heart-of-gold girl. She's accepted her lot in life, never presuming to believe she deserves more, never putting herself forward--that entire generation must have believed that if you did the right (i.e., selfless) thing, you'd be rewarded in the end. Our heroine has been loyal, unassuming, and faithful for 350 pages, so boom! she gets the golden ring (literally). Sometimes it's like an elaborately planned surprise party, or that old show Queen for a Day, where she walks in and surprise!! suddenly all your dreams have come true!! we could probably do some kind of amazing feminist cultural analysis of this phenomenon. But let's not.

Anyway. The selfless unassuming heroine works for the first few Neels books you read--she has an undeniable Cinderella appeal--but eventually, it gets pretty stale. The "oh he couldn't possibly be in love with little ole me" schtick starts to wear thin eventually, and in a few of them it's taken to such an extreme that the heroine seems like a complete idiot. So, my advice: read a few for fun, but unlike me, don't keep going. Because eventually you'll want to wring the heroine's pretty (or plain) little neck.

But at her best, Neels is fun, and leaves you feeling good about life. Hard to complain about that.

So here's the list of my favorite Betty Neels books, subject to change. In general, the older ones are better than the ones written in the 90s. Other than Henrietta's Own Castle being first, these are not in any particular order.

Henrietta's Own Castle
The Bachelor's Wedding
Not Once but Twice
Tabitha in Moonlight
Dearest Mary Jane
Damsel in Green
Philomena's Miracle
End of the Rainbow
Tulips for Augusta
Wish with the Candles

honorable mention for the first half:  Fate Takes a Hand*
honorable mention for humor: The Course of True Love
(but both of those would rank up there with Henrietta except they get more and more absurd as they go along.)

* I had a different title here originally but I had mixed them up (unsurprising after reading thirty-ish Neels books in the past six months). Fate Takes a Hand has a wonderful opening scene at a flower shop, but then becomes more and more ridiculous as it goes along. Britannia all at Sea, the title here previously, is thoroughly mediocre. I am too OCD to not correct the error, sorry for re-publishing.

And for the record, there are a few that are awful-- if I'd read them first, I'd never have read another: An Independent Woman, The Little Dragon, A Secret Infatuation, When May Follows.

10 comments:

Betty Anonymous said...

Betty Neels in a nutshell. :o)

Happy New Year, BarbN!

Margie said...

I've been reading Betty Neels since I was a teenager, more than 20+ years ago. My mother gave me one of her books once, when I was out of reading material and going crazy, and I laughed my way through Henrietta's Own Castle, making fun of the nurse and how the doctor actually used the phrase "Dearest Darling". But I ended up reading another one and another one and when I got married I eventually gathered my own vast collection. You are 100% correct- she is comfort food. Just like you can put on The Princess Bride 40,000 times and it never gets old, you pick up a Betty Neels when you are in the mood for a British period piece that makes you mushy inside. Her characters frequently frustrate the heck out of me, but this has been to my advantage. I am a writer and, reading a Betty Neels that drives me nuts, I've been known to sit back and plot out entire scenes and scenarios where characters (in professions and generations I understand) react in a way that is less hearless, less formal... less in a manner in which I wanted to either strangle them or yell at one of them to run. :D

As for the ridiculous circumstances keeping them apart, I totally and completely understand where you're coming from. This, also, was a vast amount of inspiration for me in my writing. However, in Betty Neels' defense, I once read an online seminar from a successful romance writer who was also formerly an editor at a publishing house. The only thing I remember out the entire thing was her saying "There will come a point in the story where everything can be fixed and made right if the hero and heroine would simply sit down and have a decent conversation with each other. You *must not* let that happen." I can't do that, which is why maybe I've only got one book accepted by a publisher (and my editor worked super super hard to get me to have my main characters have worse misunderstandings than I did- I had to negotiate strenuously).

And yes, I have to sheepishly admit that I frequently scan the pages upon pages of room and clothing description until I see that we're getting back to plot. (The rooms always looks how I want it to look in my head anyways. ;) )So I admit she's cheesy and formulaic and simplistic... but if you pace yourself (I can do one or two at a time) she's definitely timeless. Love her stuff.

BarbN said...

Oh, that is fascinating (what the romance author said). I see her point-- in a romance novel, you can't let the hero&heroine resolve their relationship halfway through the story or else what is it going to be about? But on the other hand, there are plot complications that are legitimate (and Betty does have plenty of those), and there are plot complications that are absurd--and unfortunately she has plenty of those, too. Having the phone ring to delay the resolution is a totally lame plot complication, if you ask me. (I'm arguing with her, not you!) Especially if you use it in a dozen novels. Or the one where they drive for five hours in the car together, he gets called away to the hospital when they get back, and he says "we haven't had a chance to talk" after they just spent FIVE HOURS alone in the car together. That's the kind of thing that drives me nuts. I want to shout at the heroine, HE'S NEVER GOING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT ANYTHING. That man is always going to have an excuse for why he hasn't told you the things he needs to tell you. END THIS IMMEDIATELY, I want to tell her.

But you know, I guess that's how you know an absorbing book, when you get so involved that you want to shout at the characters. I do love her writing, and I keep reading them because about every third or fourth one is really good, which makes it worth wading through the so-so ones and the occasional complete clinker. Now when I pick up a typical contemporary romance that is ALL about how they can hardly keep from ripping each other's clothes off and there is no character development and no other plot, I find them boring.

pswap57 said...

Betty Neels is, to me - and I suspect to many other of her fans - like a beloved relation. It's all right, and even fun, to pick apart her books, and discuss what one loves and what one hates. But let a real hater come along, and we'll gang up on you like ducks on a June bug.

I began reading Harlequins in my preteens (and I'm now staring 50 in the face) and the only ones I can still read without throwing them across the room are Betty's. As you said, they are total comfort reads - one wants to imagine that there is a world somewhere of polite, gracious people living in a glorious, unspoiled countryside, strolling with perfectly-behaved pets to return home to an open fire and homemade tea and scones. And occasionally, it's nice to leave the real world with real problems and visit such a world.

Anonymous said...

this is years after the original post, but I go on an occasional Betty Neels bender; I'm on a jag now and wanted to find out more about her life and family and found this site. What I love about her little novels is the humanity. Real cats, often quite battered or missing an eye, lame dogs, sometimes homeless people or very ill older folk provide plot turns and even have speaking parts. The heroine is always caring and more likely to err on the side of taking extra time to chat with a sick person rather than be on time, etc. And there are all those little details--not the descriptions of furniture, which I also skip, but the details about feeding and transporting the cat and/or dog, the difficulty of finding work when you've no work history, when it rains she'll get water seeping into her shoe or down her neck or step into a deep puddle, her stocking gets laddered and so on. And in my favorite ones the cats/dogs provide plot points such as "must find work where I can live in and they will allow me to keep the cat!" or "I've just rescued this poor underfed kitten/puppy that was being strangled and is no longer breathing, only some such dire necessity would cause me to actually ring the doorbell of the stately home where the adored love-object resides in majestic self-sufficiency!" In one of them the Dr contrives to help the telephonist heroine to keep her job when the supervisor discovers a rescued kitten in a box under her chair, and earns her grudging gratitude (he's one of the distant, arrogant, irritable ones). She makes a big deal out of normal ordinary daily concerns, just like we all do, only she makes it seem dramatic and important to care for animals, elderly relatives, down-and-outers, old family furniture, cleanliness. It's refreshing. And none of the protagonists care about success or ambition or knowing the "right" people, they just want to do a good job and help those in pain or distress to get better. They are nice people, even when the guy seems cold or distant. I wouldn't want to marry any of her heroes, myself, but they are admirable.

I'm a feminist from way way back and am often embarrassed that I love these so much. I think it's partly that the guy always admires her as much for what she does, how she behaves, who she is, as for how she looks. Maybe that's why I prefer the "plain" heroine plots. These women are real people. And she gets something right about love, in that her heroines (and in later ones when she lets us see into the guys mind as well) often wonder why they are in love with such an irritating, bad-tempered etc. person. It's definitely true that the ones we love the most, drive us most crazy. A lot of romance novels get that one wrong.

Unknown said...



I love Betty Neels books! I am looking for one with the following plot:

The girl works in a stately home that is open for visitors. She loses her job because a mean niece inherits the home. She also loses the cottage that went with the job. She looks for another job but can find only temporary ones. Of course, a doctor rescues her several times, the last one is baby sitting for a family who has moved miles away.

Can anyone help me find this book? my email address is louisemoyer@live.com

BarbN said...

Well, this just goes to show I should read the comments more often. To both of the last two commenters, you should really track down the Facebook group called "The Uncrushable Jersey Dress," which is devoted to all things Betty Neels. It is a very active group, with several hundred members! There is usually someone who can think of the name of any of the books. Also there is a blog with the same name that has really funny, interesting plot summaries of all the books. Louise, I looked through my own notes and I think you're talking about either Chain of Destiny or Grasp a Nettle. But there are a couple of "experts" in the Facebook group who would know for sure.

WanderingTranslator said...

@BarbN and @Unknown from August 17, 2018, I think you're talking about The Chain of Destiny; it's one of my favorites!

Anonymous said...

Can you believe people are commenting seven years after your original post? I read all those angst novels early in my adult life. Then I discovered the romance genre - and Betty Neels. I have read (and own) 131 of her 134 books. Every year or so I go on a BN binge. Her books take us out of the "real" world into a gentler time. I agree with all the comments about what one can expect from her books. I would like to add another that always stops me. She seems to carelessly skim over her descriptions of rooms and clothes even though she describes them in some detail. The contents of the rooms in the hero's houses are inevitably the same, as if she has an image of a room and drops that room into every story. There are invariably "one or two" tables or chairs or lamps. The heroine buys skirts with "one or two" blouses, etc. Are there one or are there two? Inspite of the formulaic plots and the other annoyances, I will continue to reread Betty Neel.

BarbN said...

Hi, Anonymous-- I know, same. I don't re-read the whole set but every few months I'll pull one out and read it just for fun. Nice to hear from you. I haven't written a blog post in a couple of months now, but I've continued to write on all sorts of topics in the seven years since I originally posted these two Betty Neals posts-- and out of the 350-ish posts in this blog, they are far and away the most visited. No comparison. The first one has almost two thousand pageviews. Lots of Betty lovers out there!!