A Helping Hand: Celia Dale

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As Graziella bonds with Mrs Fingal, encouraging the old lady to build up her strength by walking again, she senses that something is decidedly off. With Maisie’s background in nursing, the couple like to offer ‘a helping hand’ here and there, acting as caretakers to people in need, especially those with no relatives or other support. Subtle eeriness and unsettling feeling throughout but it never really amounted to much and felt slightly repetitive - but maybe the point was to highlight the monotony of Mrs Fingal’s sad life with the Evanses?

A wealthy widow, she lives with her grown-up niece Lena and it’s pretty clear that neither is happy with the situation. Josh and Maisie Evans are Good Samaritans and enjoy lending a helping hand to lonely elderly ladies.

while it’s very obvious this was written in the 60’s and some of the old british terms went right over my head, this story fully unnerved me. obviously what's happening within the book is dark, but it's never exactly shocking, and I thought maybe it would just have a cracking ending to turn things around, but sadly not so much. Mrs Fingal, a wealthy widow, finds the couple a refreshing change to her resentful niece and their understanding and sympathy to her situation, her loneliness and need for companionship, makes them the perfect people to look after her. With stealthy prose, Dale spins a story of kindness exploited, in a totally beautiful, terrifying suburban horror. It’s bloodless in its entirety, yet quite chilling in its portrayal of the cruelties and interactions of everyday life.

After all, with Maisie’s training in nursing, the Evanses are perfectly placed to accommodate Mrs F in their spare room – the one previously occupied by ‘Auntie’ Flo. Soon after, they are on holiday in Italy, and encounter the disgruntled Lena Kemp and her aunt Cynthia Fingal. Josh and Maisie Evans are a seemingly ordinary middle-aged couple on holiday in Italy, where they meet Mrs. Poor Cynthia is first besotted, then befuddled by Josh but he’s a lecherous old creep with eyes only for young woman and his sordid scrapbook. I’m broadly supportive of assisted suicide in appropriate circumstances, but the safeguards have to be in place to avoid misuse/coercive control.It is natural, therefore, when they meet Mrs Fingal on holiday in Rimini that Mrs Fingal comes to live with them and stays in Auntie Flo's old room. Only Graziella, the innocent pregnant woman from Italy, can bring some light into this dingy, oppressively bland suburban setting.

During their break, Maisie and Josh attach themselves to another pair of British holidaymakers – the elderly widow Cynthia Fingal and her rather selfish niece, Lena. She’s as happy as a sandboy with me and Josh knowing just what she likes, and anything coming in new from the outside might only upset her again. A horror classic from the UK that belongs in the hall of Fame next to Stepford Wives and Rosemary’s Baby. Her writing is subtle, clear, beautiful at times, engrossing even when her characters repeat themselves.Fingal smiles as ‘gleefully’ as a ‘bride’; and Lena and Mrs Evans make up the bed with a rubber sheet in case of ‘disgusting’ accidents.

D. James in her writing and next time I read any of her work I will go in with slightly different expectations. In the second chapter of the book there is a bit written in Italian and then towards the end of the book a few more conversations in Italian. Elder abuse, before the term was commonplace, seems to be Celia Dale's writing theme across her work. It’s fascinating how suburbia so quickly became a place in books and films where white picket fences (or lace curtains), could conceal horrors.While Maisie proceeds to wear down Mrs Fingal by restricting her movements, Josh can be equally sinister in his own chilling way, neglecting his charge for other, more interesting activities. We owe a debt of gratitude to the publisher Valancourt, whose aim is to resurrect some neglected works of literature, especially those incorporating a supernatural strand, and make them available to a new readership. Funnily enough, Fremlin popped into my head as I was reading this, even though I’ve yet to try her myself. As Maisie soon discovers, Lena feels she has been saddled with taking care of her aunt – a burden she so clearly resents as it prevents her from living a more exciting life. I really enjoyed the story that is on its face rather benign, following a middle aged English couple and their elderly house guest, but what at first seems ordinary turns quietly horrific as Celia Dale unmasks what is really going on in this quiet suburban home.