Histories

Whilst on a family holiday in Wales, in July 2001 we took a day trip to Tremeirchion to:

• visit the grand country house Brynbella that Hester and Gabriel Piozzi built, and
• see their final resting place at the village church.

At the Church, we met a lady who told us that a couple of weeks previously the BBC had been filming with Beryl Bainbridge about the Thrale family. Surprised and a little excited I spent the next few weeks searching the BBC’s website every few days. After about a month I found a BBC news article reporting that Beryl Bainbridge’s new book According to Queeney was the bookmakers’ favourite to win the 2001 Booker Prize.I could not believe it. After a year of researching the family history of my family - a family so obscure that the only other Thrale’s I had ever met were aunts, uncles or cousins - 'we' were to be:

• on the television;
• the subject of a book by a major author, and
• up for the Booker Prize to boot!

It was hard to believe. That was how I discovered 'According to Queeney'.

The book signing

A little more Internet searching I discovered a book signing on 12 September 2001 at the London bookshop Hatchards. I quickly booked leave from work, there was some surprise among my colleagues that I would be absent from a staff meeting to attend a book signing in Mayfair! I was surprised too, I had never been to a book signing before.

Invitation to 'According to Queeney' book signing and talk by author Beryl Bainbridge at Silver Moon Women's Bookshop on 26 September 2001..

It was the 12 September 2001, the day after the terrible terrorist attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre in the USA. Several people bought the book to send to friends and relatives in America.

Beryl kindly signed a book for me, I asked her to inscribe it:

To David Thrale in memory of Kenneth .

I imagined that she hadn’t met a Thrale and that she would be surprised and make some comments. However, things didn’t go at all how I thought. I could never have imagined her actual reply:

How do you spell Thrale?

I replied:

As in Queeney Thrale

As I watched Beryl, I could see the penny drop!

According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge, 2001 book cover..

Beryl Bainbridge’s talk

A fortnight later, Beryl talked about the book at the Silvermoon Women’s Book Club on 26 September 2001 and answered a few questions. She described how when signing up for a three-book contract she had committed to writing a book on the Titanic and on the Crimean War, and then on the spur of the moment - with no idea about what the third book would be about - she came up with a plan to write a book about Samuel Johnson. She found the subject matter daunting and explained that it took a while to get a feeling for the age. Her research involved reading only contemporary documents. No recent books were read. Her book starts when Johnson was aged 57. She found Hester Lynch Thrale to be extremely clever & vivacious. She explained that Johnson lived at Streatham Park for 17-18 years.

In answer to the question of how much of the book was her imagination, Bainbridge explained the lengths that she goes to ensure accuracy and that all the characters were real people. In answer to my question about the letters to Ms Hawkins of which her book told, Beryl explained that whilst Miss Anne Hawkins was a real-life character, the letters were Bainbridge’s creation. She went on to describe the size of Henry Thrale’s coffin.

It was an enjoyable - but wet- evening. Beryl Bainbridge came across as a down-to-earth and witty person.

My thoughts on the book

The book is ‘faction’, i.e. a dramatised account of real historical people and the events that really happened to them and chronicles the years during which Johnson and the Thrales lived together as a family unit. The first chapter of According to Queeney can be read on-line.

In my amateur research, I have often thought that some accounts I have read of the relationship between Hester Thrale and Samuel Johnson don’t ring true. Some accounts completely sideline Henry Thrale, when I always felt that Johnson had a deep respect for Henry Thrale regarded him with great affection, and always deferred to him as the head of the family.

I thought that Johnson valued being part of the Thrale family and obtained from the Thrale family:

• a sense of belonging;
• support during his bouts of illness and depression;
• care for his well-being; and
• tolerance of his occasionally unusual mannerisms.

A bit like a mother treats a child, Henry and Hester would ensure that Johnson was cared for and made more respectable in appearance. There was of course an extraordinary connection and affection between Johnson and Hester Thrale, but I’m not convinced it was romantic as others have speculated. I have also been impressed and heartened that Beryl Bainbridge has portrayed the relationships in the way that I had imagined them, rather than the way that some other commentators have portrayed the relationships. Throughout the book, I have been impressed with the accuracy and attention to detail. Little stories and accounts are accurately included, such as:

• Baretti’s views on tin pills;
• the visit to the Court of French Queen Marie Antoinette.

Above all the book is a really good read that isn’t too hard going.

The account isn’t recounted in chronological order. I found that slightly distracting. Obviously, I had the advantage of prior knowledge of the book’s characters. This definitely made the book easier to follow and comprehend. Most readers will not have the benefit of this knowledge, perhaps a glossary of the characters may have been useful. In summary, even if you have no prior interest in Johnson or the Thrale family, this is an enjoyable read. If you do have an interest in the history - and you probably do if you are reading this - it is accurate and unlike all the other family history documents I have read, gives a real insight into the lives and personalities of our predecessors that is absent from the usual dry historical accounts of events and dates.

A very big thank you to Beryl Bainbridge from all Thrale’s everywhere - now go and buy it.

Other reviews

• John Mullan, The Guardian 1 September 2001
• Adam Sissman, The Observer 26 August 2001

According to Beryl

Shortly after the book’s publication, the BBC broadcast According to Beryl, a television documentary on Beryl Bainbridge and her book According to Queeney.