REVIEW: Ten Way Street by Susan Scarlett
“This is our new governess,” said Meggie. “She’s a nice sort of governess. She called us little horrors.”
“And toads,” David chimed in.
Betsy stood on one leg and held the other.
“And she said we were smug and detestable little beasts.”
Beverley Shaw, raised in an orphanage and trained to be a governess, gets her long-awaited first job working for Margot Cardew, a brilliant stage actress (and narcissistic diva), whose three precocious children are sadly used to being little more than their mother’s props. With advice from her friend Sarah, Beverley navigates between Margot’s exhausted secretary Winkle, her sleazy maid Marcelle, and the handsome Peter Crewdson, whom Margot loves but who is soon taking an interest in “Joan of Arc”, the spirited young governess he first meets giving the children a piece of her mind.
CW/TW – There are many things in these stories that continue to entertain modern readers; however, in a few cases there are also uses of language, instances of stereotyping, and some attitudes expressed by narrators or characters, which may not go over as well by the publishing standards of today.
Review
Well my goodness this one is different from the fairly happy Susan Scarlett books I’ve read so far. I could easily have seen this turned into a 1950s melodramatic movie and I will warn people that the children involved have been exposed to emotionally traumatic moments.
Beverley Shaw, a plucky orphan who was sent by the orphanage to a teaching college, discusses her plans with her bestie Sarah who works for a poor Vicar’s family. Beverley knows she must take whatever post she’s offered as she needs to start repaying the orphanage for her tuition. What post does she get? One where she will work with the three children of a famous actress who apparently lives on her nerves, bourbon, and adoration.
The situation Beverley finds herself in is bizarre. Mother Margot often treats her children like props and fashion accessories, insists on weird things like having their hair done in a salon once a week, dressing them like little models, and talks to them in annoying Baby Snookums language. But Margot’s emotions can flip on a dime and Beverley soon sees that the children need stability and direction – things she tries to give them. There is a coterie of men in the house including handsome Peter who at first annoys Beverley as he verbally slides into situations and fights her battles for her whereas Beverley would prefer to win them herself.
With patience and a strict schedule – or as strict as she can manage in this household – Beverley begins to win the children over while ducking Margot’s tempers and Margot’s sly French maid. When she and Peter finally admit the truth of their (insta) relationship to each other, many people suss out her feelings and warn her to flee the household now but steadfast Beverley will never suddenly abandon her charges. Yeah, Beverley ought to have listened to the voices of experience.
This book does have a romance but it’s secondary to the melodrama of the household as well as the (then) modern governessing lessons that Beverley learned in her college. I have to admire Beverley’s dedication to her charges as their mother is a piece of work. The blurb calls her narcissistic and I agree with that description. The household tiptoes on eggshells around Margot who is liable to flame into a cold rage over anything. I hate to say it but her children will probably be writing “Mommy Dearest” tell-all books about her later in their lives. But about that romance – it’s almost non-existent for most of the book with only a few hints that his feelings about her are not what she thinks. Then when faced with the melodrama, he pulls a stand I find hard to accept while she tries to do right by everyone who depends on her no matter the cost to her. Peter lost some major points with me here.
I couldn’t really blame the children for their initial child-terror’s actions as they’ve had to deal with their mother abruptly yanking any amount of stability out from under them while demanding their unconditional love. Then there’s devoted nursery maid Annie who arrives with Beverley and stands as a steady backup, a doctor who has seen too much of how topsy turvy things are, and Marcell who is, as many people say to her face, a “nasty, sly piece.”
This is definitely not my favorite Susan Scarlett book. Other reviewers have said this book is more like the ones Noel Streatfeild wrote under her own name rather than the frothy Susan Scarlett ones. The mother and her maid are more cartoon villains, Peter pulls a selfish ultimatum, and Beverley tries her best for the children. If you’re looking for some 1940s family drama this might work for you. I’m going to grade this a C as it might hit the spot if you’re looking for heart string pulling but wasn’t emotionally satisfying for me.
~Jayne
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