The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin

 

Reviewed by Christy

            First published in 1959, The Hours Before Dawn tells the story of a young mother named Louise who is struggling with her sleepless infant Michael, not to mention her two older children and all the cooking and cleaning it takes to run a household. Her husband Mark offers no help, only criticisms. With an empty room upstairs, the couple take on a boarder to make some extra money. Miss Vera Brandon, a schoolteacher, seems perfectly respectable but Louise is uneasy around her. Something is…off.

            I stumbled across this title while looking at a list of recommended domestic thrillers. It was republished in 2017 and touted as the “original psychological thriller”. Only one library in our system had it but fortunately, it was the Bristol library! A slim novel, under 200 pages, it does what it needs to do without any extraneous filler. Louise is instantly sympathetic (and who wouldn't be with a husband like that?), but she's also infuriating. She lets everyone walk all over her.  When one neighbor needs a babysitter, she shoves her little one off on a stammering, overworked Louise. Another neighbor literally pounds on their shared wall when little Michael is crying too much. If Mark complains about fried potatoes for lunch I don't think a single person would blame Louise if she dumped his meal into the trash and went and took a hot bath. But no peep from her. I know it was the 1950s but my goodness.

            I did like Louise though; she's much sharper than anyone gives her credit for. Which is why she starts to notice something is fishy with Miss Brandon. Her perceptions are dismissed, of course, as a result of her sleep deprivation and subsequent "nerves".

            Fremlin's writing, particularly her observations about motherhood and marriage, are gently humorous and at times sardonic. It reminded me a lot of Shirley Jackson's domestic fiction, of which I'm a big fan. I found the mystery of what was happening a little surprising and delightfully off the rails. The ending, however, felt rushed and slightly anti-climactic. Like with some of Jackson's works, I believe this is a novel I could re-read several times to savor the writing and pick up anything I may have missed. I recommend giving Ms. Fremlin a shot, and for those looking for more thriller suggestions I recommend the bibliographies at the reference desk!