The Heel of Achilles by EM Delafield
Project Gutenberg
A fascinating character study about a girl who has many virtues - intelligent, mathematical, pragmatic, ambitious, speaks well of others, behaves selflessly - but one flaw, desiring to make herself the principal protagonist in every situation. Lydia feigns affection for others but feels very little herself, until at last she experiences love for her daughter. But her flaw is likely to cost her relationship with her daughter.
The best parts of this book are the vivid details of life in a boarding-house and working as a young woman during the late nineteenth century. Within the novel itself, the author gives the advice to write what you know and not at second hand, and these details feel as if the author took her own advice. It's tempting to wonder to what extent the novel is autobiographical, given that Lydia (like the author) is an intelligent hardworking woman who desires to write. The writer's scalpel dissects Lydia's motives thoroughly in an effort to explore her besetting personality flaw.
If I have one bone to pick with this novel, it's that Lydia's writing desires were dismissed as just another aspect of her self-aggrandisement even though they were present from her childhood. It's understandable that like many women in similar circumstances, she wasn't able to continue her writing after marriage and the various responsibilities she took on, but I read Lydia's characterisation in the first part of the book with a genuine drive toward writing.
