May Sinclair (1) (1863–1946)
Author of The Life and Death of Harriet Frean
For other authors named May Sinclair, see the disambiguation page.
Works by May Sinclair
Arnold Waterlow; a life 3 copies
The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of May Sinclair: Eight Short Stories and Four Novellas of the Strange and… (2022) 3 copies
A cure of souls 3 copies
FAME. 2 copies
The Token 1 copy
The Complete Works of May Sinclair (21 Complete Works of May Sinclair Including The Immortal Moment, The Judgment of… (2015) 1 copy
The Mahatma's Story 1 copy
Collected stories 1 copy
History of Anthony Waring 1 copy
Associated Works
H.P. Lovecraft's Book of the Supernatural: 19 Classics of the Macabre, Chosen by the Master of Horror Himself (2006) — Contributor — 88 copies
Women's Weird: Strange Stories by Women, 1890-1940 (Handheld Classics) (2019) — Contributor — 69 copies
The Lifted Veil: The Book of Fantastic Literature by Women 1800-World War II (1806) — Contributor — 42 copies
Weird Women: Volume 2: 1840-1925: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers (2) (2021) — Contributor — 28 copies
Contact collection of contemporary writers — Contributor — 1 copy
Number 5. The Apple Disdained by R.H. Mottram [SIGNED] Number 6. The Man Who Missed the Bus by Stella Benson [SIGNED]… (1929) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- St. Clair, Mary Amelia
- Other names
- Sinclair, May (pseudonym)
- Birthdate
- 1863-08-24
- Date of death
- 1946-11-14
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Rock Ferry, Cheshire, England, UK
- Place of death
- Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK
Ilford, Essex, England, UK
Gloucestershire, England, UK
Devon, England, UK
Buckinghamshire, England, UK - Education
- Cheltenham Ladies College
- Occupations
- novelist
critic
suffragist
poet
short story writer
memoirist - Relationships
- Knocker, Elsie (fellow volunteer)
- Organizations
- Woman Writers' Suffrage League
Society for Psychical Research - Short biography
- Mary Amelia St. Clair was born at home at Rock Ferry in Cheshire, England, the daughter of a shipowner. She received her early education from a governess and then attended Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Her first novel, Audrey Cravern, appeared in 1897, under the pen name May Sinclair. She published two dozen novels, plus short stories and poetry, and popularized the "stream of consciousness" style advocated by Virginia Woolf. She also published the volume of literary criticism entitled The Three Brontes (1912). May Sinclair remained unmarried and lived with her mother until that lady’s death in 1901. She became a founding member of the London Medico-Psychological Clinic in 1913 to help promote the teachings of Sigmund Freud. After the outbreak of World War I, Sinclair went to France to work as an ambulance driver. She was so overcome by the war experience that she returned home to England after 17 days. She published articles based on her experiences in the The English Review and a book, A Journal of Impressions in Belgium (1915).
Members
Reviews
First published in 1917, this is the story of a middle-class English family. It touches on suffragism and spiritualism, but the main interest for me was the impact of WWI, described by someone who was living through it. By 1917, young men knew that their deaths were almost inevitable, but it was a matter of honour to enlist and to sacrifice one's life. Families were shamed if their sons did not enlist. From my perspective in 2019, the concepts of the nobility of sacrifice, the ecstasy of death in battle are toxic, but in 1917, with sons, brothers, friends and husbands dying at the front, people must have needed to comfort themselves that these deaths were for a purpose. I've heard the term "the war to end all wars", but this is the first time I've seen it written by someone living through it, who desperately needed to believe it.… (more)
[The Life and Death of Harriet Frean] by [[May Sinclair]]
This 86 page novella follows the life of Harriet Frean from her childhood to her death. Born to an upper middle class Victorian-era family, Harriet shows some mild misbehavior and the beginnings of a mind of her own during childhood, but she idolizes her parents and chooses to always "behave beautifully". She denies herself a lover and stays with her parents into her adulthood. Her father is financially ruined and dies and she and her mother carry on. Harriet keeps her three best friends into her old age.
This is an interesting book and I'm not sure exactly what to make of it. Harriet lives a small life, but though she seems to choose this life to please her parents, there isn't necessarily an indication that she regrets it or could have done more if she'd lived in a different era. It seems to be, upon a first reading, simply about the kind of person who can't see beyond themself and is happy living a narrow life. In that respect, I think it's a commentary on Victorian values. Harriet lives the ultimate Victorian female life and Sinclair shows how small that could be.
There are also many miscommunications. Many of Harriet's seminal life events - giving up her first love, idolizing her father and not understanding that his business failure ruined others as well, never communicating openly with her mother and giving up certain things to make her mother happy that she later finds her mother gave up to make her happy . . . the list goes on. I think these show that Harriet's narrow views even held her back in the small life she chose to lead.
The one thing I didn't see in this book was stream of consciousness writing. Sinclair is often compared to Dorothy Richardson and Virginia Woolf. I didn't get that out of this novella. That's not to say I didn't love it though. I think it's brilliantly done. It's one I'll save to reread for sure. There's a lot to think about in these 86 pages.
Original publication date: 1922
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 86 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Publisher: Modern Library
Why I read this: 1001 books list, off the shelf… (more)
This 86 page novella follows the life of Harriet Frean from her childhood to her death. Born to an upper middle class Victorian-era family, Harriet shows some mild misbehavior and the beginnings of a mind of her own during childhood, but she idolizes her parents and chooses to always "behave beautifully". She denies herself a lover and stays with her parents into her adulthood. Her father is financially ruined and dies and she and her mother carry on. Harriet keeps her three best friends into her old age.
This is an interesting book and I'm not sure exactly what to make of it. Harriet lives a small life, but though she seems to choose this life to please her parents, there isn't necessarily an indication that she regrets it or could have done more if she'd lived in a different era. It seems to be, upon a first reading, simply about the kind of person who can't see beyond themself and is happy living a narrow life. In that respect, I think it's a commentary on Victorian values. Harriet lives the ultimate Victorian female life and Sinclair shows how small that could be.
There are also many miscommunications. Many of Harriet's seminal life events - giving up her first love, idolizing her father and not understanding that his business failure ruined others as well, never communicating openly with her mother and giving up certain things to make her mother happy that she later finds her mother gave up to make her happy . . . the list goes on. I think these show that Harriet's narrow views even held her back in the small life she chose to lead.
The one thing I didn't see in this book was stream of consciousness writing. Sinclair is often compared to Dorothy Richardson and Virginia Woolf. I didn't get that out of this novella. That's not to say I didn't love it though. I think it's brilliantly done. It's one I'll save to reread for sure. There's a lot to think about in these 86 pages.
Original publication date: 1922
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 86 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Publisher: Modern Library
Why I read this: 1001 books list, off the shelf… (more)
Where Their Fire is Not Quenched - 5
Chilling story of the consequences of sin. What makes it most frightening is that you know the main character, Harriott Leigh, could too easily be you.
The Token - 4
A ghostly visit in search of love.
The Flaw in the Crystal - 3
Agatha has a power of which she is not in control but with which she heals others. This one got a bit out there and parts of it didn’t even make sense to me.
The Nature of the Evidence - 4
You might not want to be the second wife if the dead first wife isn’t quite finished yet.
If The Dead Knew - 5
I loved this one. What do the dead know of what we who are left behind think and feel? Wilfrid loves his mother, but it is only with her death that he can afford to marry, so he has a heart at war with itself.
The Victim - 4
Reminded me of the Tell-Tale Heart initially, but took a very different turn before the end. I found the end a little impractical, but then who expects a practical ghost story, I suppose.
The Finding of the Absolute - 2
This one was both weird and a little above me. I never understood Kant very well on earth, in heaven his theories seem even murkier.
The Intercessor - 5
I found this the best story in the book. Mr. Garvin seeks a quiet place to lodge and work and finds himself referred to the home of the Falshaw’s. It is obvious that something sinister has happened here and in the room where he sleeps at night, he hears the mysterious cries of a child. What ensues is eventually a story of child abandonment, parental misdeeds, and a mother’s remorse. This story has a more gothic feel than the others, and put me in mind of Emily Bronte and the loneliness of the heaths.
… (more)
Chilling story of the consequences of sin. What makes it most frightening is that you know the main character, Harriott Leigh, could too easily be you.
The Token - 4
A ghostly visit in search of love.
The Flaw in the Crystal - 3
Agatha has a power of which she is not in control but with which she heals others. This one got a bit out there and parts of it didn’t even make sense to me.
The Nature of the Evidence - 4
You might not want to be the second wife if the dead first wife isn’t quite finished yet.
If The Dead Knew - 5
I loved this one. What do the dead know of what we who are left behind think and feel? Wilfrid loves his mother, but it is only with her death that he can afford to marry, so he has a heart at war with itself.
The Victim - 4
Reminded me of the Tell-Tale Heart initially, but took a very different turn before the end. I found the end a little impractical, but then who expects a practical ghost story, I suppose.
The Finding of the Absolute - 2
This one was both weird and a little above me. I never understood Kant very well on earth, in heaven his theories seem even murkier.
The Intercessor - 5
I found this the best story in the book. Mr. Garvin seeks a quiet place to lodge and work and finds himself referred to the home of the Falshaw’s. It is obvious that something sinister has happened here and in the room where he sleeps at night, he hears the mysterious cries of a child. What ensues is eventually a story of child abandonment, parental misdeeds, and a mother’s remorse. This story has a more gothic feel than the others, and put me in mind of Emily Bronte and the loneliness of the heaths.
… (more)
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Unmarried women (1)
Female Author (1)
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Statistics
- Works
- 54
- Also by
- 46
- Members
- 1,176
- Popularity
- #21,865
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 32
- ISBNs
- 305
- Languages
- 6
- Favorited
- 3
Aggie's younger sister marries John, the man Aggie refused. He would have been a better choice.
May Sinclair was a suffragist whose youth was spent caring for four dying brothers. Her views of marriage and the choices open to women, as evidenced by this novella, were bleak. It's well worth reading, but it's depressing.… (more)