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The Helpmate
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
- GenresFiction
462 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1907
4 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
May Sinclair
229 books60 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair, a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry. She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. May Sinclair was also a significant critic, in the area of modernist poetry and prose and she is attributed with first using the term stream of consciousness) in a literary context, when reviewing the first volumes of Dorothy Richardson's novel sequence Pilgrimage (1915–67), in The Egoist, April 1918.
May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair, a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry. She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. May Sinclair was also a significant critic, in the area of modernist poetry and prose and she is attributed with first using the term stream of consciousness) in a literary context, when reviewing the first volumes of Dorothy Richardson's novel sequence Pilgrimage (1915–67), in The Egoist, April 1918.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 16, 2016
May Sinclair's wonderful, and sadly neglected, novel The Helpmate details a marriage from its very beginnings. Her characters, in their entirety, feel touchably realistic, and their relationships with one another are complex. Here, Sinclair demonstrates the many different - and sometimes opposing - facets of married love. There is such emotional depth throughout, and one can never quite tell what is likely to happen next.
The Helpmate is so very compelling, and of course, it is wonderfully written. There is such a clarity to the whole. The novel was first published in 1907, but feels incredibly modern; many of the themes are just as relevant today as they were when it was written. Sinclair writes of love, deception, and grief in such a timely way; the modern reader can learn so much from it. It is sadly not a book which I can include in my PhD thesis, as it lacks the elements which I am looking at, but it is certainly a fascinating and well-paced read, which - along with all of Sinclair's work - deserves to be widely read.
The Helpmate is so very compelling, and of course, it is wonderfully written. There is such a clarity to the whole. The novel was first published in 1907, but feels incredibly modern; many of the themes are just as relevant today as they were when it was written. Sinclair writes of love, deception, and grief in such a timely way; the modern reader can learn so much from it. It is sadly not a book which I can include in my PhD thesis, as it lacks the elements which I am looking at, but it is certainly a fascinating and well-paced read, which - along with all of Sinclair's work - deserves to be widely read.
August 24, 2009
There is a really interesting paper to be written comparing this to Michael Arlen's The Green Hat -- both have characters whose obsessive focus on 'purity' causes them much, much misery, but in the two decades between the novels the whole societal framework around the concept has shifted in some fascinating ways.
As to this book just as a book -- very slow-moving, very sloggy, and the main protagonist (Anne) was really hard to sympathise with. She discovers on the first page that her new husband had an affair before they married, and the rest of the book details all the problems this causes because of her spiritual pride. It was interesting, but soooooooo slow. I am glad I read it, but it's never going to get a reread unless I someday write the aforementioned paper.
As to this book just as a book -- very slow-moving, very sloggy, and the main protagonist (Anne) was really hard to sympathise with. She discovers on the first page that her new husband had an affair before they married, and the rest of the book details all the problems this causes because of her spiritual pride. It was interesting, but soooooooo slow. I am glad I read it, but it's never going to get a reread unless I someday write the aforementioned paper.
July 4, 2022
Another addition to the long line of terrible women that May Sinclair produced. I was all prepared to make this another 5 star novel but I thought the end was something of a cop-out. What a monster, though. I love the way the author deals with sex without ever mentioning it.
September 6, 2011
published in 1923 not a easy read young bride uses her religon to distroy her husbands life
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews