The Hours Before Dawn - MASS MARKET ED. Paperback – April 18, 2018

A fascinating story of real heroes and the men of the United States Coast Guard.

This fast paced book with many twists and turns is cleverly written and keeps one guessing about the odd tenant.

Written in 1958, this is both a mystery and a social commentary on a housewife's life during the 1950's. Louise is a stay at home mother of three little girls, the youngest only six months old. She seems to be going a little bonkers, possibly suffering from some post-partum depression. She and her unsympathetic husband rent a room to an oddball sort of woman. The book's creepiness begins when the odd renter, a teacher, moves in. Suspense builds as does Louise's nuttiness until the final pages when the crashing climax reveals all. This writing is pretty typical of the 40s and 50s style of suspenseful novels, and reminiscent of du Maurier, Rhinehart, and Christie. There's a lot of dialogue, a certain amount of action, a good deal of suspense, and no sex or foul language. Some of which makes it a little dull in places. However it's worth the read, and if you like all your ends tied up the author does a wonderful job.

Well written, great characters and plot, and a smart touch of humor!

Certainly brought me back to the days of my exhaustion with a house full of toddlers and a less than understanding husband. I found the characters interesting and I was very curious about what the tenant was up to. I would recommend.

"The Hours Before Dawn" is a wonderful discovery--highly entertaining, with uneasy suspense constantly building, and also thoughtful, observant, and intelligently written. I read it in one day because I couldn't leave the story alone until I got to the end. Now I'm going to search out others works by Celia Fremlin.

Some published list of great crime classics listed this one, so I bought it, really assuming I’d see what a classic it is. Oh well. It’s an interesting read, sort of, for the depiction of an exhausted mother who must do all the childcare and housekeeping (1950s), but as a mystery it’s a no go. No spoilers here, so I can’t say much more. It just proceeds along with no twists or red herrings. Not a keeper.

Louise a put upon housewife with 3 siblings lives in middle class splendour with a husband unable or unwilling to help by taking joint responsibility for the day to day management of a busy household. This is a novel of its time set in late 1950's England when it was supposedly expected for the man of the house to be the bread winner and his wife to attend not only to a busy daily routine but also a demanding sibling schedule and a lazy needy husband.Into this chaos steps Miss Brandon her role as housekeeper to alleviate the stress that colours every waking moment. It soon becomes apparent that Miss Brandon has a hidden agenda and may not be quite as charming or helpful as she appears on first blush. This is an enjoyable, forgotten (until recently) suburban tale that it could be argued paves the way for the deluge of psychological thrillers that now confronts a sometimes confused reader on a daily basis. Will Miss Brandon reveal her true self? Will the husband finally accept his parental responsibility and by so doing allow Louise to embrace the only thing that she really wants.....a good nights sleep!

If you like suspense and thriller, this one is up there. Brilliantly written, The Hours Before Dawn is a masterpiece in this genre. Did not see the twist coming.

First published in 1958, recently reissued, this classic psychological thriller originally won an Edgar Award for best mystery novel. It's set in a middle-class area of London and centres on the character Louise. She’s a full-time mum with two daughters at school and seven-month-old Michael. No matter what she tries Michael doesn’t sleep and now Louise is exhausted beyond imagining. Louise is struggling but still striving to ‘remain bright and good-tempered and attractive – to get the children off to school in time – to answer their questions, plan the meals, never letting tiredness’ get in the way. She can’t rely on her husband, Mark blames her for not ‘shutting’ Michael up, and now the neighbours are complaining too. As if this weren’t enough, providing for a new baby means money’s tight and so into this domestic chaos comes new lodger Vera Brandon. On paper Vera’s the perfect tenant, a single classics teacher at the local grammar school, with an impeccable background and a surprising rapport with Mark. But is Vera really what she seems? Louise is not so sure but can she trust her instincts or is sleep deprivation clouding her judgment?I read this once years ago as part of Virago's Classic Crime list, I remembered enjoying it but not much else. I’m really glad I decided to re-read it. . I enjoyed this immensely, it was beautifully observed, witty, entertaining and unnerving in equal parts. I’m surprised it’s not been adapted it would make an excellent BBC period drama, there were shades of Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendall even Kate Atkinson but more understated. I thought Louise was an incredibly well-drawn, engaging character and I was fascinated by the detailed representation of domestic life in the late 50s. The early sections establish character and setting, while the mystery driving the novel builds slowly. Vera’s behaviour and the situation in the house becomes increasingly unsettling and uncertain, and then Fremlin ramps up the tension. The ending isn't perfect but I liked this so much I've already ordered more of Fremlin's work.

Domestic noir, when done well, is one of my favourite genres, one that has the potential to cut especially deep when the dangers lurking are those surrounding us in our daily lives. Whilst this genre seems to have become increasingly popular over the last decade, it is by no means a new concept – as this book proves. Written in the 1950’s, it made for a truly refreshing read that took me on a special kind of time travel. Celia Fremlin, I learned, worked for the Mass Observation Movement during WWII, skills which stood her in good stead when she took to writing novels about ordinary women of her time caught up in frightening situations. Her writing style, full of small, telling details and characters that seem to leap from the page, is both vivid and engaging and full of tongue-in-cheek humour that mocks the gender division so “normal” at the time.Here we have Louise, a young mother of two small children and a new baby, who struggles through her days in a fog of sleep deprivation from having to tend to her son several times per night. Her husband, who returns from work expecting a cooked dinner, a clean house and well behaved children, also demands that he – the man of the house – get a good night sleep, which sees Louise feed her baby downstairs in the kitchen or laundry for fear of waking him. Of course he cannot be expected to help out with menial tasks such as lending a hand with any form of housework, or looking after the children, so Louise gradually becomes more and more exhausted. When the family take in a lodger to help with finances, strange things are starting to happen in the house, but it seems that Louise is the only one who notices that something is amiss. Soon she is convinced that there is something fishy going on with their tenant – but is it all in her mind?I simply loved the glimpses Fremlin offers into the daily lives of women of her era, so vividly portrayed here. Everyone seems genuine and relatable, from the busybody neighbour next door who regularly complains about the children’s noise, to the friend who imposes on Louise to do her favours (which she never returns), and lots of the other side characters who lend a dimension to the story that showcases Fremlin’s skill as a writer. I loved the way she not only manages to build tension by airing Louise’s growing suspicions, but also sow doubt in the reader’s mind how reliable the sleep deprived Louise is as a narrator. Thus combining all the elements that usually make for a clever psychological thriller, Fremlin creates a timeless story that is still relevant in our times today. I, for one, loved the opportunity to get an insight into Fremlin’s era and be truly chilled to the core at the same time. A lot of modern mysteries could take a leaf out of Fremlin’s book on how to create a timeless story of suspense. I was instantly drawn in and devoured it greedily to the end. Highly recommended to lovers of the genre!

The Hendersons have a new tenant, Vera, renting their spare room, and several things about her disturb Louise. The kids say they saw Vera snooping around Louise's things. And why did Vera ask an acquaintance of Louise's for the house address when it was in the ad? And why was Vera sitting quietly in her room all day when she said she was going out for the day? And why does a professional woman like Vera want to rent the room in the first place? It becomes clear to Louise that nobody will take her concerns seriously and that her husband and her friends won't be of any help; she has to solve the mystery alone. The problem is that she is a sleep-deprived mother of three kids with a colicky baby and no spare time.Those looking for a fast-paced story or lots of violence will be disappointed, but it is a good story, with an isolated protagonist. There is some humor as well, with a married man who pretends to be interested in other women just to get his wife's attention (she ignores him anyway), and Louise's observation that people who make good babysitters are never the ones who want the job.

This was Fremlin's first work of fiction and her most famous mainly due to it winning the Edgar for Best Crime Novel in 1960. The opening of this book is sublime and immediately sets the flavour for the rest of the book. Louise's exhaustion is presented on the very first line and you can feel the agonising urge for the poor woman to simply curl up and sleep for a fortnight. As Fremlin has written herself, the idea for this book was born from first-hand experience and you can feel the tiredness, desperation and fear ooze from every word. I say 'fear' as this was a time when motherhood was believed to be a woman's 'highest calling'. Thankfully, times have moved on but it is nonetheless a good history lesson in how not to allow a mother to get so deep in the mire of despair over a child that won't sleep.Vera Brandon is quietly sinister, her intentions hidden behind a veil of uncertainty. However, I feel it is poor Louise's husband, Mark who should have been marched outside and shot for being so insensitive. It makes me shudder to think that any husband/father could be so remote from his own wife and children. Mark appears to have no interaction with any of his children and so that he has some 'quiet time', (something Louise herself lacks in abundance), Louise makes sure the children don't bother him by entertaining them in another part of the house! Again, it is good to see Dad's these days taking a much bigger role in the handling of their offspring than Mark does in the 1950's!Fremlin has always been spot on with her characters. The horrendous Mrs. Hooper is a hideous opportunist who dumps her children on any victim she can find to bully in to having her unruly brats. The solution is one tinged with sadness and lost and I can see why it won her an award. This is a very painful and powerful study in motherhood and the strong connection between mother and child.