Those of us who have been struggling to endure the recent heat should turn to L.P. Hartley’s classic coming-of-age novel The Go-Between for some advice.
‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing,’ Alfred Wainwright wisely said, and L.P. Hartley’s young Leo couldn’t have agreed more. He arrives at his friend’s smart country house without summer clothes and, as the mercury soars, suffers in his Eton collar, Norfolk jacket, breeches, black stockings and boots. ‘You are looking hot,’ everyone tells him, until at last Marian — the daughter of the house — takes him shopping for a cooler suit. Leo is transformed by his new apparel: ‘From being my enemy, the summer had become my friend… I felt I had been given the freedom of the heat, and I roamed about in it as if I was exploring a new element.’ Evidently a shopping trip for cooler attire is a necessity.
Taking another leaf from Marian’s book, we should ensure that our cooler attire can be easily slipped off in the evening. While cavorting around in his new green suit, low shoes and ‘thin underclothes whose touch caressed me’, Leo slides down a straw-stack and cuts his knee. Luckily Ted Burgess, a local farmer, is there to bandage him. Might Leo take a note to Marian, Ted asks. So Leo becomes their ‘postman’. It’s not long before even a 12-year-old understands what is going on, as Leo peeks inside an envelope carelessly left unsealed and reads, ‘Darling, darling, darling, same place, same time, this evening.’ Perhaps, like Marian and Ted, we too might take advantage of the sensuality of these hot summer nights.
This particular summer fling is, however, doomed. While Marian desires Ted, her mother has her eye on an aristocratic title, and Marian is soon engaged to Viscount Trimingham.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in