Description
The Town in Bloom by Dodie Smith is a historical fiction novel about friendship, memory and the lasting effects of a pivotal period in young adulthood. First published in 1965, the story centres on four women — Molly, Lilian, Zelle and the narrator, Mouse — who meet in London in the 1920s while involved in the theatre world. The friends establish a tradition of meeting every five years, but Zelle has stopped attending and an unexplained rift lies behind her disappearance. When the three remaining women see Zelle outside their reunion hotel, Mouse follows her, bringing the unresolved past back into focus.
Much of the novel looks back to the women’s younger years at The Club, a women’s hostel where Mouse, Lilian and Molly live before Zelle joins them. Smith draws on her own experiences of London’s theatrical world, bringing the period to life through its theatre life, friendships and everyday details. Mouse, an ambitious and eccentric young woman who moves between acting, writing and various unsuccessful ventures, becomes the dominant perspective as the story follows her affair with an older married actor and the events of one particular summer that change the course of their lives. The novel offers an evocative portrait of being young in London in the 1920s, while exploring nostalgia, self-perception and the ways people remember their past.
