Like Monica Dickens herself, the bulk of the people in One of the Family are descended from a popular Victorian author. If I need to explain which popular Victorian author Monica DICKENS descends from a) we have a problem b) you have never read my blog before or c) you are my husband Blacklight and he doesn’t pay attention to what I read because playing Minecraft is his secret job. Most of the late E.A. Morley’s descendants lead the average upper-class Edwardian life. They’re not titled but are comfortable and have solid jobs. One brother is more posh then the other, one sister is modern and free and the other emotionally tied to their mother even as a married adult.

At the center of this cozy little world is brother Leonard (works for a posh department store) and his family. Leonard and his delightful but vague wife Gwen have three children, eldest married son Austin, unmarried daughter Madge and beloved afterthought and all around scamp Dicky. Their ungainly niece Bella, regards their family and house as a sanctuary from her own posh and cold home. Now the tales of this cozy family in it’s own cozy little world are all well and good but happy families can be deadly dull, so enter mysterious stranger Toby Taylor.

Now this is where my lizard brain starts working. And drawing literary conclusions that not might be then truly correct but please bear with me. As I read One of the Family, it’s cozy center family, the mysterious interloper who isn’t exactly who he seems, tragedy and joy Mr Interloper brings to our cozy family group against the background of a changing Edwardian world…how could I not be reminded of Howard’s End? Okay, so England in transition isn’t represented by the property Howard’s End. And the Morley clan isn’t the Schlegel clan. But we do have our Mr Interloper (Howard’s End Leonard Bast/One of the Family Toby Taylor) coming into the core family, causing happiness and longing and death and leaving behind an illegitimate child to a young mother who decides to go it alone. Bear with me a little more please? And the excellent film version of Howard’s End came out in 1992 and One of the Family was published in 1993.

Even if my slight deranged theory of possible inspiration from Howard’s End isn’t true and it’s just the fact there are limited plots and plot devices, One of the Family is still an good read. You have Leonard and his siblings adjusting to the changing world. Their daughters are exploring different roles then how their own mothers were raised. Madge, who the servants think is a lesbian, has cut her hair short and throws herself into settlement work and turns down the chance of marriage until late in the story. In fact, I really wish Madge had never married since marriage depletes her. Bella chafes against her parents rules and disappointments and when she turns up pregnant decides to keep her child and raise it openly to the shock of her family until she chooses a most unsuitable man over her child.

And then you have Toby Taylor. Failed doctor, would be healer, son substitute, confessor and seducer. He is Chaos, Death and Life all rolled up into one. Monica Dickens wisely doesn’t turn the entire narrative over to him. It’s much more compelling and interesting to have snippets of Toby, his relationship with an actress mistress, interactions with patients and visits to his ailing mother in a hospital. We know a little more about Toby then the Morley who encounter him in various facets but not the whole picture. Would Bella swoon as much over Toby if she knew the truth about encounters with his mistress and her cousin Sophie? Would Gwen and Leonard trust Toby with Dicky’s fate if they knew exactly how solid his medical credentials were?

it wasn’t until I finished the book and read the back flap of the dust jacket I realized One of the Family was Monica Dickens’ final novel. Until then I had been caught up in the story of an extended well to do family in Edwardian England. There’s something sad about reading an author’s last book or story. Sometimes you weep because that final work is only a ghost of what the author was capable of (Dominick Dunne’s Too Much Money) or they died too soon (Shirley Jackson’s Come Along With Me). Other times, you sit down with the last book, read it and are happy the author lived a long and productive life. Luckily Monica Dickens’ One of the Family falls in the last category.

Am I glad One of the Family is Monica Dickens last book? No. I would have loved to have more books from her. But life isn’t. And to end her career on a solid novel is a good thing, there’s no regrets or whys. And One of the Family should be one of your Monica Dickens reads.