It might seem like I have gone down a rabbit hole of horror the last few weeks. I mean I did start reading Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (Blacklight <pointing to Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy lying on the couch> : “Gwen! That is the scariest thing I have EVER SEEN! PLEASE GET RID OF IT!”) . But fear not, I have also been reading things like my beloved Monica Dickens too. No need to race to the store, snatch up a bundle of sage and march through Moderate Income Apartments cleansing the rooms of Chez Gwen and Blacklight.

Flowers on the Grass is the story of a man who loses his wife and unborn child in a tragic incident in their little country cottage and drifts all over England, maybe just drinking a wee bit too much and wallowing in his downward spiral vs pulling himself up by the bootstraps and going on with life. Although, when you consider it closely, Monica Dickens’ Flowers On The Grass has horror elements to it. And once again, in a small way, a Monica Dickens novel written in the late 1940s reminds me of the 1966 Patrick Dennis novel Tony. The chaos Patrick Dennis’ Tony causes is greater (it’s rather hard to top Tony’s adventures including his stint serving in World War II and his destruction of a Mary McCarthy like writer) than Monica Dickens’ Daniel but it’s joy and destruction all the same. After all, Daniel slips through the lives of several people causing chaos and destruction where ever he goes on his downward spiral. No place is safe or no one is safe from Daniel. Daniel flits through lives starting with his wife/ first cousin Jane, yearning to not be tied down to anyone or anything, slipping away to start again somewhere else. He pops up in boardinghouses with permanent guests, rooms for rent, private schools, a tutor in a wealthy family. You would think there would be something that repulses people and keeps them safe from an encounter with Daniel. But there is just something about Daniel which keeps attracting people to him and coming to his aid even as he causes more trouble then he’s worth. Families protect and shelter him even though his actions could send them to prison. Women risk everything for him including their very livelihoods. And at the end, even when he actually trying to do the right thing, he’s still causing pain and sorrow. And I ended the novel very glad my only interaction with Daniel was through the pages of a book.