Viva Lewes Issue #147 December 2018

BOOKS AND BOBS
Frieda by Annabel Abbs is a compelling story. The novel begins with a
moment that changed not only the life of its protagonist, Frieda, but
the world of English literature. In 1907 Frieda Weekley, a housewife
and mother of three young children, is visited by her sister, Nusch. The
contrast between wealthy Nusch’s exotic, bohemian circle in Germany
and Frieda’s drab life in a shabby Nottingham house triggers an unfolding
series of events that culminates in Frieda’s much-written about elopement
with DH Lawrence.
The narrative follows Frieda’s inner struggle between being a dutiful wife
in a stultifying marriage, and her fear that she ‘might die before I have
lived’. Annabel Abbs illuminates this conflict between the domestic and the
yearning for freedom in a gripping story that tracks Frieda from England
to Germany and ultimately to her time as a muse to Lawrence in Italy. We follow Frieda’s affairs with
various lovers as she strives to find fulfilment and happiness. Her sexual liberation and unwillingness to
conform to social norms was met with considerable condemnation; all the more vehement when she left
her children behind.
But the story is more nuanced than a mother abandoning her family because of the ‘wild lure of his
[Lawrence’s] poetry, his ideals, his genius’. Abbs’ book brilliantly conveys the turmoil and anguish this
choice (if indeed she felt she had any choice) caused Frieda, and recreates her complex, tumultuous inner
world with skill, empathy and a refreshing lack of judgement. Lulah Ellender
E S T A B L I S H E D 1 9 3 8
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