What an interesting lady Jan Struther was. I don't know what I was expecting of her when I picked up this biography (which was written by her granddaughter), but what I received was such a treat that I couldn't possibly complain in any event. The only thing I knew about Jan Struther before reading this was that (a) she'd created the character of Mrs. Miniver and (b) she, a Brit, spent the War in the United States. The second fact annoyed her fellow Brits, and some, like Vera Brittain, made mention of it in their own diaries.While these two things are undeniably true, there's much more to Jan Struther than this. While she was presenting the happy, serene life of Mrs. Miniver in her newspaper columns, her married life at home was not the stuff for which roses are named. Her home life was not at all abusive or ugly in the ways that we think of when we think of marriages going wrong, but it contained the generally unhappiness that many of us find, where there's no one particular thing, but it just isn't working any more. She wrote sometimes moving, sometimes funny, sometimes pithy poetry, and she even wrote hymns (which, given her lack of interest in anything religious, was surprising). In order to prepare herself for the solemn task, she would take a few moments to be naughty and get it out of her system, and then write lovely words meant to be flung up to the heavens on a Sunday morning.I think, if I had known Jan Struther in real life, I would have best enjoyed her company in small doses. It seems that it took a great deal of energy and, sometimes, patience, to be able to take part in her world. I don't know that I would have skipped the opportunity entirely, however, because to do so would have meant walking away from so much.
What do You think about The Real Mrs Miniver (2007)?
