Rest and Be Thankful

Rest & Be Thankful / Helen MacInnes
NY: Little, Brown, c1949.
368 p.

I've been reading MacInnes for years, ever since I was a teenager. I really loved her spy novels -- densely written, lots of action & romance -- it was only later that I realized she was both extremely attached to traditional gender roles & a rabid anti-communist. But I've still enjoyed many of her works. 

This novel is a little different. It's not at all a spy novel (though she still gets in those jabs at communists). It is set in Wyoming, and tells the story of two literary women who have left France and are now leaving New York, on the way to the west coast. But on their road trip, they are halted by weather and bad roads and find themselves at a ranch called Rest and Be Thankful, in the hills of Wyoming. 

Margaret Peel and her younger companion Sally Bly have been hostesses for years all across Europe, and now that they are home again and rediscovering America, Margaret takes a fancy to this ranch. When she discovers that it is for sale, she impulsively buys it and decides to set it up as a writer's retreat for the summer. Margaret and Sally carefully think about their guests to create the perfect mixture, but a couple of their more pompous literary acquaintances invite themselves along and then all bets are off. 

The mix of literary personalities with the cowboys that live on the working ranch, along with the household staff, and Margaret and Sally themselves, drive the plot of this book, such as it is. For a summer, self-important writers, struggling new writers, writers with visions of Hollywood, and the down to earth, hard working locals clash and spark off one another. The skewering of personalities is sometimes very funny, and sometimes uncomfortably close to mean and judgemental. MacInnes' political views come through strongly, with no attempt at nuance, and some racial stereotypes show up as well. Because of this, I can't say that I love this book. 

However, it is a fascinating look at the literary life of America in the late 40s, and in particular, gives a view of the divide between East Coast literati and the people of the west. To some extent this divide still exists, in Canada as well as the US,  and causes prickly issues similar to the ones in this 1949 story.  

But if you need something to read that will leave you feeling both rested and thankful, this isn't a bad choice! If you like stories of manly men, literature, snobbishness punished, landscapes, and women forging their own ways, give it a go. If you're currently interested in reading about enclosed communities and how small groups function, this fits in perfectly.