The Father's Daughters by Muriel Spark
"The Father's Daughters" by Muriel Spark delves into the complexities of familial relationships, particularly focusing on the dynamics between the aging author Henry Castlemaine and his daughter, Dora. Set against the backdrop of their declining financial situation after years of comfortable living in Nice, the narrative explores themes of obligation, ambition, and the passage of time. Dora, now in her forties, grapples with her father's expectations and her own desires as she attempts to support him while navigating her own identity.
The story introduces Ben Donadieu, a man whose interactions with both Dora and Carmelita Hope—daughter of a renowned novelist—complicate existing relationships and highlight the tensions between personal ambition and familial loyalty. As Dora accepts a job as an elocution teacher, her bond with Ben deepens, leading to an unexpected emotional entanglement. The novel invites readers to reflect on the significance of legacy, the burdens of care, and the intricate web of human relationships, all while maintaining a sharp focus on the characters' inner lives. Ultimately, it is a tale of love, sacrifice, and the quest for personal fulfillment amid life's challenges.
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The Father's Daughters by Muriel Spark
First published: 1961
Type of plot: Psychological
Time of work: 1957
Locale: Nice, France; London and Essex, England
Principal Characters:
Henry Castlemaine , an eighty-year-old novelistDora Castlemaine , his unmarried forty-six-year-old daughterBen Donadieu , a thirty-one-year-old teacher at the Basil Street Grammar School in LondonKenneth Hope , a celebrated novelistCarmelita Hope , Hope's twenty-one-year-old daughter
The Story
After having spent thirty-five comfortable summers at Nice, the Castlemaines are faced with poverty. Novelist Henry Castlemaine's name has been forgotten; in fact, people believe that he died long ago. His forty-six-year-old daughter, Dora, who has decided to serve her widowed father and attend to "his needs as a public figure," is worried about money. It has been thirty years since her father was recognized everywhere. Henry insists on patronizing an expensive place near the casino in Nice; Dora protests but relents, chided by her father for being "vulgar," that is, concerned about costs and prices.
One March, when Dora and her father are forced to abandon their expensive hotel, she meets Ben Donadieu, who is vacationing with his friend Carmelita Hope, the daughter of the famous novelist Kenneth Hope, "a shy, thin, middle-aged man" whose creative "magic" Dora admires. Carmelita likes Ben for being an "intellectual," but she thinks that Ben loves her chiefly for being the novelist's daughter. Ben is keenly interested in talking to Carmelita's father, whom she praises for not interfering in her life.
Dora accepts a job as an elocution teacher. Her father objects; he sulks and complains that he is a burden to her and that he ought to "go off and die." It is one of their affectionate quarrels: They are "shrewd in their love for each other." In her job, Dora again encounters Ben, who inquires, to her delight, if she is related to Henry Castlemaine.
Meanwhile, Ben's relation with Carmelita is in trouble; he wants to find out if Carmelita still means anything to him without sex. Carmelita wonders if Ben is "practising a form of cruelty to intensify her obsession." Her father does not want to help Ben for her sake. When Ben mentions his acquaintance with Dora, Carmelita thinks that his interest in the Castlemaines would "make everything easier for both of us." It turns out that this friendship spells the end of Ben's engagement with Carmelita. Henry Castlemaine urges Dora to marry Ben, and Dora accepts this as a kind of "destiny." The father-daughter conspiracy manifests a shrewdness capable of absorbing Ben as "a born disciple."