The cover of my copy declares Georgy Girl "sharp, affectionate and very funny"; clearly these words had different definitions in the 60s than they do now. ( )

autumn-2013, radio-4, shortstory-shortstories-novellas, published-1965, britain-england
Read from September 01 to 07, 2013

BBC BLURB: By Margaret Forster Dramatised by Rhiannon Tise Jos has Georgy all to himself once again but having to care for a baby has changed everything and a frustrated Jos takes drastic action.

Directed by Tracey Neale

The Story:

As part of our British New Wave season the Fifteen Minute Drama brings to the Radio 4 airwaves the compelling story of Georgina Parkin. Georgy is twenty-seven. Brought up in Kensington by her parents, Ted and Doris who are live-in servants of rich socialite James. She lives in her own flat in Battersea with the cool and disdainful Meredith who has the male population at her feet. Georgy thinks her flat-mate is beautiful, witty and clever. Georgy, on the other hand, is a physically awkward, large young woman, who lacks self-esteem, never been taken out on a date, let alone kissed. She is desperate to meet someone and fall in love. This is the Swinging Sixties after all.

And then she falls in love with Jos, a charming and directionless young man. But there's a problem -he's Meredith's fella and there are complications when Meredith announces she is pregnant. A tangled living situation emerges. Then James makes Georgy an unconventional and surprising offer which she agrees to think about. Is his offer the key to Georgy's happiness? Or, will she hold out for true love with Jos?

The Writer:

Margaret Forster is the author of many successful novels, including Lady's Maid, Have the Men Had Enough? and The Memory Box and several acclaimed biographies, including Good Wives. Her most recent books have been Diary of an Ordinary Woman and The Unknown Bridesmaid.

The Dramatist:

Rhiannon won the Richard Imison Award for her first radio play The Waltzer. Her most recent radio play, broadcast earlier this year, was Outside In. Rhiannon has written for the BBC series Doctors and her stage plays have been performed at The Royal Court, The Royal National Theatre, The Traverse Theatre, The Tron Theatre Glasgow, Soho Theatre and The Arcola Theatre.

Sing Along!

That scene from the film

This was a perfect production of the story, oozing contemporary 45s in the backgound.
2 likes ( )

I much prefer Margaret Forster's 1965 novel to Kingsley Amis' Girl, 20, which I also read recently. Both are depressing and disturbing in different ways, but Georgy is far more real and sympathetic than the middle class twits in Amis' story, and I love Forster's style. The opening paragraph is almost a lesson in creative writing, setting the scene and introducing the first character with economic fluidity, and the story builds from there.

George Parkin is an intelligent and witty young woman, but full of insecurities about her looks and her size. 'Desperate, that's me,' she tells her flatmate's boyfriend Jos. 'Twenty seven and never been asked out by a fella, let alone kissed.' She lives with the beautiful but cynical Meredith, and runs a dance class for young children out of the attic of her father's employer, Mr James, who has started taking a rather worrying interest in George's future. Lonely and unfulfilled, George suddenly finds herself in high demand - Mr James wants her to be his mistress, while Jos turns from the brittle beauty of Meredith to the maternal warmth of her friend.

The grim and gritty kitchen sink realism of Forster's novel evokes the rather ordinary and less than glamorous 1960s that most working class folk would have known. George and Meredith live in a bedsit in Battersea, her parents bow and scrape for a living, and Jos works in a bank. Meredith the dollybird comes closest to living the dream, going to parties every night and sleeping around, but even she's not happy. George gets what she wants, just, but under complicated circumstances and not without making sacrifices. I was pleased that everything worked out for her, but the ending is far from satisfying.

The brief but well written novel is definitely worth reading, but I recommend watching the film adaptation too. Lynn Redgrave is slightly OTT as George, but beautiful and amusing, and Charlotte Rampling steals every scene as Meredith. ( )

I'll look for the film now I've read it. Quite a dour book, not uplifting in any way. My only wonder for a happy ending would be that Georgina could grow to love James. I can only imagine that or that she would grow to hate & resent him. I wondered whether this would truly make a happy home life for Sara.
I like the comment on what happens to young love when a baby comes along, it really can take all the romance out, and bring a healthy dose of realism. Love that didn't get beyond infatuation/lust clearly won't survive that.
I actually did find Meredith credible, in my mind's eye I pictured her like Amy Winehouse. Really a story full of the angst of not knowing what you want or need, only really knowing that you don't want what your parents had. Interesting in the context of 1960s London. I suppose there's an element of coming of age.
I found it difficult to imagine Georgina, actually, as there are such conflicting accounts of her looks, as taken from different characters perspectives. I did think the juxtaposition of different generational opinions was good. Jos as contrasted with Ted, could they be any more opposite? And Meredith vs Doris.
Finally, I can't let go of the undercurrent of homosexual desire in this? Am I crazy, or was Ted in love with James and Peg in love with Georgina? ( )

I was disappointed by this one - I'd mentioned to various people that I was reading it and they seemed to think it was "seminal", but I found George frustrating - wanting her to get her act together, and I don't see how the end really gave her a happy life or what she wanted. I also thought Meredith was completely unbelievable - but the world in the book was very different to the one I know so that might be the difference? ( )