The Camomile An Invention

'The chamomile, the more it is trodden on, the faster is grows.' Shakespeare, Henry IV part 1

The opening quote of The Camomile provides an insight into the book's title. The narrative highlights the tensions for a woman in the early 20th century between the desire to explore her creativity and the duties expected of her as a prospective wife. Through a series of journal entries, which form an extended letter to her best friend, we follow the protagonist, Ellen, who rents out a room away from her family to provide a quiet space in which to focus on her music and her writing. Ellen is a lively soul who wants the freedom to express herself and she finds a champion of her endeavors at the Mitchell Library. But as she falls in love and becomes betrothed to a doctor who is soon to return to India, she finds herself increasingly conflicted and has to eventually make a choice.

Catherine Carswell (1879–1946) was a Scottish author, biographer and journalist. As a journalist she was once famously fired from the Glasgow Herald for writing a review of D. H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow. Her subsequent correspondence with the author encouraged her to write her first novel Open the Door! (1920), which won the Melrose Prize. Carswell studied at the Conservatory of Music in Frankfurt and at Glasgow University, but as women were not formally admitted to universities at this time, she was not awarded a degree. Creator of stuckinabook.com and co-host of the podcast ‘Tea or Books?’.