Whatever you think of Hardy, you have to admit that Jude the Obscure is one of the most gripping books ever written about university entrance requirements. For a novel about an equally unpromising subject, 'the drama of English local government', Winifred Holtby did pretty well with her bestseller South Riding in 1936. The prologue depicts a novice reporter in the press gallery: 'His heart beat and his eyes dilated. Here, he told himself, was the source of reputations, of sanitoria, bridges, feuds, scandals, of remedies for broken ambitions or foot-and-mouth disease, of bans on sex novels in public libraries, of educational scholarships, blighted hopes and drainage systems.' It's an acquired taste, of course; but acquired early in life, it might lead anywhere. Look what happened to the daughter of Councillor Alfred Roberts of Grantham.

LRB 6 July 1995 | PDF Download