The Shell Seekers

“Living, now, had become not simple existence that one took for granted, but a bonus, a gift, with every day that lay ahead an experience to be savoured. Time did not last forever. I shall not waste a single moment, she promised herself. She had never felt so strong, so optimistic. As though she was young once more, starting out, and something marvellous was just about to happen.”

Penelope comes home after having a minor heart attack and has a new sense of appreciation for life. Her fresh outlook not only provides a hint to her strength of character and overall sense of optimism but also foreshadows the methodical way in which Penelope will settle her affairs over the next few weeks and the trips she will make to visit with old friends. This optimism at the beginning of the novel also contrasts sharply with the pessimism Penelope encounters in her interactions with Nancy and Noel.

“For this was an old house that they lived in, an old Georgian vicarage in a small and picturesque Cotswold village. The Old Vicarage, Bamworth. It was a good address, and she took pleasure from giving it to people in shops. Just put it down to my account—Mrs. George Chamberlain, The Old Vicarage, Bamworth, Gloucestershire. She had it embossed, at Harrods, at the head of her expensive blue writing paper. Little things like writing paper mattered to Nancy. They made a good impression.”

Nancy’s priorities are summed up nicely in this quote. Nancy is very concerned about appearances, and her shallow priorities are most evident in this materialistic description of her home. Although the large house is expensive to heat and maintain, she refuses to entertain the idea of living anywhere else because the address is important to her perception of her reputation. It is this drive to appear respectable that causes much of the tension between Nancy and her family throughout the novel.

“Nancy’s mother, Penelope Keeling, had practically lived in the old kitchen in the basement of the big house in Oakley Street, cooking and serving enormous meals at the great scrubbed table; writing letters, bringing up her children, mending clothes, and even entertaining her endless guests. And Nancy, who had both resented and was slightly ashamed of her mother, had been reacting against this warm and informal way of life ever since. When I get married, she had sworn as a child, I shall have a drawing room and a dining room, just like other people do, and I shall go into the kitchen as seldom as I can.”

In this quote, the narration outlines the differences between Nancy and her mother by describing how Penelope raised her children in the basement of her big house rather than utilizing the entire house.