60MBC7: The Garden Party, by Katherine Mansfield
Our short story for July is the perfect way to while away a lazy Summer's hour.
Hi friends,
This is the part where I usually say: “OMG how are we in July already!?”
Except… we’re not quite there yet.
That’s right, do not adjust your set, this edition of the Sixty Minute Book Club is a whole six days earlier than planned (though still a day late… d’oh).
July will be a shorter month for me, and with an earlier date for our next discussion I wanted to give everyone enough time to read this month’s story, ‘The Garden Party’ by Katherine Mansfield.
Whatever month it is, though, Summer has definitely arrived in Valencia, where the thirty-three degree temps are already crisping up my usually ghostly pallor.
How lucky then that this story provides the perfect excuse to move into the shade. I may even crack open the Pimm’s…
🪻’The Garden Party’, by Katherine Mansfield
First published in 1922, ‘The Garden Party’ is an acclaimed modernist short story by the Kiwi author Katherine Mansfield.
We meet the Sheridan family on a glorious Summer’s day - the perfect day for a party - and Laura is taking pride in helping her mother prepare. But when an accident happens one street over, Laura begins to question their instincts.
Mansfield’s story is a sparkling social commentary that takes a deceptively domestic setting and uses it as a vehicle to explore bigger societal questions.
It’s also heaving with tantalising descriptive imagery: I can almost smell the rose garden, taste the cream puffs, and hear the band start up. And, given what happens in the story, all this life unfolding later feels entirely intended. Mansfield cleverly juxtaposes a somewhat ‘frothy’ occasion with more profound questions about our place in the world - down to the very meaning of life itself.
I have to admit, when I first read this story at University, I wasn’t blown away by it. Opening it up to read again for the 60MBC, I couldn’t even remember the plot. But reading it this time, twenty years on, felt like I was discovering it for the very first time. Perhaps, like Laura, I needed to grow up in order to truly ‘see’ it?
I’m looking forward to see what you all make of it too.
Psst! Don’t forget that for the prompts, chat discussions and access to the live discussion link you’ll need to be a subscriber (whether free or paid).
💡 The need-to-knows
‘The Garden Party’, by Katherine Mansfield.
Published: 1922
Average reading time: ~30 minutes
Themes: Family dynamics, class and privilege, coming of age, the end of innocence.
‘The Garden Party’ is available in the public domain for free via Project Gutenberg.
If you prefer a print edition, ‘The Garden Party’ is published by Penguin as a collectible and, I believe, includes the other stories in the original published collection - more short stories, yay!
Because the story is available in the public domain, I found quite a few recordings if you prefer audiobooks. This one stood out for its simplicity.
I also discovered this old PBS adaptation on YouTube which I look forward to watching before we meet. It certainly doesn’t seem to be set in New Zealand nor in 1922 so I’m keen to see what they do with the tale.
What to consider while reading
This story may seem breezy on a first read (ahem, see my experience reading it at Leeds University, c.2006), but it’s deceptively poignant and even a touch philosophical.
Here are some things to think about as you read:
Memento mori. The epicurean delights - food, music, beauty, love - collide with death and sadness. Is the party a celebration of life or a distraction from it?
Class: How does Laura encounter and negotiate the class differences of the story? How does her view of the world shift through her encounter with those from a different social standing?
Compassion or condescension? Do you think Laura’s empathy is real or performative? Do you suspect she is genuinely compassionate, simply naive, or both?
The loss of innocence: Is Laura’s realisation of ‘the real world’ another sign that she stands apart from her family, or the moment she becomes ‘one of them’?
We’ll explore these and more together in the chat starting next week.We’ll explore these and more together in the chat starting next week.
📆 Date for your diaries
We’ll meet virtually on Tuesday 22 June, at 6 PM CEST (9am PST / 12pm EST / 5pm BST) for a sixty minute discussion of ‘The Garden Party’.
Our discussion will fall a little earlier this month as I’ll be away from the following week on my summer holidays, but you’ll still have three-and-a-half weeks to enjoy this classic.
As always, the meeting link is available only to subscribers, so make sure you’re signed up to get access!
📚 Happy reading!
That should be all the info you need to get started on our seventh short story for 2025, one that’s a perfect fit for the Summer months.
If you have any questions or first thoughts, drop me a message here in the comments, in the chat, or via DM.
And if you’re looking forward to reading with us this month, please hit the heart so I know.
Thanks,
Emma x
In brief: June’s live discussion of ‘Recitatif’
[Spoilers ahead! If you’ve not yet read ‘Recitatif’, come back to this after you have]
This week we met to discuss Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’ - a perfect story for a book club given its central trope. It’s also so stunningly written that you could discuss Morrison’s choice of scenes, characterisations and dialogue for hours on end.
We veered into many topics - race, class, female friendship, trauma and connection, and I include a short summary below. This only scratches the surface really of what we discussed - it was hard to summarise this month! Thank you to everyone who took part, it was a really open, vulnerable discussion and one I’m honoured to have led.
Who’s who in the story… and do we even care? The ‘hook’ of ‘Recitatif’ is that Morrison never reveals which character (Twyla or Roberta) is Black and which is white. Interestingly, most of us seemed to see it more as a clever stylistic choice than feeling like it was a mystery to solve. That said, we did notice certain points where the question came more sharply into view, prompted by certain ‘props’ that prodded our subconscious biases. e.g. protest signs, the hair touching, or Maggie. We also wondered if there was a message here that everything is about race even when nothing is ostensibly about race (because ultimately, the two girls know they are ‘different’ to one another, and so does the rest of the world around them).
Maggie. A recurring question was the role of Maggie, the mute kitchen worker who falls (or is pushed?) in the girls’ memory. The question of what actually happened to her, and what either girl did or didn’t do, was returned to many times throughout the conversation. Were Twyla and Roberta really guilty of something or just haunted by what they failed to prevent? And why is this a moment that they keep returning to? What do they feel it says about them, or their friendship? The idea that memory isn’t fixed, but shaped by shame, guilt, and our desire to have ‘done better’ really resonated.
Friendship. Despite the story’s heavy themes, we noted a tenderness in the depiction of Roberta and Twyla’s difficult friendship. Several of us were struck by the story’s rhythm, and the way the women’s lives keep brushing up against each other at different stages - like so many long-standing friendships do. Some saw their repeated reunions as a kind of forgiveness; others noted how the location or people they were with added to their distance. The protest was a big flashpoint for us. Is Twyla really interested in the counter-protest, or does she only go in order to find and connect with Roberta? The fact her sign doesn’t make much sense on its own - she always needs Roberta’s - felt poignant and speaks to her deep connection with Roberta even in times of existential-level conflict.
Race and class. While race looms large even in its ‘absence’, we also discussed how class plays an equally powerful role in dividing the two women through the ages. Roberta’s driver, IBM-executive husband and fancy clothes, ostracise Twyla and create tension as the women outgrow one another. We explored the human desire to feel superior to others because of race, class, or ability, and Maggie again became a focal point as perhaps the only person both girls felt they could be ‘above’ when they were in care.
Repetition and rhythm. The title itself came up a few times in our discussion and how it speaks to repeated motifs, images and moments. The orphanage’s ‘smug orphans’, the life of the protest sign, the ‘what happened to Maggie’ question. It gave the story a sense of looping memory threaded through, a little like a musical score.
Outside influence. A few of us reflected on how pure Twyla and Roberta’s connection felt at the start: just two little girls bonding in the strangeness of a shared room, connecting over their struggling mothers. Their friendship was created before the outside world began imposing labels and ideologies onto them and projecting ideas of who they should be because of the colour of their skin. Things only seemed to sour when others entered the picture: the mothers themselves, new friends, husbands, protestors, prejudices. Morrison’s conceit cleverly captures both this ‘innocence’, and (our) outside projections.
❤️ Thank you for reading Scrambled Eggs. Enjoyed this post? Hit the heart to let me know.
Don’t know this story. Will read it!
Listened to the podcast. I’d never heard of this story but it was an interesting one. Thanks for choosing and sharing. 😘 Hope you have an amazing summer, despite the heat. 🫶🏻