Interesting Old Books: Holy Deadlock By A.P. Herbert

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Topic: Literature

Interesting Old Book: Holy Deadlock By A.P. Herbert

By Gareth Eastwood 2008-03-12

This novel has a historical significance transcending the insights into the past that we gain from it. The author first published it in 1934. In 1936, as a member of the British Parliament he introduced a divorce law reform bill which became the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1937. The book was written to highlight the absurdities of existing divorce laws in preparation for reform. It succeeded marvelously.

A.P. Herbert is best know to the world for his Misleading Cases series of books, an hilarious lampooning of the British legal system through fictional court cases. Ten volumes of these were written between 1928 and 1966. They are well worth reading.

Holy Deadlock tells of the nightmarish difficulties suffered by a childless couple John Adam and his wife Mary (nee Eve) who wish to divorce. He is a civil servant. She is a well-known actress. Since their relationship breakdown, she has fallen in love with and wishes to marry Martin Seal, a BBC radio personality. Their separation is perfectly amicable.

In order to divorce under England's laws of the time, adultery by one party only had to be proven. No other reason was acceptable, not wife beating, failure to provide or horrendous cruelty on either part. If both parties were adulterers the reason for divorce was nullified, since the score was then even and neither party could be held to be suffering to a point where continued wedlock was unbearable.

The trick was to convince the court of one-sided adultery. However, as a woman's reputation had to be protected, it was generally the man who the court had to be convinced was an adulterer. That was especially necessary in this story due to the public nature of Mary and Martin's lives. However, John was no adulterer, despite his having formed a relationship with a new love interest.

The author proceeds to describe the classic farce of the times in which paid mock co-respondents had to be found in bed with aspiring divorce petitioners by hotel staff who, unaware that the 'lovers' were fully clothed under the covers, were then summonsed to court as witnesses to adulterous situations.

It sometimes took several tries to be 'caught' by a suitable witness whose testimony would be credible. Secret agencies were formed through which co-respondents could be hired. The entire process was expensive with no guarantees of success.

All the while both parties had to run the gauntlet of the King's Proctor whose job it was to prove a deception of some sort.

This story is a liitle slow-going and lacks something in the way of being a gripping, suspenseful yarn, but is nevertheless quite readable. There are plenty of surprises and sudden twists to keep it interesting.

The book's by-word is is definitely 'informative', but it isn't devoid of entertainment value. I rated it 8.6 out of ten.

Gareth Eastwood contributes articles to www.mindesque.com. He is an enthusiastic Rock 'n' Roll Dancer and teacher in Adelaide, South Australia. He maintains a premier website dedicated to Rock n Roll Dance at www.rocknrolldance.com. He also created and runs a large singles social network in Adelaide based around www.garethevents.info/