Smut (two unseemly stories) by Alan Bennett

'Smut' consists of two short stories about middle-aged woman. They are women of modest, but reasonably educated, backgrounds, who lead very respectable lives. Or so we are led to suppose at first. What we discover as the stories unfold is that the two characters react to the events in their respectable lives in a rather unexpected, and, at the risk of sounding prudish, altogether indecent way. Mrs Donaldson, recently widowed, has lodgers who suggest an alternative way of paying their rent. Mrs Forbes can't understand why her very handsome son is getting married to a very plain-looking woman called Betty . . .
The first question of the evening's discussion was whether we (as middle-aged women ourselves) empathised with either of the characters. A resounding NO! Both Mrs Donaldson and Mrs Forbes dealt with their predicaments by acquiescing to some pretty deviant behaviour - which we felt we definitely would not do. Or would we? After all, most people want an easy life, and just because we are 'respectable' doesn't mean that we can't accommodate our scruples to go with the flow ... Though these tales may make you feel rather uncomfortable, they are salutary reminders that you cannot, and never should, judge people by their appearances.
Even if  the content of the stories takes you out of your comfort zone, the pure magic of Alan Bennett's prose cannot be denied. It was sheer joy to read such beautifully constructed sentences that were oozing with wit, erudition and humour. Whatever his opinion of women, his ability to tell a charming story overrides any sense of misogyny or demonization of the female sex. Bennett exposes us to everyday pretences that exist in all of our lives, and portrays them with a highly amusing, tongue-in-cheek attitude.
The final sentence reads: 'So the secrets abound, with Betty more richly endowed with them as she is with everything else. Still, for all that everybody, while not happy, is not unhappy about it. And so they go on.'
And I wouldn't be surprised if that is indeed the case for most of us.