Bøker av Elizabeth Fair

Looking back she could not remember when she had settled down to mere existence, no longer expecting any changes in the pattern-let alone something as extraordinary as Mrs. Gamalion''s legacy.Charlotte Moley, long brow-beaten by her rather stodgy grown daughter Alison and very traditional mother, has been brought to the coastal town of Nything by an unexpected inheritance. The flamboyantly larger-than-life Mrs. Gamalion, who many years before had swept into the newly-widowed Charlotte''s recuperative holiday on Lake Como ("bursting through the little crowd as if she were made of a harder, more penetrating substance") and transformed it, has bequeathed her ramshackle, overcrowded house to Charlotte. Alison dismisses her mother''s impractical desire to visit the house, but once there Charlotte finds the past returning-particularly that liberating time in Italy-and wonders if the pattern of her life might after all be changed.The Marble Staircase, an elegant tale of second chances and the ways in which the past can echo and inspire the present, was written in the late 1950s but never published. Long thought to have been lost, it was rediscovered by Elizabeth Fair''s heirs in 2021, and Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean Street Press are thrilled to finally make it available, along with the six novels published in Fair''s lifetime."Miss Fair''s understanding is deeper than Mrs. Thirkell''s and her humour is untouched by snobbishness; she is much nearer to Trollope, grand master in these matters." Stevie Smith

She wondered how Lady Masters got her old parlour maid to carry the coffee right across the lawn. But, of course, Lady Masters got things simply by always having had them and by taking it for granted that she always would have them.In Bramton Wick, the setting of Elizabeth Fair's cheerful debut novel, tensions and resentmentsnot to mention romanceroil beneath the polite interactions of its charming and eccentric residents.There's upper crust Lady Masters, taking the good things for granted but thoroughly cowed by her gardener. There's Gillian Cole, a war widow, and her sister Laura, for whom romance may (or may not) be in the offing. There's Miss Selbourne and ';Tiger' Garrett, who met driving ambulances during the war (the first one, though Miss Garrett does get them confused). There's Major Worthy, who is quite energetic for an invalid. And there's the three Misses Cleeve, who are ';all remarkably like toads' and who have a casual relationship with the truth.Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair's irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.';Miss Fair's understanding is deeper than Mrs. Thirkell's and her humour is untouched by snobbishness; she is much nearer to Trollope, grand master in these matters.'--Stevie Smith';Miss Fair's first novel is not one of promise but of accomplishment. Good luck to her!'--John Betjeman';Deliciously malicious humour abounds.'--Vanity Fair

At the end of the war, Mrs. Midge stayed on. While the war lasted Mrs. Custance had accepted her as part of the war-effort; it was only in the past year or two that Mrs. Midge had been transferred to the category which Mrs. Custance described as ';people we could manage without.'Elizabeth Fair's rollicking second novel takes place in Little Mallin, where village life is largely dominated by preparations for the August Festival. Out of such ordinary material Fair weaves a tale of conflict, scheming, misunderstandingand of course romance.Among the villagers are a vicar dreaming of ancient Greece; his wife, largely concerned with getting their daughter married off; the melancholic Colonel Ashford; the eccentric Eustace Templer and his nephew; not to mention Mrs. Midge and her delicate son. The author said the novel was meant for people who ';prefer not to take life too seriously.' Compton Mackenzie said it was ';in the best tradition of English humour.'Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair's irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.';Where she breaks with the Thirkell school is in her total absence of sentimentality and her detached and witty observation of her characters.'--The Sphere';A real success will give pleasure to those for whom Trollope and Jane Austen remain the twin pillars of English fiction.'--John O'London's Weekly

A widow, at an age when birthdays are best forgotten, with no children to occupy her mind, can be very lonely. Julia Dunstan knew she was more fortunate than most widows, not merely because she was prosperousas widows gobut because she had always taken an interest in other people.And from the moment Julia moves to Goatstock, where she has inherited a house, there are plenty of people for her to take an interest in. For a start, there's cousin Dora, who might just as easily been left the house herself and who instead becomes Julia's companion.Then there's Lady Finch, the local expert on Fresh Food and the victim of a deception so dastardly that even her attractive but irreverent niece, Harriet, is indignant. This distracts Harriet for a while from the rather thankless task of planning the futures of her friends, Marian and Robert. And all are concerned with news that the village will be made into a ';New Town'. However the old values, at least those of Elizabeth Fair's fiction, remain: wit, charm, and romance.Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair's irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.';Where she breaks with the Thirkell school is in her total absence of sentimentality and her detached and witty observation of her characters.'--The Sphere';Miss Fair makes writing look very easy, and that is the measure of her creative ability.'--Compton Mackenzie

';The best thing one can say about the Priory is that it would have made a splendid ruin,' she stated. ';If only the Seamarks had left it alone 'Hester Clifford has come to Mingham to recover from pneumonia, at the invitation of her godmother, Cecily Hutton, an eccentric painter with a predilection for ruins. Hester determines to bring order to the Huttons' easygoing lives, not to mention those of the villagersincluding elderly Mrs. Hyde-Ridley, attempting to enforce her Edwardian standards of behaviour, Mrs. Merlin, the Rector's wife, equally determined to share the joys of country dance with an unenthusiastic parish, and Thomas Seamark, a classic example of the wealthy, brooding widower. Amidst conflict, manipulation, matchmaking, and general hilarity, Hester clearly has her work cut out for her.Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair's irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.';Miss Fair's understanding is deeper than Mrs. Thirkell's and her humour is untouched by snobbishness; she is much nearer to Trollope, grand master in these matters.'--Stevie Smith';Miss Fair makes writing look very easy, and that is the measure of her creative ability.'--Compton Mackenzie

';My last secretary was thirty-five,' old M. said gloomily, ';and no more sense than a child of ten. Or else she wasn't all there. You all there?' he asked suddenly, giving Maud a searching look. ';No banging your head on the table? No throwing the china at me? Hey?'Young Maud has made her escape from an overbearing stepmother and come to stay with her cousin Alice and Alice's companion Miss Conway in the countryside. Alice and ';Con' have arranged a job for her as secretary to Mr Feniston, an eccentric and intimidating neighbor who seems to have driven his previous secretary to a nervous breakdown.In between cataloguing Mr Feniston's library, dodging his temper, and encounters, awkward and intriguing in turn, with his son and an alienated nephew, Maud finds herself involved with local eccentricities and dramas, including a ';secret' romance which has everyone talking. She may never be the same after this winter away!Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair's irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.';Miss Fair's understanding is deeper than Mrs. Thirkell's and her humour is untouched by snobbishness; she is much nearer to Trollope, grand master in these matters.'--Stevie Smith';Miss Fair makes writing look very easy, and that is the measure of her creative ability.'--Compton Mackenzie

';I wonder what Mr. Heritage thought of his godson,' she said quickly.';Rather clumsy, but quite good manners,' Edith remarked. ';And a well-shaped skull.'These were her own views, but she took it for granted that sensible people would agree with her.Sisters Edith and Rose have rather come down in the world by keeping their hotel, Seaview House. So Mr Heritage believes, and he's not pleased when Rose's daughter Lucygrown a bit too attractive for his comfortbecomes friendly with his godson Edward. Would-be paramour Nevil isn't thrilled either, and to complicate matters further, Edward is behind a scheme to build new terraced housing, depriving village residents of their coveted sea view.Dilemmas and dramas unfoldincluding a fire, a cook's prophecy, and a disaster of a luncheonbut the loose ends get tied up in Elizabeth Fair's cheerful, inimitable style.Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair's irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.';light-hearted, shrewd, diverting'--New York Times';Miss Fair makes writing look very easy, and that is the measure of her creative ability.'--Compton Mackenzie