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Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont: A Virago Modern Classic - Virago Modern Classics (Paperback)
Elizabeth Taylor (author), Paul Bailey (author of introduction)- In stock online
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize
A humorous and compassionate look at friendship between an old woman and a young man.
On a rainy Sunday in January, the recently widowed Mrs Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel where she will spend her remaining days. Her fellow residents are magnificently eccentric and endlessly curious, living off crumbs of affection and snippets of gossip. Together, upper lips stiffened, they fight off their twin enemies: boredom and the Grim Reaper.
Then one day Mrs Palfrey strikes up an unlikely friendship with an impoverished young writer, Ludo, who sees her as inspiration for his novel.
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 9781844083213
Number of pages: 208
Weight: 170 g
Dimensions: 195 x 128 x 13 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
Jane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Bowen - soul-sisters all * Anne Tyler *
Elizabeth Taylor is finally being recognised as an important British author: an author of great subtlety, great compassion and great depth. As a reader, I have found huge pleasure in returning to Taylor's novels and short stories many times over. As a writer I've returned to her too - in awe of her achievements, and trying to work out how she does it -- Sarah Waters
One of the most underrated novelists of the twentieth century, Elizabeth Taylor writes with a wonderful precision and grace. Her world is totally absorbing -- Antonia Fraser
She's a magnificent and underrated mid-20th-century writer, the missing link between Jane Austen and John Updike -- David Baddiel * Independent *
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“A wonderful discovery”
I heard about this book when it was championed by David Baddiel on Radio 4's "Book Club" and I was rather ashamed I had not read Elizabeth Taylor before; now I am eyeing up all her work. I can recommend... More
“I enjoyed this”
I enjoyed Mrs Palfrey immensely. I thought the characters were subtly and yet concisely drawn in a dry style that reminded me of Jane Austin. The period details were carefully and faithfully conveyed. My only regret... More
“Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont.”
I heard this book being read on Radio 4, and couldn't wait to b buy it. The book is a sheer delight. No doubt of its' sadness, but oh so evocative of the seaside hotels of my youth, when the residents sat at... More
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