Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont - Paperback

$17.95
$17.95
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Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
  • Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont - Paperback

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont - Paperback

by Elizabeth Taylor
$17.95
$17.95

Book Overview

A blackly humorous story of loneliness, deception, and life in old age by one of the most accomplished novelists of the twentieth century.

On a rainy Sunday afternoon in January, the recently widowed Mrs. Palfrey moves to the Claremont Hotel in South Kensington. "If it's not nice, I needn't stay," she promises herself, as she settles into this haven for the genteel and the decayed.

"Three elderly widows and one old man . . . who seemed to dislike female company and seldom got any other kind" serve for her fellow residents, and there is the staff, too, and they are one and all lonely.

What is Mrs. Palfrey to do with herself now that she has all the time in the world? Go for a walk. Go to a museum. Go to the end of the block. Well, she does have her grandson who works at the British Museum, and he is sure to visit any day.

Mrs. Palfrey prides herself on having always known "the right thing to do," but in this new situation she discovers that resource is much reduced. Before she knows it, in fact, she tries something else.

Elizabeth Taylor's final and most popular novel is as unsparing as it is, ultimately, heartbreaking.
ISBN9781681375649
Author Elizabeth Taylor
PublisherNew York Review of Books
GenreLiterature
FormatPaperback
PublishedDecember 2021
LanguageENG- English
Pages224
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Fiction Humorous Literary Women

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More by Elizabeth Taylor

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont - Paperback

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont - Paperback

By Elizabeth Taylor

About Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor (1912-1975) was born into a middle class family in Berkshire, England. She held a variety of positions, including librarian and governess, before marrying a businessman in 1936. Nine years later, her first novel, At Mrs. Lippincote's, appeared. She would go on to publish eleven more novels, including A Game of Hide and Seek (available as an NYRB Classic), four collections of short stories, and a children's book, Mossy Trotter. Long championed by Ivy Compton-Burnett, Barbara Pym, Robert Liddell, Kingsley Amis, and Elizabeth Jane Howard, Taylor's novels and stories have been the basis for a number of films, including Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005), starring Joan Plowright, and François Ozon's Angel (2007).

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