A View Of The Harbour 40Th Anniversary Ed

An Unforgettable Picture Of Love, Loss And The Keeping Up Of Appearances. Published As Part Of A Beautifully Designed Series To Mark The 40Th Anniversary Of The Virago Modern Classics.Every One Of Her Books Is A Treat And This Is My Favourite, Because Of Its Wonderful Cast Of Characters, And Because Of The Deftness With Which Taylor's Narrative Moves Between Them ... A Wonderful Writerjane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Bowen - Soul-Sisters Alla Wonderful Novelistan Eye As Sharply All-Seeing As Her Prose-Style Is Elegant - Even The Humdrum Becomes Astonishingshe's A Favourite Of This Writer. I've Read This Novel, Set In A Seaside Town In The 1940S, Five Times And I'm Itching To Read It Again. There's A Mother From Hell In It Who Makes Me Wince And Chucklethere Is A Deceptive Smoothness In Her Tone, Or Tone Of Voice, As In That Of Evelyn Waugh; Not A Far-Fetched Comparison, For In The Work Of Both Writers The Funny And The Appalling Lie Side By Side In Close Amityit Is Time That Justice Was Done To Elizabeth Taylor... All Her Writings Could Be Described As Coming Into The Category Of Comedy. Comedy Is The Best Vehicle For Truths That Are Too Fierce To Be Borneher Best Novels-At Mrs. Lippincote's 1945, A View Of The Harbour 1947, A Game Of Hide And Seek 1951-Are, In Spite Of Their Prim Titles, Funny, Savage And Full Of Loneliness And Suppressed Emotion. For Her Characters, As For Their Author, Propriety Is A Survival Mechanism, A Way Of Keeping The Show On The Roadin The Faded Coastal Village Of Newby, Everyone Looks Out For - And In On - Each Other. Although Keeping Up Appearances Is Second Nature, Nothing Goes Unnoticed For Long. Beautiful Divorcee Tory Is Secretly Involved With Her Neighbour, Robert, While His Wife, Consumed By The Worlds She Creates In Her Novels, Is Oblivious To The Relationship Developing Next Door. Their Daughter Prudence, However, Is Appalled By The Treachery She Observes. Meanwhile, Mrs Bracey, Whose Grasp On Life Is Slipping, Forever Peers From Her Window, Pestering Her Daughters For Village Gossip. Into Their Lives Steps Bertram, A Retired Naval Officer With The Unfortunate Capacity To Inflict Lasting Damage While Trying To Do Good.