INTRODUCED BY HILARY MANTEL

Elizabeth Taylor is finally being recognised as an important British author: an author of great subtlety, great compassion and great depth - Sarah Waters


Writing stories that are extravagant and fanciful, fifteen-year old Angel retreats to a world of romance, escaping the drabness of provincial life. She knows she is different, that she is destined to become a feted authoress, owner of great riches and of Paradise House . . .

After reading The Lady Irania, publishers Brace and Gilchrist are certain the novel will be a success, in spite of - perhaps because of - its overblown style. But they are curious as to who could have written such a book - an elderly lady, romanticising behind lace curtains? A mustachioed rogue?

They were not expecting it to be the pale, serious teenage girl, sitting before them without a hint of irony in her soul.

*

'Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning-point in one's own experience' Elizabeth Bowen

'No writer has described the English middle classes with more gently devastating accuracy' Rebecca Abrams, Spectator

*A classic tale of fantasy and self-delusion from one of the most acclaimed British novelists of the twentieth century

About the Author
Elizabeth Taylor (1912-1975) is increasingly recognised as one of the best British writers of the twentieth century. She wrote her first book, At Mrs Lippincote's, during the war while her husband was in the Royal Air Force, and this was followed by eleven further novels and a children's book, Mossy Trotter. Her acclaimed short stories appeared in publications including Vogue, the New Yorker and Harper's Bazaar.

Reviews
Jane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Bowen - soul-sisters all * Anne Tyler *
One of the most underrated novelists of the twentieth century * Antonia Fraser *
I envy those readers who are coming to her work for the first time. Theirs will be an unexpected pleasure * Paul Bailey *
Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning point in one's own experience * Elizabeth Bowen *
Elizabeth Taylor's tender, funny, exquisitely stylish novel keeps us on Angel's side, even though we are appalled by her narcissism and shocked into laughter by her self-delusion. She is a monster, but a delicious monster, and the novel poses, for writers, questions that don't date. That's why I'm so drawn to the book and have loved it for years; there's a bit of Angel in every writer, I fear. * Daily Telegraph *



Book Information
ISBN 9781844083077
Author Elizabeth Taylor
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Virago Press Ltd
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 262g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 129mm * 17mm