'It is elegant and flexible, most fluently expressing every shade of human emotion' SUSAN HILL

'A novel to rival George Eliot or Jane Austen' THE TIMES

'The most exquisitely written, delicate, passionately felt and haunting book' ELIZABETH BUCHAN

Dedmayne Rectory is quietly decaying, its striped chintz and darkened rooms are a bastion of outmoded Victorian values. Here Mary has spent thirty-five years, devoting herself to her sister, now dead, and to her father, Canon Jocelyn. Although she is pitied by her neighbours for this muted existence, Mary is content. But when she meets Robert Herbert, Mary's ease is destroyed and years of suppressed emotion surface through her desire for him.

First published in 1924, this novel is an impressive exploration of Mary's relationship with her father, of her need for Robert and the way in which, through each, she comes to a clearer understanding of love.

*Included in the Virago Modern Classics 21st Anniversary promotion: *High -impact advertising in the SUNDAY TIMES and the GUARDIAN *Extensive target mailing to reader groups *High-profile consumer competitions in the national press *Sumptuous range of POS for instore displays includes mixed display bins, banner posters and bookmarks *Review coverage in the national press and women's magazines

About the Author
Flora Macdonald Mayor (F. M. Mayor) was born in 1872 and read History at Cambridge. Five of her novels have been published, one posthumously, and a collection of stories for children. But it is this novel, published in 1913 and The Rector's Daughter, published in 1924 which best express her artistic genius. After life long ill-health she died in 1932.

Reviews

A novel to rival George Eliot or Jane Austen . . .
This beautifully sad and understated story deserves classic status

-- DJ Taylor * The Times *
It is elegant and flexible, most fluently expressing every shade of human emotion -- Susan Hill
The most exquisitely written, delicate, passionately felt and haunting book I have ever read -- Elizabeth Buchan
it is elegant and flexible, most fluently expressing every shade of human emotion * Susan Hill *
The most exquisitely written, delicate, passionately felt and haunting book I have ever read * Elizabeth Buchan *



Book Information
ISBN 9780860689119
Author F.M. Mayor
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint Virago Press Ltd
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 260g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 23mm