Diary of a Provincial Lady (Macmillan Collector's Library) - Hardcover

Delafield, E. M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1909621382 ISBN 13: 9781909621381

Publisher: Macmillan Collector's Library, 2016

Synopsis

Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautifully bound pocket-sized gift editions of much loved classic titles. Bound in real cloth, printed on high quality paper, and featuring ribbon markers and gilt edges, Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

E. M. Delafield's largely autobiographical novel is written as the journal of an upper-middle class lady living in a Devonshire village. Full of the peculiarities of daily life, the Provincial Lady attempts to avoid disaster and prevent chaos from descending upon her household, including a husband reluctant to do anything but doze behind The Times, mischievous children and trying servants, all the while keeping up appearances to society-at-large, and most particularly to the patronising Lady Boxe, with whom the Provincial Lady is eternally competing.

As witty and delightful today as upon first publication in 1930, Diary of a Provincial Lady is a brilliantly observed comic novel and an acknowledged classic. Introduced by Christina Hardyment.

About this title

From the Publisher

The Provincial Lady has a nice house, a nice husband (usually asleep behind The Times) and nice children. In fact, maintaining Niceness is the Provincial Lady’s goal in life — her raison d'être. She never raises her voice, rarely ventures outside Devon (why would she?), only occasionally allows herself to become vexed by the ongoing servant problem, and would be truly appalled by the confessional mode that has gripped the late 20th century. The Provincial Lady, after all, is part of what made Britain great.

Also published in this volume are the three enchanting sequels to The Diary of a Provincial Lady: The Provincial Lady Goes Further, The Provincial Lady in America, and The Provincial Lady in Wartime.

About the Author

E. M. Delafield (1890-1943) was born in Steyning, Sussex, the elder daughter of Count Henry Philip Ducarel de la Pasture, of Llandogo Priory, Monmouthshire, and Elizabeth Lydia Rosabelle, daughter of Edward William Bonham. Her mother was also a well-known novelist, writing as Mrs Henry de la Pasture.

In 1911, Delafield was accepted as a postulant by a French religious order but left upon learning her sister was planning to join another enclosed order, so as to avoid the separation. Her account of her experience, The Brides of Heaven, was written in 1931 and eventually published in her biography.

Delafield worked as a nurse in a Voluntary Aid Detachment in Exeter at the outbreak of World War I and her first novel, Zella Sees Herself, was published in 1917. She continued to publish one or two novels every year until nearly the end of her life.

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan Collector's Library
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1909621382
• ISBN 13: 9781909621381
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176