An Irrelevant Woman (Abacus Books)

Mary Hocking

ISBN 10: 0349100403 / ISBN 13: 9780349100401

Published by Little, Brown Book Group, United Kingdom, London, 1988

About this Item

This is a novel about the wife of a novelist who, after years of being the only constant one in an eccentric family, undergoes a nervous breakdown and forces the rest of her family to re-evaluate their relationships with her and each other. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.

Seller Inventory # GOR004326287

Bibliographic Details

• Title: An Irrelevant Woman (Abacus Books)
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group, United Kingdom, London
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0349100403
• ISBN 13: 9780349100401
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 159 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Page edges tanned. Shipped from the U.K. All orders received before 3pm sent that weekday.

About the Author

Born in in London in 1921, Mary was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Girls School, Acton. During the Second World War she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) attached to the Fleet Air Arm Meteorology branch and then briefly with the Signal Section in Plymouth. Writing was in her blood. Juggling her work as a local government officer in Middlesex Education Department with writing, at first short stories for magazines and pieces for The Times Educational Supplement, she then had her first book, The Winter City, published in 1961. The book was a success and enabled Mary to relinquish her full time occupation to devote her time to writing. Even so, when she came to her beloved Lewes in 1961, she still took a part-time appointment, as a secretary, with the East Sussex Educational Psychology department. Long before family sagas had become cult viewing, she had embarked upon the 'Fairley Family' trilogy - Good Daughters, Indifferent Heroes, and Welcome Strangers - books which give her readers a faithful, realistic and uncompromising portrayal of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary times, between the years of 1933 and 1946. For many years she was an active member of the 'Monday Lit', a Lewes-based group which brought in current writers and poets to speak about their work. Equally, she was an enthusiastic supporter of Lewes Little Theatre, where she found her role as 'prompter' the most satisfying, and worshipped at the town's St Pancras RC Church.