Imprint
- Virago
- Virago
Virago Modern Classics, Fiction, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Classic fiction (pre c 1945), Romance
A classic tale of fantasy and self-delusion from one of the most acclaimed British novelists of the twentieth century
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.
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'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
Praise for Angel: A Virago Modern Classic
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Jane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Bowen - soul-sisters all - Anne Tyler
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One of the most underrated novelists of the twentieth century - Antonia Fraser
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I envy those readers who are coming to her work for the first time. Theirs will be an unexpected pleasure - Paul Bailey
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Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning point in one's own experience - Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Taylor
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.
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