Blaming (Virago Modern Classics)

by Elizabeth Taylor (Author), Jonathan Keates (Introduction)

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $3.64

  'How deeply I envy any reader coming to her for the first time!' Elizabeth Jane Howard

  *

  A finely nuanced exploration of responsibility, snobbery and culture clash from one of the twentieth centrury's finest novelists.

  When Amy's husband dies on holiday in Istanbul, she is supported by the kindly but rather slovenly Martha, a young American novelist who lives in London. Upon their return to England, Amy is ungratefully reluctant to maintain their friendship, but the skeins of their existence seem inextricably linked as grief gives way to resilience and again to tragedy. Reversals of fortune and a compelling cast of characters, including Ernie, ex-sailor turned housekeeper, and Amy's wonderfully precocious granddaughters, add spice to a novel that delights even as it unveils the most uncomfortable human emotions.

  *

  '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 Game of Hide and Seek showcases much of what makes Taylor a great novelist: piercing insight, a keen wit and a genuine sense of feeling for her characters' Elizabeth Day, Guardian

• Used

  Paperback
  1992

  $3.25

  While on holiday in Istanbul, tragedy strikes, and suddenly the comfortably middle-aged, middle-class Amy is left stranded and a widow. Martha, a young American novelist, kindly helps her, but upon their return to England, Amy is ungratefully reluctant to maintain their friendshipon home soil she realizes that in normal circumstances, Martha isn't the sort of person she would be friends with. But guilt is a hard taskmaster, and Martha has a way of getting under one's skin.

• New

  Paperback
  2006

  $11.45

  'How deeply I envy any reader coming to her for the first time!' Elizabeth Jane Howard

  *

  A finely nuanced exploration of responsibility, snobbery and culture clash from one of the twentieth centrury's finest novelists.

  When Amy's husband dies on holiday in Istanbul, she is supported by the kindly but rather slovenly Martha, a young American novelist who lives in London. Upon their return to England, Amy is ungratefully reluctant to maintain their friendship, but the skeins of their existence seem inextricably linked as grief gives way to resilience and again to tragedy. Reversals of fortune and a compelling cast of characters, including Ernie, ex-sailor turned housekeeper, and Amy's wonderfully precocious granddaughters, add spice to a novel that delights even as it unveils the most uncomfortable human emotions.

  *

  '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 Game of Hide and Seek showcases much of what makes Taylor a great novelist: piercing insight, a keen wit and a genuine sense of feeling for her characters' Elizabeth Day, Guardian