Elizabeth Taylor can be gentle without being a sentimentalist, mordantly ironic without being mean or cruel. Yet the title story, about a headwaiter "so snobbish that he looked down upon himself," and his marriage of convenience that misfired, is a comedy that rises to real tragedy in its irony; and the story of the seemingly innocent corruption of a country brother and sister in London is unforgettable for what it leaves unsaid as well as for what appears on the surface. These are memorable and beautiful stories – novels in miniature that will enhance Mrs. Taylor's increasing reputation and bring delight to her readers. Contents: Girl Reading The Prerogative of Love The Thames Spread Out In a Different Light The Benefactress A Dedicated Man As if I Should Care Mr Wharton Mice and Birds and Boy The Voices In the Sun Vron and Willie
Author
Elizabeth Taylor (née Coles) was a popular English novelist and short story writer. Elizabeth Coles was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1912. She was educated at The Abbey School, Reading, and worked as a governess, as a tutor and as a librarian. In 1936, she married John William Kendall Taylor, a businessman. She lived in Penn, Buckinghamshire, for almost all her married life. Her first novel, At Mrs. Lippincote's, was published in 1945 and was followed by eleven more. Her short stories were published in various magazines and collected in four volumes. She also wrote a children's book. Taylor's work is mainly concerned with the nuances of "everyday" life and situations, which she writes about with dexterity. Her shrewd but affectionate portrayals of middle class and upper middle class English life won her an audience of discriminating readers, as well as loyal friends in the world of letters. She was a friend of the novelist Ivy Compton-Burnett and of the novelist and critic Robert Liddell. Elizabeth Taylor died at age 63 of cancer. Anne Tyler once compared Taylor to Jane Austen, Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Bowen — "soul sisters all," in Tyler's words . In recent years new interest has been kindled by movie makers in her work. French director Francois Ozon, has made "The Real Life of Angel Deverell" which will be released in early 2005. American director Dan Ireland's screen adaptation of Taylor's "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont" came out in this country first in 2006 and has made close to $1 million. A British distributor picked it up at Cannes, and the movie was released in England in 2009.
