Books in series
#1
Diary of a Provincial Lady
1930
When Diary of a Provincial Lady was first published in 1930, critics on both sides of the Atlantic greeted it with enthusiasm. This charming, delightful and extremely funny book about daily life in a frugal English household was named by booksellers as the out-of-print novel most deserving of republication.
This is a gently self-effacing, dry-witted tale of a long-suffering and disaster-prone Devon lady of the 1930s. A story of provincial social pretensions and the daily inanities of domestic life to rival George Grossmith's Diary of a Nobody.
#2
The Provincial Lady in London
1930
These highly acclaimed, delightful novels are written in diary form by the Provincial Lady, who lives in a country house with her husband, two children, the children's French governess, Cook and a few assorted helpers. The era of the 1930s is wittily and shrewdly recreated with amusing illustrations. The P.L. finds herself slogging through the mud of a collective farm, coping with Soviet trains and hotels and almost literally rubbing shoulders with robust citizens at a public beach.
#3
The Provincial Lady in America
1934
In this volume the P.L. comes to America on a literary tour, visiiting New York Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and other cities. A delightful see-youselves-as-others-see-you view that challenges the American sense of humor.
#4
The Provincial Lady in Wartime
1940
These highly acclaimed, delightful novels are written in diary form by the Provincial Lady, who lives in a country house with her husband, two children, the children's French governess, Cook and a few assorted helpers. The era of the 1930s is wittily and shrewdly recreated with amusing illustrations.World War II has begun and the P.L. must cope with gas masks, evacuated relatives and Canteen service.
#5
The Provincial Lady in Russia
1937
E.M.Delafield wrote in the thirties an extraordinary set of books that were put together under the series "The Provincial Lady".
After the success of the previous books, her editor asked her to go to Russia in the "in-between-wars" period, and write a "funny" book about that country.
Although the style and humor are slightly different than the others in the series, it manages to be on itself a thoroughly interesting book about one woman's experiences in Communist Russia in the early 1930's.
Author
E.M. Delafield
Author · 19 books
Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture (9 June 1890 – 2 December 1943), commonly known as E. M. Delafield, was a prolific English author who is best-known for her largely autobiographical Diary of a Provincial Lady, which took the form of a journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman living mostly in a Devon village of the 1930s, and its sequels in which the Provincial Lady buys a flat in London and travels to America. Other sequels of note are her experiences looking for war-work during the Phoney War in 1939, and her experiences as a tourist in the Soviet Union. Daughter of the novelist Mrs. Henry De La Pasture.
