A couple of weeks ago I received a lovely bulky package from Little Brown containing three of the latest Elizabeth Taylor re-issues.
Three novels I have already read twice, absolutely love and can highly recommend. I hadn’t requested or expected to receive these books so it seems only fair to share them with you all.
With introductions by Helen Dumore, Elizabeth Jane Howard and Elizabeth Russell Taylor; these new editions are available from today 1st June – and I am sure there will be people who want to collect the set.
I have pasted in extracts from my reviews, to help you decide which you would like.
So, you have to choose between; Elizabeth Taylor’s darkest novel, the one I consider her best novel, and the one which is undoubtedly her most sensual novel.
A Wreath of Roses (1949)
In a Wreath of Roses close friends Camilla and Liz are spending a glorious month together with the ageing Frances. This is a holiday they have had together for many successive summers, but things are changing. Liz is quite newly married and now has a young son, her husband is a vicar and their home is close enough for him to visit a few times during the the visit. While travelling by train to Abingford a shocking incident throws Camilla into conversation with a man she had noticed on the station. She recognises him as someone she wouldn’t usually associate with – and yet is instantly interested in him. Liz’s old governess Frances with whom they are staying is concerned with her own painting, her rheumatism and the arrival of a friend. The man from the train, Richard Elton, is staying at a nearby hotel and Camilla throws herself in his way much to Liz’s bewilderment. Camilla’s unlikely entanglement with Richard Elton, seems at first merely unwise, yet as the novel progresses – it becomes rather more chilling.
“Afternoons seem unending on branch-line stations in England in summer time. The spiked shelter prints an unmoving shadow on the platform, geraniums blaze, whitewashed stones assault the eye. Such trains as come only add to the air of fantasy, to the idea of the scene being symbolic or encountered at one level while suggesting another even more alienating.”
A Game of Hide and Seek (1951)
My personal favourite of Elizabeth Taylor’s novel – though it is a difficult choice I have loved them all.
In A Game of Hide and Seek Elizabeth Taylor created a delicately poignant love story. I imagine the story was shaped largely by events in Elizabeth Taylor’s own life – and this shows in the writing of domestic disappointment with what feels for the reader, as complete authenticity. Although she remained happily married until she died, and had two children, Elizabeth Taylor did have a relationship with another man during her marriage. It is this relationship which is honestly portrayed in the only biography about Elizabeth Taylor to have been written to date. Nicola Beauman; the author of The Other Elizabeth Taylor considers the character of Harriet – along with that of Julia in At Mrs Lippincote’s to be the characters most like Elizabeth Taylor herself.
At eighteen Harriet and Vesey have already known each other for years, his aunt and her mother were great friends, suffragettes once imprisoned together. They sacrificed their liberty, endured derision and scandal for the sake of Harriet’s generation, there is a sense sometimes, that they don’t fully appreciate it. During the summers, Vesey comes to stay with his aunt, escaping the suffocation of his mother, for a more relaxed atmosphere. The novel opens the summer before Vesey goes to Oxford, he and Harriet spend time with Vesey’s young cousins, giving them ample excuse to be together, both though still unsure exactly how it is they should act toward each other.
“Sometimes in the long summer’s evenings, which are so marked a part of our youth, Harriet and Vesey played hide and seek with the younger children, running across the tufted meadows, their shoes yellow with the pollen of buttercups. They could not run fast across those uneven fields; nor did they wish to, since to find the hiding children was to lose their time together, to run faster was to run away from one another. The jog-trot was a game devised from shyness and uncertainty. Neither dared to assume that the other wished to pause and inexperience barred them both from testing this.”
In a Summer Season (1961)
Is a wonderfully summery novel – it has a fabulous sexy, sixties feel, with a little touch of drama toward the end it is a lovely, compelling read.
Kate is a middle-aged woman with two children Tom, a young man working for his grandfather, and Louisa who is still at school. Widowed from Alan, with whom she shared a love of Henry James, she then married Dermot ten years her junior. Dermot – hard drinking, given to sudden rages is suspected by some of having married Kate for her money – has no job. His mother Edwina – another marvellous character – is interfering in her attempts to find something for him to do. Sharing their home in the country is Aunt Ethel with her cello, and her dog. Ethel writes to her friend Gertrude long letters about the various domestic dramas, and contemplates what they refer to as the “physical side” – of Kate and Dermot’s relationship, which she obviously doesn’t quite approve of or understand. Home from school for the holidays Louisa develops an affection for the local curate, while her older brother plays fast and loose with Ignazia. Alongside the family is Mrs Meacock, who cooks American meals, and in her spare time compiles her anthology ‘Five thousand and one witty and humorous sayings’ I do love how Elizabeth Taylor invests such time and detail in her minor characters. They help to make her worlds complete and real.
I will keep the giveaway open for 1 week, winning names drawn using a random name generator a week today (June 8th). Drop a comment below telling me which book you would like and why. The giveaway is open to anyone – worldwide – however if there is more than one international winner I may need to post surface mail, UK postage is very expensive these days.
Ooh, what a fabulous giveaway! I would love to read A Game of Hide and Seek. So far I’ve read two Elizabeth Taylors – Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, and Angel, and adored them both. These new editions look absolutely lovely!
Oh, not keen on the covers, these marvellous novels deserve something much stronger, they don’t even hint at the dark subtlety of the stories. I have to wonder what Philip Larkin, her great champion, would have said …….. However, very generous of you to share them, I already have copies and do recommend these books to all your readers.
To be honest they wouldn’t be my choice for Elizabeth Taylor covers but I was sure some people would like them.
Sorry but the book covers look like a 1980s kitchen roller blind.I own all these books so i do not need to be in the draw.Thanking You.
No problem.
Three lovely books – it’s nice they’re reissuing them again, although I prefer the older covers. I don’t need to enter as I have them all, too (in fact some more than once, as I have some short story collections and that massive collection of all the short stories ever, in print and Kindle editions).
I decided I preferred my old editions too. It is lovely though that there is still the appetite for re-issuing Elizabeth Taylor.
What a lovely opportunity to read another Taylor! I have only read Mrs. Palfrey. Would enjoy any of the these three, but I’ll say In a Summer Season simply because I was a child in ’61 and am curious about the “American meals” 🙂
Ooh, I really fancy A Wreath of Roses – mystery on summer break with old friends.
I have only read Mrs Palfrey so far, which I loved. Tragi-comic (mostly tragi, I felt, but that could be my age…).
I would love to win “In a Summer Season” . I already have “A Wreath of Roses”. I love the covers and especially the hollyhocks on Summer Season. They make a wonderful statement on not judging a book by its cover. I’m sure these will attract a new readership who will expect a quite different content to the darker themes lurking within. Clever marketing. Thank you for this offer Ali.
I would love to read In a Summer Season.
So good to see her books being reissued .
Love her writing ,observations of people and beautiful prose.
Gorgeous covers!
Very hard to choose, but I will go with your favourite “A Game of Hide and Seek “. It does appeal.
wonderful giveaway of one of my favourite authors: I would love to win A Wreath of Roses !
I’d love to enter – I’ll go with your favourite – A Game of Hide and Seek – thanks for the giveaway.
I usually like the darker stories, but your personal favourite also appeals. I’ve enjoyed everything by Elizabeth Taylor that I’ve read thus far, but haven’t read either of those. I don’t like those covers much either – there is a tendency to stick those girlie covers on authors like her, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Barbara Pym and even Muriel Spark – which really do not suit their sharp wit.
Sometimes the artwork that is chosen seems not to suit the writers. Often as you say, that happens with women writers.
Those are beautiful covers, though not terribly Taylorian and I suspect they’re attempting to angle her books for a particular readership. I love them all but I have them all so don’t need to enter, as I’m quite fond of my original Viragos. If I recall correctly A Wreath of Roses was my first Taylor and I still love it, though A Game of Hide and Seek is magnificent.
They aren’t very Taylorian I agree but perhaps they will reach a different readership.
All three sound delightful but I think I’d have to go for A Wreath of Roses. I’m hoping to read my first Elizabeth Taylor this summer as I have Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont on my to read pile 🙂
This is good of you. I have never read any of her books but they all sound interesting. Would be happy to have any one of them, it’s good to try ‘new’ (to me) authors.
I am currently reading A Game of Hide and Seek and have read three other Taylor novels including A Wreath of Roses so would love to have In a Summer Season. Thank you.
I just read my first Elizabeth Taylor — A Wreath of Roses — and am keen to read more of her work. I’d love to have A Game of Hide and Seek. Many thanks.
I have never read a book by Elizabeth Taylor, so I would love to win any of them. Thank you.
I’d love A Wreath of Roses since I own the other two — and I love books set on trains, I love stories with random strangers thrown together. Thanks for the giveaway, you’re very generous!
I would like to read In a Summer Season as it fits with the season right now.
I’d like to be entered to win A Wreath of
Roses. Thanks Ali for the chance. Hope you are feeling better
I would love to receive “In a Summer Season”. The vibrancy of Taylor’s characters and the meaning to be found in everyday minutiae make this tale so compelling. I am a great fan of Elizabeth Taylor!
What a lovely giveaway – Elizabeth Taylor has been on the list of writers that I need to explore for far too long! Purely based on the descriptions, I think “A Wreath of Roses” would be the one that I would go for.
Many thanks for such a kind gesture towards your readers.
How lovely of you to host a giveaway. Those covers are so pretty, but they do not look Taylor-isque when you compare the cover and story, right? A bit too ‘flowery’ to be a Taylor cover. I am a newbie to Elizabeth Taylor, having read just two novels of hers. I loved A Game of Hide and Seek.
I would love to get a copy of A wreath of Roses. The blurb kind of reminds me of similar tones in A Game of Hide and Seek. And since it is written earlier than AGoHaS, I would love to see if I find any subtle similarities. It looks like another novel where Elizabeth Taylor dwells on the emotional states of the characters.
I haven’t read “A Game of Hide and Seek”. But I deeply enjoyed “In a Summer Season”. Her writing is so subtle, keeping its depths hidden beneath a deceptively simple surface (perhaps a bit like these covers?).
All three sound fabulous. I have a clutch of much loved Taylor novels but none of these. They all sound good but I think I’ll plump for ‘In a summer season’ as I’m in the mood for a summery read and one set in the sixties sounds irresistible!
I would love to read “A Wreath of Roses”!
I would love to win A Wreath Of Roses . I love stories set in the 40’s , it seemed like such a simpler time back then and the setting sounds terrific, I love a book with a train ! :0)
I think I’d like to read In a Summer Season. I often go for later novels in a writer’s body of work. I’ve read Mrs Palfrey and Blaming. There’s a surprising and wonderful chapter on ET in Kingsley Amis’s Memoirs.
I would love the chance to win one of these, as her books seem to be hard to come by around here. None of these are available at our library. I think I would go with A Game of Hide and Seek, since it’s the one I’ve seen the most bloggers raving about. 🙂
Thanks for the opportunity!
I haven’t read anything by this author yet and would love to try ‘A Wreath of Roses’ as it’s an earlier novel. l’d like to go in the draw for this one please.
I’ve not yet read Taylor but I own Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. I’d be happy to read any one of these! But A Game of Hide and Seek sounds most promising since it’s your favorite!
A Summer Season because of a) your description of its sexy, sixties feel and b) it was published the year I was born (now I’ve given away my secret)
Cathy we must be of a similar age as I was born the year after this book was published.
What a lovely give-away. Thanks for the chance. I’ve read and loved several Taylor novels, but the one I’d love to read is A Wreath of Roses. These are such lovely editions.
This is a lovely giveaway! I read A View of the Harbour this year and it was fabulous! So I think I will go with your favorite – A Game of Hide and Seek. Thanks you!
I haven’t read any Elizabeth Taylor for ages…can I put my name in for A Game of Hide and Seek.
Thank you.
I already have all of these – but I wanted to say that I’ve jsut read A Wreath of Roses and it is definitely one of my fave ETs now.
Oh yay! It is a really good novel, I just love that opening, it is so wonderfully evocative.
[…] The blog post – is a giveaway of Elizabeth Taylor novels over at Ali’s. I haven’t seen this lovely new Virago editions before – a definite improvement on the […]
I’ve just got a copy of the biography so would love to go in the draw for A Game of Hide and Seek please.
I’d love to win “A Wreath of Roses” as it does sound intriguing! I own “A Game of Hide and Seek” and eventually hope to have them all.Thank you for this lovely giveaway!
They all sound wonderful, but I think I’ll choose a Wreath of Roses first. I like the image of the blazing geraniums.
All of these books sound dangerously enticing but I will opt for In A Summer Season because the minor characters sound fascinating. I’m very pleased to have found your blog via Stuck in a Book.
Any of these books would be lovely to read. I love to re-read my favorites.
I’d like to read A Wreath of Roses, as it’s the only one I haven’t already read. Can’t recommend the other two enough, though.
I’ve enjoyed the three Taylor novels I’ve read, especially Mrs Palfrey. I’d like to read all of these, but my top priority would be the one you think is the best — A Game of Hide and Seek. Very kind of you to give away these lovely new copies!
What a lovely thing to do. Thank you. I would choose your favorite A Game of Hide and Seek, but if others have chosen first, then I’ll take any of the three. Such pretty editions compared to ones I have seen/own. Thanks again for giving these away.