I picked up Hester Lilly thinking it was a novel. I'd so admired Elizabeth Taylor's Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. Instead it is a book of short stories, and in general I would prefer to read a 1000 page novel over a book of short stories. With a short story, I just begin to figure out what's going on, and it's over.

That said, despite my prejudice, Hester Lilly is an enjoyable read. In the title story, almost a novella, late middle-aged Muriel, fearing her marriage is collapsing, anticipates competition when her husband's young cousin comes to live with them. She is relieved when Hester arrives, dressed improvisationally in 'the wedding of out-grown school uniform with the adult, gloomy wardrobe of her dead mother--look(ing) jaunty, defiant and absurd. Every garment was grown out of or not grown into.' Muriel has, of course, underestimated the charms of Hester.

In one of the shortest stories, an unlikeable young man, seeking to ingratiate himself is unwittingly exposed by his mother as a fraud. In 'Spry Old Character' Taylor revisits the loneliness of the elderly.

The stories are charming, witty, and poignant. I did not feel cheated or puzzled when each ended. I felt I had learned enough of the characters and their situations to be satisfied. ( )