Hide this

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
Loading...

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont

by Elizabeth Taylor

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
234924,367 (4.01)68
Loading...
won't like will probably not like will probably like will like will love

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)
This is such a lovely book - and only the second I have ever read by this author. I suppose the days are long gone, when widowed ladies of a certain class took up residence in small hotels, and this novels takes us back to them. The relationship which develops between Mrs Palfrey and Ludo is enchanting, and slightly sad too - she tells her fellow residents that he is her grandson - as the real Desmond doesn't visit - and Ludo rather enjoys this subterfuge. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont takes a bitter sweet look at ageing, and loneliness, although it does so with a certain amount of humour, and so this novel is never very sad or depressing. Mrs Palfrey is witty, and not at all the stereo typical old lady that has been reproduced in other lesser novels. ( )
  Heaven-Ali | May 30, 2009 |
I've been wanting to read something by Elizabeth Taylor (born 1912, died 1975) ever since her novel "Angel" appeared on a list of 20 greatest novels for a period of the 20th century. But not till now have I found a novel by her in any library I have access to. Mrs Palfrey is an admirable person, who has moved into the Claremont--a place where a number of old people live. It is a funny book, reminding me of Barbara Pym, but just a little more risque than Barbara Pym. I liked the book much and will try to read more of her 11 novels. ( )
  Schmerguls | Aug 13, 2008 |
First published in 1971, in a period setting perfectly depicted -- a cheap London residential hotel where a few widowed old people pass their later, solitary years. The pitiful circumstances of the ageing residents, and heartlessness of their remaining families and friends, are beautifully observed and portrayed, though, as universal themes. The hotel residents encounter helplessness, humiliation, increasing forgetfulness, loneliness, boredom -- the daily chore of passing the time, knitting as a social duty, with prospects only of increasing bodily feebleness, perhaps a nursing home, and death. Their few visitors `did their duty occasionally ... and went relievedly away'; the hotel manager resents these permanent guests, `cluttering up the place and boring everybody'.
Mrs Palfrey has one child, a daughter, now married and living in Scotland, who waits there until her weekend houseparty is over before travelling to her mother's hospital bed when she breaks her hip; her grandson, learning of the accident, feels that it `suited him admirably', having had some fear that she might remarry and change her will. Thus we rejoice when someone does appear to be showing Mrs Palfrey human kindness and friendship -- but young Ludovic is in fact deliberately observing her and her fellow Claremont-residents for a book he is writing on old age. Eager for copy, he makes notes after every meeting with Mrs Palfrey, whom he sees as `doting on him, to his embarrassed boredom'. He is `banking on her being dead -- or out of his life -- before [his book] saw the light of day'.
Nevertheless, Ludovic brings Mrs Palfrey her only happiness in her last months, and despite the pity and pain, the book is pleasurable to read. Taylor writes with delicacy and subtlety, and shrewd, witty observation of the characters she exposes. There is much humour in the depiction of rivalry and one-up-manship in the hotel. Certainly the book also offers much subject for group discussion. Is Ludovic wholly to be condemned? What could or should have been done to ameliorate the fates of the elderly residents? How different would their situation and the events have been today?
  KayCliff | Jul 31, 2008 |
This has been one of the best reads of the year so far.
The prose is beautifully judged and there's not a redundant word. Mrs Palfrey is a sympathetic figure and one feels for her amongst these rather lost souls at the Claremont. It's not maudlin or sentimental but perfectly well judged. ( )
  hazelk | Jun 25, 2008 |
This engaging, character-driven novel is the story of an elderly widow who moves into a residential hotel in London. Mrs. Palfrey herself is a certain type -- the widow of a British colonial administrator, "a tall woman with big bones and a noble face, dark eyebrows and a neatly folded jowl. She would have made a distinguished-looking man and, sometimes, wearing evening dress, looked like some famous general in drag." (p. 2) Being English is very important to her: "When she was young, it had semed that nearly all the world was pink on her school atlas -- 'ours', in fact. Nearly all ours! she had thought." (p. 104)

The other hotel residents -- all but one, female -- are each eccentric in their own way. Unable to live completely on their own, but not yet in need of extensive medical care, the residents' lives revolve around daily minutiae: the lunch and dinner menus, trips to the library, and so on. Mrs. Palfrey often fills time by stretching even the smallest errand into an all-morning affair. Sometimes, there are visitors: children, grandchildren, or cousins. It's quite poignant; most of these visits are obligatory, and it shows. Shortly after her arrival at The Claremont, Mrs. Palfrey has a fall while out for a walk, and is found and cared for by a young writer named Ludovic. They strike up a friendship, and Ludo poses as her grandson when visiting The Claremont. While she also develops relationships with some of the other residents, it is Ludo who brings her real happiness.

Published in 1971, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont was Elizabeth Taylor's second-to-last novel (she died in 1975). It made the Booker Prize shortlist and is very much in keeping with Virago Press' commitment to "enduring works by women novelists." A great way to close out my reading year! ( )
2 vote lindsacl | Dec 31, 2007 |
Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Mrs Palfrey first came to the Claremont Hotel on a Sunday afternoon in January.
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

Book description
FROM THE BACK COVER: "One rainy day Mrs. Palfrey, recently widowed, arrives at the Claremont Hotel in the Cromwell Road. Here she will spend her last days. Her fellow residents are a magnificently eccentric group who live off crumbs of affection, obsessive interest in the relentless round of hotel meals, and undying curiosity. There is Mrs. Burton with her mauve-rinsed hair, her costume jewelry, and her drinking; Mrs. Arbuthnot, bossy and arthritic; Mr. Osmond with his risque stories and endless stream of letters to the press. Together, upper lips stiffened, teeth gritted, they fight off their twin enemies: boredom and teh Grim Reaper. And then one day Mrs. Palfrey encounters the handsome young writers, Ludo, and we learn that even the old can fall in love.
Of the irresistible Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont The Atlantic Monthly said 'Deception weaves the usual tangled web, tragicomic and described by Miss Taylor with a wit as light and dry as autumn grass and a perception as sharp as a needle.'

Elizabeth Taylor was one of the most acclaimed British novelists of this century. Her short stories appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, Harper's and The Saturday Evening Post. She wrote a total of thirteen novels and four volumes of short stories, before her death in England in 1975."

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0860682633, Paperback)

On a rainy Sunday in January, the recently widowed Mrs. Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel where she will spend her remaining days. Her fellow residents are magnificently eccentric and endlessly curious, living off crumbs of affection and snippets of gossip. Together, upper lips stiffened, they fight off their twin enemies—boredom and the Grim Reaper. Then one day Mrs. Palfrey strikes up an unexpected friendship with Ludo, a handsome young writer, and learns that even the old can fall in love.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:12 -0400)

(see all 2 descriptions)

The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.

Quick Links

Ebooks Audio Swap
1/92

Popular covers

 

Help/FAQs | About | Privacy/Terms | Blog | Contact | LibraryThing.com | APIs | WikiThing | Common Knowledge | 46,594,980 books!