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. ( )

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. ( )

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?

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. ( )

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! ( )