Tea with Mr.Rochester (original 1949; edition 2003)

Random quotes: "I think, Mr. Considine, that you are more knave than fool." From the titular story.

"I said to him, only the other night - When you are left alone, my dear, you must marry one of those dear creatures. I'll pave the way," I said. And, do you know, he looked quite alarmed. He said - "For God's sake, not - " From The Chosen and The Rejected.

This is the only book ever published by Frances Towers and it really feels like a shame. Ten short stories, all of them lovely, all of them with a focus on "the literary daughter". I can't say I didn't enjoy any of them, although Strings in Hollow Shells was not what I expected. ( )

This book is a collection of short stories published posthumously in 1949. Overall, I really liked this book; the stories are beautifully written and very charming. Here are my thoughts on the individual stories:

.....“Violet” – A mysterious maidservant meddles in the affairs of her employer’s family, which results in romance for their daughter Sophy. I liked this one, and it had a bit of a creepy twist ending.
.....“Tea with Mr. Rochester” – A young schoolgirl discovers the wonders of Jane Eyre and develops a crush on the man she perceives to be her real-life Mr. Rochester. This one was cute, but not one of my favorites in the collection.
.....“The Little Willow” – Three intelligent sisters live together and host parties of soldiers on leave from World War II; one of these soldiers makes a special impact on the youngest girl. This was definitely my favorite story in the bunch, both sweet and heartbreaking.
.....“Don Juan and the Lily” – A young woman takes a mundane job in an office and becomes enthralled with an older, more mysterious colleague. I thought this story was a bit uneven – it seemed to switch gears halfway through – but I still liked it.
.....“The Rose in the Picture” – A girl frets over the return of a neighbor’s son to her country village, because she simultaneously dislikes him and feels an attraction to him. I liked this one but thought it could have been expanded more, maybe even into a full-length novel.
.....“Spade Man from over the Water” – Two women are neighbors and extremely close friends, but everything changes when one of their husbands returns from out of town. This was a strange story that left me with more questions than answers.
.....“Strings in Hollow Shells” – A young and somewhat superficial girl stays for several weeks at a country house and slowly begins to revise her poor opinion of country life. This was one of my favorites as well; the heroine reminded me a lot of Jane Austen’s Emma.
.....“The Chosen and the Rejected” – Two friends living in a country cottage are fascinated by the local lady of the manor and her husband, but one of the friends soon perceives a deeper relationship between herself and the husband. This was a very intriguing story with a “Lady or the Tiger?”-ish ending.
.....“Lucinda” – The intellectual and artistic Quarles family believes it has a ghost named Lucinda in its midst. This was a quaint story with an interesting gimmick, but to me it didn’t feel as substantial as the other stories.
.....“The Golden Rose” – The narrator’s Aunt Essie is despised by most of her family for being old-fashioned and irrelevant, but she turns out to be hiding a romantic secret. This was another very good story that I wanted to be developed more fully.

I felt as though I had crossed into some sort of faery realm while I was reading the nine short stories in this book. Reality rippled and shifted, slanted eyes and sharp cheekbones floated through cool rooms, things and people were not what they seemed. Quirky, odd, delightful and otherworldly. Not a book for those with no sense of the fey. ( )