Picture of author.

Mary Wesley (1912–2002)

Author of The Camomile Lawn

27+ Works 4,254 Members 92 Reviews 21 Favorited

About the Author

Mary Aline Mynors Farmar was born in Berkshire in 1912. She was the youngest of three children and her father was an army officer, so the family frequently moved. In 1936, she married Lord Swinfen, had two children, and divorced in the early 1940's. During World War II, she fell in love with show more journalist Eric Siepmann and lived with him for several years before they were married, which caused Mary's parents to cut her out of their will in disapproval. When her husband died, she was broke with a teenage son. During the late 1960's, she wrote two books, "Speaking Terms" and "The Sixth Seal," but it wasn't until she was in her seventies that her first major novel was published, "Jumping the Queue." Afterwards, she published "Cammomile Lawn" (1984), which is about love and sex in the British upper middle class and was adapted for television, "Harnessing Peacocks" (1986), which is about a young unwed mother who turns to prostitution to pay for her son's education, and "The Vacillations of Peppy Carew" (1986). Wesley's other titles include "A Sensible Life" (1990), "A Dubious Legacy" (1993), "An Imaginative Experience" (1994) and "Part of the Furniture" (1997). She died of natural causes following a long battle with gout on December 30, 2002. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Mary Wesley, Mary Wesley

Works by Mary Wesley

Associated Works

The Camomile Lawn [1992 TV series] (2006) — Original novel — 23 copies
Vacillations of Poppy Carew [1995 TV movie] — Original book — 5 copies
Harnessing Peacocks [1993 TV movie] — Original book — 1 copy

Tagged

20th century (87) 20th century fiction (17) @f (14) aga saga (26) Britain (15) British (90) British author (26) British fiction (33) British literature (16) contemporary (24) Cornwall (44) ebook (26) England (83) English (23) English fiction (13) English literature (29) family (18) family saga (18) fiction (883) historical fiction (46) humor (33) Kindle (16) literary fiction (24) literature (22) London (23) love (21) Mary Wesley (27) modern fiction (17) novel (153) own (13) read (60) relationships (35) Roman (13) romance (97) to-read (100) UK (15) war (20) Wesley (14) women (50) WWII (92)

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Farmar, Mary Aline Mynors
Birthdate
1912-06-24
Date of death
2002-12-30
Gender
female
Nationality
UK
Country (for map)
England, UK
Birthplace
Englefield Green, Surrey, England, UK
Place of death
Totnes, Devon, England, UK
Education
governesses
Occupations
novelist
children's book author
Relationships
Eady,Toby (son)
Xinran (daughter-in-law)
Awards and honors
Order of the British Empire (Commander, 1995)
Short biography
Mary Wesley (pen name), a bestselling British novelist, published her first book in 1983 at age 70, after her beloved husband's death. She went on to write 9 more with great success. Her works were noted for their humor and their un-English displays of public emotion, such as anger and distress, as well as for the frank sexuality of their heroines. She also wrote an autobiography called "Part of the Scenery" (2001).

Members

Reviews

This was an unexpectedly good read. Mary Wesley presented another side of war - how people tried to live their lives normally during wartime. Unlike Louis de Bernieres' The Dust that Falls from Dreams which is similar in background, The Camomile Lawn is a much niftier read, and one that slightly pulls your heartstrings at how hard the characters are trying to live their lives. What you have to get used to is the quick change of perspectives and scenes without warning, and you have to find your bearings on where the plot is at.… (more)
 
Flagged
siok | 20 other reviews | May 14, 2023 |
Short on plot, dreary County town characters and an unconvincing effort in keeping them relevant to the narrative. Best avoided.
 
Flagged
ivanfranko | 2 other reviews | Nov 16, 2022 |
A very subtle story centred on Henry, who married a woman that his now deceased father chose to rescue by making her Henry's wife, the dubious legacy of the title. When Henry takes Margaret to his home she went to bed and there she stayed. It's a sparsely-written story - spread over 40 years, more of a saga - that is in places hard to believe but nevertheless packed with passion. The outdoor dinner party was like a scene from a horror version of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
 
Flagged
VivienneR | 3 other reviews | Apr 19, 2022 |
A fairly typical Mary Wesley set amongst the British upper middle class, primariliy during the Second World War. Rose is "not that sort of a girl", not the sort to have affairs or to behave unconventionally - or so her friends think. Widowed at 67 she flees what is no longer her home (entailed to her son), and her well meaning friends to a small hotel where she reflects on her nearly 50 years of married life, the choices she made between love and security and the choice she is now free to make. A bit slow to start, you are gradually drawn in to Rose's story and the lives of her and her parents' generation. Probably not Wesley's very best but still well worth reading (she lived that period so she knows what she writes of!).… (more)
½
 
Flagged
Figgles | 10 other reviews | Aug 18, 2021 |

Lists

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Statistics

Works
27
Also by
3
Members
4,254
Popularity
#5,912
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
92
ISBNs
300
Languages
11
Favorited
21

Charts & Graphs