Virago Reading Project 2024 - February

This is the thread for our February author Elizabeth Taylor, a writer who we explored in year-long read of her books back in 2012, for her centenary.

An author whose work was neglected for many years, by my count she had 20 books published by Virago and more recently the quality of her writing has become much more appreciated. The list of her works below includes both her novels and short story collections:

The Sleeping Beauty
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont
In a Summer Season
The Soul of Kindness
The Devastating Boys
Angel
The Devastating Boys
The Wedding Group
Palladian
A Game of Hide and Seek
The Blush
A View of the Harbour
At Mrs Lippincote’s
Hester Lilly and Other Stories
Blaming
A Dedicated Man and Other Stories
A Wreath of Roses
Dangerous Calm
A Game of Hide and Seek
The Soul of Kindness
Complete Short Stories
Mossy Trotter

So please do leave any comments on your reading of Elizabeth Taylor during February, and we'll look forward to hearing from you!

Was her centenary in 2012? Wow, where has the last 12 years gone?! I think I read all of Taylor's novels that year, and have re-read quite a few of them since. Highlight of that year was the centenary celebration at Reading library where I got the first Cazalet chronicle signed by Elizabeth Jane Howard, shared an umbrella with Elizabeth Taylor's daughter and met some fellow Librarything Viragoites including Lyzzybee and Ali.

I'm not sure if I feel like another re-read quite now, but I still have a lot of her short stories unread, so might do that.

My possible reads:
The Blush -- short stories
Angel and
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, a re-read

I read quite a number of Taylor's novels during our 2012 project, but since then I've acquired the complete short stories, Blaming, A game of hide and seek and The sleeping beauty so I shall read some of those this month.

I read Angel 5***** and The Devastating Boys 4½**** back in 2012, both greenies. I have a vague memory of Angel but don't remember anything about The Devastating Boys stories. I've also got....

• Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (newer VMC)
• Palladian (greenie)
• Blaming (newer VMC)
• Elizabeth Taylor: Complete Short Stories (newer VMC and Kindle), which I assume includes The Devastating Boys stories
• A Wreath Of Roses (Kindle)

....completely unread and I'll do one or more from these five since I'm trying to reduce all my book buying this year and concentrate on ROOTing. For ease of reading, I'm inclined toward my two Kindles to start, probably first of all the complete stories (which also qualifies for the Big Fat Book challenge).

Hi everyone! I'm hoping to get out of my multi-year reading desert and looking forward to reading more VMCs with the help of the 2024 Virago Reading Project.

I've decided to read The Devastating Boys.

I have just requested In a Summer Season from my local library. It will be a reread. I also just finished a rereading of At Mrs Lippincotes. I think that it was her first book as the publication date is 1945 and a couple of the main characters were in the military.

>2 Soupdragon: Yeah, it's a bit scary, isn't it? That's when I first joined the group!

I'm not sure I'll want to re-read the novels, but will try to get to some of the short stories which I've not read.

>4 Sakerfalcon: Fab! I've only read a handful of short stories so could pick up those too!

>5 CurrerBell: The complete stories is very tempting, though I doubt I could get through them all in a month!

>6 LisaMorr: Hello! Good choice and glad the project is going to be of help! :D

>7 kayclifton: Yes, it was her first - I remember liking it a lot.

I have just begun reading In a Summer Season and have discovered that it's not the book that I had previously read which is puzzling. I will probably

continue reading it and then will follow it with You'll Enjoy it When You get there her collection short stories.

>2 Soupdragon: My goodness, was that that long ago??

I've started Blaming which is very good so far. I'd forgotten just how much I enjoy Taylor's writing.

I intend to read A View of the Harbour after I finish My current read.

I finished The Blush and Other Stories, which was originally published in 1958.

Short story collections can be hit or miss for me. This collection has one gem after another. As Paul Bailey notes in the Introduction, Elizabeth Taylor's writing has an "effortlessness" that is truly remarkable--you are never aware of how concisely yet easily her stories unfold. I think my favorites were "The Ambush", "The Letter-Writers", "You'll Enjoy it When you Get There" and "The Blush." There was only one story that I didn't enjoy, but the writing was still exquisite.

I finished Blaming which was a subtle but devastating read. Like many of Taylor's books, it is character- rather than plot-driven, focusing on Amy who is suddenly widowed while on holiday with her husband. The eccentric Martha, an American fellow tourist, cuts short her own trip to help Amy and get her back to England. Once home, Amy doesn't really want to continue the acquaintance with Martha, but feels she ought to in thanks for her help. The friendship is grudging on Amy's part; she uses Martha when she needs an escape from her son and daughter-in-law and their precocious children. When the times comes that Martha is the one in need, will Amy step up? Taylor's gift for drawing memorable characters who spring to life from the page is in full force here - the little girls are very realistic, and Amy's general factotum, Ernie, is wonderful. I want an Ernie to run my home! This is a quiet but moving book, ultimately very powerful.

I've also read A game of hide and seek which I enjoyed a bit less because the theme and characters appealed to me less. I took an instant dislike to Vesey and wished Harriet would get over him. Instead, her obsession continues for 20 years, through marriage and motherhood. I just don't have patience with this sort of thing! But Taylor writes it very well.

I finished The Devastating Boys last night. Overall, I give it 4 stars - my favorites were Flesh, about two people at a seaside resort who decide to have a fling, and Sisters, about a widow who gets a visit from an author asking about her sister. I enjoyed my time with Elizabeth Taylor in this collection.

I have just borrowed a library book with a number of Taylor's short stories. It is titled You'll Enjoy it When You Get There.It has a fascinating introduction by Margaret Drabble. Her first sentence begins with:"Elizabeth Taylor is a shocking and disturbing writer... Her work is full of treachery and passion. of horror and regret and foreboding not all of it suppressed".............

While in Oxford for the day last weekend I found a copy of A wreath of roses in one of the Oxfam bookshops. I started reading it on the train home. The opening depiction of a country railway station in the heat of summer drew me straight in. This is Taylor at her most evocative. I loved her exploration of the three female characters and how they have changed over the time they've known each other. Camilla's attraction-repulsion to Elton is very well described, and the tension and sense of danger build effectively throughout the book. I agree with others who say this is one of her best.

Loosely modeled on the life of the popular novelist Marie Corelli (1855-1924), Taylor's novel Angel (1957) follows the life of Angel Deverell from girlhood to her death. At age 15 Angel begins writing sentimental romantic novels set in aristocratic settings and becomes a smash hit. But Angel is selfish, self-absorbed and essentially lives in the dream world of her creations. Taylor's novel is an excellent character study, but half-way through the book I was bored with Angel, her life and the unlikable people around her. I only finished the book because of Taylor's brilliant writing style. This may have worked better as a novella, or even parts as a short story, but it went on way too long for me.

I'm reading The Devastating Boys.

>10 kaggsy: Just five minutes before midnight of month's end I finished Elizabeth Taylor: Complete Short Stories! I read The Devastating Boys collection back in 2012 (I assume it was part of a centennial read) but I didn't really remember anything of it. Hadn't previously read any of her other short stories.

4**** because, as with any short-story anthology, there will be an occasional downer

ETA: I happened to have a Kindle edition as well as the VMC paperback. For ease of reading when my 72yo eyes started getting a bit strained, I would switch over to Kindle and give myself some larger font. Not sure I could have finished 626pp in a month without using Kindle.

>24 CurrerBell: I totally get about the font size - I am struggling with some of these at the moment, and there are definitely times when I would appreciate the ability to make some of the teeny paperbacks bigger.

And totally impressed that you read all of the short stories! I have the big chunky collected paperback but I've not managed to get to it yet...

>25 kaggsy: What I use for treeware are those magnifying eyeglasses (non-prescription) that you can buy for $20 or so at Target. They help lots and I think I might be confined to reading just Kindle if it weren't for them. I've been using 3x magnification and it does make the print clearer.

ETA: And not to worry. I've gone through that entire "chunky collected paperback" but the only Taylor novel I've ever read is Angel – back in 2012, so it must have been part of the bicentennial here on this Group. I think part of my incentive (otherwise I might have gone with Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont) was to combine my monthly read here on the VMC Group with the Big Fat Book challenge, where I've been a member for several years now. I am trying to limit my new buying and Mrs Palfrey, like the chunky Complete Short Stories, is an already-owned TBR, so both qualified as ROOTs.