Richmal Crompton

Broschiertes Buch

The Old Man's Birthday

Beschreibung

Richmal Crompton's adult novels are an absolute delight and every bit as charming as her beloved Just William series. The Old Man's Birthday is both a nostalgic treat for fans of the gentler brand of interwar fiction, and a dry satire of British village life. Matthew Rowston is turning 95. A lovable rogue approaching his dotage, he has very little time for the high moral standards and rigid ideas of propriety espoused by his spinster daughter. Things get interesting when he invites his estranged son, the bright and lively Stephen, and his beautiful partner to his celebratory dinner. Over the course of the day, Matthew walks around the village, introducing the pair to his large and varied clan, from the aging Jolly-hockey sticks granddaughter who is considering a torrid affair of her own, to his elderly bookish bachelor son and the lovely great-granddaughter struggling to find her place in the world, doomed to work as a clerk in her dull and dismal father's firm. Teaming beneath the calm surface of village and family life, lies a whole world of secrets and desires, hopes and dreams. Mrs Dalloway with a dash of dry humour, Mapp and Lucia with a slightly melancholy tone, this is the perfect heritage read for fans of 1930s fiction at its best.

Autor

Richmal Crompton Lamburn was a prominent English writer best known for her Just William series of books, amusing short tales, and, to a lesser extent, adult fiction publications. Richmal Crompton Lamburn was born in Bury, Lancashire, the second child of Rev. Edward John Sewell Lamburn, a Classics teacher at Bury Grammar School, and his wife Clara (née Crompton). Her brother, John Battersby Crompton Lamburn, was also a writer, known as John Lambourne for his fantasy novel The Kingdom That Was (1931). Richmal Crompton attended St Elphin's Boarding School for the Daughters of the Clergy, which was initially located in Warrington, Lancashire. She later relocated with the school to Darley Dale, near Matlock, Derbyshire, in 1904. In 1914, she returned to St Elphin's as a Classics mistress, and at the age of 27, she transferred to Bromley High School in southeast London, where she began writing seriously. Cadogan demonstrated that she was an exceptional and committed teacher at both institutions. After contracting poliomyelitis in 1923, she lost the use of her right leg. She left her teaching job to focus solely on writing. She never married and had no children, but she was an aunt and great-aunt. Crompton's William stories and other literary works were immensely popular, and three years after retiring from teaching, she was able to afford to build a house (The Glebe) in Bromley Common for herself and her mother, Clara.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bello
• Seitenzahl: 224
• Erscheinungstermin: 27. August 2015
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 203mm x 133mm x 13mm
• Gewicht: 288g
• ISBN-13: 9781509810260
• ISBN-10: 1509810269
• Artikelnr.: 43370392