As Far as Jane's Grandmother's

Description

"I sometimes think she is rather a vampire. . . . O no, not an evil one in any way, of course," Cynthia hastened to add, seeing Jane's shocked face. "But people of very strong character are demoralising to live with. One leaves everything to them, even the keeping of one's conscience."As a child Jane is dominated by her mother and grandmother, her character silenced and moulded by their formidable personalities. Living in their shadow, Jane fills her empty life with fantasy, until as a young adult an invite to a party opens her world to the possibility of choosing her own path - and even a rebellious romance. Can Jane escape her stifled youth and discover her own life, or has the mask she has always worn for her family 'grown so close to the face that it would never come off'?As Far as Jane's Grandmother's (1928) was Edith Olivier's second novel after her miniature masterpiece The Love Child (1927) won huge critical acclaim.

Edith Olivier (1872-1948) was born in the Rectory at Wilton, Wiltshire, in the late 1870s. Her father was Rector there and later Canon of Salisbury. She came from an old Huguenot family which had been living in England for several generations, and was one of a family of ten children. She was educated at home until she won a scholarship to St Hugh's College, Oxford. Her first novel, The Love Child, was published in 1927 and there followed four works of fiction: As Far as Jane's Grandmother's (1928), The Triumphant Footman (1930), Dwarf's Blood (1930) and The Seraphim Room (1932). Her works of non-fiction were The Eccentric Life of Alexander Cruden (1934), Mary Magdalen (1934), Country Moods and Tenses (1941), Four Victorian Ladies of Wiltshire (1945), Night Thoughts of a Country Landlady (1945), her autobiography, Without Knowing Mr. Walkley (1938) and, posthumously published, Wiltshire (1951). Edith Olivier spent her life within twenty miles of her childhood home, and died in her beloved Wilton in 1948.