Vera: A Virago Modern Classic

Description

Lucy Entwhistle's beloved father has just died, and aged twenty-two, she finds herself alone in the world. Leaning against her garden gate, dazed and unhappy, she is disturbed by the sudden appearance of the perspiring Mr Wemyss. This middle-aged man is also in mourning - for his wife, Vera, who has died in mysterious circumstances. Before Lucy can collect herself, Mr Wemyss has taken charge: of the funeral arrangements, of her kind Aunt Dot, but most of all of Lucy herself, body and soul. Elizabeth von Arnim's masterpiece, VERA is a forceful study of the power of men in marriage - and the weakness of women in love.

A greatly admired literary figure of her time, Elizabeth von Arnim was born in 1866 and brought up in England. She spent later years in Switzerland, the French Riviera and America, where she died in 1941.

'A remarkable novel' Rebecca West *'Von Arnim was keenly aware of the powerlessness of an intelligent woman in a male-dominated world' Kate Saunders