Ladies of Lyndon

Description

Insightful, witty and caustic, Margaret Kennedy shows how the inhabitants of a perfect English country house, and their old ideas of family and respectabilty, must change and adapt to the new pressures of a modern world Agatha is aware of an intensity, a powerful storm of emotion briefly awakened by a shortlived love affair with her cousin Gerald, that is entirely lacking from the successful marriage on which she is about to embark. Beautiful, young and carefully brought up, Agatha knows she is securing a perfect and luxurious future in marrying handsome John Clewer and becoming Mistress of Lyndon, and she soon becomes the perfect country house hostess. But when Gerald reappears and war in Europe disturbs the sheltered comfort of Lyndon forever, Agatha is once again haunted by the idea of a different life.

Margaret Kennedy was born in London on 23 April 1896, the eldest of four children. Her first book, a commissioned work of history, was published in 1922 and was soon followed by her first work of fiction, The Ladies of Lyndon (1923). Her second novel, The Constant Nymph (1924), became a worldwide bestseller, and with it Kennedy became a well-known and highly praised writer. Kennedy went on to write fifteen further novels, many of which were critically commended - Troy Chimneys (1953) was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. She also wrote plays, adapting both The Constant Nymph and its sequel The Fool of the Family very successfully. The former opened in the West End in 1926, starring Noel Coward followed by John Gielgud, to great acclaim. Three different film versions of The Constant Nymph, featuring stars of the time such as Ivor Novello and Joan Fontaine, were equally popular. She also published a study of Jane Austen (1950) and a work of literary criticism, The Outlaws on Parnassus, in 1958. Kennedy died 31 July 1967. Writer Beverley Nichols said of Kennedy- 'There is a wildness in her mind ; a galloping, untutored spirit'.

This is an extraordinary debut - assured, wide-ranging and thoughtful -- 4 stars * Independent on Sunday * Her craftsmanship is superb -- Elizabeth Bowen * Tatler * Kennedy was immensely popular in her heyday * Washington Post * Miss Kennedy . . . finds herself well to the front among novelists, men or women, of today -- New York Times (1924)