Father

Description

Since her mother's death Jennifer has devoted years of her life to her father, managing the family home and acting as his secretary. After the sudden announcement that he has taken a new wife, Jennifer, at 33, seizes the opportunity to lead an independent life. Quickly she secures the lease of Rose Cottage and turns her attention to her own needs and interests. Published in 1931, Father explores the concept of spinsterhood in a time when the financial and social status of single women were often dependent on male family members. While Jennifer is desperate to experience life on her own terms within her reduced financial means, her neighbour Alice is pre-occupied with ensuring her position as head of her brother's household is never challenged.

Elizabeth von Arnim (1866-1941) was born Mary Annette Beauchamp. In 1891 she married Graf Henning von Arnim-Schlagenthin, a member of the Prussian aristocracy and settled in Berlin. She published her first novel Elizabeth and Her German Garden In 1898 and from then on was published simply as 'Elizabeth' or 'author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden'. After his death, she married Earl Francis Russell, older brother of Bertrand Russell.

"Her novels reveal an understanding of human nature and its frailty.* --Penelope Hobhouse on Love