Autorenbild.

E.M. Delafield (1890–1943)

Autor von Tagebuch einer Lady auf dem Lande

96+ Werke 3,615 Mitglieder 116 Rezensionen Lieblingsautor von 32 Lesern

Über den Autor

Hinweis zur Begriffsklärung:

(eng) Please note the following distinctions, and try to keep the single-story separate from the omnibus editions which contain several "Provincial Lady" stories.
Single Story:
The Diary of a Provincial Lady (Virago, 1844085228)
Diary of a Provincial Lady (Prion, 1853753688)
The Diary of a Provincial Lady (Remploy, 0706610342)
Diary of a Provincial Lady (Chicago, 0897330536)
Omnibus Edition (contains 4 stories):
The Diary of a Provincial Lady (Virago, 0860685225)
The Provincial Lady (Macmillan, pre-ISBN)

Reihen

Werke von E.M. Delafield

Tagebuch einer Lady auf dem Lande (1930) 1,114 Exemplare
The Provincial Lady Goes Further (1932) 307 Exemplare
Consequences (1919) 213 Exemplare
The Way Things Are (1927) 191 Exemplare
Thank Heaven Fasting (1932) 179 Exemplare
The Provincial Lady in America (1934) 176 Exemplare
The Provincial Lady in Wartime (1940) 158 Exemplare
Tension (1920) 48 Exemplare
The War-Workers (1918) 47 Exemplare
Late and Soon (1943) 37 Exemplare
Faster! Faster! (1936) 24 Exemplare
No One Now Will Know (1941) 21 Exemplare
Messalina of the Suburbs (1920) 19 Exemplare
Nothing Is Safe (1937) 16 Exemplare
Gay Life (1933) 16 Exemplare
The Optimist (2009) 16 Exemplare
The Heel of Achilles (1921) 15 Exemplare
Humbug (1922) 15 Exemplare
Challenge To Clarissa (1931) 11 Exemplare
First Love (1928) 10 Exemplare
Turn Back the Leaves (1930) 10 Exemplare
Mrs. Harter (1924) 10 Exemplare
Zella Sees Herself (2012) 9 Exemplare
Jill (1926) 8 Exemplare
The chip and the block, (1925) 7 Exemplare
Women Are Like That (1929) 7 Exemplare
Three Marriages (1939) 6 Exemplare
When Women Love (1938) 6 Exemplare
General Impressions (1933) 6 Exemplare
The Pelicans (1918) 5 Exemplare
The Suburban Young Man (1928) 4 Exemplare
The Entertainment (1927) 3 Exemplare
To See Ourselves (1932) 2 Exemplare
A reversion to type 2 Exemplare
Famous plays of 1931 (1931) 2 Exemplare
Reflex Action [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
O Tempora! O Mores! [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
Incidental [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
The Tortoise [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
Holiday Group [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
The Waiting Lady [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
Reparation [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
The Threshold of Eternity [short work] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
The Bond of Union [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
Terminus [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
They Don't Wear Labels [short work] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
Gwen [short story] 1 Exemplar
Hukutav naine 1 Exemplar
Love Has No Resurrection [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
O.K. for Story [short work] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
It's All Too Difficult [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
Bluff [short work] 1 Exemplar
The Philistine [short story] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
The Other Poor Chap [short work] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
The Reason [short work] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
The Indispensable Woman [short work] — Autor — 1 Exemplar
Opportunity [short work] — Autor — 1 Exemplar

Zugehörige Werke

The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists (2000) — Mitwirkender, einige Ausgaben552 Exemplare
The Mammoth Book of Haunted House Stories (2000) — Mitwirkender — 295 Exemplare
The Persephone Book of Short Stories (2012) — Mitwirkender — 120 Exemplare
The Mammoth Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories (1998) — Mitwirkender — 75 Exemplare
The British Character (1938) — Einführung, einige Ausgaben64 Exemplare
The Fairies Return; or, New Tales for Old (1934) — Mitwirkender — 50 Exemplare
The Third Omnibus of Crime (1935) — Mitwirkender — 45 Exemplare
A Century of Humour (1934) — Mitwirkender — 42 Exemplare
The Oxford Book of Historical Stories (1994) — Mitwirkender — 40 Exemplare
The Queen's Book of the Red Cross (1939) — Mitwirkender — 36 Exemplare
Charlotte Mary Yonge: The Story of an Uneventful Life (1943) — Einführung, einige Ausgaben11 Exemplare
Little Innocents: Childhood Reminiscences (1932) — Mitwirkender — 9 Exemplare
Great Unsolved Crimes (1975) — Mitwirkender — 4 Exemplare
Missing From Their Homes — Mitwirkender — 1 Exemplar

Getagged

Wissenswertes

Rechtmäßiger Name
Dashwood, Edmee Elizabeth Monica
Andere Namen
de la Pasture, Edmee Elizabeth Monica (birth name)
Geburtstag
1890-06-09
Todestag
1943-12-02
Begräbnisort
Kentisbeare churchyard, Devon, England, UK
Geschlecht
female
Nationalität
UK
Geburtsort
Steyning, Sussex, England, UK
Sterbeort
England, UK
Wohnorte
Kentisbeare, Devon, England, UK
Malay States
Llandogo, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK
Berufe
novelist
short story writer
book reviewer
Beziehungen
de la Pasture, Elizabeth Lydia Rosabelle (mother)
Dashwood, R. M. (daughter)
Clifford, Hugh (stepfather)
Organisationen
Voluntary Aid Detachment
Time and Tide
Women's Institute
Kurzbiographie
E.M. Delafield was the pen name of Edmee Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture, born in Steyning, Sussex, England, the daughter of well-known novelist Elizabeth Bonham and her husband Count Henry Philip Ducarel de la Pasture. Delafield was educated by French governesses and attended several boarding schools, followed by nine months as a postulant nun in a convent in Belgium. She worked with the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) during World War I, and these experiences formed the basis of her first novel, Zella Sees Herself, published in 1917. She continued to publish one or two novels every year until her death. She is best known for the bestselling series The Diary of a Provincial Lady and its sequels. She also was an important contributor of book reviews, sketches, and short stories to Time and Tide magazine. In 1919, she married Colonel Arthur Paul Dashwood, an engineer, and they spent two years living in the Malay States before returning to live in an old house in Kentisbeare, Devonshire. The couple had two children, and Delafield served as president of the Kentisbeare Women's Institute for the the rest of her life. Her daughter Rosamund Dashwood published Provincial Daughter, a continuation of Delafield's popular series of books, in 1961.
Hinweis zur Identitätsklärung
Please note the following distinctions, and try to keep the single-story separate from the omnibus editions which contain several "Provincial Lady" stories.
Single Story:
The Diary of a Provincial Lady (Virago, 1844085228)
Diary of a Provincial Lady (Prion, 1853753688)
The Diary of a Provincial Lady (Remploy, 0706610342)
Diary of a Provincial Lady (Chicago, 0897330536)
Omnibus Edition (contains 4 stories):
The Diary of a Provincial Lady (Virago, 0860685225)
The Provincial Lady (Macmillan, pre-ISBN)

Mitglieder

Rezensionen

This collection of four of E. M. Delafield's Provincial Lady books in one edition was an absolute delight. If you've not heard of this writer or these books before, completely ignore the cover of this edition as it is entirely inappropriate and of the wrong era.

Written in diary form in often truncated sentences, the first book in this series was written in 1930, and although containing fictional characters the books borrow much from Delafield's own life.

This woman was, in short, an absolute riot. Despite the setting being close on 100 years ago, the Provincial Lady's daily concerns feel almost modern, which is no doubt down to the razor-sharp wit throughout which feels ahead of its time compared to much writing of that era. She is the Caitlin Moran or Helen Fielding of her era, a writer whose very essence exudes from her protagonist with endless witticisms, self-deprecation and withering commentary on those that cross her path.

In the first book, The Diary of a Provincial Lady, our narrator documents with dry humour her daily struggles as a woman of relatively high social standing running a household. We're never told what her husband Robert's occupation is, but they move in upper middle class circles and have a small staff to manage the domestic chores in the household. The cook is fairly useless but formidable, and our Provincial Lady spends much of her time failing to work up the courage to address her about areas that need improvement, which reminded me of friends who work full time in demanding jobs yet are scared to confront their cleaner when they do a lousy job. Our protagonist has a busy mind, and although she accepts that household management is her responsibility it's not something she enjoys or wishes to prioritise when she can help it. She sends story offerings to her favourite publication Time and Tide, but at this stage this feels like a hobby also indulged in by many of her friends and acquaintances. She enjoys trips up to London and wishes to spend more of her time there, the country life being a little too dull, but despite governesses for her youngest child, boarding school for her oldest and a small household staff, money is always tight. Despite this, her spending is only occasionally curtailed, and she regularly gets indignant over the increasingly short patience of the bank over the state of her overdraft.

I am sure that every woman will acknowledge that choosing and creating one's own rich, elegant, and costly clothes is an extremely efficient cure for any worries about money.

In the second book, The Provincial Lady Goes Further, our narrator is shocked to have earned a book deal from her Time and Tide writing which considerably changes the financial circumstances of the family (echoing how Delafield found her way to publishing). Now a woman of independent means, she delights in spontaneously buying a flat up in London to support her need to spend regular time there for her work, when in reality the writing of the second book she's received an advance for is continually pushed to the end of her to do list as she's much too busy enjoying herself. Our protagonist has little ego or airs about her, and her regular disappointment in her appearance surely strikes a chord with so many modern females reading this book, despite the passage of time.

January 22nd - Robert startles me at breakfast by asking if my cold, which he has hitherto ignored - is better. I reply that it has gone. Then why, he asks, do I look like that? Feel that life is wholly unendurable, and decide madly to get a new hat.

In the third novel, The Provincial Lady goes on a promotional tour of America for her book and delights us with her mixed emotions on being away from her family for two months whilst having a whale of a time. Every telegram she receives she's convinced brings news of her children dying in some tragic accident, which of course never happens yet taps into the preposterous ideas that many of us mothers get into our heads when we have to leave our children for any considerable length of time. She attends the Chicago World Fair, delights that the English custom for tea seems to translate to cocktails in America, and insists on a trip to the Alcott house, which is her publisher's only concession on a whirlwind tour full of engagements. Despite her somewhat new rise to the fame, everyday worries continue to keep her feet planted firmly on the ground.

Write postcards, to Rose, the children, and Robert, and after some thought send one to Cook, although entirely uncertain as to whether this will gratify her or not. Am surprised, and rather disturbed, to find that wording of Cook's postcard takes more thought than that on all the others put together.

In the final book, The Provincial Lady in Wartime, our Provincial Lady chronicles her life up in London during the initial stage of WWII, dubbed the Phoney War. During this time she, along with all her friends and acquaintances, is keen to 'do her bit', yet there's so little happening she can't get anyone to take any interest in using her skills on a voluntary basis. It's an interesting (and of course amusing) account of a period I've not read about previously in WWII accounts, this desperation to call oneself to action and feeling the social and personal disappointment of not having any role of importance to undertake, and also waiting for the action to start which never seems to come. She eventually gets a position in 'the underworld' canteen beneath the Adelphi Theatre, where volunteers for the ambulance corps, etc. are occasionally training but more often than not hanging around waiting for something to happen.

I absolutely loved this series (which absolutely didn't need such a long review, but once I got started I couldn't stop myself). She's a funny and quirky writer, and it was an absolutely delight from start to finish. If you've enjoyed reads such as Mrs Bridge I can definitely recommend this.

Diary of a Provincial Lady - 4.5 stars
The Provincial Lady Goes Further - 4.5 stars
The Provincial Lady in America - 4.5 stars
The Provincial Lady in Wartime - 4 stars (the tightening of belts and loss of socialising during this early war period made this last book a little less entertaining).
… (mehr)
½
 
Gekennzeichnet
AlisonY | 19 weitere Rezensionen | Apr 20, 2024 |
The Provincial Lady drags readers along with her dishonest reactions, tedious bank exchanges, secrets from annoying husband and
complaining dispassionate marriage...

...I gave up with husband drowning kittens...
 
Gekennzeichnet
m.belljackson | 19 weitere Rezensionen | Jan 28, 2024 |
2nd in the Provincial Lady Series
 
Gekennzeichnet
JimandMary69 | 9 weitere Rezensionen | Aug 18, 2023 |
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, but over 90 years ago!
 
Gekennzeichnet
booksinbed | 37 weitere Rezensionen | Jul 25, 2023 |

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Statistikseite

Werke
96
Auch von
15
Mitglieder
3,615
Beliebtheit
#7,004
Bewertung
4.0
Rezensionen
116
ISBNs
163
Sprachen
7
Favoriten
32

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