About this ebook
Published as The Galantrys in America, Dance of the Years is one of Margery Allingham's oft overlooked novels. Originally published in 1943, it is a fictionalised account of Allingham's family heritage, which she insisted as the closest records of the facts.
First published in 1943, Dance of the Years centres on the birth and growth of James, the fictional representative of Margery's great-grandfather who was 'born in 1800 and left ten thousand pounds and the injunction that no gentleman ever works'. The offspring of a Georgian country gentleman and a gypsy, James becomes an early-Victorian success, devoting his riches to becoming a gentleman and establishing a family name.
A fascinating exploration of family ties and values by a famous author of detective crime fiction, this title will appeal to a wide range of readers.
First published in 1943, Dance of the Years centres on the birth and growth of James, the fictional representative of Margery's great-grandfather who was 'born in 1800 and left ten thousand pounds and the injunction that no gentleman ever works'. The offspring of a Georgian country gentleman and a gypsy, James becomes an early-Victorian success, devoting his riches to becoming a gentleman and establishing a family name.
A fascinating exploration of family ties and values by a famous author of detective crime fiction, this title will appeal to a wide range of readers.
About the author
Margery Allingham is ranked among the most distinguished and beloved detective fiction writers of the Golden Age alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh. Allingham is J.K. Rowling's favourite Golden Age author and Agatha Christie said of Allingham that out of all the detective stories she remembers, Margery Allingham 'stands out like a shining light'.
Born in London in 1904, Allingham published her first novel, Blackkerchief Dick, at the age of 19. The White Cottage Mystery was her first detective story, written as a serial for the Daily Express in 1927 and published as a book a year later.
The Allingham family retained a house on Mersea Island, a few miles from Layer Breton, and it was here that Margery found the material for her first novel, the adventure story Blackkerchief Dick (1923), which was published when she was just nineteen. She went on to pen multiple novels, some of which dealt with occult themes and some with mystery, as well as writing plays and stories – her first detective story, The White Cottage Mystery, was serialized in the Daily Express in 1927.
Allingham died at the age of 62, and her final novel, A Cargo of Eagles, was finished by her husband at her request and published posthumously in 1968.
Born in London in 1904, Allingham published her first novel, Blackkerchief Dick, at the age of 19. The White Cottage Mystery was her first detective story, written as a serial for the Daily Express in 1927 and published as a book a year later.
The Allingham family retained a house on Mersea Island, a few miles from Layer Breton, and it was here that Margery found the material for her first novel, the adventure story Blackkerchief Dick (1923), which was published when she was just nineteen. She went on to pen multiple novels, some of which dealt with occult themes and some with mystery, as well as writing plays and stories – her first detective story, The White Cottage Mystery, was serialized in the Daily Express in 1927.
Allingham died at the age of 62, and her final novel, A Cargo of Eagles, was finished by her husband at her request and published posthumously in 1968.
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