Vmc Series

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Latest release: February 5, 2015
Series
48
Books
The Solitary Summer
Book 1·Nov 2011
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$3.99
I want to be alone for a whole summer, and get to the very dregs of life. I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow. Nobody shall be invited to stay with me, and if anyone calls they will be told that I am out, or away, or sick . . . Wouldn't a whole lovely summer, quite alone, be delightful?'

This delightful companion to the famous Elizabeth and her German Garden is a witty, lyrical account of a rejuvenating, solitary summer filled with books and Elizabeth's reflections on her beloved garden. Descriptions of magnificent larkspurs and burning nasturtiums give way to those of cooling forest walks. Yet the months aren't as solitary as she'd planned: there's still her husband to pacify and the April, May and June babies to amuse.
The Lost Traveller
Book 2·Feb 2011
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When Clara returns home from the convent of her childhood to begin life at a local girls' school, she is at a loss: although she has comparative freedom, she misses the discipline the nuns imposed and worries about keeping her faith in a secular world. Against the background of the First World War, Clara experiences the confusions of adolescence - its promise, its threat of change. She longs for love, yet fears it, and wonders what the future will hold. Then tragedy strikes and her childhood haltingly comes to an end as she realises that neither parents nor her faith can help her.

The Lost Traveller is the first in the trilogy sequel to Frost in May, which continues with The Sugar House and Beyond the Glass. Although each is a complete novel in itself, together they form a brilliant portrait of a young girl's journey to adulthood.
Beyond The Glass
Book 3·Feb 2011
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Clara Batchelor is twenty-two. Her brief, doomed marriage to Archie over, she returns to live with her parents in the home of her childhood. She hopes for comfort but the devoutly Catholic household confines her and forms a dangerous glass wall of guilt and repression between Clara and the outside world. Clara both longs for and fears what lies beyond, and when she escapes into an exhilarating and passionate love affair her fragile identity cracks.

Beyond the Glass completes the trilogy sequel to Frost in May, which began with The Lost Traveller and The Sugar House. Although each is a complete novel in itself, together they form a brilliant portrait of a young girl's journey to adulthood.
A Grain Of Truth
Book 27·Nov 2011
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'This is the off-side of lust in plush suburbia, described by a crypto-moralist with a mischievous sense of humour' SUNDAY TIMES

'A born story-teller' INDEPENDENT

'The modest and moderating virtues of Nina Bawden's novels can easily be demonstrated by her earlier title, The Grain of Truth' KIRKUS REVIEWS

Emma's anxious and manipulative plea, 'Someone listen to me', opens - and closes - this deliciously uncomfortable novel in which Nina Bawden explores myriad emotional disguises with her characteristic acuity. When Emma's father-in-law falls down the stairs to his death, she is convinced she pushed him in an act of wish-fulfilment. To her husband Henry and her close friend Holly, this is unthinkable. Guilt is simply Emma's obsession in a humdrum domestic existence enlivened by romantic fantasy. For Holly, who successfully fields a string of love affairs, sexual pleasures are more easily attainable, whereas Henry, a Divorce lawyer, prides himself on being a realist. Each tells their story in turn, illuminating and distorting their separate versions of the truth. As they do so, an intricate jigsaw of the private deceits with which they shore up everyday life emerges.
Precious Bane
Book 4·Apr 2013
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'Brighter and better than Thomas Hardy . . . a marvellous writer' Eloise Millar, Guardian

Prudence Sarn was born with a cleft palate, her 'precious bane', for which she is persecuted as a witch by her superstitious neighbours. Hiding from daily ridicule, she takes refuge in the wild Shropshire countryside, developing a profound love of nature. Furtively, Prue longs to be loved and harbours a hopeless passion for Kester Woodseaves, the weaver.

Prue's brother, Gideon, is engaged to her only friend, but in his ambition for wealth at any cost, he incurs the wrath of his would-be father-in-law whose act of vengeance results in Prue being accused of murder. Only Kester, who has perceived her true worth, can defend her from the wrath of her accusers.

Winner of the 1926 Prix Femina Vie Heureuse Prize, Precious Bane is a novel that enchants with its beauty and its timeless truths.

'With the publication of Precious Bane, a substantial readership came to respect Mary Webb's quiet genius . . . When she died at the age of 46, literature lost a voice that promised to speak for Shropshire as poignantly as Thomas Hardy had spoken for Wessex, Emily Bronte for Yorkshire - New York Times
Young Entry
Book 5·May 2013
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'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN

'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL

'Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection' EVENING STANDARD

Prudence, at nineteen, is reckless, laughing, wild; the despair of her elderly guardians. With her best friend, the subversive but very female Peter, she rackets round the Irish countryside among her beloved horses and dogs. But she feels betrayed by Peter's growing interest in the new Master of Hounds, 'Saxon' Major Anthony Countless. And what is Prudence to make of handsome Toby Sage, neighbour, huntsman and accredited flirt? Or of an inexplicable haunting?

First published in 1928. This high-spirited novel with its subtle erotic undercurrents, is a glorious story of a ramshackle, tolerant society and of Prudence's turbulent coming of age.
Mad Puppetstown
Book 6·May 2013
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'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN

'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL

'A writer of genius' WALL STREET JOURNAL

In the early 1900s, Easter lives with her Aunt Brenda, her cousins Evelyn and Basil, and their Great-Aunt Dicksie in an imposing country house, Puppetstown which casts a spell over their childhood. Here they spend carefree days taunting the peacocks in Aunt Dicksie's garden, shooting snipe and woodcock, hunting, and playing with Patsy, the boot boy.

But the house and its inhabitants are not immune to the 'little, bitter, forgotten war in Ireland' and when it finally touches their lives all flee to England. All except Aunt Dicksie who refuses to surrender Puppetstown's magic. She stays on with Patsy, living in a corner of the deserted house while in England the cousins are groomed for Society. But for two of them those wild, lost Puppetstown years cannot be forgotten.
Full House
Book 8·May 2013
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FROM THE AUTHOR SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE

'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN

'Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection' EVENING STANDARD

'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL

Silverue - an enchanting Irish mansion - is owned by one of the most frightening mothers in fiction - the indomitable, oppressively girlish Lady Bird. Blessed with wealth and beautiful children she has little to worry about except the passing of the years and the return of her son John's sanity. To help her through the potentially awkward occasion of John's return from the asylum she has enlisted the support of Eliza, a woman she believes to be her confidante. But Eliza has her own secrets and John's homecoming will prove the catalyst for revelations which Lady Bird would much rather leave buried.
Devoted Ladies
Book 9·May 2013
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'Keane has a sharp eye, but a compassionate one' GUARDIAN

'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL

'Miss Farrell's genius lies in her remorselessness . . . deliciously funny' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Jessica and Jane have been living together for six months and are devoted friends - or are they? Jessica loves her friend with the cruelty of total possessiveness; Jane is rich, silly, and drinks rather too many brandy-and-sodas.

Watching from the sidelines, their friend Sylvester regrets that Jane should be 'loved and bullied and perhaps even murdered by that frightful Jessica', but decides it's none of his business. When the Irish gentleman George Playfair meets Jane, however, he thinks otherwise and entices her to Ireland where the battle for her devotion begins.
Conversation Piece
Book 10·May 2013
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FOR FANS OF JANE AUSTEN AND NANCY MITFORD

'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN

'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL

'A writer of genius' WALL STREET JOURNAL

When Oliver visits Pullinstown, he is introduced to wild days of hunting and shooting, and to characters like his cousins, with their passion for horses and trickery, and Sir Richard, elderly, but a match for his headstrong offspring.

In this early novel by Molly Keane, the high romance and disarray of the vanished Anglo-Irish world is evoked with humour, nostalgia, and undercurrents of powerful feeling.

The author has also written under the pseudonym, M. J. Farrell.
Taking Chances
Book 14·May 2013
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BY THE AUTHOR SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE

'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN

'Molly Keane . . . is robust about sinful human nature and the intrigues of the heart' V. S. PRITCHET

'Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection' EVENING STANDARD

Those who suffered because of her might think of Mary that she hurt others, herself she could not hurt; but Jer, knowing her better . . . knew she hurt herself perhaps most deeply. Since the death of her parents, Roguey, Maeve and Jer have cared for one another and for Sorristown, their elegant home. Together they have fished and hunted, unravelled secrets by bedroom fires and sipped gin cocktails.

But this pattern of intimacy is about to be broken by Maeve's marriage to Rowley. A week before the wedding, her bridesmaid Mary arrives. Meeting her for the first time Rowley describes Mary as a 'factor for disturbance', little realising the extent to which his prophecy will prove true for each of them.
The Knight Of Cheerful Countenance
Book 16·May 2013
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'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN

'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL

'Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection' EVENING STANDARD

To Ballinrath House, where purple bog gives way to slate-coloured mountains, comes Allan to visit his Irish cousins. No sooner has he arrived than he falls in love with Cousin Ann, though it seems that she only has eyes for Captain Dennys St Lawrence.
Afternoon Of A Good Woman
Book 25·May 2011
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'One of the wisest and most versatile of our novelists' CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, GUARDIAN

'So intelligent and clear-eyed that every page seems to peel another layer of pretence' ISABEL QUIGLEY, FINANCIAL TIMES

'Nina Bawden's novels are self-perpetuating pleasures' KIRKUS REVIEWS

'Today, Tuesday, the day that Penelope has chosen to leave her husband, is the first really warm day of spring . . . '

Penelope has always done her best to be a good wife, a good mistress, a good mother - and a good magistrate. Today she is more conscious that usual of the thinness of the thread that distinguishes good from bad, the law-abiding from the criminal. Sitting in court, hearing a short, sad case of indecent exposure and a long, confused theft, she finds herself examining her own sex life - what would that sound like in court? - and her own actions and intentions. How would the court judge what she's about to do this afternoon . . . ?
A Woman Of My Age
Book 26·May 2011
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'Absorbing and quietly uncompromising, redolent with the vibrant smells and colours of Majorca, and of Spain' DAILY TELEGRAPH

'A highly revealing account, not only of a woman's life, but of a whole extraordinary passage in one contemporary European country' FINANCIAL TIMES

'Nina Bawden is one of the really attractive practitioners of the genre the feminine novel-not a dismissive referral in her case' KIRKUS REVIEWS

Elizabeth and Richard, are on holiday in Morocco, travelling from its fertile coast to the barren uplands beyond the Atlas mountains. During the expedition's adventures and mishaps, Elizabeth surveys her eighteen-year marriage and its accumulations of grievance, frustration and betrayal. Nina Bawden allows us to see the ambivalences and deceptions on both sides as this touching and often subversively comic novel moves towards a shocking catastrophe and a wryly surprising coda.
Losing the Dead
Book 36·Nov 2013
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As her mother slipped into the darkness of old age, Lisa Appignanesi began to realise how little she knew of the reality behind the tales she had heard since childhood. She had shunned her parents' stories of war-time Poland, but now she set out to find the truth. In her quest she flew to Warsaw - imagining and revisiting a past she never knew.

This is the moving story of the Jews who survived outside the camps, but it is also the author's own voyage of self-discovery - a family memoir of the rites of passage of emigration, childhood, and growing up an outsider in a closed community
Wild Strawberries: A Virago Modern Classic
Book 38·Nov 2012
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Pretty, impecunious Mary Preston, newly arrived as a guest of her Aunt Agnes at the magnificent wooded estate of Rushwater, falls head over heels for handsome playboy David Leslie. Meanwhile, Agnes and her mother, the eccentric matriarch Lady Emily, have hopes of a different, more suitable match for Mary. At the lavish Rushwater dance party, her future happiness hangs in the balance . . .
High Rising: A Virago Modern Classic
Book 39·Nov 2012
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Successful lady novelist Laura Morland and her boisterous young son Tony set off to spend Christmas at her country home in the sleepy surrounds of High Rising. But Laura's wealthy friend and neighbour George Knox has taken on a scheming secretary whose designs on marriage to her employer threaten the delicate social fabric of the village. Can clever, practical Laura rescue George from Miss Grey's clutches and, what's more, help his daughter Miss Sibyl Knox to secure her longed-for engagement?

Utterly charming and very funny, High Rising is irresistible comic entertainment.
Tea By The Nursery Fire: A Children's Nanny at the Turn of the Century
Book 122·Sep 2012
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Emily Huckwell spent almost her entire life working for one family. Born in a tiny Sussex village in the 1870s, she went into domestic service in the Burton household before she was twelve, earning £5 a year. She began as a nursery maid, progressing to under nurse and then head nanny, looking after two generations of children. One of the children in her care was the father of Noel Streatfeild, the author of Ballet Shoes and one of the best-loved children's writers of the 20th century. Basing her story on fact and family legend, Noel Streatfeild here tells Emily's story, and with her characteristic warmth and intimacy creates a fascinating portrait of Victorian and Edwardian life above and below stairs.