The People on Privilege Hill
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Engrossing stories of hilarity and heartbreak” from the Whitbread Award–winning author of the Old Filth trilogy (The Seattle Times).
A collection of stories from a writer at the height of her powers—a celebrated stylist admired for her caustic humor, freewheeling imagination, love of humanity, and wicked powers of observation. This is a delightful grouping of stories, witty and wise, that includes the return of Sir Edward Feathers, “Old Filth” himself.
“[Gardam’s] stories, like delicate tapestries, are alight with colors.” —The Times (London)
“When Gardam hits her mark, like other exemplary short-story writers such as William Trevor, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Elizabeth Taylor, she can be dazzling.” —The Guardian
“Gardam’s brisk narration and fearless temperament make for serious fun.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Wry, economical and perpetually surprising, these 14 stories from English novelist Gardam follow the last of the intrepid, stiff upper lip WWII generation of British ladies and gentlemen. . . . Gardam vividly evokes an age of iron wills.” —Publishers Weekly
“Gardam displays the consummate skill of the short-story-teller, which is that of the caricaturist, the ability to capture a personality in a few brief strokes. . . . Privilege Hill is a collection of gentle stories that you could read to your grandmother, with the kind of sharp wit that would no doubt give her a secret smile. But they’re deeper than they look . . . so don’t read them all at once.” —The Bookbag
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wry, economical and perpetually surprising, these 14 stories from English novelist Gardam (Old Filth) follow the last of the intrepid, stiff upper lip WWII generation of British ladies and gentlemen. In the title story, octogenarian widower Edward Feathers, "cold and old and going out to lunch with a woman called Dulcie he never much liked" arrives at Dulcie's Dorset house, where shared sensibilities go a long way in carrying them through some awkward moments. In "The Latter Days of Mr. Jones," the aged titular protagonist, "the last of his tribe," collides with contemporary mores when his daily solitary walks on the Common, frequented by children, arouse suspicions. Set in 1941, "The Flight Path" proves a creepy, hilarious sendup of familial relations when young medical student Jim Smith travels to London for a terrible, memorable night during the blitz. And "The Last Reunion" finds a group of four toughened elderly dames, once college chums, returning unsentimentally to their school on the occasion of its closing. Gardam vividly evokes an age of iron wills.
