Pictures and conversations

by Elizabeth Bowen

BOOK IN REMARKABLE CONDITION. FIRST EDITION. SMALL TEAR (1") IN dj. SLIGHTLY CRINKLED EDGES.SMALL STAIN ON BOTTON OF PAGES (1/2").

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London.

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth Bowen is among my favorite British women authors, so I am delighted when I get to read one of her books. This is a book of short stories and the like, told in Bowen's sophisticates aristocratic Irish/British voice. Her descriptions of details, such as the flowers blooming in a garden, or the way a particular woman's skirts fall as she sits calmly in a teashop with her friends dissing a neighbor, please me to no end. If, like me, you enjoy Bowen's writing and style, and would like to read her short stories, this is an excellent one to begin with.

I had an interesting experience when I returned this book to the library. The gentleman behind the counter to whom I brought a stack of books that were due back at the library looked at this book and remarked, "Only English majors read Elizabeth Bowen!" And we both chuckled and then started talking about Bowen and her books. It turns out he runs a book club up north of here in Menlo Park, and he told me the day and time at which it meets. I plan on going up there for a meeting one of these days, when my fibromyalgia grants me the energy to do so. Should be fun - I enjoy book clubs mainly because I like to hear others' assessments of the books we read. Do you feel the same?

Final words: A wonderful book of short stories by Elizabeth Bowen. Enjoy!

[Flora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her "Notes on Writing on a Novel," included here, is the best art-of-fiction essay I've read.