The Rector's Daughter (Virago Modern Classics)

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Take care, Mary dear, you stepped right into that puddle. Wait a minute. Let me wipe your coat. I am not quite sure that I understand what you were saying.”

Rectors Daughter by Mayor F M - AbeBooks Rectors Daughter by Mayor F M - AbeBooks

Condition: Very Good. Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Her best-known novel is The Rector's Daughter (1924). (In October 2009 this was described in the BBC's 'Open Book' programme as one of the best 'neglected classics'.) Thank you so much for your comment. It is indeed a book that has the power to greatly move and change you. The sorrow I felt for Mary seemed to me very real – as if I was mourning the loss of a friend I knew well. Excellent review – it reminded me that I read the Virago edition years ago. It was very well written, but I thought very sad, so I don’t think I will be re-reading it in the near future.

Well, you know my thoughts and I am a bit disappointed but not altogether surprised, just as you were not surprised that I liked A View of the Harbour better than you did. Your review here says it all, I think — you like irony and wit, and you don't really like serious, often sad, explorations of people's inner feelings. That's absolutely fine — thanks goodness we don't all like the same things. Reply This has been on my Wish List for ages – it's another of the books which Staffordshire's library service does not seem to have, which is a shame, because I am intrigued by the very different responses. Reply Dora is also a spinster, but less angsty. I think I would have rather enjoyed a novel from Dora’s perspective… I remember absolutely nothing about The Third Miss S… I read it in 2006, I think, and… no, gone! Reply Thank you, Marybel. I loved to hear about your discovery of this beautiful book and that your librarian recommended it. I will be writing more about it soon.

The Rector’s Daughter by F. M. Mayor book review | The TLS

This is such a brilliant book, worthy of being a classic, really, in that it so perfectly encapsulates how limited unmarried women’s lives could be before the advent of feminism”– Rachel, Book SnobBut I don't think I agree with your division… I love explorations of people's inner feelings, can't get enough – but when they tip from serious to earnest I am put off. But that dividing line is very subjective, of course! Reply I really enjoyed this book, and at times thought of it in a similar way to One Fine Day in wishing to re read. l hoped you'd talk about The Third Miss Symon's as I didn't enjoy that so much. Reply

The Rector’s Daughter’ by F.M. Mayor | Bag Full Of Books ‘The Rector’s Daughter’ by F.M. Mayor | Bag Full Of Books

Flora Mayor’s lifelong poor health made her unable to fulfil much of her literary promise, sadly. However, she was a successful author with a three-book contract with Constable when she died of pneumonia in 1932, aged fifty-nine. In a recent piece for The Times, the writer D.J. Taylor describes The Rector’s Daughter as ‘one of those curious novels in which a cauldron of suppressed emotion and unrequited love boils away behind a landscape in which, for all practical purposes, hardly anything happens’ and says that as a novelist, F.M. Mayor ranks with Jane Austen and George Eliot. Perhaps my ennui can be attributed to spinster novel fatigue? I have read quite a few recently, and have to say that May Sinclair’s Life and Death of Harriett Frean attempts a similar type of novel rather more (for me) successfully. The public debate about unmarried women between the world wars (covered fascinatingly in a chapter of Nicola Beauman’s A Very Great Profession, and less fascinatingly in Virginia Nicholson’s Singled Out) was loud and often angry; the 1920s novels dealing with this issue were written at a time when the issue was contentious, as well as potentially tragic. Maybe I’ve just read too many, now? It seems as though your reaction is similar to mine when I read The Days of Abandonment last year. It sounded great, but it was not just earnest–and it had some humorous moments–but actually depressing. I felt miserable myself after reading it. That being said, it was interesting enough. (Hmm. Maybe our experiences weren't quite so similar as I'd imagined. TDoA is what immediately leapt to mind, though.) Reply The feeling of pity for Mary is completely overpowering. Even though Mary never complained of her lot in life and never demanded pity. This characteristic of Mary’s personality, for me, added greatly to the poignancy of the book.I'm fairly ignorant – your review is all I know of this book – but I think I, too, would like to hear more from Dora. I like her in the passage you chose. Reply A robin flew up to greet them; a toad crawled forth and squatted on the path, turning his bright eyes to Mary while she talked to him… Mary and Dora stopped to look through the gap in the hedge at the view beyond, quiet, domestic, English scenery – a pond, meadows, and elm trees. These are the solace of the lonely in the country.” The reason why I think that the narrative of ‘The Rector’s Daughter’ is so powerful is perhaps due to the fact that the reader deeply sympathises with poor Mary’s plight. To discuss her life and plight would reveal too many aspects of the plot – so it is difficult to discuss in great detail.

The Rector’s Daughter – F.M. Mayor – Stuck in a Book The Rector’s Daughter – F.M. Mayor – Stuck in a Book

But, Dora, don’t you think there is a Love ‘Which alters not with Time’s brief hours and days, / But bears it out even to the edge of Doom’?”Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - A wonderfully moving, harrowing but ultimately uplifting novel of love. 368 pp. Englisch. Afterwards she became an actress. She later turned to writing. Her first book was a collection of short stories, Mrs Hammond's Children, published in 1901 under the pseudonym Mary Strafford. The Rector’s Daughter (1924) concerns the life and ill-fated love of Mary Jocelyn, the rector’s daughter in question. She is motherless, and lives a life of obedient graciousness towards her father – who is deeply intellectual, but not able to show his love for his daughter. I think Mary was supposed to be in the mold of silently passionate women, having to be content with their lot. A bit like Jane Eyre, perhaps… but then I have always thought Jane Eyre a little overrated. Here she is: In 1903 she became engaged to a young architect, Ernest Shepherd, who died in India of typhoid before Mayor was able to travel out to join him. She never married, and lived closely with her twin sister Alice MacDonald Mayor (1872–1961).