Devoted Ladies
Published on 1. June 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-84408-323-7 (ISBN)
Description
'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.
'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.
Reviews / Votes
Keane has a sharp eye, but a compassionate one * Guardian * Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection . . . its human relationships tortured like bonsai by good form, its open-hearted, sensual passion for horses, dogs and landscape * Evening Standard * I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved -- Diana Athill The very best of AngloIrish writing -- Clare Boylan Miss Farrell's genius lies in her remorselessness . . . deliciously funny * New York Times Book Review * Her books are witty, sardonic, human comedies, edged by black humour, and, like all good comedies, sadness and pathos lie close to the glittering surface -- Polly Devlin A writer of genius * Wall Street Journal * Keane has a sharp eye, but a compassionate one * GUARDIAN * Her books are witty, sardonic, human comedies, edged by black humour, and, like all good comedies, sadness and pathos lie close to the glittering surface * POLLY DEVLIN * Miss Farrell's genius lies in her remorselessness ... deliciously funny * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW * The very best of AngloIrish writing * CLARE BOYLAN *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
204 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84408-323-7 (9781844083237)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Molly Keane (1904-1996) was an Irish novelist and playwright. She grew up at Ballyrankin in County Wexford and was educated at a boarding school in Bray, County Wicklow. She married Bobby Keane, one of a Waterford squirearchical family in 1938 and had two daughters.
She used her married name for her later novels, several of which (Good Behaviour, Time After Time) have been adapted for television. Between 1928 and 1956, she wrote eleven novels, and some of her earlier plays, under the pseudonym M. J. Farrell. Her husband died suddenly in 1946, and following the failure of a play she published nothing for twenty years. In 1981, Good Behaviour came out under her own name. The novel was warmly received and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Polly Devlin is a writer, broadcaster and filmmaker. She holds an OBE for services to literature. After spending her childhood in Northern Ireland, at the age of twenty-two she took up her first job - as a writer, and soon a features editor for British Vogue in London. A couple of years later, she moved to New York to work on American Vogue - where, once more, she was very much part of the scene she wrote about in her newspaper column and articles including for The Sunday Times, New Statesman and Observer.
Her first book, All of Us There is a Virago Modern Classic. She divides her time between London and New York where until her recent retirement, she taught Creative Non-Fiction at Barnard College, Columbia University. She has also been a judge for various awards which include the Booker Prize (1984), Irish Times Literary Award (1994) and Pushkin Prize (1998).
She used her married name for her later novels, several of which (Good Behaviour, Time After Time) have been adapted for television. Between 1928 and 1956, she wrote eleven novels, and some of her earlier plays, under the pseudonym M. J. Farrell. Her husband died suddenly in 1946, and following the failure of a play she published nothing for twenty years. In 1981, Good Behaviour came out under her own name. The novel was warmly received and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Polly Devlin is a writer, broadcaster and filmmaker. She holds an OBE for services to literature. After spending her childhood in Northern Ireland, at the age of twenty-two she took up her first job - as a writer, and soon a features editor for British Vogue in London. A couple of years later, she moved to New York to work on American Vogue - where, once more, she was very much part of the scene she wrote about in her newspaper column and articles including for The Sunday Times, New Statesman and Observer.
Her first book, All of Us There is a Virago Modern Classic. She divides her time between London and New York where until her recent retirement, she taught Creative Non-Fiction at Barnard College, Columbia University. She has also been a judge for various awards which include the Booker Prize (1984), Irish Times Literary Award (1994) and Pushkin Prize (1998).