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Reading lists

7 lesser-known Vintage Classics by women

Return I Dare Not

Margaret Kennedy caught just the taste of the time, mixing a stolid domestic Englishness with 'Continental' bohemians

‘She is not only a romantic but an anarchist, and she knows the ways of men and women very well indeed’ Anita Brookner 
 
 
Hugo Potts is a successful London playwright enjoying his moment of notoriety. Adored by critics and pursued by women, he’s the darling of the literary scene. But his public personae is exactly that – a personae – and he works exhaustedly day and night to portray the person the public expect him to be. One weekend he attends a party at a country house alongside the most important publishers and writers of the time. It’s an opportunity, of course, to meet interesting women. But over the course of the weekend he finds himself scorned by one, and unexpectedly profoundly understood by another, and his values and everything he’s held to be important abruptly come into question.

A Long Time Ago

An Edwardian family party on an Irish holiday is disrupted by a seductive prima donna

Elissa Koebel's memoir is as scandalous and self-absorbed as its writer, but for Hope, it is more than just the latest salacious read. The chapter 'A Summer in Ireland' tells of an episode that Hope remembers well, when the younger, beautiful and unconventional Koebel arrived to disrupt a family holiday. But back then, Hope could not guess that her own fascination with Elissa was echoed by her father. Letters from the time reveal yet another side of the story - but which version of the story is the truth?

A Night in Cold Harbour

A tale about a conscience awakened too late from the author of The Constant Nymph

She is not only a romantic but an anarchist, and she knows the ways of men and women very well indeed

Kennedy was immensely popular in her heyday

Romilly Brandon was heir to  a fortune and the handsomest and liveliest young man in the county. But in his twenty-first year, the pretty daughter of the local parson, Jenny Newbolt broke his heart, and he left to live a dissipated life in London. Returning years later, Romily finds many surprises - his one-time sweetheart grown old and withered, and in possession of a great secret that shakes him to his core. When Romily finally learns the truth, is it too late to atone?

Troy Chimneys

A remarkable historical novel, set in Austen-era England, exploring issues of identity, love and class, from the author of The Constant Nymph

She combines imagination with delicate feeling, capturing the right atmosphere with a simple style that makes her story timeless

A Victorian gentleman is forced by illness to entertain himself with the family archive, and he uncovers the Regency-era correspondence and diaries of one Miles Lufton, MP - apparently a black sheep of the family, connected with a scandal long buried. But through the pieced-together artefacts from the past, a fuller picture emerges of a man torn between two personalities - Miles, serious, studious and penniless, and 'Pronto', flirt, political mover and eternal 'extra man'. Miles longs to dispose of his disreputable alter ego, but that way lies calamity...

The Wild Swan

When a scriptwriter makes unexpected discoveries when investigating the stormy past of a Victorian poetess

Margaret Kennedy was born in London on 23 April 1896, the eldest of four children. Her first book, a commissioned work of history, was published in 1922 and was soon followed by her first work of fiction, The Ladies of Lyndon (1923). Her second novel, The Constant Nymph (1924), became a worldwide bestseller, and with it Kennedy became a well-known and highly praised writer. Kennedy went on to write fifteen further novels, many of which were critically commended - Troy Chimneys (1953) was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. She also wrote plays, adapting both The Constant Nymph and its sequel The Fool of the Family very successfully. The former opened in the West End in 1926, starring Noel Coward followed by John Gielgud, to great acclaim. Three different film versions of The Constant Nymph, featuring stars of the time such as Ivor Novello and Joan Fontaine, were equally popular. She also published a study of Jane Austen (1950) and a work of literary criticism, The Outlaws on Parnassus, in 1958. Kennedy died 31 July 1967. Writer Beverley Nichols said of Kennedy: 'There is a wildness [in her mind]; a galloping, untutored spirit'.

According to a sensational West End play, the Victorian children's writer, Dorothea Harding, was no dowdy maiden aunt, but the passionate participant in a torrid, tragic romance. It is the task of Roy Collins to turn the play into an equally popular film. Dorothea's descendents have only weak objections to the misuse of their relation's private past - they need money more than dignity. But Roy has misgivings, and when a set of revealing letters are discovered, he begins to feel that the truth might be more important than the story.

Together and Apart

A comfortable marriage is pulled apart by vague dissatisfaction, romantic fancies, gossip and petty argument - a masterfully told modern tragedy by the author of The Constant Nymph

Together and Apart is a quietly accomplished novel that catches the rustle of an era not so very far from our own

The intricate counterpoint between the life demanded by their peers and their own desires is exquisitely diagrammed

Betsy Canning is dissatisfied with life. She has always taken pains to be healthy, popular and well-treated, but despite her wealth, her comfortable homes and beautiful children, happiness eludes her. The problem must lie, she thinks, in her marriage to Alec, and a neat, civilised divorce seems the perfect solution. 
 
But talk of divorce sparks interference from family and friends, and soon public opinion tears into the fragile fabric of family life and private desire. Alec and Betsy's marriage will not be the only casualty, and in this newly complicated world, happiness is more elusive than ever.

Margaret Kennedy

‘Margaret Kennedy caught just the taste of the time, mixing a stolid domestic Englishness with 'Continental' bohemians’ Irish Times 
 
William and Emily Crowne seem to have it all – they live a life of privilege and glamour in London, the children of a successful poet, attractive, happy, largely blind to the world around them. But life takes an unexpected turn when their mother dies, and their father is caught up in the most scandalous and notorious of criminal trials. Suddenly effectively orphans, their aunt takes them in, and they grow up alongside their cousins, Trevor and Charlotte. But tensions and jealousies are rife between the four, and soon the Crowne children find that their father’s notoriety will follow them into their adult lives, with devastating consequences.

Margaret Kennedy

Red Sky at Morning

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