Margaret Kennedy

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Lucy Carmichael

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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

Margaret Kennedy's poised style, cool wit and skilful characterization kept her novels welcome for three decades

There is a wildness [in her mind]; a galloping, untutored spirit

On her wedding day, Lucy Carmichael is jilted at the altar. 
 
In the wake of this calamity and needing a fresh start, she takes a job in the rural Lincolnshire village of Ravonsbridge, at an educational institute established by a wealthy manufacturer for the cultural benefit of the local community. 
 
This employment will come to offer Lucy not only the opportunity to mend her broken heart with a second chance at romance, but it also brings her unexpectedly into contact with a host of remarkable characters who will influence how she sees the world. But can she meet her match along the way?

Originally published in 1951 from the author of beloved holiday classic The Feast comes a glorious coming-of-age tale about a heroine whose wedding day does not go entirely to plan . . . 
 
*** 
 
‘People seem to get over things, don’t they? I don’t know how, but they do – ordinary people. I’m very ordinary, so I expect I shall do what they do.’ Lucy Carmichael is jilted at the altar. But no matter. Her loving and kind family never liked her explorer fiancé anyway. Instead of moping or falling into her supportive family’s arms, however, Lucy abandons their suburban home. Heading for the country, she takes up a teaching position in the industrial town of Ravonsbridge. There, she finds solace in her work, in her new (rather gossipy) colleagues – and rediscovers her sensible young self. But if Lucy has, despite everything, kept her head – where lies her heart? 
Praise for Margaret Kennedy: 
'She is not only a romantic but an anarchist, and she knows the ways of men and women very well indeed' Anita Brookner 
'Kennedy was immensely popular in her heyday' Washington Post 
'Margaret Kennedy's poised style, cool wit and skilful characterization kept her novels welcome for three decades' Cambridge Guide to Literature in English

‘People seem to get over things, don’t they? I don’t know how, but they do – ordinary people. I’m very ordinary, so I expect I shall do what they do.’ 
 
Lucy Carmichael is jilted at the altar. But no matter. Her loving and kind family never liked her explorer fiancé anyway. 
 
Instead of moping or falling into her supportive family’s arms, however, Lucy abandons their suburban home. Heading for the country, she takes up a teaching position in the industrial town of Ravonsbridge. 
 
There, she finds solace in her work, in her new (rather gossipy) colleagues – and rediscovers her sensible young self. 
 
But if Lucy has, despite everything, kept her head – where lies her heart?

Margaret Kennedy was born in London in 1896 and read History at Somerville College, Oxford in 1915 (alongside Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain) where she began writing. In 1924, Kennedy’s second novel The Constant Nymph became a worldwide bestseller which she adapted into a hit West End play starring Noel Coward (three different star-studded film versions followed). Described as ‘superb’ by Elizabeth Bowen, Kennedy wrote fifteen further prize-winning novels including The Feast in 1950, as well as literary criticism and a biography of Jane Austen. She died in 1967.

Lucy Carmichael

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