The Triumphant Footman

The Triumphant Footman PDF Author: Edith Olivier
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1447263529
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
'All his life, he had so much enjoyed getting into scrapes, that he could never think of a better way out of one than to jump forthwith into another.' Alphonse Biskin is the lowly footman for the highly respected Captain Lemaur and his invalid, autocratic wife in Florence. Quick to dismiss him as incompetent, the Lemaurs are oblivious to the fact that their footman, the son of a working class couple from London, has a penchant for mischief and adventure, imitating others and spreading a web of seemingly harmless and humorous lies for his own amusement. From a director of a museum in Barcelona to a Frenchman of noble ancestry, from Florence to London . . . Alphonse's impersonations draw him into social circles and events that he could otherwise only dream about. With a combination of natural charm and good fortune, Alphonse seems destined to always get away with these deceptions - but will his tricks eventually catch up with him? The Triumphant Footman (1930) was Edith Olivier's third, and most cheerful and light-hearted novel.

The Triumphant Footman

The Triumphant Footman PDF Author: Edith Olivier
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1447263529
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
'All his life, he had so much enjoyed getting into scrapes, that he could never think of a better way out of one than to jump forthwith into another.' Alphonse Biskin is the lowly footman for the highly respected Captain Lemaur and his invalid, autocratic wife in Florence. Quick to dismiss him as incompetent, the Lemaurs are oblivious to the fact that their footman, the son of a working class couple from London, has a penchant for mischief and adventure, imitating others and spreading a web of seemingly harmless and humorous lies for his own amusement. From a director of a museum in Barcelona to a Frenchman of noble ancestry, from Florence to London . . . Alphonse's impersonations draw him into social circles and events that he could otherwise only dream about. With a combination of natural charm and good fortune, Alphonse seems destined to always get away with these deceptions - but will his tricks eventually catch up with him? The Triumphant Footman (1930) was Edith Olivier's third, and most cheerful and light-hearted novel.

A Curious Friendship

A Curious Friendship PDF Author: Anna Thomasson
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1447245555
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
I loved A Curious Friendship. Anna Thomasson, in her first book, has brilliantly captured this strange coterie.' Sir Roy Strong The winter of 1924: Edith Olivier, alone for the first time at the age of 51, thought her life had come to an end. For Rex Whistler, a 19-year-old art student, life was just beginning. They were to start an intimate and unlikely friendship that would transform their lives. Gradually Edith's world opened up and she became a writer. Her home, the Daye House, in a wooded corner of the Wilton estate, became a sanctuary for Whistler and the other brilliant and beautiful younger men of her circle: among them Siegfried Sassoon, Stephen Tennant, William Walton, John Betjeman, the Sitwells and Cecil Beaton - for whom she was 'all the muses'. The story is set against the backdrop of a period that spanned the madcap parties of the 1920s, the sophistication of the 1930s and the drama and austerity of the Second World War. With an extraordinary cast of friends and acquaintances, from the Royal Family to Tallulah Bankhead, Anna Thomasson's A Curious Friendship brings to life, for the first time, the curious, unlikely and fascinating friendship of a bluestocking and a bright young thing.

Books and Notes

Books and Notes PDF Author: Los Angeles County Public Library
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1364

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The Seraphim Room

The Seraphim Room PDF Author: Edith Olivier
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1447263561
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
The Seraphim Room, by Edith Olivier, is the story of Lilian and Emily, two half-sisters who live together under the watch of their domineering father. Together they whittle their days away under the claustrophobic roof of the dusty and decaying Chilvester House. Shut away from the wider world, it looks like the two siblings might grow to be old spinsters together. That is until Emily encounters the charming Christopher Honythorne on a rare evening out. Emily basks in her new-found freedom and realises that there is a whole other world beyond the isolated existence she has experienced. But when Emily quickly becomes infatuated with Christopher, their tangled interactions could soon bring more misery than joy to Emily's secluded life. Particularly as Chilvester House already has a very unfortunate life expectancy for the women who live under its roof . . .

The Second Footman

The Second Footman PDF Author: Jasper Barry
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 178088365X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 489

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Book Description
Nineteen year-old Max is the duchesse de Claireville's second footman, but he does not intend to endure the indignities of service for long. He has a plan—to find an aristocratic patron who will become his unwitting accomplice in an audacious fraud.It is true that in 1880s' France, despite nearly a century of revolution and social turmoil, the aristocracy is still firmly entrenched in privilege, and the gulf between the salon and the servants' hall is as wide as ever. But Max is handsome, quick to learn and confident of his abilities as a seducer of both men and women.Whether ladling soup into noble plates beneath crystal chandeliers, or reading biographies of the great generals in his squalid footman's dormitory, he is planning his strategy. He, Max, is the man of the future - ruthless, above morality and sentimental attachments.Yet, when, after a couple of false starts, he at last acquires his patron, he finds himself ambushed by instinctive longings—for friendship, for affection—that threaten his grand plan. 'Be true to yourself…' the saying goes. But to which self? And what is 'truth'?

Dwarf's Blood

Dwarf's Blood PDF Author: Edith Olivier
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1447263545
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
A contemporary of Cecil Beaton, Siegfried Sassoon and Rex Whistler, Edith Olivier is best known for her first book, the novella, The Love Child but was the author of a variety of both fiction and non-fiction, as well as becoming the mayor of Wilton, Wiltshire, in 1939. In Dwarf's Blood, Olivier has crafted a moral tale, reflecting the Victorian values of her upbringing while also incorporating a psychological study of her main character, Sir Nicholas Roxerby, who comes to England from Australia after inheriting the estate of Brokeyates from his great-uncle. Happy in his ancestral home, with the backing of his mother's millions behind him, Nicholas marries into the local gentry and lives a satisfying life until the birth of his second child. Hans is full of persuasive charm and gifted genius, but to Nicholas's horror carries the 'dwarf's blood' of the title, and he cannot find it within himself to accept a child that brings with him the reminder of a family skeleton he would rather forget. In Nicholas's eyes, Hans suffers in comparison to his elder sister Portia, who is tall, healthy and beautiful, despite being completely insensitive, overbearing and unloveable; and for Althea, his wife, the cold-hearted rejection of her son by his father ruptures her happiness. Though a vivid work of realism, Dwarf's Blood incorporates a touch of the eeriness found within Olivier's first work, The Love Child, and was described as a masterpiece among contemporary novels upon first publication in 1931.

21 MYSTERY & ROMANCE NOVELS

21 MYSTERY & ROMANCE NOVELS PDF Author: Robert Barr
Publisher: e-artnow
ISBN: 8075832914
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 5069

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Book Description
This unique collection of Robert Barr's most beloved books has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards. The Triumph of Eugéne Valmont Jennie Baxter, Journalist Tekla: A Romance of Love and War In the Midst of Alarms From Whose Bourne One Day's Courtship The Herald's of Fame The Strong Arm A Woman Intervenes A Prince of Good Fellows The O'Ruddy, A Romance (with Stephen Crane) A Rock in the Baltic The Measure of the Rule The Sword Maker Young Lord Stranleigh Lord Stranleigh Abroad Lady Eleanor: Lawbreaker Cardillac A Chicago Princess Over the Border: A Romance The Victors: A Romance of Yesterday, Morning and This Afternoon Literary Article - "Canadian literature" Robert Barr (1849–1912) was a Scottish-Canadian short story writer and novelist, born in Glasgow, Scotland. His famous detective character Eugéne Valmont, fashioned after Sherlock Holmes, is said to be the inspiration behind Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. Excerpt: "When I say I am called Valmont, the name will convey no impression to the reader, one way or another. My occupation is that of private detective in London, but if you ask any policeman in Paris who Valmont was he will likely be able to tell you, unless he is a recent recruit. If you ask him where Valmont is now, he may not know, yet I have a good deal to do with the Parisian police." (The Triumph of Eugéne Valmont)

As Far as Jane's Grandmother's

As Far as Jane's Grandmother's PDF Author: Edith Olivier
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1447263367
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
"I sometimes think she is rather a vampire. . . . O no, not an evil one in any way, of course," Cynthia hastened to add, seeing Jane's shocked face. "But people of very strong character are demoralising to live with. One leaves everything to them, even the keeping of one's conscience." As a child Jane is dominated by her mother and grandmother, her character silenced and moulded by their formidable personalities. Living in their shadow, Jane fills her empty life with fantasy, until as a young adult an invite to a party opens her world to the possibility of choosing her own path - and even a rebellious romance. Can Jane escape her stifled youth and discover her own life, or has the mask she has always worn for her family 'grown so close to the face that it would never come off'? As Far as Jane's Grandmother's (1928) was Edith Olivier's second novel after her miniature masterpiece The Love Child (1927) won huge critical acclaim.

The Holy War and The Heavenly Foot-man

The Holy War and The Heavenly Foot-man PDF Author: John Bunyan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Night Thoughts of a Country Landlady

Night Thoughts of a Country Landlady PDF Author: Edith Olivier
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1447266269
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 123

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Book Description
"When the War drove her to fill the house with strange guests, it also drove her to fill her diary with strange thoughts... This broadened hospitality, and these unaccustomed contacts, completely changed for the time the character of English country life." In Night Thoughts of a Country Landlady, Edith Olivier explores the diaries left to her by her friend and neighbour, Miss Emma Nightingale. The account explores the arrival of both evacuees and soldiers to Miss Nightingale's village after the outbreak of World War II. Her musings on acting as a boarding house during this time are vivid and appealing chronicles of both rural life in World War II, and the varied and engaging individuals who were involved in this great struggle. This fascinating work is a record of the war as told through the people left behind in England to live their lives against its all-encompassing backdrop, and who did so with quiet contemplation and an overwhelming sense of hospitality.