INTRODUCED BY JILLY COOPER AND WITH A COVER DESIGN BY CATH KIDSTON
‘She converts the small and familiar dullness of life into laughter’ THE TIMES
‘And so begins one of the funniest, smartest and most lovable books I have ever read’ KATHRYN HUGHES, GUARDIAN
‘I finished the book in one sitting, leaving the children unbathed, dogs unwalked, a husband unfed’ JILLY COOPER
‘Glorious, simply glorious’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
Behind this rather prim title lies the hilarious fictional diary of a disaster-prone lady of the 1930s and her attempts to keep her somewhat ramshackle household from falling into chaos. There’s her husband Robert, who, when he’s not snoozing behind The Times does everything with grumbling reluctance; her gleefully troublesome children and a succession of tricky servants who invariably seem to gain the upper hand.
And if her domestic trials are not enough, she must keep up appearances. Particularly with the maddeningly patronising Lady Boxe, whom our Provincial Lady eternally (and unsuccessfully) tries to compete with.
‘She converts the small and familiar dullness of life into laughter’ THE TIMES
‘And so begins one of the funniest, smartest and most lovable books I have ever read’ KATHRYN HUGHES, GUARDIAN
‘I finished the book in one sitting, leaving the children unbathed, dogs unwalked, a husband unfed’ JILLY COOPER
‘Glorious, simply glorious’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
Behind this rather prim title lies the hilarious fictional diary of a disaster-prone lady of the 1930s and her attempts to keep her somewhat ramshackle household from falling into chaos. There’s her husband Robert, who, when he’s not snoozing behind The Times does everything with grumbling reluctance; her gleefully troublesome children and a succession of tricky servants who invariably seem to gain the upper hand.
And if her domestic trials are not enough, she must keep up appearances. Particularly with the maddeningly patronising Lady Boxe, whom our Provincial Lady eternally (and unsuccessfully) tries to compete with.
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Reviews
I finished the book in one sitting, leaving the children unbathed, dogs unwalked, a husband unfed, and giving alternate cries of joy and recognition throughout
I reread, for the nth time, E. M. Delafield's dry, caustic Diary of a Provincial Lady, and howled with laughter
Glorious, simply glorious
I finished the book in one sitting, leaving the children unbathed, dogs unwalked, a husband unfed
Before there was Bridget Jones, there was Delafield's provincial lady, cataloguing her struggles with supercilious neighbours, a distracted husband and unforthcoming hyacinth bulbs. The home counties domesticity may be a creation of the 1930s, but some things are eternal, from the mixture of joy and tedium that is parenting, to the jolt of horror when you catch your reflection unawares in the mirror of a changing room
Glorious, simply glorious
And so begins one of the funniest, smartest and most lovable books I have ever read
She converts the small and familiar dullness of life into laughter
I reread, for the nth time, E. M. Delafield's dry, caustic Diary of a Provincial Lady, and howled with laughter
She converts the small and familiar dullness of life into laughter
