Landscape in Sunlight

At the end of the war, Mrs. Midge stayed on. While the war lasted Mrs. Custance had accepted her as part of the war-effort; it was only in the past year or two that Mrs. Midge had been transferred to the category which Mrs. Custance described as “people we could manage without.”

Elizabeth Fair’s rollicking second novel takes place in Little Mallin, where village life is largely dominated by preparations for the August Festival. Out of such ordinary material Fair weaves a tale of conflict, scheming, misunderstanding—and of course romance.

Among the villagers are a vicar dreaming of ancient Greece; his wife, largely concerned with getting their daughter married off; the melancholic Colonel Ashford; the eccentric Eustace Templer and his nephew; not to mention Mrs. Midge and her delicate son. The author said the novel was meant for people who “prefer not to take life too seriously.” Compton Mackenzie said it was “in the best tradition of English humour.”

Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair’s irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.

“Where she breaks with the Thirkell school is in her total absence of sentimentality and her detached and witty observation of her characters.”--The Sphere

“A real success … will give pleasure to those for whom Trollope and Jane Austen remain the twin pillars of English fiction.”--John O’London’s Weekly