In Anna Fitzalan Marguerite Steen reverts to her Rose Timson vein - though there could be no greater contrast than that between the earthy Rose and the gentle, sensitive and spiritual heroine of her new novel.
Anna's story is that of a woman of breeding and principle, who, having fulfilled her obligations to an unsympathetic husband, to whom she has borne two children, accepts, after his death, the equivocal position of common law wife to the man with whom, as a little girl, she fell deeply and abidingly in love. Involved by a profound sense of duty in a series of obligations to the grown-up children of her first marriage and to a beloved grandchild, she manages, nevertheless, to conduct with dignity and devotion her relationship with Evan Crewe - an industrial magnate of the Second World War.
The full richness of Anna's character is developed in the final climax, and the book ends on a high note of philosophy that carries conviction through the personal qualities of the heroine.
Marguerite Steen's many readers will be delighted with Anna Fitzalan: with the power of loving which is the mainspring of her life, with her steadfastness, unselfishness and abiding appreciation of beauty - all of which is lovingly and tenderly depicted in this full and moving book.
'Miss Steen is a superb manipulator of scene, and she makes her places as alive as her people' - Daily Telegraph
'Rich and enjoyable' - The Observer
'Fine scenes and piquant portraits' - The Sunday Times
'A vivid narrative' - Manchester Guardian
'Full of colour and character' - John o' London's Weekly
'Rich, lavish, violent, passionate' - Evening News
,b>Marguerite Steen (12 May 1894 - 4 August 1975) was a British writer. Very much at home among creative people, she wrote biographies of the Terrys, of her friend Hugh Walpole, of the 18th century poet and actress (and sometime mistress to the Prince of Wales) Mary 'Perdita' Robinson, and of her own lover, the artist Sir William Nicholson. Her first major success was Matador (1934), for which she drew on her love of Spain, and of bullfighting. Also, a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic was her massive saga of the slave-trade and Bristol shipping, The Sun Is My Undoing (1941). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1951.
Anna's story is that of a woman of breeding and principle, who, having fulfilled her obligations to an unsympathetic husband, to whom she has borne two children, accepts, after his death, the equivocal position of common law wife to the man with whom, as a little girl, she fell deeply and abidingly in love. Involved by a profound sense of duty in a series of obligations to the grown-up children of her first marriage and to a beloved grandchild, she manages, nevertheless, to conduct with dignity and devotion her relationship with Evan Crewe - an industrial magnate of the Second World War.
The full richness of Anna's character is developed in the final climax, and the book ends on a high note of philosophy that carries conviction through the personal qualities of the heroine.
Marguerite Steen's many readers will be delighted with Anna Fitzalan: with the power of loving which is the mainspring of her life, with her steadfastness, unselfishness and abiding appreciation of beauty - all of which is lovingly and tenderly depicted in this full and moving book.
Praise for Marguerite Steen
'Miss Steen is a superb manipulator of scene, and she makes her places as alive as her people' - Daily Telegraph
'Rich and enjoyable' - The Observer
'Fine scenes and piquant portraits' - The Sunday Times
'A vivid narrative' - Manchester Guardian
'Full of colour and character' - John o' London's Weekly
'Rich, lavish, violent, passionate' - Evening News
,b>Marguerite Steen (12 May 1894 - 4 August 1975) was a British writer. Very much at home among creative people, she wrote biographies of the Terrys, of her friend Hugh Walpole, of the 18th century poet and actress (and sometime mistress to the Prince of Wales) Mary 'Perdita' Robinson, and of her own lover, the artist Sir William Nicholson. Her first major success was Matador (1934), for which she drew on her love of Spain, and of bullfighting. Also, a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic was her massive saga of the slave-trade and Bristol shipping, The Sun Is My Undoing (1941). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1951.
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