Mrs Palfrey At The Claremount - Elizabeth Taylor

So far I've done nothing at all to celebrate Elizabeth Taylor's centenary - something that I've been mildly ashamed of because I have a pile of her books unread on my Virago shelf. The original green spined covers are particularly attractive, and the back blurbs sound so good that I've managed to collect any number of them without ever actually finishing one of her books - worse still there have been a few false starts. 'Mrs Palfrey at the Claremount' was one of a few half read volumes in the collection and after Verity's conversation it seemed imperative to finish it.

Until I discovered some of her short stories a few years back I'd rather given up on Taylor, but I loved those stories - they finally gave me an insight into why people love Taylor so much. This time round I read Mrs Palfrey in a day, for me I rather think she needs to be approached like this - at something of a gallop. The writing is lovely, she's funny and perceptive with a deft touch for the tragic, but there was still the fear that when I put the book down it just wouldn't occur to me to pick it up again. Maybe this is because in this case Mrs Palfrey's age made it unlikely that she had much to look forward to but death.

Mrs Palfrey is an elderly widow looking for somewhere to spend her last days after realising life with her daughter and son in law would be impossible. She settles on a cheapish hotel off the Cromwell road - because there's so much going on in London, and there's the proximity of her grandson Desmond who she was close to in his childhood. Widowhood in a dull hotel where the residential guests are none to welcome in the eyes of the management is destined to hold few charms for Mrs Palfrey - or her fellow inmates. What the hotel does represent is freedom from the indignity of old peoples homes and hospitals and for that it's cherished.

Desmond proves to be a disappointment - one of the many that the elderly have to bear. He couldn't be less interested in his grandmother, but Mrs Palfrey finds somebody else to love - a young writer called Ludo who in his own way is just as in need of somebody to be loved by in a grandmotherly sort of way. Like all love though there is a possessive element to it, especially on Mrs Palfrey's part, but then she has rather less in her life to look forward to - nothing really but the maintenance of appearances, so having something to hold onto matters rather more to her.

Taylor's vision of old age is quite bleak - Mrs Palfrey and her friends are treated shamefully, it's bad enough that their families don't want them, but worse that the services they pay so much for are so grudgingly given - the impatience that the hotel treats it's guests with is a stark reminder of how easy it is to exploit and mistreat the vulnerable. 

Elizabeth Taylor – The Blush

This was a charity shop find – one of a few Elizabeth Taylors that have snuck into my flat over the last couple of weeks despite a pledge not to buy any more of her books until I’d finished at least one of them. For some reason I can’t quite fathom I’ve never really got very far with Taylor despite the fact that I love the sound of her books, and have over the years acquired quite a handful of them. ‘The Blush’ is a collection of short stories - normally a format I really like but something I’ve not been in the mood for recently, but the cover was so pretty and the price so reasonable that I couldn’t leave the book behind.

Happily for me my pound was well spent; it seemed like a good candidate for lunchtime reading and once I started I had to have another story and another. I’m definitely looking out for the Taylor’s other short story collections now, and it’s just possible I’ll do something definite about reading a whole novel. (I might add that the blonde gave me a very old fashioned look when she spotted this, I'm going to have to make her more Ice cream...)

The great thing for me with short stories is that even if I can afford a couple of duds in a collection and still end up loving a book – a novel has to pull me in from the beginning and keep me in. For me the stand out gem was one called ‘Perhaps a family failing’ detailing a young couples wedding night. It’s a failure, a failure of such epic proportions that nothing prepared me for the end (a failure that has nothing to do with sex by the way – not that sort of story at all). Where the tale ends is also masterly – just before any explanations and reckonings have to be made which leaves the imagination to run riot with possibilities in the most satisfying way imaginable.

If there was a dud (and this is a strictly personal opinion) it was the opening story ‘The Ambush’ which I just totally failed to get the point off. I could see something was going on but couldn’t for the life of me work out what. I think this is more my fault than Taylor’s – I’ve mulled it over a few times, and will definitely return to it sometime to see if I have more luck, but I was on safer ground with things like ‘The Letter Writer’s’ a very bittersweet account of what happens when a couple who have spent a decade in communication finally meet face to face. That anxiety over meeting a well known correspondent for the first time is a familiar one (though so far I’ve been lucky and meetings have always been a joy).

If anyone has any tips for how to approach Taylor please tell me – she seems so exactly the sort of writer I should love that my general apathy towards her work upsets me, and after these short stories I feel like I’m on the brink of a great love affair if only I can find the right way in!