The Third Miss Symons (Virago Modern Classics) - Softcover

Mayor, F. M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0860681319 ISBN 13: 9780860681311

Publisher: Virago, 1999

Synopsis

The story of Henrietta Symons from her birth to her death, and the most perfect account in English fiction of those women who, through the ages, have neither married nor loved, the spinster, the maiden aunt, the surplus woman. Henrietta is the third daughter in a large Victorian family, the misfit girl without the beauty or the talent to be loved. Querulous, bad-tempered, her meaningless life passes aimlessly by. But Henrietta has one saving grace. She knows herself for what she is, and self-knowledge, however bitter, turns her life of defeat into a certain kind of victory.

About this title

Review:

Mayor's achievement is to take the "superfluous female" of the Victorian census return, and transform her into a figure of luminous importance (INDEPENDENT)

As a literary study of that now-extinct creature, the Victorian spinster, it shines (GUARDIAN)

This is a great work of fiction, with deep emotional, moral, intellectual and social content.. (Susan Hill)

Book Description:

*A marvellous, moving novel of solitude, spinsterhood and, above all, triumph.
*An extraordinary many faceted account of one woman, and the richness of her being.

About this edition

• Publisher: Virago
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0860681319
• ISBN 13: 9780860681311
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 162