"Funny and poignant. . . . This book is written with verve and exuberance."--"The Sunday Telegraph"

Monica Dickens, the great granddaughter of Charles Dickens, published "Mariana" in 1940 when she was only twenty-four years old. A bestseller in its time, "Mariana" is the often-comical story of a typical English girl growing up in the 1930s.

A lively young woman who has no idea what to do with her life, Mary is often at loose but happy ends: going to school and vacationing in Kensington; a hilarious failed attempt at drama school; a year in Paris learning dressmaking and getting engaged to the wrong man; and finally her romance with the right man.

"They nearly all had short hair. She wondered whether they had gone through these pangs before they bobbed it, or whether their husbands had laughingly clapped a basin over their heads one fine Putney day and run a pair of scissors round as casually as they would trim a garden hedge."

Monica Dickens was born in London in 1915. Her father was Henry Charles Dickens, the eighth son of Charles Dickens. She was an active humanitarian and is the author of numerous novels and children's books. Despite her privileged upbringing, Dickens volunteered in the service and worked in an aircraft factory repairing Spitfire fighters. This, and her work as a cook and servant, informed much of her writing.

Monica Dickens's first book, published in 1940, could easily have been called Mariana - an Englishwoman. For that is what it is: the story of a young English girl's growth towards maturity in the 1930s.We see Mary at school in Kensington and on holiday in Somerset; her attempt at drama school; her year in Paris learning dressmaking and getting engaged to the wrong man; her time as a secretary and companion; and her romance with Sam. We chose this book because we wanted to publish a novel like Dusty Answer, I Capture the Castle or The Pursuit of Love, about a girl encountering life and love, which is also funny, readable and perceptive; it is a 'hot-water bottle' novel, one to curl up with on the sofa on a wet Sunday afternoon. But it is more than this. As Harriet Lane remarks in her Preface: 'It is Mariana's artlessness, its enthusiasm, its attention to tiny, telling domestic detail that makes it so appealing to modern readers.' And John Sandoe Books in Sloane Square (an early champion of Persephone Books) commented: 'The contemporary detail is superb - Monica Dickens's descriptions of food and clothes are particularly good - and the characters are observed with vitality and humour. Mariana is written with such verve and exuberance that we would defy any but academics and professional cynics not to enjoy it.'

A psychological thriller excavating the fault lines that separate the entitled from the rest, Alys, Always is adapted for the stage by Lucinda Coxon from Harriet Lane's gripping novel. Frances works on the books pages of a Sunday newspaper. She's quiet and capable, but nobody takes much notice: her face is pressed to the window, on the outside, looking in. One evening, driving back to London after visiting her infuriating parents, she comes across an overturned car crumpled on the side of the road. She waits with the injured driver, Alys Kyte, until the ambulance arrives. Later, when Alys's famous family gets in touch, Frances finds herself ushered for the first time into the world on the other side of the window. And she begins to wonder: what will it take to belong? This stage version of Alys, Always was premiered at the Bridge Theatre, London, in February 2019, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Joanne Froggatt and Robert Glenister. 'Wonderfully observed... a gripping, psychologically complex achievement, whose greatest success is the lingering sense of unease' Sunday Telegraph on Harriet Lane's novel

'Thriller of the Year' Amanda Craig 'As seductive as it is chilling, HER is quality literary fiction meets psychological thriller' Lucy Scholes, OBSERVER 'The ultimate frenemy thriller' NOW Two women; two different worlds. Emma is a struggling mother who has put everything on hold. Nina is sophisticated and independent - entirely in control. When the pair meet, Nina generously draws Emma into her life. But this isn't the first time the women's paths have crossed. Nina remembers Emma and she remembers what Emma did ...But what exactly does Nina want from her? And how far will she go in pursuit of it? 'Another taut, tense psychological thriller from the author of the acclaimed 2012 debut novel ALYS, ALWAYS ...A compelling revenge drama that will make you think twice about getting too chummy with the neighbours.' Sebastian Shakespeare, TATLER 'Harriet Lane keeps the reader on the edge until the last page.' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'Dazzlingly perceptive of every detail ...my thriller chiller of the year' Leila Sanai, INDEPENDENT 'Tautly written ...the endgame, when it comes, is shattering.' INDEPENDENT 'If you loved Notes on a Scandal's brand of toxic camaraderie, you'll love this' GRAZIA Summer Reads

'A marvellous novel. I absolutely adored it ... So subtle, funny, tender and so miraculously observed ... Utterly brilliant' Jilly Cooper 'Amazing . . . chillingly brilliant' RED 'A superbly disquieting psychological thriller ... Mordantly funny, yet chilling, this tale of an ordinary woman inveigling her way into a position of power is compulsive reading' SPECTATOR They have everything she wants... Frances is a thirty-something lowly sub-editor, but her routine, colourless existence is disrupted one winter evening when she happens upon the aftermath of a car crash and hears the last words of the driver, Alys Kyte. When Alys's family makes contact in an attempt to find closure, Frances is given a tantalising glimpse of a very different world: one of privilege and possibility. The relationships she builds with the Kytes will have an impact on her own life, both professionally and personally, as Frances dares to wonder whether she might now become a player in her own right ... 'A suspensful portrait of the outsider and a satisfyingly bitchy send-up of literary London' GUARDIAN 'Frances is a fascinating creation: determined, deceitful, intriguingly complex and believably drawn ... This deeply unsettling but eminently readable story is one that will linger in the memory' OBSERVER 'Lane's take on contemporary class is so sharply observed that it becomes almost satirical: the perennial theme of social climbing gets a superb new treatment in her highly entertaining, slightly chilling tale of a cuckoo in the nest' SUNDAY TIMES 'Superbly, even poetically written with an almost feverish hyper-realism, this All About Eve for our times misses no telling detail of the difference between the entitled and unentitled classes... A brilliant idea, brilliantly realised. I loved it, I loved it. I've run out of superlatives and all that remains to say is that I wish I was you; I wish I hadn't read it and had that pleasure to come' Wendy Holden DAILY MAIL

'The ultimate frenemy thriller' [NOW MAGAZINE] The smash critical hit from the publishers that bought you GONE GIRL. You don't remember her . . . but she remembers you. Two women; two different worlds. Emma is a struggling mother who has put everything on hold. Nina is sophisticated and independent - entirely in control. When the pair meet, Nina generously draws Emma into her life. But this isn't the first time the women's paths have crossed. Nina remembers Emma and she remembers what Emma did. But what exactly does Nina want from her? And how far will she go in pursuit of it? 'As seductive as it is chilling, Her is quality literary fiction meets psychological thriller, the devil of which is in the detail' OBSERVER 'Harriet Lane is a deft conjurer of menacing middle class scenarios, and her second novel, a taut revenge drama with a shattering endgame' i NEWSPAPER 'Thriller of the year' Amanda Craig 'Unlike conventional thrillers, the perverse pleasure of this compelling novel is not a big reveal but the pin-sharp unpicking of personality' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'A tautly written psychological thriller ... there is forensic social observation here. Her London is recognisably real. Both Emma and Nina feel like women you might pass on a leafy Islington street ... Then the endgame, when it comes, is shattering' INDEPENDENT 'Harriet Lane keeps the reader on the edge until the last page' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'Another taut, tense psychological thriller from the author of the acclaimed 2012 debut novel Alys, Always ... A compelling revenge drama that will make you think twice about getting too chummy with the neighbours' Sebastian Shakespeare, TATLER 'A fine mistress of suspense' TLS 'This exquisitely sinister psychological thriller that is going to take us all by storm this summer, Harriet Lane's Her, has a Notes on a Scandal-type relationship between an exhausted young mother and her rich sophisticated neighbour' DAILY TELEGRAPH

This is a new release of the original 1947 edition.

This is a new release of the original 1947 edition.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

The girlhood memoir of Harriet Lane Levy, friend and neighbor of Alice B. Toklas, provides an intimate and detailed glimpse into San Francisco's Victorian past.

The girlhood memoir of Harriet Lane Levy, friend and neighbor of Alice B. Toklas, provides an intimate and detailed glimpse into San Francisco's Victorian past.