Classics · MelancholicAfter her mother's death, sixteen-year-old Portia Quayne moves to London to live with her half-brother and his wife
The Death of the Heart
A sixteen-year-old orphan moves in with her half-brother's household in London
Portia Quayne is a sixteen-year-old orphan who, after her mother's death, moves to London to live with her half-brother Thomas and his wife Anna. Awkward and observant, she struggles to fit into their household and falls for Eddie, a friend of Anna's who works at Thomas's advertising agency. The novel is set mainly in London in the interwar period. Victor Gollancz published it in 1938 in the UK, and Alfred A. Knopf in the US on January 23, 1939.
More about this book
Who
Portia Quayne, Thomas and Anna Quayne, Eddie, St. Quentin, Major Brutt and the maid Matchett.
World
Mainly London in the interwar period.
What makes it different
Bowen described it as a "pre-war" novel.
Feel
Quiet and observant.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- The Death of the HeartWikipedia