You’ll enjoy it when you get there: The stories of Elizabeth Taylor

On Kathleen’s strong recommendation, I picked up this collection of stories from the 1950s to 1970s (Taylor died in 1975 at 63).  Although the author was well-regarded during her lifetime – many of the stories first ran in The New Yorker – I had really never heard of her writings.  She seems have fallen out of favor as only a few single copies of her works are held by any of our member libraries.  You may have seen the charming movie, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, which was based on one of her stories.  Taylor’s stories are just wonderful.  Most concern ordinary people living small lives in post-war suburban England.  The stories can be as depressing and bleak as the loneliness of some of her characters (for example, the shy young girl in the title story who, with overwhelming dread, has been forced to accompany her father to a political dinner in place of her ill mother).  Many concern the currents that run under everyday conversations and how language can divide people rather than lead to better understanding.  She has a terrific ability to call up a fully realized character with just a few deft sentences.  Unlike many short story collections, where a day or two after finishing them most of the stories have run together in my mind or disappeared altogether, Taylor’s linger.  Thanks, Kathleen!  428 pp.