The Summer House: A Trilogy

The Summer House: A Trilogy

<p>"A work of astonishing illumination and delight...so edgy, bright and subversive about women's inner lives and experience."€"Francine Prose, <em>New York Times Book Review</em></p> <p>A <em>New York Times</em> Notable Book</p> <p>In <em>The Summer House</em> trilogy, three very different women, with three very distinct perspectives, narrate three very witty novels concerning one disastrous wedding in the offing.</p> <p><em>The Clothes in the Wardrobe</em>: Nineteen-year-old Margaret feels more trepidation than joy at the prospect of her marriage to forty-year-old Syl.</p> <p><em>The Skeleton in the Cupboard</em>: Syl€s mother, Mrs. Monro, doesn€t know quite what to make of her son€s life, but she knows Margaret should not marry him.</p> <p><em>The Fly in the Ointment</em>: And then there€s Lili, the free spirit who is determined that the wedding shall not happen, no matter the consequences.</p><p>"Her style is succinct, her humor dry€¦Unputdownable."€"<em>The Spectator</em></p> <p>"The subtlety of James, the comedy of Spark, the penetrating€"and the deep, unflinching€"eye of Jane Austen."€"<em>Kirkus Reviews</em></p> <p>"A witty and original writer."€"<em>Times Literary Supplement</em></p> <p>"Inspired malice...Alice Thomas Ellis only bothers with the things that really bother her. That's why her novel is short. That's why her novel is good."€"Victoria Glendinning in <em>The Times</em></p> <p>"It oozes enjoyable malice."€"<em>Observer</em></p> <p>"The glitter comes from Alice Thomas Ellis's mastery in keeping just the right distance between tones and undertones...This is a dark comedy."€"<em>Sunday Times</em></p><p><b>Alice Thomas Ellis</b> (1932€“2005) was one of Britain's most widely admired writers. Her dozen novels include <i>The 27th Kingdom</i>, which was nominated for a Booker Prize, and <i>The Inn at the Edge of the World</i>, which won the 1991 Writers' Guild Award for Best Fiction. She also published many essays and edited books by Penelope Fitzgerald and Beryl Bainbridge. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.</p>