A Wreath of Roses - Elizabeth Taylor (1949)
Spending the holiday with friends, as she has for many years, Camilla finds that their private absorptions - Frances with her painting and Liz with her baby - seem to exclude her from the gossipy intimacies of previous summers. Anxious that she will remain encased in her solitary life as a school secretary, Camilla steps into an unlikesly liaison with Richard Elton, a handsome, assured - and dangerous - liar.
I came very late to Elizabeth Taylor - which I am pleased about, as it means I have many of her novels still to read. This one is the fifth novel of hers I have read, and it is by far the darkest and most chilling. Like these other novels of Elizabeth Taylor, A Wreath of Roses, is beautifully written. The characters wonderfully observed are strong and believable - the reader instantly understands their pasts and presents, and is left wondering about their futures. Camila is a somewhat naive single woman, her life is narrow, she feels excluded from her friend's Liz's baby and new married life. Liz's old governess Frances with whom they are staying is concerned with her own painting, her rheumatism and the arrival of a friend. Camilla's unlikely entanglement with Richard Elton, seems at first merely unwise. Yet as the novel progresses - it becomes rather more chilling. A fabulous read, hugely memorable, making me want to read more Elizabeth Taylor soon.