"Messalina of the Suburbs" by E. M. Delafield is a story set in the early 1900s about Elsie Palmer, a sixteen-year-old girl, trying to find her place in the world. Elsie struggles with her stern mother and the duties she has at home. She wants more freedom and excitement. To find this, she starts relationships with boys, like the likable Mr. Roberts and the older Doctor Woolley. These relationships get her into some complex situations. From the very beginning, Elsie's desire to break free from her mother's rules is obvious. She finds a sense of independence and emotional complexity when she begins interacting and flirting with the boys around her. What starts as a simple desire for fun grows into a complicated journey toward something unexpected and dangerous.
Messalina of the suburbs
By E. M. Delafield
In a world of strict rules, a young girl's search for excitement pulls her into dangerous relationships and a possible disaster.
Summary
About the AuthorEdmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture, commonly known as E. M. Delafield, was a prolific English author. She wrote novels, short stories, and plays, among other genres, but Delafield is best known for her largely autobiographical Diary of a Provincial Lady, which took the form of a journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman living mostly in a Devon village of the 1930s. In sequels, the Provincial Lady buys a flat in London, travels to America and attempts to find war-work during the Phoney War. Delafield's other works include an account of a visit to the Soviet Union, but this is not part of the Provincial Lady series, despite having been reprinted with the title The Provincial Lady in Russia. Delafield is considered by many to have been a master of the comedy of manners.
Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture, commonly known as E. M. Delafield, was a prolific English author. She wrote novels, short stories, and plays, among other genres, but Delafield is best known for her largely autobiographical Diary of a Provincial Lady, which took the form of a journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman living mostly in a Devon village of the 1930s. In sequels, the Provincial Lady buys a flat in London, travels to America and attempts to find war-work during the Phoney War. Delafield's other works include an account of a visit to the Soviet Union, but this is not part of the Provincial Lady series, despite having been reprinted with the title The Provincial Lady in Russia. Delafield is considered by many to have been a master of the comedy of manners.
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