The Sleeping Beauty (A Virago Modern Classic)

by Elizabeth Taylor

Paperback, 1983

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Your library, Virago and other classic series

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Publication

Dial Press (1983), Paperback, 250 pages

Description

To win Emily now appeared to be the great task, the meaning, of his life... Vinny Tumulty is a quiet, sensible man. When he goes to stay at a small English seaside resort his task is to comfort a bereaved friend, Isabella. A past master at sympathy, Vinny looks forward to a solemn few days of tears and consolation. Then, on the evening of his arrival, he looks out of the window at sunst and catches sight of a mysterious romantic figure: a beautiful woman walking by the seashore. Before the week is over Vinny has fallen in love, completely and utterly, for this first time in his middle-aged life. But Emily is a sleeping beauty, her secluded life hiding bitter secrets from the past. How can this unlikely Prince Charming break the spell and rouse her from her dreams? First published in 1953, this is one of Elizabeth Taylor's most romantic novels, a love story, and typical too of her great talents in its quiet observation and delicate, ironic perception.… (more)

Media reviews

The Guardian

At Easter, a miracle. Thanks to the kindest friends a person could ever have, I spent the weekend on a Caribbean beach, where I indulged once again a now well-established holiday tradition. It goes like this: the hotter and happier it is wherever I am, the more damp and miserable it must be in the

novel I'm reading. On this score, Elizabeth Taylor's The Sleeping Beauty exceeded all expectations by being set almost entirely in a postwar boarding house in an out-of-season south coast resort called – wait for it – Seething. Everyone in it is sad and thwarted, sleeps alone in their chilly bedroom and considers an hour in a milk bar whose windows are weeping condensation as no more than they are due by way of enjoyment – and yes, each page increased exponentially my own pleasure every time I lifted my eyes to the wide, turquoise sea.

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