Between the Acts

Published in 1941, this novel takes place on a June day at Pointz Hall, an English country house, as the village prepares and performs a historical pageant on the lawn. Isa Oliver, married and uneasy, moves through the house with her husband Giles, the widowed Mrs Swithin, and guests who gather for the play. Miss La Trobe, the pageant's author, tries to force centuries of English scenes into an afternoon while aeroplanes and scraps of public talk remind the audience of the war coming. The book is a single-day novel about private feeling set against a public performance of national history.

Quarter bound in dark red linen, white paper boards with a design in grey-green and brown by Fiona Campbell. Dark red endleaves. Grey-green slipcase.