The Little Girls (Twentieth Century Classics) [Mass Market Paperback]

Elizabeth Bowen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1995 | Series: Twentieth Century Classics

In 1914 they had been 11 years old; three girls at St Agatha's, a day school on the South Coast. Fifty years later, Dinah, beautiful as ever, advertises in the newspapers to find the other two - Clare, now established with a successful business, and Sheila, a married woman, glossy and correct.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Triumphant . . . the funniest of Miss Bowen’s novels.” —The Times (London)

“This story is poetic in its awareness, its stimulus, its beauty of writing; and as full of clues, hints and half-revealed secrets as any thriller.” —The Scotsman (Edinburgh)

“Bowen so thoroughly knows the world she is writing about that she contrives to appear to convey it to us whole. Her fictional insight is made solid by sound psychological insight.” –The New York Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Elizabeth Bowen was born in Dublin in 1899, the only child of an Irish lawyer and landowner. Her book Bowen's Court (1942) is the history of her family and their house, in County Cork. Throughout her life, she divided her time between London and Bowen's Court, which she inherited. She wrote many acclaimed novels and short story collections, was awarded the CBE in 1948, and was made a Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1965. She died in 1973. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140183051
• ISBN-13: 978-0140183054
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,184,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anti Nostolgic Reaquaintence, September 25, 2006

By 

A. Bonomo "Betweenbooks" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Little Girls (Paperback)

Elizabeth Bowen became one of my favorite authors ever within the first chapter of the first book of hers that I read, (The House in Paris). Her text is acute and moving, it makes everyone alive and has a tangible respect of the subjectivity of people's existence.

The Little Girls, the fourth novel of hers I have read. I do not think I would have fallen as madly in love with her if it had been my first or second book of hers that I read. But it is still a good novel. Like most of Bowen' work plot is secondary to the way people read one another. In this case the three girls of the title, who are all grown up and in their sixties. They have not spoken to each other since their childhood effectively ended with the outbreak of the First World War. The girls put together a pagan sort of made up ritual in creating a time capsule to go along with their exotic nick-names, (Sheickie, Mumbo and Dicey). Then fifty years later they decide to search for it. But really it is about

After reflection the prose of this seems different than in her earlier novels. I read an article that stated in her later novels, especially Eva Trout, her prose tends to be more in the subjectivity of the characters. The Little Girls is definitely moving in that direction. The third person narrator is using the vocabulary of whom she is describing. This is especially obvious in the second section narrating the events that happened immediately before the outbreak of the war. It makes it less sympathetic than the prose of her earlier novels. I guess I just wanted to like it more than I did.