In Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont Elizabeth
Taylor has managed to write a novel about the loneliness of old age
that is sweet rather than sad.
The widowed, genteel Laura Palfrey moves into the Claremont, a London
hotel that, like its long-term residents, is past its prime. The
elderly boarders, all but one female, are eccentric, not very likable
characters who have nothing better to discuss than the dinner menu.
Visitors are much desired and rare. Mrs. Palfrey has told the others
she is expecting to see her grandson Desmond, her only relative in
London. When Desmond doesn't appear as hoped for, Mrs. Claremont
schemes to save face. She asks a young man who had come to her rescue
when she'd fallen on a sidewalk to pose as Desmond. An aspiring writer
who senses that the hotel residents might provide material for his
fiction, Ludovic Myers readily agrees to come to dinner at the
Claremont.
As Ludo and Mrs. Palfrey continue meeting, they develop a bond based on real respect
and regard. Mrs. Claremont comes to care for Ludo more than her own
blood, and Ludo not only revels in the nurturing he missed from his own
family but also dotes on her.
The story is made sweeter by the likableness of the two main characters. Mrs. Palfrey is
the most normal, decent, and sensible old resident at the Claremont.
Ludo is a genuinely kind, open-minded young man. They find that love
can come in many forms and across differences of age and background.
Taylor is considered by some an unsung master of 20th-century British
literature, a "domestic" writer of elegance, subtlety, and wit in the
tradition of Jane Austen. She published a dozen novels and several
collections of short stories.
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