Dorothy Whipple was a celebrated British novelist whose nine highly successful novels, many of which were Book Society Choices or Recommendations, deeply resonated with readers. Her work often explored themes of family life and social dynamics, offering readers an insightful glimpse into life in Britain during the first half of the 20th century. Whipple became known for her compelling narrative style, which skillfully captured the nuances of interpersonal relationships and societal expectations. Her adept characterizations and engaging plotlines earned her critical acclaim and broad popularity, with some of her works being adapted into films.
Three sisters marry very different men and the choices they make determine whether they will flourish, be tamed or be repressed. Lucy's husband is her beloved companion; Vera's husband bores her and she turns elsewhere; and Charlotte's husband is a bully who turns a high-spirited naive young girl into a deeply unhappy woman.
The story of the Hunters and the Lockwoods, neighbours in a Northern, provincial mill town, whose lives take very different paths after the early death of Richard Hunter.
"Dorothy Whipple's picture of a quite ordinary family before and after the war. Greenbanks is the home which has housed three generations including: Louisa, her brood of children and their children - especially Rachel, a 6 year old when the story begins in the years before the First World War
The ten short stories in 'The Closed Door and Other Stories' are a selection from the three volumes of stories that Dorothy Whipple published in her lifetime: 'On Approval' in 1935, 'After Tea and Other Stories' in 1941 and 'Wednesday and Other Stories' in 1961. Dorothy Whipple's key theme is ‘Live and Let Live’. And what she describes throughout her short stories are people, and particularly parents, who defy this maxim. For this reason her work is timeless, like all great writing. It is irrelevant that Dorothy Whipple’s novels were set in an era when middle-class women expected to have a maid; when fish knives were used for eating fish; when children did what they were told. The moral universe she creates has not changed: there are bullies in every part of society; people try their best but often fail; they would like to be unselfish but sometimes are greedy.
A 1930 novel by Persephone Books' most popular writer about a girl who sets up a dress shop.
The Blakes are an ordinary family: Celia looks after the house and Thomas works at the family engineering business in Leicester. The book begins when he meets Mr Knight, a financier as crooked as any on the front pages of our newspapers nowadays; and tracks his and his family's swift climb and fall. .Part of the cause of the ensuing tragedy is Celia's innocence - blinkered by domesticity, she and her children are the 'victim of the turbulence of the outside world' (Postscript); but finally, through 'quiet tenacity and the refusal to let go of certain precious things, goodness does win out' (Afterword). And the "TLS" wrote: 'The portraits in the book are fired by Mrs Whipple's article of faith - the supreme importance of people.'
J. B. Priestly describes Dorothy Whipple as a "Jane Austen of the Twentieth Century."
The setting for this, the third novel by Dorothy Whipple Persephone have published, is Saunby Priory, a large house somewhere in England which has seen better times. We are shown the two Marwood girls, who are nearly grown-up, their father, the widower Major Marwood, and their aunt; then, as soon as their lives have been described, the Major proposes marriage to a woman much younger than himself - and many changes begin.
A novella – Every Good Deed, originally published separately in 1944 – and nine short stories.