Stella Benson Books

The oddest book you may ever read, both fantastic autobiography and ground-breaking autofictionCount Nicolas de Toulouse Lautrec de Savine was a hero in battle and a legendary lover in bed. A daring adventurer and a shameless swindler. A gambler ready to place the riskiest bets and a coward apt to flee his creditors in the middle of the night. Tsar of Bulgaria and a Chicago streetcar conductor. A racist, a chauvinist, and an antisemite. Was he all of these -- or none of them? This is the question Stella Benson struggled with as she tried to shape the Count's wild recollections into a coherent story. Which mattered more: the factual truth or the fictional truth? Her answer anticipates today's field of creative nonfiction -- while telling a wild, funny, and unique tale.

In the spring of 1916, we meet orphaned sister and brother Jay and Kew Martin in London. Jay (real name Jane Elizabeth) has run away from her strange, claustrophobic, interfering, well-heeled family to the simplicities of the 'Brown Borough' (otherwise Hackney), to live amongst its working-class people, to a job as a bus conductor, and to discover her own wild self. Kew is on recuperative leave from the War, and manages to find Jay in her humble new abode. She begs him to preserve her newfound freedom and not reveal her whereabouts to their family. But nothing can stop their former guardians, the eccentric writer Anonyma Martin and her husband, their dry cousin Gustus, from setting out to try to find her, using clues from Jay's letters. The problem is, Jay's letters have been fabricated from her extraordinary dream-filled imagination; she's set them on a wild goose-chase!

We begin by following The Gardener in a shambolic and romantic walking journey, as his inexperience leads him a merry dance through youth's many poses, away from his shabby boarding house in London, toward the coast. Along the way, he falls for The Suffragette, but she rejects him. The problem is, she likes him, despite herself. But is she capable of traditional love? And so we also follow her, led through not only her political convictions, but also all the less certain parts of her personality, about which she is blindingly honest. Can she fit love for The Gardener into her busy passion for women's rights? Does she really want to? She thinks probably not. And yet...

Stella Benson (1892-1933) was an English feminist travel writer and novelist. Stella was noted for being compassionate and interested in social issues. Like her older female relatives, she supported women's suffrage. During World War I, she supported the troops by gardening and by helping poor women in London's East End at The Charity Organisation Society. These efforts inspired Benson to write novels I Pose (1915) and This Is the End (1917). She took on a job at The University of California as a tutor, then as an editorial reader for The University Press. These experiences inspired her next work, The Poor Man (1922). Benson's writings kept coming, but her later works are not well known today. Goodbye, Stranger was written in 1926, followed by The Man Who Missed the Bus in 1928 and finally Tobit Transplanted in 1930, which won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize.

The book is a facsimile reprint of an original antiquarian work, preserving its historical significance. While it may exhibit imperfections like marks and notations due to its age, the reprint aims to maintain the integrity of the original text. This effort reflects a commitment to protecting and promoting important literature, offering readers access to high-quality editions that honor the past while remaining affordable.

This publication focuses on making historical works accessible to individuals with impaired vision through large print. Megali, the publishing house behind this initiative, specializes in reproducing original texts, ensuring that important literary and historical content remains available to a wider audience.

Exploring themes of ennui, romance, and the complexities of modern life, this poetry collection captures the reflections of a young woman navigating a rapidly changing world. Stella Benson expresses her fatigue with societal expectations and embraces her individuality, seeking her own path amidst the pressures of youth. The verses convey a poignant sense of longing and introspection, inviting readers to resonate with her journey of self-discovery.

"The Little World" is a fascinating travel book, in which Benson describes her travels around the world, concentrating on China and the USA.