Novels by Mary Wesley (Study Guide): Jumping the Queue, the Vacillations of Poppy Carew, Not That Sort of Girl, a Dubious Legacy

This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Jumping the Queue, the Vacillations of Poppy Carew, Not That Sort of Girl, a Dubious Legacy, a Sensible Life, Harnessing Peacocks, Second Fiddle, an Imaginative Experience, the Camomile Lawn, Part of the Furniture. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Jumping the Queue (1983) is British novelist Mary Wesleys first adult novel, published when the author was seventy years old. The story takes place mainly in Cornwall, England, and follows a middle aged widow's struggle with guilt and self-reproach after the death of her husband and her determination to jump the queue - commit suicide. Mary Wesley had been writing most of her life and had had two children's books published when her husband died in 1970. The years that followed were unproductive and barren and Wesley was troubled by poverty and grief. However, by 1977 she managed to finish the script to Jumping the Queue, a book about a widow's wish to commit suicide in the wake of her husband's death. The book clearly reflects the depth of Wesley's own despair when she wrote it, and the entire work can be seen as part of the process of grieving. However, Wesley had to wait five years before she found a publisher courageous enough to accept the script, and Jumping the Queue was finally published on April 28th 1983. After thirty-five years of writing and rejections her first adult novel had become a reality. The heroine of the novel is Matilda, a widow in her fifties, who lives alone in an isolated cottage in Cornwall, England. Her four children all live abroad and rarely visit her, and troubled by her husband's death she has decided to end it all - commit suicide.Matilda's plan is to go to the beach, swim out and drown herself. However, a gang of youngsters spoil her plan...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=23799712