Deborah in Langdale by E. M. Ward

Deborah in Langdale

by E. M. Ward

Methuen & Co., 1933, [First Edition], hardcover

Good Condition, some edge and shelf wear, some rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, dustjacket front pasted to front cover, ex-library stamps to front endpaper and title pages, library markings to spine, a little foxing to some pages, slight lean (see photographs)

“The story begins in Folkstone where the two unmarried sisters are living with their aged uncle. Life is hard and when Deborah receives a letter telling her that she has inherited a house with a small income in Langdale they decide they must make the move north. They arrive at Thrang End late at night after a long, tiring journey from the south of England. They go to bed, "but not to sleep" for it is now that the landscape outside the house intrudes on them in the most alarming way. "Even Enid the tranquil lay, rigid with listening, afraid to turn so that either ear should be muffled in the pillow. To hear no sound was dreadful to them, and yet, if some sudden noise came, they felt, being so tired and still rather light-headed, as if they would at once die of fright". Living in the countryside we tend to forget how dark it is at night without street lights and how quiet it is without the sound of passing traffic but I'm sure today's city visitors to Cumbria still sometimes feel aware of the looming and rather menacing great outdoors outside their hotel bedroom windows.”