Sincerely yours, Eliza Peabody (Queen of the Tambourine) is already the ninth book translated by Jane Gardam (1928), an author who, in particular, thanks to her beautiful ‘Old Filth’ trilogy (An Impeccable Man and Its Sequels) has justly been forgotten. saved. It’s a novel of letters – and no, that’s not synonymous with ‘boring’. The letters are from the title character, a late middle-aged South London woman, and addressed to her neighbor Joan. After a few pages it becomes clear to the reader that Eliza and Joan hardly know each other, but that does not stop Eliza from showering her neighbor with all kinds of well-meant advice. That Joan has problems with her leg is most likely psychosomatic. Does Joan realize that she is embarrassing both herself and her husband? In the (ever unanswered) letters that follow, Eliza not only turns out to be a horrible know-it-all whose advice is just as many reprimands, but she also shows herself to be an intriguingly unreliable narrator, of whom it is becoming increasingly clear that she herself is in (mental) need. Humorous, malicious and yet moving.
ttn-21
Wonderful letters from a horrible know-it-all
