Antonia White

La obra clave de una Sylvia Plath desconocida. Considerada la más perfecta novela de internado de la historia, Helada en mayo expone las tensiones entre la fe, la autoridad y el deseo de libertad. Un retrato inolvidable de la perdida de la inocencia.Tras su publicacion en 1933, Helada en mayo causo un autentico terremoto en la sociedad britanica de la epoca. Cargada de un fuerte contenido autobiografico, la historia nos lleva a comienzos del siglo xx, cuando Nanda Gray, hija de un catolico recien convertido, es enviada al Convento de las Cinco Llagas, a las afueras de Londres, un lugar entre cuyos muros las estudiantes reciben una severa educacion catolica, en la que la conformidad y la sumision son ley. En esta gelida atmosfera, Nanda, de naturaleza extrovertida, encontrara en la literatura y en las amistades apasionadas la unica desviacion a la obediencia total. Helada en mayo es una peculiar bildungsroman sobre la rigurosa y, por momentos, cruel y mezquina educacion de una joven catolica inglesa.Tan impactante como La campana de cristal de Sylvia Plath, Helada en mayo es una meditacion magistral sobre el costo de la obediencia y el poder transformador de la literatura. Un testimonio conmovedor de la rebeldia de la juventud contra el autoritarismo y las normas estrictas, que muestra como la pasion puede resistir cualquier dogma.CRITICAUn clasico moderno sobre la vida en un colegio de monjas que, con su retorcida etica y su crueldad despreocupada, parece hoy una fantasia distopica. Tessa HadleyHelada en mayo es la novela de internado mas brillante y siniestra que he leido nunca. Penolope FitzgeraldIntensa, turbadora, un pequeño milagro. Elizabeth BowenLa inspiracion para toda la lista de Virago Modern Classics. Carmen Callil, Editora de ViragoLa mejor novela jamas escrita sobre la vida en un colegio de monjas. Hermione Lee, biografa de Penelope FitzgeraldHelada en mayo es una fascinante pieza autobiografica: un relato ligeramente ficticio del periodo de internado y expulsion que ensombrecio la vida de White. Eloise Millar, The GuardianAntonia White es quizas la heroina mas improbable del movimiento feminista. Kirkus ReviewsMe sorprenderia que alguien que lea Helada en mayo y a Antonia White no se sienta realmente afectado por su prosa. Vulpes LibrisUna obra maestra. Una descripcion serena y objetiva de la lenta muerte del alma Selina HastingsHay libros que te hacen mella, que te persiguen durante toda tu vida. Para mi, uno de esos libros es sin duda Helada en mayo. Melissa Harrison, Slightly Foxed

Frost in May is the unsurpassed novel of convent school life. This story of a clash between a determined young girl and an authoritarian regime is both perceptive and painfully emotional, convincing in every detail - Hermione Lee, ObserverWith a new introduction by Tessa HadleyNanda Gray, the daughter of a Catholic convert, is nine when she is sent to the Convent of Five Wounds. Quick-witted, resilient and eager to please, she accepts this closed world where, with all the enthusiasm of the outsider, her desires and passions become only those the school permits. Her only deviation from total obedience is the passionate friendships she makes.Convent life is perfectly captured - the smell of beeswax and incense the petty cruelties of the nuns the eccentricities of Nandas school friends.Books in the VMC 40th anniversary series include: Frost in May by Antonia White The Collected Stories of Grace Paley Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Heart

With uncompromising clarity, in her careful, delicate prose, antonia White looks at the pains and joys of growing up, of falling in and out of love, the borderlands between love and loneliness, sanity and madness, belief and the loss of faith. First published in 1954, STRANGERS is here extended to include her autobiographical story, Surprise Visit; together they present some of Antonia Whites finest writing.

The year is 1920. Clara Batchelor, the heroine of The Lost Traveller, is now an actress with a touring repertory company and is passionately in love with the wholly unsuitable Stephen Tye. When Stephen betrays her, Clara betrays herself by agreeing to marry Archie, the fiance she discarded four years before. A friendship but not a love match, the marriage is a desperate attempt by Clara to rekindle the safety of childhood. But neither of them are children any more and their dream sugar house begins to dissolve.The Sugar House is the second in the trilogy sequel to Frost in May, which began with The Lost Traveller and continues in Beyond the Glass. Although each is a complete novel in itself, together they form a brilliant portrait of a young girls journey to adulthood.

Clara Batchelor is twenty-two. Her brief, doomed marriage to Archie over, she returns to live with her parents in the home of her childhood. She hopes for comfort but the devoutly Catholic household confines her and forms a dangerous glass wall of guilt and repression between Clara and the outside world. Clara both longs for and fears what lies beyond, and when she escapes into an exhilarating and passionate love affair her fragile identity cracks.Beyond the Glass completes the trilogy sequel to Frost in May, which began with The Lost Traveller and The Sugar House. Although each is a complete novel in itself, together they form a brilliant portrait of a young girls journey to adulthood.

When Clara returns home from the convent of her childhood to begin life at a local girls school, she is at a loss: although she has comparative freedom, she misses the discipline the nuns imposed and worries about keeping her faith in a secular world. Against the background of the First World War, Clara experiences the confusions of adolescence - its promise, its threat of change. She longs for love, yet fears it, and wonders what the future will hold. Then tragedy strikes and her childhood haltingly comes to an end as she realises that neither parents nor her faith can help her.The Lost Traveller is the first in the trilogy sequel to Frost in May, which continues with The Sugar House and Beyond the Glass. Although each is a complete novel in itself, together they form a brilliant portrait of a young girls journey to adulthood.

Frost in May is the unsurpassed novel of convent school life. This story of a clash between a determined young girl and an authoritarian regime is both perceptive and painfully emotional, convincing in every detail - Hermione Lee, ObserverWith a new introduction by Tessa HadleyNanda Gray, the daughter of a Catholic convert, is nine when she is sent to the Convent of Five Wounds. Quick-witted, resilient and eager to please, she accepts this closed world where, with all the enthusiasm of the outsider, her desires and passions become only those the school permits. Her only deviation from total obedience is the passionate friendships she makes.Convent life is perfectly captured - the smell of beeswax and incense; the petty cruelties of the nuns; the eccentricities of Nandas school friends.Books in the VMC 40th anniversary series include: Frost in May by Antonia White; The Collected Stories of Grace Paley; Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault; The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter; The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann; Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith; The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West; Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; Heartburn by Nora Ephron; The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy; Memento Mori by Muriel Spark; A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor and Faces in the Water by Janet Frame

Tras su publicación en 1933, Helada en mayo causó un auténtico terremoto en la sociedad británica de la época. Cargada de un fuerte contenido autobiográfico, la historia nos lleva a comienzos del siglo xx, cuando Nanda Gray, hija de un catolico recien convertido, es enviada al Convento de las Cinco Llagas, a las afueras de Londres, un lugar entre cuyos muros las estudiantes reciben una severa educacion catolica, en la que la conformidad y la sumision son ley. En esta gelida atmosfera, Nanda, de naturaleza extrovertida, encontrara en la literatura y en las amistades apasionadas la unica desviacion a la obediencia total. Helada en mayo es una peculiar bildungsroman sobre la rigurosa y, por momentos, cruel y mezquina educacion de una joven catolica inglesa. Tan impactante como La campana de cristal de Sylvia Plath, Helada en mayo es una meditacion magistral sobre el costo de la obediencia y el poder transformador de la literatura. Un testimonio conmovedor de la rebeldia de la juventud contra el autoritarismo y las normas estrictas, que muestra como la pasion puede resistir cualquier dogma.