Barbara Comyns

Cásate deprisa, Arrepientete despacio. Sophia y Charles tienen veinte años cuando se conocen en un tren. Los dos son artistas, alegres y cándidos, y al cabo de un año deciden casarse en secreto. A la boda, sin embargo, va todo el mundo, quiza un primer indicio de que no siempre sabe uno bien donde se mete. La novia cree que el control de natalidad consiste en ponerse "muy seria" y decir: "No tendre hijos". La madre del novio cree que su hijo "es un genio y merece respeto". En el Londres bohemio de los años 30, de mudanza en mudanza, entre niños y amantes inesperados, la inocencia y la esperanza tendran que afrontar duras pruebas. Antes de conocer a su verdadero principe azul, Sophia se habra convertido en la dulce heroina de un extraño cuento de hadas, en la que el hada madrina es una pequeña herencia imprevista y el ogro adopta la forma de cortes de gas y de luz, trabajos perdidos, comidas magras y una parentela entrometida y mezquina. Y las cucharillas eran de Woolworths (1950) es la primera novela que se publica en España de Barbara Comyns, admirada por Graham Greene y Alan Hollinghurst, y constituye todo un descubrimiento. Su comicidad, su espiritu dickensiano, su inteligencia, su brillantez y su maestria narrativa conspiran para despertar el entusiasmo.

La hija del veterinario (1959) es una novela inquietante y fantasiosa, pero perfectamente controlada por una voz narrativa delicada, intencionada e inteligente. Barbara Comyns confirma en ella su singular humor, su maestria para un punto de vista familiarizado con la catastrofe y con esas pequeñas cosas que nunca se olvidan.

Quite simply, Comyns writes like no one else. Maggie OFarrell, author of HamnetThat evening the bakers wife ran down the village street in a tattered pink nightgown. She screamed as she ran.Strange things are afoot in the English village where the Willoweed family live. First, the river floods in June. The family wakes to find ducks sailing around the drawing room and dead peacocks bobbing in the garden. But the flood is only the beginning of their troubles.All of a sudden the miller goes mad and drowns himself. Then the butcher slits his throat. A peculiar illness is spreading through the town and picking off its victims one by one.From the Willoweed cottage, sisters Emma and Hattie watch the tragedy unfold. They have grown up in the village, cared for by their meek father and bullied by their grandmother with her enormous ear trumpet. The wild and mysterious countryside is the only world they have ever known. But as the virus spreads and hysteria grips everyone around them, they realise their lives are about to change forever.Originally published in 1954, Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead is a twisted pandemic parable and a tragicomic gem.

The morning I left home Mother was recovering from being poorly and shed been sick in the vegetable basket.Sisters Victoria and Blanche grow up in their grandfathers house in Warwickshire. Its a secluded existence: their mother is a war widow with a thirst for port and sherry and their last governess leaves never to be replaced. When their grandfather dies, their mother replaces drink with housework and the girls plan their escape.Blanche heads off to train as a model at a dubious institution in London. Vicky wants to study art but answers an ad leading her to Holland, where she tends a pack of miserable bull terriers. This is just the beginning of the sisters adventures, which take them from the poverty of cooking eggs over a candle in their Mornington Crescent bedsit, to a wider bohemian world, as they encounter love and the fluctuating fortunes that come when youre open to the strange twists life can take.First published in 1967, A Touch of Mistletoe is a unique coming-of-age story that shows Barbara Comynss

Au croisement entre Flannery OConnor et Stephen King, une histoire dinnocence outragée qui culmine dans une scène de triomphe épouvantable.À Londres, au début du xxe siècle, Alice Rowlands a dix-sept

Quand on a la tête sous leau, on a parfois le sentiment de devenir fou. Et si cétait vraiment le cas ? Quand, en 1911, les habitants de Warwickshire font face à une inondation, ils pensent que rien n

A small Gothic masterpiece... I have read it many times, and with every re-read I marvel again at its many qualities - its darkness, its strangeness, its humour, its sadness, its startling images and twists of phrase - Sarah Waters.Growing up in Edwardian south London, Alice Rowlands longs for romance and excitement, for a release from a life that is dreary and lonely. Her father, a vet, is harsh and oppressive; his new girlfriend, brash and lascivious. Alice seeks refuge in fantasy, in her rapturous longing for Nicholas, a handsome young sailor, and in the blossoming of what she perceives as her occult powers. Harrowing and haunting, this Gothic tale is a strange cross between Daphne du Maurier and Stephen King, but will also intrigue readers of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Diane Setterfield.Born and raised in England, Barbara Comyns (1909-1992) was a writer and artist who juggled various creative and entrepreneurial endeavors throughout her colorful life, leaving behind a rich literary legacy.

I defy anyone to read the opening pages and not to be drawn in, as I was... Quite simply, Comyns writes like no one else. - Maggie OFarrell, author of "Hamnet". Pretty, unworldly Sophia is twenty-one years old and hastily married to a young painter called Charles. An artists model with an eccentric collection of pets, she is ill-equipped to cope with the bohemian London of the 1930s, where poverty, babies (however much loved) and her husband conspire to torment her. Hoping to add some spice to her life, Sophia takes up with Peregrine, a dismal, ageing critic, and comes to regret her marriage - and her affair. But in this case, virtue is more than its own reward, for repentance brings an abrupt end to the cycle of unsold pictures, unpaid bills and unwashed dishes...Born and raised in England, Barbara Comyns (1909-1992) was a writer and artist who juggled various creative and entrepreneurial endeavors throughout her colorful life, leaving behind a rich literary legacy.

Strange things are afoot in the English village where the Willoweed family live. Unnatural floods usher in dead peacocks and ducks, soon followed by an ominous wave of self-inflicted deaths and a peculiar illness. From their humble Willoweed cottage, sisters Emma and Hattie are helpless spectators to this unfolding chaos, their childhood idyll disintegrating as fear infects their once-familiar world. But as the virus spreads and hysteria grips everyone around them, they realise their lives are about to change forever.A twisted pandemic parable and a tragicomic gem.One of the most distinctive voices in English literature - and ripe for rediscovery. -- TelegraphThe pleasure in reading Comyns comes from her pure, runaway imagination... Her novels are honest yet dreamy, full of innocence and experience -- TLSBorn and raised in England, Barbara Comyns (1909-1992) was a writer and artist who juggled various creative and entrepreneurial endeavors throughout her colorful life, leaving behind a rich literary legacy.

Ceux qui changent et ceux qui meurent est traduit pour la première fois en France, plus de 70 ans après sa parution en Grande-Bretagne. Un bijou tragicomique, un incontournable du matrimoine littérai

Tragic, comic and completely bonkers all in one, Id go as far as to call her something of a neglected genius LUCY SCHOLES, GUARDIAN It is hard not to believe that Barbara Comynss own adventures are entangled in her fiction JANE GARDAM, SPECTATORAll of her books read as if she wrote them effortlessly URSULA HOLDEN On the banks of the River Avon, five sisters are born. The seasons come and go, the girls take their lessons under the ash tree and there is always the sound of water swirling through the weir. Then, unexpectedly, an air of decay descends upon the house: ivy grows unchecked over the windows, angry shouts split the summer air, the milk sours in the larder and their father takes out his gun. Tragedy strikes the family, and before long the furniture is being auctioned off and the sisters dispersed among relatives. In her daring first novel, originally published in 1947, Barbara Comyns unique young heroine relates the vivid, funny and bittersweet story of a childhood.

A mysterious epidemic strikes an English village in this surreal, irresistible, and darkly funny Barbara Comyns classic, hailed as an overlooked small masterpiece (The Rumpus).So funny, so exact, so twisted. PBSThis is the story of the Willoweed family and the English village in which they live. It begins mid-flood, ducks swimming in the drawing-room windows, quacking their approval as they sail around the room. What about my rose beds? demands Grandmother Willoweed. Her son shouts down her ear-trumpet that the garden is submerged, dead animals everywhere, she will be lucky to get a bunch. Then the miller drowns himself . . . then the butcher slits his throat . . . and a series of gruesome deaths plagues the villagers. The newspaper asks, Who will be smitten by this fatal madness next? Through it all, Comyns unique voice weaves a text as wonderful as it is horrible, as beautiful as it is cruel. Originally published in England in 1954, this overlooked small masterpiece is a twisted, tragicomic gem.

A young female artist faces poverty, sexism, and a marriage gone awry in this tragic, comic, and completely bonkers novel set in Depression-era London (The Observer).I defy anyone to read the opening pages and not to be drawn in, as I was . . . Quite simply, Comyns writes like no one else. Maggie OFarrell, bestselling author of HamnetI told Helen my story and she went home and cried. So begins Our Spoons Came from Woolworths. But Barbara Comynss beguiling novel is far from tragic, despite the harrowing ordeals its heroine endures. Sophia is 21 and naive when she marries fellow artist Charles. She seems hardly fonder of her husband than she is of her pet newt; she cant keep house (everything she cooks tastes of soap); and she mistakes morning sickness for the aftereffects of a bad batch of strawberries. England is in the middle of the Great Depression, and the money Sophia makes from the occasional modeling gig doesnt make up for her husbands indifference to paying the rent. Predictably, the marriage falters; not so predictably, Sophias artlessness will be the very thing that turns her life around.

A feminist reimagining of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a single mother and an enchanted friendshipfrom one of most bewitching British writers of the 20th century.Comynss world is weird and wonderful . . . Tragic , comic and completely bonkers all in one, Id go as far as to call her something of a neglected genius. The Observer Bella Winter has hit a low. Homeless and jobless, she is the mother of a toddler by a man whose name she didnt quite catch, and her once pretty face is disfigured by the scar she acquired in a car accident. Friendless and without family, shes recently disentangled herself from a selfish and indifferent boyfriend and a cruel and indifferent mother. But she shares a quality common to Barbara Comynss other heroines: a bracingly unsentimental ability to carry on. Before too long, Bella has found not only a job but a vocation; not only a place to live but a home and a makeshift family. As Comynss novel progresses, the story echoes and inverts the Brothers Grimms macabre tale The Juniper Tree. Will Bellas hard-won restoration to life and love come at the cost of the happiness of others?

Comynss world is weird and wonderful . . . a neglected genius LUCY SCHOLES, OBSERVERA curious hybrid: a mixture of domestic disaster, social commentary, comedy, and romance . . . KATHERINE A. POWERS, BARNES & NOBLE REVIEW I defy anyone to read the opening pages and not to be drawn in, as I was . . . Quite simply, Comyns writes like no one else MAGGIE OFARRELL Pretty, unworldly Sophia is twenty-one years old and hastily married to a young painter called Charles. An artists model with an eccentric collection of pets, she is ill-equipped to cope with the bohemian London of the 1930s where poverty, babies (however much loved) and husband conspire to torment her. Hoping to add some spice to her life, Sophia takes up with Peregrine, a dismal, ageing critic and comes to regret her marriage and her affair. But in this case virtue is more than its own reward, for repentance brings an abrupt end to the cycle of unsold pictures, unpaid bills and unwashed dishes . . .

A small Gothic masterpiece . . . I have read it many times, and with every re-read I marvel again at its many qualitiesSARAH WATERSA wonderful and original novelALAN HOLLINGHURSTThe strange off-beat talent of Barbara Comyns [whose] innocent eye observes with child-like simplicity the most fantastic or the most ominous occurrenceGRAHAM GREENE Quite simply, Comyns writes like no one else MAGGIE OFARRELLI comforted myself with the knowledge that at least I wasnt earthbound like most people.In a house full of screeching animals in Edwardian South London, Alice lives in the shadow of her domineering father. Longing to escape, she retreats ever deeper into a world of memories, fantasies and rapturous longings - until she discovers an extraordinary secret power of her own. But the strange events that unfold lead her, dressed in bridal white, to a scene of ecstatic triumph and disaster among the crowds on Clapham Common. Blackly funny and indelibly haunting, The Vets Daughter combines shocking realism with a visionary edge.INTRODUCED BY JANE GARDAM

Bella Winter tiene una cicatriz en la cara a raíz de un accidente de coche; conducía su novio, un tipo tacaño que no la apreciaba. Embarazada de un inmigrante al que conoció en una fiesta en un piso cochambroso de Bayswater y nunca mas volvio a ver, tiene ahora una niña de meses negra, que oculta a su madre, una mujer que nunca parece haberla querido. Pero encuentra un trabajo que le encanta en una pequeña tienda de antiguedades en Richmond, hace nuevos amigos y empieza a tener la sensacion de que la vida al fin le sonrie. El pasado, como no, vuelve, pero tal vez en condiciones que permitan reconciliarse con el; y el presente abre nuevos horizontes, quiza engañosos pero en principio muy felices.En El enebro (1985), Barbara Comyns habla con singular magia y penetracion de todas las cosas y personas de un arcon a un amante o una cocinera que pasan a formar parte de la vida, de como entran y salen, y de como configuramos nuestro espacio con lo nuevo y con lo que se pierde o muere y todo en una insolita y compasiva version de uno de los cuentos mas terrorificos de los hermanos Grimm. Como dice Margaret Drabble, la novela es un sofisticado relato de emociones adultas, narrado sin sentimentalismo, y sin ninguna idea preconcebida y convencional de como debe vivirse la vida.

El verano de 1911 se promete feliz para los habitantes del condado de Warwickshire. Nadie se imagina que una misteriosa epidemia está a punto de partir la comunidad en dos: los que cambiaron y los que murieron.Un episodio de resonancias biblicas preludia la catastrofe por venir: el rio se desborda, anegando los campos y trayendo el caos a la ya de por si caotica vida de la familia Willoweed. Los patos nadan a sus anchas por el caseron inundado, cerdos sin vida flotan a la deriva y el viudo Ebin y sus hijas, Emma y Hattie, navegan en un bote de remos por el jardin sumergido. Mientras tanto, las sirvientas hacen lo posible por restaurar el orden domestico y la abuela Willoweed, tiranica y sorda como una tapia, se viste de gala para celebrar su cumpleaños. A la destruccion natural le sigue una serie de calamidades, muertes y suicidios que parecen fruto de un apocalipsis planeado mas que del azar.El periodico local titula: ¿Quien sera la proxima victima que se cobrara esta locura letal?. La busqueda de una explicacion a la epidemia convierte al panadero en chivo expiatorio y despierta los mas bajos instintos de los parroquianos. Hay quien ve en la nueva situacion una oportunidad para pescar en rio revuelto. Es el caso de Ebin, que se apresta a retomar su truncada vocacion de periodista, aun a costa de contribuir al panico con el sensacionalismo de sus titulares, sin sospechar que la epidemia no tardara en llamar a su puerta.Los que cambiaron y los que murieron fue prohibida en Irlanda por la crudeza de sus imagenes cuando se publico en 1954. No se nos ocurre mejor elogio que la censura para esta tragicomedia en la que Barbara Comyns plasma los efectos de la catastrofe sobre una comunidad y demuestra una sensibilidad asombrosa para captar la fuerza a un tiempo edenica y aterradora del mundo natural.

A principios de verano, un río del condado de Warwickshire se desborda, anegando campos y pueblos, y trayendo el caos a la ya de por sí caótica vida de la familia Willoweed. Los patos entran en la casa por las ventanas, los cuerpos de cerdos sin vida flotan a la deriva y el viudo Elbin Willoweed y sus hijas navegan en un bote de remos sobre el jardin sumergido. Mientras tanto, la excentrica abuela Willoweed se viste de gala para celebrar su cumpleaños y las sirvientas hacen lo posible por restaurar el orden domestico. La tragedia natural es solo el pistoletazo de salida de una serie de calamidades, muertes y suicidios que parecen fruto de un apocalipsis planeado mas que del azar.

Bella Winter tiene una cicatriz en la cara a raíz de un accidente de coche; conducía su novio, un tipo tacaño que no la apreciaba. Embarazada de un inmigrante al que conoció en una fiesta en un piso cochambroso de Bayswater y nunca mas volvio a ver, tiene ahora una niña de meses negra, que oculta a su madre, una mujer que nunca parece haberla querido. Pero encuentra un trabajo que le encanta en una pequeña tienda de antiguedades en Richmond, hace nuevos amigos y empieza a tener la sensacion de que la vida al fin le sonrie.El pasado, como no, vuelve, pero tal vez en condiciones que permitan reconciliarse con el; y el presente abre nuevos horizontes, quiza engañosos pero en principio muy felices.