I'm always happily surprised when I look an author up in my library's catalog and discover one, two or sometimes even more titles on the shelves of their work. Unfortunately the library has only one of the more than forty works that E.M. Delafield published, but I grabbed it and brought it home with me--the first time it's been checked out since 1993. In earlier years it had quite a busy circulation record, so I like the idea of breathing new life into the pages and cracking the book open and discovering a story that has sadly been neglected of late.
I really enjoyed reading Thank Heaven Fasting, which was published in 1932. According to the Wikipedia it is the best of her 'debutante' works (I sort of like the way that sounds). Gay Life was published a year later and is set on the Cote d'Azur. Aside from that I know only that Hilary and Angie Moon must live by their wits and her beauty, which makes me think this is perhaps a fluffy sort of read, but I will soon find out.
The Cote d'Azur makes me think of sand and sunshine and warmth--much nicer than the snow, ice and cold I have been dealing with for the past few days. The Moons are introduced in the very first few pages.
"The Moons sat together in silence. The little that they had ever had to say to one another had been said in the course of an electrically-charged fortnight, two years earlier, when they had fallen desperately in love. The rest had been an affair of dancing, drinking, kissing and violent love-making, marriage, and rapid and complete satiety."
"They bore one another no malice for their present state of mutual boredom, but took it philosophically for granted. Hilary Moon, who was held clever by himself and his friends, was already thinking out the aspect of his marriage that he would present to the next woman with whom he fell in love."
"Angie, with even less subtlety, was merely looking carefully at every man within range in the hope of seeing a certain expression, that she knew well, leap into his eyes at the sight of her beauty."
My first impression is that this sounds a little like Edith Wharton's Glimpses of the Moon, which was written in 1922 and set on Lake Como and in Venice. The pair in Wharton's novel must live on their wits. They have fine tastes but not the purse to pay for their extravagances. Their idea is to get along together as best they can until one or both finds a better deal. I'm going to try not to compare and let the Delafield tell its own story, which I hope will be filled with her signature wit and irony. Simon T. of Stuck in a Book and I are going to have a mini readalong--anyone is welcome to join. I realize this is a title that might be hard to come by, but do check your local library's catalog and you might just luck out like I did! In any case I'll certainly let you know how I get on with it.