In Brat Farrar, (1949) Tey sets up a main character, Nancy Ledingham Peck who
had stunned the social world by marrying George Peck and burying herself in a country rectory.. [She had been more than] "a debutante of her year, she had been a national possession...her beauty was common property." [Her husband was publicly labeled as someone as romantic as ] a cement mixer.
So the public let her go into her chosen oblivion. Her aunt, who had been responsible for her coming-out, disinherited her. Her father died in a welter of chagrin and debts. And her old home, the great white house in the park, had become a school....
[She says to a neighbor, with whom she is having coffee] "It's wonderful to sit and do nothing....You have such a nice face Bee."
"Thank you, Ruth says it is the face of a very expensive cat."
"Nonsense, at least -- not the furry kind. Oh! I know what she means. The long-necked short haired kind that show their small chins. Heraldic cats. Yes Bee darling, you have a face like a heraldic cat.
Josephine Tey's mysteries are revered and the mystery of Josephine Tey herself, unsolved. She was so private that very little is known about her life. Her book The Daughter of Time (1951) is said to have revived interest in rescuing the reputation of Richard III.
So the public let her go into her chosen oblivion. Her aunt, who had been responsible for her coming-out, disinherited her. Her father died in a welter of chagrin and debts. And her old home, the great white house in the park, had become a school....
[She says to a neighbor, with whom she is having coffee] "It's wonderful to sit and do nothing....You have such a nice face Bee."
"Thank you, Ruth says it is the face of a very expensive cat."
"Nonsense, at least -- not the furry kind. Oh! I know what she means. The long-necked short haired kind that show their small chins. Heraldic cats. Yes Bee darling, you have a face like a heraldic cat.
Josephine Tey's mysteries are revered and the mystery of Josephine Tey herself, unsolved. She was so private that very little is known about her life. Her book The Daughter of Time (1951) is said to have revived interest in rescuing the reputation of Richard III.
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