Elizabeth Taylor

Complete Short Stories of Elizabeth Taylor

Often called “the other Elizabeth Taylor,” the non-actress Taylor was underrated during her lifetime, though after her death, Kingsley Amis called her “one of the best English novelists born in this century,” and her short stories today are considered classics.

From “A Sad Garden,” in Complete Short Stories:

“The garden was filled with the smell of rotting fruit. Pears lay about on the paths and wasps tunneled into their ripeness. Audrey stepped timidly over them. She was all white and clean-face, serge coat and socks. Her mother held the William pear in her gloved hand. ‘You shall have it when we get home,’ she promised.”

Pathologically shy, Taylor, born in 1912, became a governess and a librarian before she married and lived an upper-middle-class existence in a small Buckinghamshire town. Of her life, she once said, “Nothing sensational, thank heavens, has ever happened.” But a few surprises turned up: her liberal politics (including an early flirtation with communism), an occasional bet on the ponies, and a twelve-year affair with a painter named Ray Russell.

She met Russell soon after she was married, and wrote him dozens of letters during their romance, many of which (at her request) he burned. But her secret life was eventually discovered and her husband insisted she end the affair. She did.

Taylor wrote twelve novels, four short-story collections, and one children’s book. Her fiction focuses on the daily lives of characters who could have come from her own genteel social milieu. But she was unsentimental and bitingly witty, with a keen eye for human foibles and a wonderful ear for dialogue. Her humor is sly, and her acerbic social comedies hint at rage and violence seething just below the surface.

ALSO RECOMMENDED:

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. When the widowed Mrs. Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel, where she will spend her remaining days, she meets eccentric characters and strikes up an unexpected friendship with a handsome young writer.

Pear Smash

As noted in the excerpt from the exquisite short story, “A Sad Garden,” pears lie where they’ve fallen on the path, rotting as wasps tunnel into their ripeness. This recipe puts such ripe pears to good use—before the wasps can get them!

1½ oz. pear flavored vodka

1½ oz. pear nectar

1/4 oz. fresh lemon juice

Splash of soda

Pear chunk, cut one inch thick

Put vodka, pear nectar, and lemon juice into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes and shake well. Pour into a glass and top off with soda. Garnish with pear chunk. Serves 1.