A01=Edith Olivier
A19=Simon Thomas
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_Edith Olivier
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Category1=Fiction
Category=FBC
Category=FC
childhood
COP=United Kingdom
daughter
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_bestseller
eq_classics
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
imaginary friend
Language_English
mother
PA=Available
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
relationships
softlaunch
spinster
women
Product details
- ISBN 9780712353649
- Dimensions: 130 x 190mm
- Publication Date: 24 Sep 2021
- Publisher: British Library Publishing
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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'She had saved her. But at what a cost! Her position, her name, her character - she had given them all, but Clarissa was hers.'
Upon the death of her mother, Agatha Bodenham finds herself alone for the first time in her life. Solitary and socially awkward by nature, she starts to dream about her imaginary childhood friend - the only friend she ever had. Much to her surprise, Clarissa starts to appear, fleetingly at first, and engage with her, and eventually becomes visible to everyone else. Agatha, a 32-year- old spinster, must explain the child's 'sudden' appearance. In a moment of panic, she pretends that Clarissa is her own daughter, her love child.
Olivier constructs a mother/daughter relationship which is both poignant and playful. As the years roll by and Clarissa grows into a beautiful young woman, Agatha's love becomes increasingly obsessive as she senses Clarissa slipping away, attracted by new interests and people her own age.
Edith Olivier (1872-1948) won a scholarship to read history at St Hughes College, Oxford, where she occasionally dined with Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll). Her friends included the author Sylvia Townsend Warner, writer and publisher David Garnett and the artist Rex Whistler, who created illustrations for several of her books. The Love Child was Olivier's first novel, published in 1927.
