Book description
Originally published in 1954, and set between the wars,
An Impossible Marriage
is the classic coming-of-age story of a young woman forced to grow up
too quickly when she marries a much older man.
Living out her bright, happy teenage years in south-west London,
Christine's principal worries are jealousy of her dazzling best friend
Iris Allbright, and avoiding the disapproval of her manager if she's
late from her lunch break. But when Chris is suddenly whisked off her
feet by the mysterious - and much older - Ned Skelton, life changes for
her almost overnight.
Choosing to give up her job as a secretary in order to marry, Christine
commits herself to life with Ned, only to discover that this beguiling
man may not be the person she originally thought.
Pamela Hansford Johnson wrote 27 novels across genres as diverse as
romance, comedy and tragedy. An incredibly readable and literary author,
who deserves to be rediscovered by a new generation, Bello has brought
18 of Johnson's books back into print. Pamela Hansford Johnson was
born in 1912 and gained recognition with her first novel, This Bed Thy
Centre, published in 1935. She wrote 27 novels. Her themes centred on
the moral responsibility of the individual in their personal and social
relations. The fictional genres she used ranged from romantic comedy
(Night and Silence, Who Is Here) and high comedy (The Unspeakable
Skipton) to tragedy (The Holiday Friend) and the psychological study of
cruelty (An Error of Judgement). Her last novel, A Bonfire, was
published in the year of her death, 1981. She was a critic as well as a
novelist and wrote books on Thomas Wolfe and Ivy Compton-Burnett; Six
Proust Reconstructions (1958) confirmed her reputation as a leading
Proustian scholar. She also wrote a play, Corinth House (1954), a work
of social criticism arising out of the Moors Trial, On Iniquity (1967),
and a book of essays, Important to Me (1974). She received honorary
degrees from six universities and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of
Literature. She was awarded the C. B.E. in 1975. Pamela Hansford
Johnson, who had two children by her first marriage with journalist
Gordon Neil Stewart, later married C. P. Snow. Their son Philip was born
in 1952.
