The Gipsy's Baby

This collection of stories by one of Britain's most beloved novelists depicts domestic life during World War II as seen through the eyes of both children and adults

In "The Red-haired Miss Daintreys," four six-foot-tall sisters capture the imagination of young Rebecca when she and her family are on holiday. Beautifully crafted and informed by Lehmann's eye for telling detail, it is a moving meditation on familial ties, romantic love, and the end of an era. In "When the Waters Came" and "A Dream of Winter," both the deprivations of war and a swarm of bees take their toll on the inhabitants of a small English village-afflicting one family in particular. "Wonderful Holidays" is the tale of a divorced woman who cares for two children while a wounded veteran of World War I longs for his absent wife. And the title story is an exploration of the unlikely friendship between two families-one privileged, one poor-and the tragedy that ensues when a band of gypsies sets up camp on the outskirts of town.

These five stories will sweep readers into a world where grieving is a necessary part of the human condition and love can flourish in the most unexpected places. Morality, the class system, the grim realities of war, love and loss-Lehmann's trademark themes are on vivid display in this remarkable collection.

"Crystallised and condensed . . . Amazingly adroit writing." -Niall Griffiths

"Rosamond Lehmann has long been acknowledged to be . . . [an] adroit and subtle novelist. She is an equally skillful writer of short stories." -The New York Times

Rosamond Lehmann (1901-1990) was born on the day of Queen Victoria's funeral, in Buckinghamshire, England, the second of four children. In 1927, a few years after graduating from the University of Cambridge, she published her first novel, Dusty Answer, to critical acclaim and instantaneous celebrity. Lehmann continued to write and publish between 1930 and 1976, penning works including The Weather in the Streets, The Ballad and the Source, and the short memoir The Swan in the Evening. Lehmann was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1982 and remains one of the most distinguished novelists of the twentieth century.