HOLIDAY (Virago Modern Classics)

Celia lives in a London suburb with her beloved aunt in the post-war England of 1949. Witty, fragile, and quixotic, Celia is preoccupied with love—for her friends, her colleagues, her relatives, and especially for her adored cousin Casmilus, with whom she goes on holiday to visit Uncle Heber, the vicar. There they talk endlessly, argue, eat, tell stories, love, and hate. Wild humor alternates with waves of melancholy as Celia obsessively ponders the inevitable anguish of love. In this entrancing autobiographical tale, Stevie Smith captures the paradox of pain in all human affections.