Publisher's Synopsis
E F Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer best known for his Mapp and Lucia series, social satires written relatively late in his career which are set in the fictional town of Tilling based on Rye in East Sussex where Benson lived for many years and served as mayor from 1934. The novels recount humorous incidents in the lives of upper middle-class characters who vie for social prestige and one-upmanship in an atmosphere of extreme cultural snobbery, and have been adapted into TV series twice, and also for radio. This selection of 12 short stories first published in the UK in 1923 and in the US in 1924 also illustrates Benson's skill at social satire, presenting the reader with an array of diverse characters and predicaments. The stories included in the collection are: "And the Dead Spake----", The Outcast, The Horror-Horn, Machaon, Negotium Perambulans, At the Farmhouse, Inscrutable Decrees, The Gardener, Mr. Tilly's Séance, Mrs. Amworth, In the Tube, and Roderick's Story.
