The Twenty-seventh Kingdom (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Anna Lindholm
- First Published: 1982
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: 1954
- Setting: Chelsea, London
- Principal Characters: Valentine, Aunt Irene, Kyril, Aunt Berthe, Mrs. Mason, Mrs. O’Connor, Focus
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, Supernatural, Cats, London, Landlords or tenants, Catholics or Catholic Church, Convents or nunneries, Nuns, Wales or Welsh people
- Locales: Chelsea, London, England
What do you get when you combine a traditional British comedy of manners, dark-humored surrealism, a metaphysical allegory, and a cast of characters that includes a philosophical Persian tomcat named Focus? The answer is Alice Thomas Ellis’s appealing, offbeat novel The Twenty-seventh Kingdom. First published in Great Britain in 1982, the novel was a runner-up for that year’s prestigious Booker Prize. Especially notable is the fact that it is one of five published books to date by Ellis, who did not begin writing until her forties, after giving birth to seven children.
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