Keeping Up Appearances

Part of a curated collection of forgotten works by early to mid-century women writers, the British Library Women Writers series highlights the best middlebrow fiction from the 1910s to the 1960s, offering escapism, popular appeal, and plenty of period detail to amuse, surprise, and inform.

Oh God, one should not go to parties, Daisy sighed, sinking in wan defeat in the melancholy dawn. One should not mingle with others; one should keep oneself to oneself…’

Lying awake after a hotel party on holiday in the Mediterranean, Daisy Simpson reflects on her lackluster social performance and muses on the impression her confident and graceful half-sister Daphne may have made on the other guests. What is it that makes Daphne, Daphne and Daisy, Daisy? And which of the two will attract the attentions of one of their hosts, Raymond, whom they have both fallen for?

Returning to London, Daisy’s life is strained by the efforts of presenting the right elements of her personality to the right people, resulting in embarrassments, difficulties and deceits as she navigates her relationships and social standing.

Rose Macaulay’s novel, first published in 1928, offers a sharp and witty commentary on how we twist our identities to fit, delivered in an intelligent and innovative style.

Rose Macaulay (1881–1958) was a novelist, essayist and travel writer known for her satirical comedy. Her last novel, The Towers of Trebizond (1956), won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and she was created a Dame in 1958. Her second novel, Dangerous Ages, was re-published in the British Library Women Writers series in 2021.