Lady Living Alone by Norah Lofts was first published in 1945 but the setting is mainly the 1930s. It is just about to be reprinted by British Library in their Women Writers series. This is one of four novels that Lofts wrote under the name Peter Curtis.

I read quite a lot of Norah Lofts books back in the 1970s, but they were all historical romances. This one begins as a domestic novel with the usual problems of finding and keeping domestic servants.

Penelope Shadow seems to be well named, she’s quite shy and retiring, so when she bought a typewriter and started to write novels people were surprised to discover that they were being published and in fact were being very well received, making her a lot of money. This means that she will be able to buy a home of her own, in recent years Penelope had  been staying with her older half sister who was a widow with children. It’s only when Penelope tells her sister of her plans that she realises that her sister had been doing her a favour in allowing Penelope to live with her, and had really put her own plans on hold.

An old house is quickly purchased, it’s rural, a bit of a lonely situation, and as Penelope is frightened to stay in a house on her own it’s not really a good choice for her, but she loves the house. It’s only when she is left on her own in it that she realises she still has a phobia about being on her own in a house.

When she meets a young man who seems to be capable of solving all domestic problems she hires him as a housekeeper/man of all work, that should solve the problem of her being on her own in the house. Terry is a young Irishman, not much more than a boy really, and he has been drifting from job to job, he’s very happy to move in to the house, it’s well paid and he’s really his own boss. For Penelope all her problems are over – or are they just beginning?

This one turns from being a domestic tale to a thriller, albeit quite late on in the book, but it’s an enjoyable read with twists and turns. The book has an Afterword by Simon Thomas and I must say that I appreciate the extras such as the mini Lofts bio and the interesting tidbits of information on what was going on during the 1940s.

My thanks to British Library for sending me a copy of this book in return for a review.