{"product_id":"the-cost-of-living-9781405988766","title":"The Cost of Living","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDiscover your new favourite forgotten female classics with the Mermaid collection - No 6- Kathleen Farrell's The Cost of Living with a foreword by Jane Fallon  Idealistic Alexandra is throwing a party to meet a more glamorous crowd. Marianne, more sardonic, worries it'll be the usual sort.  The party is in Alexandra's attic flat. Marianne will contribute a few bottles of red optimistically labelled Bordeaux. Can it be judged a success? There's Donald the bus conductor with high-brow dreams, nervous bespectacled Bernhardt and Marius the ghostwriter. Not to mention a brace of Peters. It's left to sexy, young Pisa and riotous, middle-aged Mummy (neither invited) to steal the show.  Yet, after the party both Marianne and Alexandra find themselves caught in unexpected - sometimes far from romantic - relationships. Meeting people, it turns out, has the most peculiar consequences.  Is that really the cost of living?\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781405988766\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 23 Jun 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Penguin Books Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 19.5(H)x13(L)x1.4(W)192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 192\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eKathleen Farrell was born in 1912 into a well-off London family. During the Second World War she served as assistant to the secretary-general of the Labour Party, and after the war's end, she founded a literary agency. In 1942 she wrote a ghost story with autobiographical elements, but it was in the 1950s that she embarked on a series of novels entertainingly skewering contemporary life and mores. Physically tiny, Farrell nevertheless was determined and outgoing, having a wide circle of literary friends, acquaintances and even one enemy (she belonged to 'The Lady Novelists' Anti-Elizabeth League', whose members were united in their disdain for fellow novelist Elizabeth Taylor). She died in 1999.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003eWhile writers like Barbara Pym and Jean Rhys have been rediscovered, others, like Farrell, remain lost in the shadows of literature. A distinctive voice, and she provided her readers with subtle pleasures * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eAn original and forceful writer * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eReal talent. She strikes a cunning balance between lightness and brightness and sensitivity and hidden depths. Her dialogue is very good indeed, packed with character * New Statesman *","brand":"Kathleen Farrell, DNSc, APRN, ACNP, CCNS, CCRN","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48880261890265,"sku":"9781405988766","price":28.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9781405988766.jpg?v=1783000243","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/the-cost-of-living-9781405988766","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}