[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-115545-en":3,"doc-seo-115545-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},115545,2336474459895,"Aria","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/22000baeef7a5ed0655?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1786071322749376916",1,"Story & Novel","Lady Living Alone - Norah Lofts","Lady Living Alone follows Penelope Shadow whose precarious situation is transformed by the unexpected success of her fourth novel, Mexican Flower, enabling her to buy a house and pursue independence at 35. The story centers on a quiet yet resilient heroine who is repeatedly underestimated, explores the constraints and meanings of marriage for women in her era, and examines how class, servants, and social standing shape daily life. Set largely in the 1930s, it traces fear and apprehension—especially the anxiety of being alone after dark—as catalysts that reshape her relationship with Terry.","British Library Women Writers  \nLady Living Alone Norah Lofts  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nFirst published in 1945  \nThis edition published in 2024 by The British Library  \n96 Euston Road  \nLondon NW1 2DB Copyright © 2024 The Estate of Nora Lofts Preface copyright © 2024 Alison Bailey Afterword copyright © 2024 Simon Thomas Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7123 5512 4  \ne-ISBN 978 0 7123 6808 7  \nText design and typesetting by JCS Publishing Services Ltd  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nContents  \nThe 1940s Norah Lofts Preface Publisher ’s Note  \nLADY LIVING ALONE Part 1  \nPart 2  \nPart 3  \nAfterword  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nThe 1940s  \n 1940: The average age of first marriage is 24.3 for men and 21.5 for women. Ninety-one per cent of marriages are the first for both parties – the highest this number reaches in modern records.  \n 1940 (February): Paper rationing begins, with publishers having their paper supply cut by 40 per cent.  \n 1940: There are 1.3 million cars in Britain, approximately one for every 34 people. Many are requisitioned by the military for war use.  \n 1940: The divorce rate in the UK is two divorces per 1,000 people. This rate increased to 3.4 in 1947, and then decreased over the rest of the decade.  \n 1945: Lady Living Alone is published.  \n 1946: The term ‘film noir ’ is first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank.  \n 1946: Lovely Cottage, ridden by jockey Captain Robert Petre, wins the 100th renewal of the Grand National (after the race has been suspended for 1941–45 due to Aintree Racecourse being commandeered for war defence use) .  \n 1948 (June): The National Health Service (NHS) is founded, offering medical care free at the point of delivery.  \n Throughout the decade, only about 30 per cent of houses are owned by the people who live in them.  \n By the end of the decade, 11 per cent of UK homes are one-person households: by contrast, 30 per cent of UK homes are one-person households today.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nNorah Lofts (1904–1983)  \nNorah Lofts was born Norah Ethel Robinson on 27 August 1904 in Shipdham, Norfolk. Her father was a farmer; after he died in 1913, the family moved to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. Following education at the local grammar school, Norah attended Norwich Training College where she trained as a teacher, but quickly returned to Bury St Edmunds afterwards to teach at her old school, the Guildhall Feoffment.  \nIn 1933, she married Geoffrey Lofts, with whom she had one son, Clive. Geoffrey died in 1948, and Norah Lofts remarried Robert Jorish, who worked as a technical consultant in Bury St Edmunds sugar-beet factory.  \nLofts’ first published book was a short-story collection, I Met a Gypsy (1935), which was awarded a National Book Award for ‘the “forgotten book” of the year that least deserved to be forgotten’. The following year, Lofts published the first of almost fifty historical fiction novels, with Sir Walter Raleigh as the hero. She continued to write historical fiction for the next half-century, but published four non-historical novels between 1940 and 1960 under the pseudonym Peter Curtis, including Lady Living Alone. Two novels also appeared under the name Juliet Astley in the 1970s.  \nLofts sold more than two million copies of her books in Britain, and was extremely popular in the USA, which was said to be the origin of most of her fan mail. Lofts died on 10 September 1983, aged 79, and her final book was published posthumously the following year.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nPreface  \nPenelope Shadow’s straitened circumstances are transformed by the sudden and unexpected success of her fourth novel, Mexican Flower, propelling her into house ownership and an independent life at the age of 35.  \nPhysically small, Penelope might seem a vulnerable figure, her quiet and unassuming personality reflecting the insubstantial na","cbCainoCid6PEFrh","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCainoCid6PEFrh","pdf",2058224,7,148,"English","en",105,"# Contents\n## The 1940s\n## Norah Lofts\n## Preface\n## Publisher’s Note\n## LADY LIVING ALONE\n### Part 1\n### Part 2\n### Part 3\n## Afterword","[{\"question\":\"Who is the protagonist of Lady Living Alone?\",\"answer\":\"Penelope Shadow is the central character, whose personal circumstances change after her novel Mexican Flower becomes unexpectedly successful.\"},{\"question\":\"What key themes does the preface emphasize?\",\"answer\":\"The preface highlights women’s interior lives, the restrictions and ambiguity of marriage, social class and standing, and the impact of apprehension and fear.\"},{\"question\":\"When and where is the novel primarily set?\",\"answer\":\"Although first published in 1945, the novel is primarily set in the 1930s.\"}]","Lady Living Alone - 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