Faber reveals story behind rediscovered classic Mistletoe Malice
By Faber Editor, 27 January 2023
Faber has revealed the story behind their rediscovered seasonal classic, Mistletoe Malice, publishing in November 2023.
One day, Faber’s Heritage Editor Ella Griffiths found a mysterious parcel in her office pigeonhole filled with rare first editions of novels by Kathleen Farrell. Her name was familiar as the long-time partner of recently rediscovered author Kay Dick, whose lost dystopia They (1977) was resurrected through a prize-winning campaign and celebrated by Emily St. John Mandel and Margaret Atwood – but it soon became clear that Farrell was also a ‘fabulous’ overlooked writer herself.
Griffiths said:
‘As soon as I read this line on the 1951 edition of Mistletoe Malice – ‘Do you really enjoy spending Christmas with your family? Or do they talk too much?–ask too many questions?–push your life away?’ – I knew we had to republish it. So thanks to Farrell’s friend Rob Cochrane, who had posted these copies to me championing republication, this Christmas Faber are proud to be bringing it back into print for the first time in 70 years. And what a gem it is: a devilishly funny portrait of a dysfunctional post-war English family’s festivities as they reunite in a seaside cottage; a subversive tragicomedy of manners for fans of Barbara Pym, Sylvia Townsend-Warner, Muriel Spark, Stella Gibbons and Jean Rhys. I can’t wait for everyone to read!’
Griffiths acquired World All Languages rights from Farrell’s executor, Sebastian Beaumont, via Becky Brown at Curtis Brown Heritage.
Beaumont said:
‘I am delighted to see that Farrell’s witty and distinctive Mistletoe Malice is receiving a well-deserved reprint, and her entire oeuvre deserves reconsideration as her themes are so timeless.’
Kathleen Farrell (1912–1999) was born in London. During World War Two, she served as an assistant in the Labour Party before founding a literary agency. Her first book was published in 1942, followed by five well-reviewed but since forgotten novels between 1951 to 1962. Mistletoe Malice was celebrated for its ‘dance of mocking and malicious conversation’ (Spectator), ‘music of love and loss and regret’ (Sunday Times), ‘tart, unsentimental humour’ (Observer) and ‘marvellous knowledge of the torture-chambers that people construct for themselves’ (New Statesman). Farrell lived in Hampstead for twenty years in the 1950s and 60s with her partner Kay Dick, inhabiting a literary circle including Ivy Compton-Burnett, Stevie Smith, and Olivia Manning, before moving to Hove, where she died in 1999.
