Synopses & Reviews
MARY ROSE - A PLAY IN THREE ACTS - ACT I - The scene 4s a room in a small Susse m anor house thd has long been for sale. It is such a siled room that whoever speaks rst here is a bold one, unless indeed he merely mutters to himself, which they perhaps allow. A11 of this rooms past which can be taken away has gone. Such light as there is comes from the only window, which is at the back and is incompletely shrouded in sacking. For a moment this is a mellow light, and if a photograph could be taken quickly roe might find a disturbing smile on the rooms face, perhaps like the Monna Lisas, which cam, surely, of iaer knowing what only the dead should h. Thete are two doors, one leading dmwmtairs the other is at the back, very insignificant, though it is the centre of this disturbing history. The rod-paper, heavy in the adherence of other papers of a still older date, has peeled and leans f m a r d here and t k e in a grotesque bow, as men have hung in chains m migM predid tkat the n mud hemd here manll be in the future mhen amtk M e of paper lowens. Save for two pclcking-me, the only furniture is a worn easy-chair doddering by the unlit fire, like some foolish old man. We might play with the disquieting fancy that this room, once warm with lo ei, s dill alive but is shrinking from observation, and thd with our departure they cunningly set to again at the apparently never-ending search which goes on in some empty old houses. Some one is heard clumping up the stair, and the caretaker enters. It is not she, however, who clumps she has been here for several years, and has become suflciently a pad of the house to move noiselessly in it. TheJirst thing we know about her is thd she does not like tobe in this room. She is an elderly womanof gaunt frame and with a singular control over herself. There may be some one, somewhere, who can make her laugh still, one never knows, but the effort would hurt her face. Even the war, lately ended, meant very little to her. She has shown a number of possible purchasers over the house, just as she is showing one over it now mith the true caretakers indifference whether you buy or not. The f m duties imposed on her here she performs conscientiously, but her greatest capacity is fw sitting still in the dark. Her work over, her mind a blank, she sits thus rather than pay for a c. One knms a little more about life when he knows the Mrs...
Synopsis
This antiquarian book contains J. M. Barrie's 1929 play: "Mary Rose." During a trip to a remote Scottish island as a child, Mary Rose mysteriously vanishes. The island is searched endlessly to no avail, until Mary unbelievably reappears as strangely as she had vanished, having no recollection of being lost at all. Years later as a young mother and wife, Mary revisits the island with her husband and once again vanishes without a trace. Reappearing decades later this time, Mary has no recollection of her vanishing and returns having not aged a day. This play is a masterpiece of the stage, utterly enthralling and sure to entertain the discerning reader today just as it did when first published. James Matthew Barrie (1860 - 1937) was a famous dramatist and author, most famous as being the creator of Peter Pan. Many vintage texts such as this are increasingly hard to come by and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.