The Two Sisters (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Two Sisters was the first novel published by English author H. E. Bates
in 1926.
in Bedfordshire
. There, late at night, he saw a light burning in a cottage window and it was this that triggered the story.
It was written when Bates was only 19 living in Rushden
and working as a warehouse clerk. It was rejected by nine publishers before being accepted by Jonathan Cape
at the recommendation of Edward Garnett
who also wrote an introduction to the novel
H. E. Bates
Herbert Ernest Bates, CBE , better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer and author. His best-known works include Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds of May, and My Uncle Silas.-Early life:...
in 1926.
Background
It was his first novel, though he had published a one-act play The Last Bread earlier that year). The book was inspired by one of his midnight walks, which took him to the small village of FarndishFarndish
Farndish is a very small and rural village in northwest Bedfordshire, located about 500 metres east of the county border with Northamptonshire which is also the postal county. The village is near the Northamptonshire villages of Irchester and Wollaston and the Bedfordshire village of Wymington...
in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
. There, late at night, he saw a light burning in a cottage window and it was this that triggered the story.
It was written when Bates was only 19 living in Rushden
Rushden
Rushden is a town and civil parish in the county of Northamptonshire, England.The parish of Rushden covers an area of some and is part of the district of East Northamptonshire. The population of Rushden was estimated at around 28,368, making it the fifth largest town in the county...
and working as a warehouse clerk. It was rejected by nine publishers before being accepted by Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
at the recommendation of Edward Garnett
Edward Garnett
Edward Garnett was an English writer, critic and a significant and personally generous literary editor, who was instrumental in getting D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers published. His father Richard Garnett was a writer and librarian at the British Museum...
who also wrote an introduction to the novel