Biographer and historian, author of "The Unobstrusive Miss Hawker" (Lanoe Falconer) as well as "Raffles and His Creator", "The Works of E.W. Hornung" (1999), "Lloyd George" (1975) et al., the author of this title is editor-in-Chief Folio Society edition (5 volumes) of "Macaulay's History of England". Mary Elizabeth Hawker (1848-1908), who wrote from 1890 onwards under the pseudonym of Lanoe Falconer, is remembered today primarily as the author of two best-selling novellas ("Mademoiselle Ixe" and "Cecilia de Noel"), five brilliant short stories (published under the title "Hotel d'Angleterre") and a slim volume of wonderful reminiscences entitled "Old Hampshire Vignettes". She was read by and admired by Gladstone, Henry James and the young Virginia Stephen ("Woolf"). All of these will be found in "Collected Tales" - but they are reinforced by eight additional short stories, one additional novella ("Shoulder to Shoulder") and one additional vignette. These supplementary items, buried in the archives for more than a century, are now brought to light by Peter Rowland, Hawker's biographer, after much patient research and dedicated delving.
They are accompanied by a short series of penetrating Character Sketches, intended for a book (or books) that would never be written, plus an article on how to tackle short stories. Bearing additional witness to Lanoe Falconer's astonishing range and versatility, this fresh material makes "Collected Tales" a totally unique and invaluable volume - one not to be missed by the growing army of this remarkable writer's fans. She had expressed the hope, in June 1899, of one day being able to produce a volume of her reprinted stories, 'but not yet'. Her waning strength curtailed this venture, and one hundred and ten years is perhaps a rather long time to wait, but there are certain things worth waiting for. The present publishers, acting on Mary Hawker's behalf, are confident that her ambition has finally been achieved and that (always allowing for a modicum of self-criticism, and instinctive desire to revise something here and there) she would have been reasonably satisfied with the result.
