
First Edition 1919 - Reprinted 1920 (twice)
THE DWELLER ALONE
CHAPTER I - MAGIC COMES TO A COMMITTEE
CHAPTER II - THE COMMITTEE COMES TO MAGIC
CHAPTER III - THE EVERLASTING BOY
CHAPTER IV - THE FORBIDDEN SANDWICH
CHAPTER V - AN AIR RAID SEEN FROM BELOW
CHAPTER VI - AN AIR RAID SEEN FROM ABOVE
CHAPTER VII - THE FAERY FARM
CHAPTER VIII - THE REGRETTABLE WEDNESDAY
A restless voice narrates a quest for absolute solitude, drifting between lyrical lament and cosmic wonder. The speaker declares a divorce from self, seeking silence amid endless time and sea‑like space, while the prose swirls with images of stars, ancient ruins, and the melancholy of forgotten souls. The language wavers between archaic cadence and modern disquiet, inviting listeners to contemplate the price of freedom from inner turmoil. This opening poem‑like soliloquy sets a tone that feels both otherworldly and deeply human.
The story then lands in a cramped London room where six women, bound to a wartime savings committee, await their mayor‑chairman. Their routine is shattered when a frantic stranger bursts in, claiming she is being pursued, and collapses beneath the table. Their bewildered reactions hint at deeper societal anxieties, turning a banal meeting into a portal for the extraordinary. As the committee grapples with the intrusion, hints of magic and an unexpected heroine begin to surface, promising a strange blend of domestic politics and the uncanny.
Language
en
Duration
~4 hours (238K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
Release date
2005-02-04
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1892–1933
A witty, adventurous voice of early 20th-century fiction, she mixed fantasy, social observation, and travel into books that still feel fresh. Her life took her from England to China, and that wide view of the world shaped both her novels and her essays.
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