The Immortal Moment: The Story of Kitty Tailleur

"The Immortal Moment: The Story of Kitty Tailleur" by May Sinclair is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story centers around Kitty Tailleur, a woman navigating her complicated social interactions and personal struggles while staying at the Cliff Hotel in Southbourne. Through her interactions with various characters, particularly Mr. Robert Lucy and Miss Jane Lucy, the narrative explores themes of attraction, judgment, and the human tendency to make assumptions about others based on appearances and gossip. At the start of the novel, we are introduced to Mr. Robert and Miss Jane Lucy, who arrive at the hotel carrying a sense of youthful anticipation. They observe the other guests, including the enchanting yet enigmatic Kitty Tailleur, who draws attention and speculation from those around her. As the Lucys attempt to engage with Kitty, lingering questions about her past and her character begin to emerge. The opening portrays the diverse social dynamics of the hotel and sets the stage for the unfolding drama around Kitty's reputation and the connections she forms with the Lucys, delving into the complexities of their perceptions and interactions. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair, a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry. She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. She once dressed up as a demure, rebel Jane Austen for a suffrage fundraising event. Sinclair was also a significant critic in the area of modernist poetry and prose, and she is attributed with first using the term 'stream of consciousness' in a literary context, when reviewing the first volumes of Dorothy Richardson's novel sequence Pilgrimage (1915–1967), in The Egoist, April 1918.