Eleanor Spencer Stone Perényi (January 4, 1918 – May 3, 2009) was a gardener and author. She wrote several books including ''Green Thoughts'', a collection of essays based on her own gardening experiences.

Biography

Eleanor Perenyi was the daughter of a US Navy officer, Ellis S. Stone and

Grace Zaring Stone Grace Zaring Stone (January 9, 1891 – September 29, 1991) was an American novelist and short-story writer.

. Grace Zaring Stone wrote her anti-Nazi novel ''Escape'' under the pseudonym Ethel Vance, for fear of jeopardizing the safety of her daughter, who was then living with her husband, the son of the Hungarian noble Baron Zsigmond Perényi, in pro-Fascist

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, then to be an ally of the

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Works

Perenyi is best known as the author of ''Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden'', which drew on her work on her husband's rural estate near the present-day town of

Vynohradiv Vynohradiv ( uk, Виноградів, hu, Nagyszőlős, ro, Seleușu Mare, sk, Vinohradov) is a city in western Ukraine, in Zakarpattia Oblast. It was the center of Vynohradiv Raion and since 2020 it has been incorporated into Berehove Raio ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

(the former Nagyszőlős, Hungary). Her life there is further recorded in her 1946 memoir ''More Was Lost'', which describes her marriage to her Hungarian noble husband and the impact of World War II on life in rural Hungary. Her other books include the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

novel ''The Bright Sword'' (1955) and a study of Franz Liszt. ''Green Thoughts'' was reviewed by

Brooke Astor Roberta Brooke Astor (née Russell; March 30, 1902 – August 13, 2007) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and writer who was the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, son of John ...

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. ''More Was Lost'' was reprinted by

New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

Press in 2016 with an introduction by the poet J.D. McClatchy and is reviewed by Sadie Stein in ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phil ...

''.

Award

Perenyi was given an award in literature from the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

in 1982.

Biography

Works

Award

References

Further reading