''The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot'' is a novel by Angus Wilson, first published in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

. It won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for that year, and has been regularly reprinted ever since. It describes the fortunes of Meg Eliot, a happy and active woman, the wife of a barrister, who finds herself a widow in reduced circumstances after the shocking murder of her husband abroad. Her attempts to rebuild her life are placed in contrast with the self-isolation of her brother, David, who lives with his dying partner Gordon at a commercial nursery in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. Wilson conceived the idea for the story in September 1957, while visiting Thailand, which is possibly the model for the fictional country of Badai.Margaret Drabble. ''Angus Wilson''. Secker and Warburg, London, 1995. Page 238. The first edition dust jacket was designed by Michael Ayrton.

Characters

*Meg Eliot *Bill Eliot, her husband *David Parker, her brother *The "lame ducks" **Polly Robson **Lady Pirie **Jill Stokes *Gordon Paget, David's partner *Else Bode *Mrs Paget, Gordon's mother *Lady Pirie *Michael Grant-Pritchard, a Tory MP *Fred Rogerson

Footnotes

1958 British novels Novels by Angus Wilson British LGBT novels Novels set in Sussex Secker & Warburg books {{1950s-LGBT-novel-stub