Into Temptation [antikvár]

CHAPTER ILady Celia Lytton had been close to death several rimes m her long life. Not always Hterally - although there had been occasions, a cycle ride through a Bhtz-torn London night, a long joking car ride while enduring a miscarriage, when the Grim Reaper had appeared to have her very clearly in his sights - but also by repute. And there was no more outstanding example of the latter than the spring day in 1953, Coronarion year, when she announced not only her engagement to her old flame, Lord Arden, but her retirement from the House of Lytton. Most of hterary London promptly concluded that she was (at very best) in the early stages of a terminal illness. They then raised their lunchrime glasses of gin and tonic, or Martini, or champagne, to her dazzling memory, expressed their huge regret at the ending of a hfe that had so enriched the literary and social scene for almost five decades, and setded down to speculate over what the death certificate might eventually say, and who exactly inight step into her always elegant shoes.They were hardly surprising of course, those reports. For as long as anyone could remember, Celia Lytton had declared firmly and publicly that only death would separate her from the publishing house of Lytton, truly the greatest love of her life. This was in addition to another of her favourite maxims: that for her, at any rate, no man could possibly replace work as a source of happiness.Indeed she was Lyttons to most people; she embodied it, with her brilhant innovative mind, her flawless editorial judgement, her unique style, her perfect taste. It had always been so, since she had joined the company almost fifty years earlier as a very young girl; but since the death of Oliver Lytton, her husband, a year earlier, she had become more than a figurehead, more than an inspirarion, she was its life force. The younger generarion might hold shares in it, care passionately about it, bring skill and talent and a great deal of hard work to it, but they trailed behind her in authority. No major book was acquired or published, no editorial innovation considered, no financial investment made, no senior member of staff hired, without her agreement.