‘Mystery at the Lilacs’ (1938): Elizabeth Bowen's Thriller Serial for Home and Country

Abstract

This article introduces a rediscovered 1938 serial by Elizabeth Bowen 'specially written' for Home and Country, the monthly organ of the National Federation of Women's Institutes. It situates 'Mystery at the Lilacs' within the periodical culture of 'Home and Country', paying particular attention to Bowen's engagement with the social and cultural debates that played out across its pages, and considers how Bowen's serial compares with her other contemporary literary projects. Far from being an aberration or curiosity, this serial overlaps thematically with Bowen's other interwar short stories. Self-reflexively concerned with the status of the writer in the community and preoccupied with the relationship between 'high' and popular culture, 'Mystery at the Lilacs' has much to tell us about Bowen's thinking about politics and culture in the interwar period.