Newspaper Article

Obituary: Sarah Gainham

Jonathan Ray, Robert Elphick

1999

Overview

This work (the first part of a trilogy which included A Place in the Country, 1968, and Private Worlds, 1971) overshadowed not only the several novels that followed, but also [Sarah] Gainham's highly regarded journalism in such magazines as The Spectator, The Economist, Encounter and Atlantic Monthly. The novel was remarkably successful, managing somehow to catch the mood of the time - especially in the United States, where it remained top of the New York Times bestseller list for several months - and it was translated into many languages. All bar one of the dozen novels that Gainham wrote were set in central Europe, a region she knew intimately, having moved to Vienna in 1947 - initially to work with the Four Power Commission - never to live in England again. She also lived at various times in Berlin, Bonn and Trieste before returning to Vienna. Such experiences were invaluable when, in urgent need of earning her own living after the collapse of her marriage in 1956, Gainham became the Central and Eastern European correspondent for The Spectator, largely due to the efforts of Cyril Ray - whose plea that she needed the money became a catchphrase in the office. Whilst the success of Night Falls on the City ensured that Gainham was financially secure for life (\"It is vital to have money,\" she would shout. \"I know, I've been poor!\"), her emotional and private lives were far less satisfactory. Gainham had immense sex appeal, was highly flirtatious - skittish, even - and well aware of the appeal that she had for the opposite sex. She once remarked in late middle age: \"I know that I am no great looker, but I've always had a magnificent pair of tits.\" Indeed, until well into her eighties she would wear dresses with heroically plunging necklines.

• Publisher: Independent Digital News & Media
• Subject: Ames, Kenneth