Project Gutenberg 2005-02-23 Public domain in the USA. 224 Bibesco, Elizabeth 1897 1945 Bibescu, Elizabeth Asquith Asquith, Elizabeth Balloons Haven -- Two Paris episodes -- Courtship -- "Do you remember ...?" -- The martyr -- A motor -- The masterpiece -- Tea time -- The end -- Misunderstood -- Counterpoint -- Villegiatura -- Auld lang syne -- Two taxi drives -- A touch of spring -- Fido and Ponto. Produced by Kathryn Lybarger and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. "Balloons" by Elizabeth Bibesco is a collection of stories written in the early 20th century. The work showcases the author's keen observation of human emotions and relationships, focusing on various characters navigating life’s complexities, desires, and unfulfilled aspirations. The opening portions introduce Miss Wilcox, a character reflecting on her past and current state of existence, revealing themes of longing, loss, and the pursuit of love amidst societal expectations. At the start of "Balloons," we are introduced to Miss Wilcox, a woman who struggles with her identity after being left a small fortune and dealing with the engagement of her youthful friend, Vera. The narrative follows her internal conflict as she grapples with feelings of inadequacy and desire for connection, once filled with youthful brightness but now feeling disconnected from the world. As she ventures to London, her journey through the fog symbolizes her search for renewal and understanding, culminating in a poignant reflection on what could have been, all while she adapts to her newfound life as Mrs. Demarest, embodying the complex layers of her character. The opening sets the tone for a blend of introspective storytelling and social commentary that is likely to resonate with readers interested in character-driven narratives. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 74.4 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Fiction Short stories PR Text Browsing: Literature Browsing: Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Novels Category: British Literature 222613 2025-06-06T12:10:37.437458 text/html 231279 2020-12-14T04:53:55 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 84467 2020-12-14T04:53:55 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 148670 2025-06-06T12:10:43.689433 application/epub+zip 150295 2025-06-06T12:10:39.322441 application/epub+zip 150296 2025-06-06T12:10:38.122434 application/epub+zip 263418 2025-06-06T12:10:46.978394 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 246107 2025-06-06T12:10:42.994402 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 222351 2022-09-07T20:14:02.073359 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 207577 2025-06-06T12:10:36.770444 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 207412 2020-12-14T04:53:55 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 81189 2020-12-14T04:53:55 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 207405 2020-12-14T04:53:55 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 81108 2020-12-14T04:53:55 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 20879 2025-06-06T12:10:47.116370 application/rdf+xml 9399 2025-06-06T12:10:38.701410 image/jpeg 2600 2025-06-06T12:10:38.418411 image/jpeg 142670 2025-06-06T12:10:37.463439 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia