Critical Reputation
Holding was much admired during her day. Raymond Chandler, one of the top writers of detective fiction during its golden age of 1920–1940, said of Holding that she was “the top suspense writer of them all.”
Literary critic Anthony Boucher wrote: “For subtlety, realistic conviction, incredible economy, she’s in a class by herself.” . Boucher also praised Holding's Miss Kelly as "one of those too-rare juvenile fantasies with delightful appeal to the adult connoisseur."
Holding's novel The Blank Wall (1947) was so popular in its day that it was made into a movie titled The Reckless Moment in 1949. In 2001 it was made into the movie The Deep End starring Tilda Swinton. The novel was republished by Persephone Books in 2003 and reprinted in 2009. A number of Holding’s books have also been brought back into reprint by Stark House Press and made available to a new group of readers.
Read more about this topic: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, Life
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