Blood, glass, dust: Frances Faviell’s A Chelsea Concerto

This is the first of the new reprint series from the Dean Street Press to be curated by the Furrowed Middlebrow blog, a truly admirable enterprise. They have nine titles in preparation or published, all reprints from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, by three authors: Rachel Ferguson, Winifred Peck and Frances Faviell. I hope many … Continue reading Blood, glass, dust: Frances Faviell’s A Chelsea Concerto →

Now posting on Vulpes Libris: The Life of Hilda Matheson, OBE

Over on Vulpes Libris I am wading through the 800 letters that Michael Carney used to construct his biography of Hilda Matheson. She was the BBC's first Director of Talks, and Vita Sackville West's lover (one of them) between 1929 and 1931. Her letters to Vita have ensured that her heroic struggles as a lesbian feminist … Continue reading Now posting on Vulpes Libris: The Life of Hilda Matheson, OBE →

Gender performativity at its best: Georgette Heyer’s The Masqueraders

Swordfights and petticoats from Georgette Heyer, the grande dame / mother superior of all things swashbuckling, in this week's podcast scripts catch-up from Really Like This Book, with The Masqueraders, from 1928. Georgette Heyer wrote a very large number of novels. To those who haven’t read them, and simply judge them by their covers, from all their … Continue reading Gender performativity at its best: Georgette Heyer’s The Masqueraders →

Sorrow and anger: Books I couldn’t finish or wished I hadn’t started

I don’t usually write negative reviews of books, because (1) it’s usually not fair on a writer to pillory them in public, (2) why waste the reader’s time? But sometimes writing a reasoned critical appraisal for the record can be a public service. For those searching online to find out if anyone else hated this book … Continue reading Sorrow and anger: Books I couldn’t finish or wished I hadn’t started →

Baroness Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel

Continuing to swash buckles in the Really Like This Book podcast scripts catch-up, we're still in wigland, in the eighteenth century, crossing the Channel and diddling the enemy in disguise, with The Scarlet Pimpernel. First off, what IS a scarlet pimpernel? It’s a flower, a straggling long-stemmed weed-like plant, that grows in boggy places. It comes in … Continue reading Baroness Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel →

Now posting on Vulpes Libris: A Notable Woman: The Romantic Journals of Jean Lucey Pratt

I was persuaded by the excellent word of mouth praise for A Notable Woman: The Romantic Journals of Jean Lucey Pratt, which is an unlikely-sounding smash hit. I was delighted. Also appalled by its weight and size: this is NOT a book for taking on holiday unless you do the ebook thing. A very absorbing, moving … Continue reading Now posting on Vulpes Libris: A Notable Woman: The Romantic Journals of Jean Lucey Pratt →

Looking into the gutter: Jean Rhys’ After Leaving Mr Mackenzie

I read After Leaving Mr Mackenzie for #ReadingRhys, but, to be truthful, I really don’t think I would have bothered had it not been for that impetus. I tried Wide Sargasso Sea many years ago and didn’t get on with it at all. I don’t even think I finished it. Jacqui suggested this novel as a … Continue reading Looking into the gutter: Jean Rhys’ After Leaving Mr Mackenzie →

Broadswords in the heather: John Buchan’s John Burnet of Barns

This week in the Really Like This Book podcast scripts catch-up, we’re in the 17th century, in the fog of Scotland and the mud of northern Holland, in John Buchan’s early swashbuckler, John Burnet of Barns (1898). This novel was published when Buchan was just 23; it’s not his first novel, but his second, and … Continue reading Broadswords in the heather: John Buchan’s John Burnet of Barns →

Three Moroccan marriages: Tahar Ben Jelloun’s About My Mother

About My Mother is a combination of novel, memoir, Alzheimer’s case study and history of Moroccan domestic life. The author’s mother (or the narrator’s mother: it’s hard to see the difference) has Alzheimer’s disease and is increasingly confused in her small house. Her memory wanders and she confuses her sons and daughters for her parents … Continue reading Three Moroccan marriages: Tahar Ben Jelloun’s About My Mother →

Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Frank Fraser Darling’s Island Years, Island Farm

Over on Vulpes Libris I've posted a review of the Little Toller reprint of Frank Fraser Darling's two books on living in the Scottish Highlands and Islands for several years in the 1930s and 1940s, Island Years, Island Farm. He and his wife and young son lived in tents and wooden huts on uninhabited islands, rebuilt … Continue reading Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Frank Fraser Darling’s Island Years, Island Farm →