Sybille Bedford, A Legacy

Sybille Bedford is a glorious writer. She's alluringly readable, and the two novels I have read by her were instantly absorbing. Her prose exudes authority and intelligence, her novels charm, intrigue, persuade and convince. She is magnificent, and I don't understand why she has received so much less attention than, say, Elizabeth Bowen or Elizabeth … Continue reading Sybille Bedford, A Legacy →

The roar of the greasepaint: Clemence Dane’s Broome Stages

Once again, Brad of The Neglected Books Page and I have a conversation about a big fat book neither of us had read before, by a seriously neglected woman author, Clemence Dane. Broome Stages (1931) is a long family saga of the London theatre, beginning in the very early 1800s, when the first Broome, a country boy … Continue reading The roar of the greasepaint: Clemence Dane’s Broome Stages →

Sybille Bedford, A Favourite of the Gods

Last week I got grumpy about failures in historical writing, where we are asked to accept cringe-making historical howlers or listen to medieval characters speaking in awkward modern slang. Sybille Bedford's novel A Favourite of the Gods from 1963, in contrast, was a total joy. It retrieved my faith that fiction set in the past can be written impeccably … Continue reading Sybille Bedford, A Favourite of the Gods →

Outrageous bullying for the good of the family in G B Stern’s The Matriarch

There is something particularly enjoyable about a female villain in fiction, written for readers who expect women to be pure, perfect, and positive. I did a podcast miniseries in 2012 on jaw-droppingly awful, truly appalling female characters, all behaving badly. It was immense fun to research and write, because these characters are so vile that when I’m reading them, they … Continue reading Outrageous bullying for the good of the family in G B Stern’s The Matriarch →