Colette, My Mother’s House

I love Colette's writing, though I've not yet managed to read her most scandalous novels about Claudine. Nor have I yet seen the Keira Knightley biopic; undoubtedly I'll get around to them. My Colette collection consists of her two Chéri novels, Julie de Carneilhan, Chance Acquaintances, The Other Woman, The Vagabond, Gigi and The Cat: all short works … Continue reading Colette, My Mother’s House →

Rumer Godden, The Greengage Summer

This 1958 novel crackles with foreboding. It is based on the apparently artless retelling by a teenage girl of a summer spent in France with her elder sister and their younger siblings. It seethes with barely understood sexuality, and, in the absence of any reliable and responsible adults, the dangers that Joss and her sister … Continue reading Rumer Godden, The Greengage Summer →

Michael Jenkins’s A House in Flanders

I would normally avoid reading books described smugly as ‘a gem’ or ‘like Alain-Fournier’. I once tried Les Grand Meaulnes, universally worshipped as a perfect evocation of a boy’s coming of age in rural France, and could not get into it at all. I also don’t much care for ‘gems’ of books, since the word … Continue reading Michael Jenkins’s A House in Flanders →

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 →

Running through the south of France with John Welcome and Run for Cover (1958)

This podcast was written for a miniseries on Thrillers for Gentlemen, looking at the kind of thriller or spy novel that was masculine without being brutal, and that was written about men of a certain generation who understood the value of the gentleman’s club, and worked within its rules. This time, I was exploring a … Continue reading Running through the south of France with John Welcome and Run for Cover (1958) →

Dornford Yates’s Gale Warning

This podcast was written for the miniseries 'Thrillers for Gentlemen'. I was looking at the kind of thriller or spy novel that was masculine without being brutal, written about men of a certain generation who understood the value of the gentleman’s club, and worked within its rules. Fascinatingly, women were huge fans of Dornford Yates … Continue reading Dornford Yates’s Gale Warning →