The Rudyard Kipling novel no-one ever remembers: The Naulahka

This week in the Really Like This Book podcast scripts catch-up, I plunge into Rudyard Kipling’s least read novel, The Naulahka. It was an absolute joy to read, because it was a rare treat: a novel by one of my favourite authors that I hadn’t already read, despite having been reading Kipling for about 40 years. I simply … Continue reading The Rudyard Kipling novel no-one ever remembers: The Naulahka →

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 →

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 →