John Buchan’s Jacobites

Rebellion, or Uprising? In this Really Like This Book podcast scripts catch-up I’m in the middle of the British eighteenth century, looking at the '1745', otherwise known as the Jacobite Rebellion, or Uprising, depending on which side you were on. This was the second attempt by the exiled Roman Catholic monarchy of Britain to reclaim … Continue reading John Buchan’s Jacobites →

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 →

George Eliot with the gloves off: Patricia Duncker’s Sophie and the Sibyl

Expect energetic storytelling in this excellent novel about the manipulative life and marital sufferings of George Eliot. It’s also a gently funny love story between Max Duncker, a vain and very young dilettante publisher and the thunderingly hearty Sophie, a German countess who never glides gracefully when she can pound across a ballroom. Other pleasing details in … Continue reading George Eliot with the gloves off: Patricia Duncker’s Sophie and the Sibyl →

What Katy Did, Next, and At School

This is another repost from the vaults of Why I Really Like This Book, a round-up of three books I reread addictively all through my childhood and early twenties. You can also listen to the original podcast on Susan Coolidge and the What Katy Did books (1872, 1873, 1886) The origins of my love of 19th-century fiction lie in … Continue reading What Katy Did, Next, and At School →