tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55957028248335047622024-03-18T02:47:46.266-07:00FURROWED MIDDLEBROWoff the beaten page: lesser-known British, Irish, & American women writers 1910-1960Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.comBlogger637125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-10982657673099901812024-03-15T11:16:00.000-07:002024-03-15T11:16:48.469-07:00Highlights of the 2024 update (2 of 4)<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have twelve more authors for you today, of particular interest from among the 130 new authors I recently added to my main author list (see </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-new-improved-and-even-more.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and my previous post </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2024/03/highlights-of-2024-update-1-of-4.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). And this is actually my favorite of the four posts I'm putting together about new authors, because these are all authors I'm genuinely interested in reading (or even have already read), and a good many are in the "cheerful romance" category that I tend to gravitate toward.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZg3v8Zo7FjnbDDeIxeRwrweOBdAPFk-m0dece-QYqQ4RN82YrLm5LXoQsPShe5XRSGmlWTpvZCMdwqaLzv_Trf4NlHxOb5_AQFML46vXZO_BGzAZb_Spq4teqt5rEDWMtP3GoFLxtAtG399m9oW3E5E34WkKwpYq5f34yrTq5SkiKpnvwP-oT3jg1OfEx/s939/Aitken,%20Hannah%20-%20Marion%20Lochhead%20on%20her%20disappearance%20%20(The%20Scotsman,%2016%20Feb%201977).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="939" data-original-width="316" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZg3v8Zo7FjnbDDeIxeRwrweOBdAPFk-m0dece-QYqQ4RN82YrLm5LXoQsPShe5XRSGmlWTpvZCMdwqaLzv_Trf4NlHxOb5_AQFML46vXZO_BGzAZb_Spq4teqt5rEDWMtP3GoFLxtAtG399m9oW3E5E34WkKwpYq5f34yrTq5SkiKpnvwP-oT3jg1OfEx/w135-h400/Aitken,%20Hannah%20-%20Marion%20Lochhead%20on%20her%20disappearance%20%20(The%20Scotsman,%2016%20Feb%201977).jpg" width="135" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A fellow novelist<br />writes of Hannah<br />Aitken's disappearance</td></tr></tbody></table><br />It's particularly fun for me, in researching a new author, to come across a reference to the fact that her mother (or daughter, or aunt, etc.) was also a novelist. That happened when I was already very intrigued by </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HANNAH AITKEN</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the Scottish author of four novels often praised for their quiet plots and vivid characterization. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a Shaft of Sunlight</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1947) is set in Edinburgh and deals with “an ordinary family linked from childhood with their unordinary friend, Victoria.” That description was enough for me to get hold of a copy, though I haven't read it yet. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whittans</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1951) is a portrait of a Scots border village, while </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seven, Napier Place</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1952) is described as a family story set in post-war Edinburgh. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Music for the Journey</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1957), uniquely, is set amongst a group of travellers on holiday in Greece—“the mood of scene and place is delightfully evoked,” and that is also intriguing me (though I'm disciplining myself not to acquire multiple books by one author until I've actually read one). Aitken also edited an anthology, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Forgotten Heritage: Original Folk Tales of Lowland Scotland</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1973). Tragically, Aitken disappeared during a forest walk in January 1977, and her body was only discovered six months later. That part is a downer, for sure, but in the process I found that her father was a Church of Scotland minister and her mother…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJM6GKL5p8UWzTXLryVq2X0SepObM_3w_gGe2-VmWAPnlcVyfS6B-dfF9KyrVnCmLW36bVvRrdp8C6_nO4xOsHl_G88iiAre8LWGP0ilK3h9a2n2DYZUO7If_2CYWk_rHp7as_mcLquP3qk6TiJzuCsrkbLvoRQ8f7d-hPPX3mok5V40kgXCjcLnkGv05/s877/Riddell,%20Jean%20Oliver%20-%20There's%20Wind%20on%20the%20Heath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="877" data-original-width="557" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJM6GKL5p8UWzTXLryVq2X0SepObM_3w_gGe2-VmWAPnlcVyfS6B-dfF9KyrVnCmLW36bVvRrdp8C6_nO4xOsHl_G88iiAre8LWGP0ilK3h9a2n2DYZUO7If_2CYWk_rHp7as_mcLquP3qk6TiJzuCsrkbLvoRQ8f7d-hPPX3mok5V40kgXCjcLnkGv05/w254-h400/Riddell,%20Jean%20Oliver%20-%20There's%20Wind%20on%20the%20Heath.jpg" width="254" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />…published four novels of her own under the pseudonym <span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">JEAN OLIVER RIDDELL</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (real name Annie Clark Aitken, nee McArthur). Riddell's novels also feature primarily Scottish settings. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There's Wind on the Heath</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1924) is "a pleasing, homely story of life in a Border village,” and it so happens it was available for downloading from Stanford University's website </span><a href="https://searchworks.stanford.edu/catalog?f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=nb786jb6054" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (haven't read it yet, of course). In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sunlight and Salt</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1927), “the sincerity of high purpose is effectively contrasted with the self-deception of the unctuous poseur.” </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Miss Murchie's Holiday</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1930) features the title character, brought up in Glasgow, falling in love with the countryside, and I am quite tempted by it as well, but resisting so far according to my aforesaid rule. And in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pyperhill</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1932), “an unlikeable recluse and pseudo-scholar … appears in the district with his two very likeable daughters.” She was a teacher prior to her 1906 marriage.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMYq0BsnQQJKTlhPXbD-q9giBuaPb43Ii0Y4u0V4Eb8gvGL86bF6Evs3olJgsnu0DTd3C5OlUqqO5YibnKv2qpS1jkN2kEr5UH6OtXPzBuwwaxCN1Lxq1PSMUUl5GGIxodqKVNXwro7OQ3mawp5mWStrZaObqjDVIl49kn81Um22HiQ83KA_9D9c-QZvk/s1006/Hewson,%20Maxine%20-%20A%20Genius%20at%20Large%20fc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1006" data-original-width="666" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMYq0BsnQQJKTlhPXbD-q9giBuaPb43Ii0Y4u0V4Eb8gvGL86bF6Evs3olJgsnu0DTd3C5OlUqqO5YibnKv2qpS1jkN2kEr5UH6OtXPzBuwwaxCN1Lxq1PSMUUl5GGIxodqKVNXwro7OQ3mawp5mWStrZaObqjDVIl49kn81Um22HiQ83KA_9D9c-QZvk/w265-h400/Hewson,%20Maxine%20-%20A%20Genius%20at%20Large%20fc.jpg" width="265" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />Then there's <span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MAXINE HEWSON</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the description of whose four novels, combined with their irresistible dustjackets (at least the ones I've found), inspired me to get hold of the first, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keeping House for Jan</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1947), focused on “London’s leading beauty expert” and the housekeeper he met in Devon. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Suzannah Sings</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1948) is about a young singer and the influence of a temperamental impresario. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s No Profit In It</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1951) features the triplet daughters of a philosopher, who set out to make their fortune with an array of business ventures. And </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Genius at Large</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1952) (oh, temptation again!) follows a film unit shooting on location in the Highlands. For an author whose books were widely reviewed, it’s surprising that I’ve not yet been able to find any clues to trace her in public records.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwo6098oB-yfyBkCTUSSZ0kGo8vRKWGQmqF8h3uhBexhyphenhyphenecrWJbTYesG-hNKqdNw1D9bDGvIBt7lNqK_3keSWZGxTA6aMA6UXcPMt4lngpxANf0_UoScKxxMAF4M2z03wyq50BDLY-KQnjIWyoJv6fKznniAmZAy5u_TxWzxVwt6ihxC-IJGOGSXGvH6N/s800/Cameron,%20Lady%20Mary%20-%20Merrily%20I%20Go%20to%20Hell%20fc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="513" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwo6098oB-yfyBkCTUSSZ0kGo8vRKWGQmqF8h3uhBexhyphenhyphenecrWJbTYesG-hNKqdNw1D9bDGvIBt7lNqK_3keSWZGxTA6aMA6UXcPMt4lngpxANf0_UoScKxxMAF4M2z03wyq50BDLY-KQnjIWyoJv6fKznniAmZAy5u_TxWzxVwt6ihxC-IJGOGSXGvH6N/w256-h400/Cameron,%20Lady%20Mary%20-%20Merrily%20I%20Go%20to%20Hell%20fc.jpg" width="256" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWKrC7YPccwc-M-mdRWDaFmxGpSW6GnVs_6-P8I2vgei7mwwM9xjt5biDiF_I0pRC6O7-j7BAqQbIsGEM8uCIln2t2ER0xb4cEkEzR12PS0Qt9pw1cpRS0Nd_6AAPeCCjkRwuyXV2kBDJuRk0ZwpZoPX1qGcjB9IVVnTc7tVaMYUEnLwxk7e7OnKNd-eb/s428/Cameron,%20Lady%20Mary%20-%20article%20mentioning%20real%20identity%20(Detroit%20Free%20Press,%2010%20Sept%201933).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="296" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWKrC7YPccwc-M-mdRWDaFmxGpSW6GnVs_6-P8I2vgei7mwwM9xjt5biDiF_I0pRC6O7-j7BAqQbIsGEM8uCIln2t2ER0xb4cEkEzR12PS0Qt9pw1cpRS0Nd_6AAPeCCjkRwuyXV2kBDJuRk0ZwpZoPX1qGcjB9IVVnTc7tVaMYUEnLwxk7e7OnKNd-eb/w276-h400/Cameron,%20Lady%20Mary%20-%20article%20mentioning%20real%20identity%20(Detroit%20Free%20Press,%2010%20Sept%201933).jpg" width="276" /></a></div><br />Thank you to Susie Watson who emailed me to suggest <span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LADY MARY CAMERON</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for the list. This was the pseudonym used by Dorothy Fletcher (later Cochran) for three books. The first was a highly successful memoir, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Merrily I Go to Hell</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1931), about her upbringing near Oxford, her world travels, and her eventual arrival in the U.S., to which she emigrated. The book was subtitled “Reminiscences of a bishop’s daughter,” at least a slight exaggeration as her father was a vicar of long standing in Kibworth, but never, so far as I can tell, a bishop. But then, she wasn’t a “lady” either. She then published two novels, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mr. Dayton, Darling!</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1933) and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Duchess by Appointment</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1934), which poke fun at American snobbery and notions of British aristocracy. Her use of the "Lady" prefix must have been taking advantage of those same notions… </span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I came across </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ELIZABETH ORD WATT</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a while ago, and thought she'd published only two novels, but it turns out there were six in all, but the first four were simply credited to Elizabeth Watt. It also turns out that they are primarily—wait for it—cheerful romances. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blue Salon</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1931), which I'm absolutely yearning for, is the tale of a young woman from a Scottish manse who heads to London to sell dogs in the titular shop. In the unfortunately-title </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beyond Idolatry</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1931), two bright young things set out for the glamourous Italian Riviera to be artists, falling in love, facing tragedy, and sometimes shocking the locals. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pyjamas for Drusilla</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1932) features a young woman raised by aunts in Somerset, who starts a shop in Mayfair, enjoys the London nightlife too much, neglects her business, and then must outwit a crooked investor with designs on her honor. (I'm kind of salivating for that one too, I confess.) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Doubting Moon</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1933) is narrated by a mother who has done her best to prevent her son's happy marriage, and telling how and why she was such a "damned fool." Watt’s final two works appeared as by Elizabeth Ord Watt, though it’s unclear where the Ord actually comes from. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This Is the Way We Go to School </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1935), which I have on my TBR shelves, is about a woman who raises a Canadian niece—"how the upbringing of the disturbing, if charming, Marily is achieved by her aunt, and how these two react upon families of neighbouring children and grown-ups, provides refreshment not easily forgotten." And in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Leave Us the Years</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1939), a newspaper advice columnist, who has long advised her readers against going on cruises, tries one herself, with perhaps predictable results. One wonders if it might have been based on reality, since a review of it mentions that she “has recently left England to marry a naval chaplain stationed in Hong Kong.” Alas, I can’t locate any records for an Ord Watt at the time and there are far too many Elizabeth Watts to narrow down.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Tp19kbUqdan6sX-2YCkXDglLgvPHF_G1EOcahEeZODxUOEX4W0jX-Bm61ehbG8_GB34ZHMPPD4fkElTLXrFgdEzlmbG83VPSWqXxr6tZuzi2NMTrewrK5wt2eOwDUKob7sFwF4Osk-bqA0YhNxsrIM22vHhGlWTV58uqdssirtqffrSWx7jGqKw8H0Y-/s880/Kelston,%20Beatrice%20-%20author%20pic%20(%20The%20Tatler%20-%20Wednesday%2019%20January%201916%20).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="644" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Tp19kbUqdan6sX-2YCkXDglLgvPHF_G1EOcahEeZODxUOEX4W0jX-Bm61ehbG8_GB34ZHMPPD4fkElTLXrFgdEzlmbG83VPSWqXxr6tZuzi2NMTrewrK5wt2eOwDUKob7sFwF4Osk-bqA0YhNxsrIM22vHhGlWTV58uqdssirtqffrSWx7jGqKw8H0Y-/w293-h400/Kelston,%20Beatrice%20-%20author%20pic%20(%20The%20Tatler%20-%20Wednesday%2019%20January%201916%20).JPG" width="293" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />I mentioned Stanford's collection of British novels for online access above, and I also found one of <span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">BEATRICE KELSTON</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">'s novels there. She was an actress, playwright, and author of six novels—most but not all of them humorous romances. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Three-Cornered Duel</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1912) is about the complications of a young man in love, by turn, with each of two twins. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seekers Every One</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1913) is a “charming romance” of a girl’s search for happiness “in love, on the stage, and in various spheres of life.” In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the Joneses</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1917), "Old Jones—a queer, selfish millionaire—leaves a vast fortune, and the problem to whom it falls, and the quest for the same, provides the 'motif' of a racy and thoroughly entertaining story." </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bertha in the Background</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1920), according to a contemporary reviewer, "shows what a first-rate inventor of farcical comedy she is,” and features a stodgy old bestselling novelist and his attempts to get his “madcap” daughter under control. (That's the one I found on the Stanford site.) Two of her works seem more serious in tone—</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Blows of Circumstance</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1915) is an ultimately tragic tale of a young woman determined to make her way in the theatre, and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Edge of Today</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1918) is about an unhappily married woman who wants to belong to today instead of yesterday. Kelston also wrote a number of plays and several radio plays for the BBC Children’s Hour. Her plays include </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Indian Summer</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1933), an adaptation of Vita Sackville-West’s novel </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All Passion Spent</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0KJ_JZPvgiVeMnodjWBu3ezgkOk4IGWKM6a4aSN8r49idXciEcBf3gM3bFd96i39fpMgE0lnLI1a8tZm_O_j5GH6VONGw7H3ohq7qri5AKutvF5XdvaxJhMRYonJC_2-QLwf4GJo7o4uLz7ZnbUeo4W1HX8vPEKuxb2SYYhPeR9gUaOtQs3IRwpg9TMh/s674/Bird,%20Jane%20-%20Both%20Hands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="597" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0KJ_JZPvgiVeMnodjWBu3ezgkOk4IGWKM6a4aSN8r49idXciEcBf3gM3bFd96i39fpMgE0lnLI1a8tZm_O_j5GH6VONGw7H3ohq7qri5AKutvF5XdvaxJhMRYonJC_2-QLwf4GJo7o4uLz7ZnbUeo4W1HX8vPEKuxb2SYYhPeR9gUaOtQs3IRwpg9TMh/w354-h400/Bird,%20Jane%20-%20Both%20Hands.jpg" width="354" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />Will all the books I <span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">haven't</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> managed to read yet, at least I have already read (and </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2023/12/nothing-but-sense-of-humor-jane-bird-by.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">reviewed</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">!) one of the two novels published by </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">JANE BIRD</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I enjoyed </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By Accident</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1935), which deals with a “family of busybodies” who determine to learn the secrets of two new arrivals in their village. Her follow-up, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Both Hands</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1936) tells of the effects of the reappearance in a family of a long-estranged aunt, including “rich comedy and subtle sadness.” It's on my list of possibilities for our next trip to the British Library. She seems to have also edited the earlier anthology, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Elizabethan Lyrics</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1921).</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnhxJCMpZVblPTUe2r6_zsCCWlWJphU1Jb9Rfs-neukdShZTEYgUZC5-0ixrOf96-tAl-i4Imk2A9pvNk8roUs_hH2mOLy1v_b5hQqs5z1J3eT57id62hdPF-9uirJKorFQ6OHa7OJtfBqCDJI3rg67yg1uUO3jKK46qPfBBVQgliSjdEnSbq_sMDuDXA/s923/Metcalfe,%20Jolliffe%20-%20article%20about%20Finished%20Abroad%20w%20author%20pic%20(Daily%20Herald%20-%20Thursday%2002%20October%201930).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="785" data-original-width="923" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnhxJCMpZVblPTUe2r6_zsCCWlWJphU1Jb9Rfs-neukdShZTEYgUZC5-0ixrOf96-tAl-i4Imk2A9pvNk8roUs_hH2mOLy1v_b5hQqs5z1J3eT57id62hdPF-9uirJKorFQ6OHa7OJtfBqCDJI3rg67yg1uUO3jKK46qPfBBVQgliSjdEnSbq_sMDuDXA/w400-h340/Metcalfe,%20Jolliffe%20-%20article%20about%20Finished%20Abroad%20w%20author%20pic%20(Daily%20Herald%20-%20Thursday%2002%20October%201930).jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b><br />JOLLIFFE METCALFE</b><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">also published two novels. Her big success (which we photographed last year at the BL, but which of course I haven't yet read) was </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finished Abroad</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1930), set in a Swiss finishing school for well-to-do girls. She adapted it into a play, which seems to have had a fair amount of success as well. Her second novel, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Substitute</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1932) is written in the form of a young man’s defense against a charge of philandering with three different women. That and another play, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They Do These Things in France</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, seem to have been less acclaimed than her debut. She also translated a play by Jean Giono in 1935. “Jolliffe” seems to have been a traditional middle name on her father’s side. Tragically, her premature death at age 35 seems to have been by suicide.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0RUbOerPvBcrRb0CaF3SBgDe0Io4WFahPzAADn6wHXvC90FjUiG6DNHzjcQEq4YS8TTviiN_lAIAPnqZ5su79Naq-yGRMnSIKhXmzjeLuI68s7tqvbU_OCxxT-gTKmSyTFEHH-fg97cvteU5LCH82StS7wGqMlCWeG3qe7PwrCR3pG1TuqE4Xw8p_DUkk/s492/Herbert,%20Evelyn%20-%20Kiss%20the%20World%20Goodbye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="336" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0RUbOerPvBcrRb0CaF3SBgDe0Io4WFahPzAADn6wHXvC90FjUiG6DNHzjcQEq4YS8TTviiN_lAIAPnqZ5su79Naq-yGRMnSIKhXmzjeLuI68s7tqvbU_OCxxT-gTKmSyTFEHH-fg97cvteU5LCH82StS7wGqMlCWeG3qe7PwrCR3pG1TuqE4Xw8p_DUkk/w274-h400/Herbert,%20Evelyn%20-%20Kiss%20the%20World%20Goodbye.jpg" width="274" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />The work of some authors seems to evolve in striking ways as they progress. <span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">EVELYN HERBERT</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was a Welsh journalist and author of five (I think) novels. In the 1930s, she published two rather serious novels set among Breconshire’s mining community. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anna Priestly</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1932) deals with an unwed mother—"As may be expected, the woman pays, but she pays with a proud scorn and a grim reticence. … Miss Herbert has created an unforgettable character.” </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The White Peony</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1935) examines a community of miners around Sugar Loaf in Wales, both before and after the mines were closed. World War II then intervened, but in the 1950s, she returned to fiction in a very different tone (I thought perhaps they were two different authors sharing a name, but a review made clear the author was the same). </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Venus Unmasked</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1952), apparently published only in the U.S., focuses on three young sisters making their way in a peaceful English village. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paris Is for Lovers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1953), published first in the U.S. and then in England in 1956, is a romantic comedy “by a writer of wit, wisdom and tender witchery." And </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kiss the World Goodbye</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1958), published only in the U.K., is “escapism in the best and fullest sense,” the tale of an unhappy woman teacher who inherits money and heads straight for Italy. I thought it was possible that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Venus</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> might simply be the US edition of one of the others, but the plot points mentioned in reviews don’t seem to line up, so I'm saying they're five novels until corrected. Researching her is quite the challenge because of her more famous namesake, the daughter of the Earl of Carnarvon, whom (I now know) was the first modern person to enter King Tut’s tomb.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCyRGuCJyNMwZLH_MkObqjjxVbIObLfXv_WzWFQQyBp-R9FHO3L5Tr7e8kUSQwKnmwdwXQuI2Uk4qdHWhh4bfJvECT_jXPdmhaCXf_Sv2YdaWX60AfWj2nvlx5nk1RGoHAn5IfCr6mYWLGOu9jdAidNuUuvA5EiwWp6uVct8ImAdGmKgNm_AQ1nKaOZM3/s851/Parsons,%20Claudia%20-%20author%20pic%20(Liverpool%20Daily%20Post%20-%20Wednesday%2029%20May%201935).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="508" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCyRGuCJyNMwZLH_MkObqjjxVbIObLfXv_WzWFQQyBp-R9FHO3L5Tr7e8kUSQwKnmwdwXQuI2Uk4qdHWhh4bfJvECT_jXPdmhaCXf_Sv2YdaWX60AfWj2nvlx5nk1RGoHAn5IfCr6mYWLGOu9jdAidNuUuvA5EiwWp6uVct8ImAdGmKgNm_AQ1nKaOZM3/w239-h400/Parsons,%20Claudia%20-%20author%20pic%20(Liverpool%20Daily%20Post%20-%20Wednesday%2029%20May%201935).jpg" width="239" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiR1fNyfaKzJsg7FAqZMF5MpmCSEYFOcpF3y1Oy5o6Hqw3eaaHXSqDqkLWCjgZyM4FI3navWibAUyzEyzHuec2mBmBlUfjwsjPWYsq9ONkXW38YeijIIGLqm2LA5IH7qzFf3E57rn8Fu6f9ajmCfPfahkBMa3h3akusgxUK7xqv5du2hHOn9V8-o6W_DuI/s532/Parsons,%20Claudia%20-%20author%20pic%20from%20Century%20Story.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="440" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiR1fNyfaKzJsg7FAqZMF5MpmCSEYFOcpF3y1Oy5o6Hqw3eaaHXSqDqkLWCjgZyM4FI3navWibAUyzEyzHuec2mBmBlUfjwsjPWYsq9ONkXW38YeijIIGLqm2LA5IH7qzFf3E57rn8Fu6f9ajmCfPfahkBMa3h3akusgxUK7xqv5du2hHOn9V8-o6W_DuI/w331-h400/Parsons,%20Claudia%20-%20author%20pic%20from%20Century%20Story.jpg" width="331" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Claudia Parsons in later years</td></tr></tbody></table><b><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJg1WgHkf8b7OOMzr4yCVLwrLr6n83O2F4xs48v5nV97LwCmEoVbOABwRvW3YDxAqgDvI-98cxWicHf4k68_OZB0eB32DTESBDLggYDnCCu15-x22dHvHw7MMAFT_GWXIDvz94ldnz2zv5mG4T59eGax8EnqBNit7s18A6WBaQEfP-QVsiNmWL0vCubARO/s696/Parsons,%20Claudia%20-%20Brighter%20Bondage%20review%20(Observer%202%20Jun%201935).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="460" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJg1WgHkf8b7OOMzr4yCVLwrLr6n83O2F4xs48v5nV97LwCmEoVbOABwRvW3YDxAqgDvI-98cxWicHf4k68_OZB0eB32DTESBDLggYDnCCu15-x22dHvHw7MMAFT_GWXIDvz94ldnz2zv5mG4T59eGax8EnqBNit7s18A6WBaQEfP-QVsiNmWL0vCubARO/w264-h400/Parsons,%20Claudia%20-%20Brighter%20Bondage%20review%20(Observer%202%20Jun%201935).JPG" width="264" /></a></div><b><br />CLAUDIA PARSONS</b><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> spanned 60 years with her three published works. First came </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brighter Bondage</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1935), which was reviewed by the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Illustrated London News</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> alongside Nancy Mitford’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wigs on the Green</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (and is advertised on the back cover of Ann Stafford and Jane Oliver’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cuckoo in June</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). It "follows the fortunes of a plucky young widow who kept her spirits up and her head above water after her husband's death and the loss of their comfortable income.” A few years later, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vagabondage</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1941) told of her extraordinary trip by car from New York to British Columbia, and thence through Asia and the Middle East and across North Africa, on a shoestring budget and over the course of sixteen months (!!). Her 1995 memoir, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Century Story</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, tells of the extraordinary backstory for both books, as well as the rest of her eventful life. I came across her from the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cuckoo in June </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">advertisement, but when I went to research her, I found that Sarah Lonsdale had already devoted a chapter to her in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rebel Women Between the Wars</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (2020), which is now also on my TBR.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg5cekPcCaWHAPumwtudWjCtQjaktpzaR8_UrYIy2W-gZJkfvig0F81Kz7hhcFJ7Bv9CAcgDTxS-7eKq6YPYoPObkklM1N_xFkQj7v5Lw0h49HPk9rItpofWsFsq3jl17_M0s0tZCsfXr2O-b6cDwxqlxB-CVJDpgkAJWvd77UKJ57U_l9ebK-5d5X3MCC/s461/Heriot,%20Adelaide%20-%20Beauty%20for%20Sale%20review%20(%20Burnley%20Express%20-%20Wednesday%2028%20February%201940%20).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="363" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg5cekPcCaWHAPumwtudWjCtQjaktpzaR8_UrYIy2W-gZJkfvig0F81Kz7hhcFJ7Bv9CAcgDTxS-7eKq6YPYoPObkklM1N_xFkQj7v5Lw0h49HPk9rItpofWsFsq3jl17_M0s0tZCsfXr2O-b6cDwxqlxB-CVJDpgkAJWvd77UKJ57U_l9ebK-5d5X3MCC/w315-h400/Heriot,%20Adelaide%20-%20Beauty%20for%20Sale%20review%20(%20Burnley%20Express%20-%20Wednesday%2028%20February%201940%20).JPG" width="315" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />Next comes <span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ADELAIDE HERIOT</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—playwright, novelist, and author of books on entertaining. Her four novels are upbeat romances—</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Secretary to Sir Mark</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1937), about a young woman whose life changes when she becomes secretary to the owner of a luxury hotel line; </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That Sweet Passion</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1937), about four young people—a typist, a journalist, and two advertising copywriters—and the complications they get into; </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Virginia Goes Home</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1937), about a young English girl adapting to life in Scotland; and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beauty for Sale</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1940), about a young beauty specialist whose attempts to shield a society girl from her jealous husband cause problems with her own beau. Naturally, none of them are readily available outside of national libraries. Heriot had begun her career with two guides to entertaining, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enjoyable Parties</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1936) and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gay Interiors</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1936), and she later published a one-act play, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who Steals My Purse</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, in 1951.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAyxw7elIuA-ifu8IBsluv5sFhnA8OpYpfznpZTgnPSJKvDRpqhpV3dpn_e-a-PCv8HqUkwCg1q1g8G9ZOOKdPbCmLSxv9wBtFI-kiZdTqdNb2477pB_HqMxT3z0RpS99duBnNqCgV408_1_gpjC9TbCxnQaq4oLgp3dd1PNyjpVRCfaJcM2RYmk60suSh/s768/Piper,%20Anne%20-%20author%20pic%20(Evening%20Standard,%201%20Aug%201979).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="519" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAyxw7elIuA-ifu8IBsluv5sFhnA8OpYpfznpZTgnPSJKvDRpqhpV3dpn_e-a-PCv8HqUkwCg1q1g8G9ZOOKdPbCmLSxv9wBtFI-kiZdTqdNb2477pB_HqMxT3z0RpS99duBnNqCgV408_1_gpjC9TbCxnQaq4oLgp3dd1PNyjpVRCfaJcM2RYmk60suSh/w270-h400/Piper,%20Anne%20-%20author%20pic%20(Evening%20Standard,%201%20Aug%201979).jpg" width="270" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic5CwJ8MLJ5p3wxoBgwfRcoIJVpvLFV2K8vgtIHMrvqqNB_CMO5n02NUYHBwmNpKI23at-DeJ8ApP5_2Bx-pedIq54-xB3exUnYnrhciF2ULmuvqgUTo2V9eljQtVd9mpbf6RiCx6jUr4szlcCW-HAyhCpc_zQJdDt6b5xD984k6SX-F7-Hu7SJ1elMcNU/s1588/Piper,%20Anne%20-%20Green%20for%20Love%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1588" data-original-width="1101" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic5CwJ8MLJ5p3wxoBgwfRcoIJVpvLFV2K8vgtIHMrvqqNB_CMO5n02NUYHBwmNpKI23at-DeJ8ApP5_2Bx-pedIq54-xB3exUnYnrhciF2ULmuvqgUTo2V9eljQtVd9mpbf6RiCx6jUr4szlcCW-HAyhCpc_zQJdDt6b5xD984k6SX-F7-Hu7SJ1elMcNU/w278-h400/Piper,%20Anne%20-%20Green%20for%20Love%20cover.jpg" width="278" /></a></div><br />And last but not least for this post is <span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ANNE PIPER</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the author of nine novels which she herself described as light comedy. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Early to Bed</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1951) features the memorable opening line "I married most of them in the end," while </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cuckoo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1952) features a heroine “whose artless gaiety wreaks havoc in men's hearts and homes." The “plump but attractive” heroine of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Love on the Make</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1953) goes through a string of jobs trying to make her way, including working for a Ruritanian princess in the Balkans. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Green for Love</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1954) is about the wife of successful barrister, who hatches a plot to maintain his affections. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Hot Year</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1955) has a retrospective World War II setting, with "a wistfully romantic St. John's Wood puritan” ending up in wartime Delhi and Rangoon after her marriage. In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spinsters Under the Skin</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1957), the wedding of a dean’s daughter is disrupted by the arrival of her more attractive and assertive sister. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sweet and Plenty</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1959, published in the US as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marry at Leisure</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) is a comedy about a young woman and her brood of illegitimate children—it was made into a film, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Nice Girl Like Me</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, in 1969. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, Giorgio</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1961), about a Welsh heroine "on a wild American spree with an Italian professor,” was also filmed in 1982 with Luciano Pavarotti; a 2013 large print edition was drably retitled </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welsh Rose and Her Latin Lover</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Finally, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Post Graduate</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1979) was Piper’s response to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Graduate</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">; one review was titled "Mrs Robinson Comes Out Fighting." Piper was reportedly "struck by how unfair the young man [the author of the novel version] was on middle-aged women," so told a tale of "a housewife who finds new confidence through a liaison with a young French student." A 1970 article notes that she was married to David Piper, director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, and that she started writing because she was working as a hospital librarian and couldn’t meet her patients’ demands for light comedy. I haven't sampled her work yet, but I have a couple on my library request list—several seem to be possible (if not easy) to find.</span></span><p></p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-de0f4c66-7fff-eae5-db45-78e0b5e93e79"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And that's quite enough to be getting on with for now. In my next post, I have 13 more authors who are intriguing in one way or another, and in the fourth of these update posts, I'll share 14 authors from the last update who will </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">also</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> be added to my Mystery List when I finally get round to revising it—some very interesting finds there too, if I do say so myself!</span></span></span></p>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-54505714773061209452024-03-09T18:18:00.000-08:002024-03-09T18:18:23.260-08:00Highlights of the 2024 update (1 of 4)<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">I know I've been woefully slack about writing reviews lately—even though I do have some books to tell you about—but that doesn't mean I haven't been working my little fingers to the bone for you. I've had two projects I've been focusing lots of attention on—a new update to my main writers list, and, as I mentioned in a recent review, a thorough revamping and expansion of my aged and decrepit Mystery List. I've been reeling drunkenly back and forth between these projects for the past several months. When I mentioned them recently, it looked like the Mystery List would be finished first, but, perhaps just to be perverse with even my own expectations, I've now finished the list update instead. Such is life. But the Mystery List will, if all goes according to plan, come along in due course.</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-20d496e7-7fff-6481-ec87-32889a27091a"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The new update includes 130 new authors, and the new total number of authors is 2,391. And, of course, still no end in sight. Practically every time I search for information about one author, I come across one or two more who must be added to my "to research" list. And yet, I'm still coming across numerous really intriguing authors, including some whose work was quite acclaimed in their day. Of the 130 new additions, I've singled out 50 that I found of particular interest, and I'll dedicate four posts to sharing them with you.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The work of this new batch of authors includes a surprising amount of cheerful romance (which, as you know, seems to be my particular addiction), but it also happily included a sudden small surge of Irish additions to the list, which is likely long overdue. In this first highlights post, I'm focused on six authors who penned works focused on war—four who wrote about World War II, and two who focused on World War I—and on several authors who proved intriguingly difficult to identify or to fully document.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYS1xKXj_EDBz2UdKLkU7DMpyFkXdrtVPXVCElYUTerI2QrrrHxHwSRVX7coh-Tg4ynWcw3Z-mirSqLywRGVcGvCTjqUldG_nx4xAmcUFt4FKDV2X9iD6Cby61S7iVsWbe8m0V7CxY03jxloPPpCnY_Yb0dGqmS0X53kmDfoAsSM0JMx8hpdfi6zF8WtEi/s659/Anonymous%20WAAC%20-%20WAAC%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="610" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYS1xKXj_EDBz2UdKLkU7DMpyFkXdrtVPXVCElYUTerI2QrrrHxHwSRVX7coh-Tg4ynWcw3Z-mirSqLywRGVcGvCTjqUldG_nx4xAmcUFt4FKDV2X9iD6Cby61S7iVsWbe8m0V7CxY03jxloPPpCnY_Yb0dGqmS0X53kmDfoAsSM0JMx8hpdfi6zF8WtEi/w370-h400/Anonymous%20WAAC%20-%20WAAC%20cover.jpg" width="370" /></a></div><br />First up, an author who actually falls into both groups. </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ANONYMOUS WAAC</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> was the pseudonym used for four novels (clearly identified as such by their publisher, as opposed to memoirs) detailing a young woman’s experiences as a WAAC during and after World War I. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">WAAC: The Woman's Story of the War</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1930) was praised for its realism about the tragedies of war, but also seems to have had a significant romantic component, and ends, fairy-tale like, with the heroine inheriting a fortune from her beau who is killed in service. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">WAAC Demobilized</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, published later in 1930, shows her jet-setting with numerous admirers to forget her past sorrows, and finally settling down to a be a fabulously successful businesswoman in France, and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My Journey's End</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1932) and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hell Triumphant!</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1935) round out her story. Of course, she might well not be British at all, but until someone trawls through the archives of her publisher, T. Werner Laurie, to find the author’s true identity, we can’t be sure.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpoYnMGqHsk4_LneHWz0k6FlMoF3G7HFbeETHD8tFvsqgUsXfMTsALO2NUQB72gMFgHSmNQDTiBy_1qabR3u9bT98R6WlCeY9BUf0xwvYcGMfzR8cnP49ojff-AqZHjoXsy7le6YN6obmNzK-3nLUl1fxANDxg3Z3pTHX3t6h-nidJiB6A6d6UN-bv91JO/s689/Murphy,%20Bernadette%20-%20author%20pic%20(Daily%20News%20(London)%20-%20Thursday%2012%20July%201934).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="543" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpoYnMGqHsk4_LneHWz0k6FlMoF3G7HFbeETHD8tFvsqgUsXfMTsALO2NUQB72gMFgHSmNQDTiBy_1qabR3u9bT98R6WlCeY9BUf0xwvYcGMfzR8cnP49ojff-AqZHjoXsy7le6YN6obmNzK-3nLUl1fxANDxg3Z3pTHX3t6h-nidJiB6A6d6UN-bv91JO/w315-h400/Murphy,%20Bernadette%20-%20author%20pic%20(Daily%20News%20(London)%20-%20Thursday%2012%20July%201934).jpg" width="315" /></a></div><b><br />BERNADETTE MURPHY</b><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is (presumably) one of the newly-added Irish authors. I haven't fully identified her, but the settings of her three novels suggest Irish origins, though a copyright notice says she was living in London in 1934. Her final novel, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Unwilling Player</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1935), features a group of children at a country house writing a fairy play, only to be interrupted by World War I; after the war, they become entangled in circumstances that echo the plot of their play. Her other two works of fiction don't seem to have a specific connection to the war. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The House in the Country</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1927) deals with “ordinary happenings in an old country house in the West of Ireland, seen through the eyes of a little girl” and was compared to Proust for its observation of intimate details. And </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">An Unexpected Guest</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1934) has an element of magic or time travel to it, as a mature, very sophisticated woman revisits her childhood home in Ireland. </span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8WRS-naQSfiHY8Zg-RRl8Ve4Ci9dBLV7MK8PzzrsH44A9o-Ny1uYKfEDsFuowhkDSvu_q2Rk7WvEztybX8HpzC7kmuSPtScLeDHyqyRpvWfwk6hJ8SwxzzYE-bzjXF3HM2QfZFP-Oa4KzfJczbqrqxDQk5drwaCDjDSc2uBytaTQU0s5xrrvZNctp26z/s574/Holland,%20Lydia%20-%20The%20Honeyed%20Life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="390" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8WRS-naQSfiHY8Zg-RRl8Ve4Ci9dBLV7MK8PzzrsH44A9o-Ny1uYKfEDsFuowhkDSvu_q2Rk7WvEztybX8HpzC7kmuSPtScLeDHyqyRpvWfwk6hJ8SwxzzYE-bzjXF3HM2QfZFP-Oa4KzfJczbqrqxDQk5drwaCDjDSc2uBytaTQU0s5xrrvZNctp26z/w271-h400/Holland,%20Lydia%20-%20The%20Honeyed%20Life.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMG5ZoTZyyon6GWqaE9RJYmW8ELgXmAxtGBKy8-fUC_kGh76gR6VjOIrg0k8kGOqAqu7boodQMHbUPE35JS8CS6-_fx7KFwpRIdvPpE7SkuUFL1Y3xq0hiATuObXYymHK0TkcbUnQPpugXrw42RdieR-Z4OR0YZqZDj3CAgJLkUi0JnDNzF2wW8KWIkfp/s1089/Holland,%20Lydia%20-%20The%20Initial%20Error.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1089" data-original-width="871" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMG5ZoTZyyon6GWqaE9RJYmW8ELgXmAxtGBKy8-fUC_kGh76gR6VjOIrg0k8kGOqAqu7boodQMHbUPE35JS8CS6-_fx7KFwpRIdvPpE7SkuUFL1Y3xq0hiATuObXYymHK0TkcbUnQPpugXrw42RdieR-Z4OR0YZqZDj3CAgJLkUi0JnDNzF2wW8KWIkfp/w320-h400/Holland,%20Lydia%20-%20The%20Initial%20Error.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Journalist and novelist Leonora Eyles was an early addition to my author list, but I had no idea until now that her daughter, Vivyan Leonora Eyles, was also an author, publishing four novels under the pseudonym <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">LYDIA HOLLAND</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Evil Days Come Out</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1947) is about the love and passions of an Englishwoman living in Rome during World War II. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Stepson</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1952) is about the relationship of an Englishwoman and a German refugee from Hitler, and the challenges presented by his teenage son from his previous wife, who has grown up in Germany during war and occupation. I could find no details about </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Initial Error</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1960), but </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Honeyed Life</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1961) features "elegant and intelligent people" in a Greek setting: "Even the less estimable characters with their peculiar perversions and preoccupations have a certain dignity." She was also a translator from Italian and German (including Alberto Moravio). Holland married an Italian in 1934 and lived in Italy throughout World War II. Her mother’s book, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For My Enemy Daughter</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1941), was composed of wartime letters she wrote to her but could not send.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglZI5UknYj7sPAtSzCyq24DdM4NNr4mbahbSoHbfJ01HVJ-Wn6IzRqp5rr4Po-9rH_9aowndOHuAq2CAEP5pFCWxBr-QbJ7DsaptA5D4A3z9a-Wp-aO3cXN-A6htojY-eXEK06BqTDMRL1jEQfkFP_gCXMiyEvYiqhBCW8k-v2EFW-iVAfbsmNWmQLVemZ/s2856/Beckett,%20Prunella%20-%20One%20House%20Divided%20fc%20ff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2102" data-original-width="2856" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglZI5UknYj7sPAtSzCyq24DdM4NNr4mbahbSoHbfJ01HVJ-Wn6IzRqp5rr4Po-9rH_9aowndOHuAq2CAEP5pFCWxBr-QbJ7DsaptA5D4A3z9a-Wp-aO3cXN-A6htojY-eXEK06BqTDMRL1jEQfkFP_gCXMiyEvYiqhBCW8k-v2EFW-iVAfbsmNWmQLVemZ/w400-h295/Beckett,%20Prunella%20-%20One%20House%20Divided%20fc%20ff.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b><br />PRUNELLA BECKETT</b><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> wrote three novels with Yorkshire settings. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One House Divided</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1935) is a tragic tale of two sisters whose mother lives in the past, who both set their hats for a young man who could be their ticket out. The other two have war themes. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Annamoor</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1945) is about a young man crippled in WWII, whose wife’s adoring sympathy leads to tragedy. And in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Crescent</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1952), the author, a review said, “"has taken an upper middle class family and drawn with startling penetration character studies of its members in 1927, 1940, and 1947." In the Rupert Hart-Davis archive, there are letters from Beckett to RHD regarding the possibility that her father, Sir William Gervase Beckett, a banker and politician, was also his own, illegitimate, father.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj908k585Cib8y0Qk9XhIczBMtISlclmEO6HVWBDfVoV_13J-5qKeD2CEAn4kNxau_1oKX3YMUQZVJXQHJaYUaDo3Evu4HhXlbe9k-uhfROR7ftabyROwMAlsF38F4HzPxdumNx9I7cJE5RUYm4fkma8ZQsWt-_OnElPdUjgrG-nntdnQo8kfxL9ebakLfg/s514/Slee,%20Daphne%20-%20That%20Great%20Hunter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="346" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj908k585Cib8y0Qk9XhIczBMtISlclmEO6HVWBDfVoV_13J-5qKeD2CEAn4kNxau_1oKX3YMUQZVJXQHJaYUaDo3Evu4HhXlbe9k-uhfROR7ftabyROwMAlsF38F4HzPxdumNx9I7cJE5RUYm4fkma8ZQsWt-_OnElPdUjgrG-nntdnQo8kfxL9ebakLfg/w269-h400/Slee,%20Daphne%20-%20That%20Great%20Hunter.jpg" width="269" /></a></div><b><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgD5cvSH-LjpdY9IgxFf4oX1HhFS0GoodMJmn74FIagZoXz4A9pdfRmJOEEfk2Dz5MnlMf8SpgK0PAGh89azFdDfY5-NrgEV3PUw-7qo7tLPC5WNuNIHU-JgZ35U9ohRcBicEd0wyhFxf8kU4s8PopFNADq0JPHD_3h9EkaQ8KGueQPLwODKW7488CW-Qk/s428/Slee,%20Daphne%20-%20The%20Poor%20Wise%20Man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="294" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgD5cvSH-LjpdY9IgxFf4oX1HhFS0GoodMJmn74FIagZoXz4A9pdfRmJOEEfk2Dz5MnlMf8SpgK0PAGh89azFdDfY5-NrgEV3PUw-7qo7tLPC5WNuNIHU-JgZ35U9ohRcBicEd0wyhFxf8kU4s8PopFNADq0JPHD_3h9EkaQ8KGueQPLwODKW7488CW-Qk/w275-h400/Slee,%20Daphne%20-%20The%20Poor%20Wise%20Man.jpg" width="275" /></a></div><b><br />DAPHNE SLEE</b><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> published two novels, both having to do with the Royal Air Force. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That Great Hunter</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1951) deals with a Polish pilot who ends up in command of a British bomber squadron in World War II. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Poor Wise Man</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1952) is set postwar and focuses on the relationship of a former Battle of Britain pilot and a frustrated young girl. Presumably, she is also the Daphne Slee who published a volume of poetry in 1963. A 1951 article says she had taught English to Polish pilots and was herself in the Auxiliary Air Force at that time.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tcTtzUxOI__P7xU2zF1kx8t3y9hBdl4Tpd9Xa3H2tbL_QvKvNHNV0I_yr8SR6AGy41OL0zsR81sU9zEzDfzH3emoregXfon2StoXe7NGsIeK7irjiAd1XMYlccqn8qN9TcrpYxPXxe49FcdgFN4Jon4y54-GXuF36N7HCFeKXWoj-DYe8l3wrhw_31LT/s2340/Monckton,%20Ella%20-%20Left%20Till%20Called%20For%20front%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2340" data-original-width="1555" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tcTtzUxOI__P7xU2zF1kx8t3y9hBdl4Tpd9Xa3H2tbL_QvKvNHNV0I_yr8SR6AGy41OL0zsR81sU9zEzDfzH3emoregXfon2StoXe7NGsIeK7irjiAd1XMYlccqn8qN9TcrpYxPXxe49FcdgFN4Jon4y54-GXuF36N7HCFeKXWoj-DYe8l3wrhw_31LT/w266-h400/Monckton,%20Ella%20-%20Left%20Till%20Called%20For%20front%20cover.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br />I already introduced <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ELLA MONCKTON</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> here </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2023/11/ive-had-lot-of-bother-with-you-myself.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">a while back</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, reviewing her fun family holiday novel </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">August in Avilion</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1940), but she's just finally been added to the main list. She was a children's author and the wife of artist and illustrator Clifford Webb, who illustrated some of her work. Many of her children’s titles are for younger children, but </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Gates Family</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1934), surely a tongue-in-cheek autobiographical look at life in an unconventional artistic family, is for older children, and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">August in Avilion</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is a sequel of sorts. I only just discovered that she also wrote another adult novel, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Place Where They Belong</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1952), which is set in the immediate postwar, with a family returning to their village after wartime separation and finding both village and each other changed. Other books for older children are </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Left Till Called For</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1937), about a girl on the run from her boarding school, and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Key and the Chest</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1957), another holiday story and a treasure hunt on a family estate dating back to William the Conqueror. </span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-0WQIIUuqtmmcjQzdhjv1k0lwbnX2h9FleIWi4GFARThPlcmQsFXjI0rxh1DroE0QSCEn6n38M60H8IOZ5Q2OyeqwXmnOJzJu3xOeasB7UFFePNhSJPqL42YnrwC8_R11ncNZRug__kqr4dUHbeaS7c0-4x2nMFoxYzV16A77JNpam1ImtpKcHglxNdCA/s676/Grant,%20M.%20Shirley%20-%20article%20abt%20book%20&%20family%20(Kentish%20Express%20-%20Saturday%2001%20November%201930).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="457" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-0WQIIUuqtmmcjQzdhjv1k0lwbnX2h9FleIWi4GFARThPlcmQsFXjI0rxh1DroE0QSCEn6n38M60H8IOZ5Q2OyeqwXmnOJzJu3xOeasB7UFFePNhSJPqL42YnrwC8_R11ncNZRug__kqr4dUHbeaS7c0-4x2nMFoxYzV16A77JNpam1ImtpKcHglxNdCA/w270-h400/Grant,%20M.%20Shirley%20-%20article%20abt%20book%20&%20family%20(Kentish%20Express%20-%20Saturday%2001%20November%201930).jpg" width="270" /></a></div><br />Now to my authors who for one reason or another went beyond my abilities to trace them in public records. I've really <span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">almost</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> identified </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">M. SHIRLEY GRANT</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, who published a single novel, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Elizabeth Holds Forth</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1930), written in the form of a diary “kept during a short period in which many incidents, mainly romantic, came into the life of a discerning girl.” An article of the time gives us her family in Maidstone (her brother Bernhard Shirley Henniker Grant was a well-known philatelist), but there are two sisters, Edith Marjorie and Doris Maud, who could be the source of the “M" (and two more sisters without Ms, if it’s a sort of pseudonym). It's perhaps most likely to be Edith (17 Feb 1894 – 22 May 1968), who on the 1939 England & Wales Register is a teacher and owner of a school.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then there's </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">EVA LATHBURY</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, author of five novels that were often praised (and sometimes critiqued) for their clever, philosophical dialogue. In </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mr. Meyer's Pupil</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1907), the heroine is a governess who, under the influence of modern beliefs, gets caught up in the dramas of her employer. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The People Downstairs</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1908, published in the U.S. as </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Long Gallery</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">) was summed up by a skeptical critic: "the story of two girls, both of whom enter the married state, and have all manner of philosophical discussions with themselves and—what is far worse—with other people about the state of their affections and the like. … The worst of it is that they are all so very much alike in their brilliance." Other critics praised it enthusiastically, however. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Sinking Ship</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1909) is about a 40-ish actress confronting her advancing age, her daughter who is growing into a beauty herself, and her mother who at 70 is in full denial of her age, as well as the brilliant young playwright whose new work is meant to be her next big achievement. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Moving Camp</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1911), set largely in Dresden and Manchester, features a young singer determined to inspire and control the lives of an ordinary family in Manchester according to her own "artistic" principles. And </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Shoe Pinches</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1912) sees a wise mother guiding her children past their modern ideals. A copyright notice says it’s her real name and she was living in London, and she's even listed in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Who Was Who in Literature 1906-1934</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, which gives her address as “Ingledene, Buxton,” but sadly that still leaves two or three likely suspects in the records and no final clue to determine which is the author.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Someone somewhere must know about </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">E. M. WALKER</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, who published a single novel, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God Loves the Franks</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1927), set in a French boarding school for soldier’s daughters and focused on three young teachers who have very different destinies ahead. A contemporary review asserts that the author is definitely a woman, and a signed copy available online gives her first name as Ethel, but no other details have been found. It seems likely that she is the same E. M. Walker who translated works from French, and there was also a composer by that name, but I couldn't get additional leads. If she was a translator and composer as well, there must be some local knowledge of her somewhere…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG93YKGnvKpK4YV11gK4mHVx877r-z6rGawLTqYgjvbXAy3r-IZT9asHoFSCAmj0kWxdQTwM6mv7TkH9g9RaYZ66y6Qn8PY6iV9tN9oqzYaQVWisK7p4rpOVmZCuqUDU3HYQTtRxhvU1ytPPEnhVsygngjw-j7F6SDU87R2KzkmOywS7LY0bnEfXlS3i4p/s686/Woodhouse,%20Frances%20-%20COuntry%20Holiday%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="464" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG93YKGnvKpK4YV11gK4mHVx877r-z6rGawLTqYgjvbXAy3r-IZT9asHoFSCAmj0kWxdQTwM6mv7TkH9g9RaYZ66y6Qn8PY6iV9tN9oqzYaQVWisK7p4rpOVmZCuqUDU3HYQTtRxhvU1ytPPEnhVsygngjw-j7F6SDU87R2KzkmOywS7LY0bnEfXlS3i4p/w270-h400/Woodhouse,%20Frances%20-%20COuntry%20Holiday%20cover.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><br />And the last two authors in this post were also "one hit wonders" and also remain unidentified. <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">CATRIONA MACNICOL</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> published </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Beautiful Moment</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1929), a romantic comedy about a Scottish girl rebelling against her stodgy upbringing by accepting a governess post with a Swiss family; the name could be a pseudonym, but I haven’t come across enough detail to identify her. And </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">FRANCES WOODHOUSE</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> published </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Country Holiday</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1935), about "an extremely shy young doctor who misses the happiest things in life, but manages to make a good business of it after all." No clues to track her down either.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It would be astonishing if any of you reading this post in March 2024 happened to have information about these mystery women, but down the road a great-niece or grandson, or even someone happening across a publisher's contract, may stumble across this post and make the connection—"He's talking about Great Aunt Catriona!" Fingers crossed.</span></p></span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-58843710104572094052024-02-23T15:14:00.000-08:002024-02-23T15:14:45.455-08:00"I intend to count for quite a long time yet": MRS. PHILIP CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY, The Missing Piece (1927)<p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vvkxYUBjO1yT6bBOofN-OSQeXN9-v892-p3gvNiSeiUF5pz_Edadma9PRp6opjxSvdaqz9uxgtxbVTSG4MRPLZxk5ZLEzK2WLoioKwIYr7O5czHoBTBJ5LLXGGKxvwj1YxDYLI2rJnE9b0gS5YmkCMxAQFAshBIUyQxi4S9DZ1kfibXkqaUdi7ivt0v_/s920/de%20Crespigny,%20Mrs%20Philip%20Champion%20-%20The%20Missing%20Piece%20sp%20det.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="510" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vvkxYUBjO1yT6bBOofN-OSQeXN9-v892-p3gvNiSeiUF5pz_Edadma9PRp6opjxSvdaqz9uxgtxbVTSG4MRPLZxk5ZLEzK2WLoioKwIYr7O5czHoBTBJ5LLXGGKxvwj1YxDYLI2rJnE9b0gS5YmkCMxAQFAshBIUyQxi4S9DZ1kfibXkqaUdi7ivt0v_/w221-h400/de%20Crespigny,%20Mrs%20Philip%20Champion%20-%20The%20Missing%20Piece%20sp%20det.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><br />I am still quite fairly active, and to climb in over a window-sill would have presented no difficulties. I had always been a great walker, and had even done a bit of climbing in Switzerland when I was a girl, and a man proposed to me once because he saw me take a five-barred gate with a jumping-pole. I never could quite understand why he should have regarded that particular feat as a promising basis for married felicity; I remember thinking at the time what a funny thing a man was when he fell in love, and pictured myself as time went on continuing to jump five-barred gates in a desperate effort to revive his waning affections. Anyway, I said no, and later on he married a girl who hung upside down from the roof in a music-hall in black satin tights, and dropped into a tank on the ground floor, so, according to his apparent standards of woman's true worth, he must have been much happier with her than he would have been with me.</span></blockquote><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6f68c6ba-7fff-73fc-79ad-e906ca28a0cf"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This was another recent interlibrary loan that resulted from the research I've been doing to revamp and expand my woefully neglected Mystery List. De Crespigny was added to my author list at least as far back as 2017, but I'm afraid that nothing about her jumped out at me at the time as of particular interest—perhaps particularly because I noted that some of her later works, and her memoir, were increasingly influenced by her interest in Spiritualism. She seems to have been an artist herself, and to have begun her writing career with non-fiction, followed in the 1900s by several historical romances featuring feisty heroines, published several novels for Mills & Boon in the 1910s (including some with supernatural themes), and then turned to mysteries in the 1920s. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Tangled Evidence</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1924) was praised as "ingenious and thrilling" by none other than Arthur Conan Doyle, and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A Case for the C.I.D.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1933) seems to have had an innovative twist in regard to its primary murder. But it was </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Missing Piece</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1927) which most leapt out at me (quite happily, since none of the others were available in U.S. libraries), which from contemporary reviews I established had humorous elements and featured a chatty spinster as amateur detective. Could anything be more up my alley?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Such discoveries, of course, very often don't pan out, and I've had more than my share of duds lately (part of the reason I haven't been reviewing so much, though I suppose I should do some short duds posts as a sort of "don't bother" to other readers). But the stars were aligned this time, and although </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Missing Piece</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is surely no great shakes for fans of traditional, hardcore puzzlers, it was really great fun for me from a character and humor standpoint.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC60kS55FIPXgEqKmEYqIyTj87vukn6X-kH2VOUAa7_eYOBoaKAQyEfsW2YW8ODiNGnAFI_vR1avGix62KoQZ-OmPZlVtBlEXZzHGltr-5K_zEkltKhqxkhXn-h_OWAUhF32Q0UUwmk3MDLty7dubytZEFRX_xSENUSh2BneXY0y6uCYA0-LBwOWk-QSxA/s2906/de%20Crespigny,%20Mrs%20Philip%20Champion%20-%20The%20Missing%20Piece%20tp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2153" data-original-width="2906" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC60kS55FIPXgEqKmEYqIyTj87vukn6X-kH2VOUAa7_eYOBoaKAQyEfsW2YW8ODiNGnAFI_vR1avGix62KoQZ-OmPZlVtBlEXZzHGltr-5K_zEkltKhqxkhXn-h_OWAUhF32Q0UUwmk3MDLty7dubytZEFRX_xSENUSh2BneXY0y6uCYA0-LBwOWk-QSxA/w400-h296/de%20Crespigny,%20Mrs%20Philip%20Champion%20-%20The%20Missing%20Piece%20tp.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Celia Gaythorn is the spinster detective in question, a clear-headed if occasionally rambling, avid whodunnit fan, who provides a home for her young, ultra-modern niece Naomi. Naomi is forever organizing more or less ridiculous committees for progressive causes, and she finds her aunt old-fashioned (of course, or what would be the fun?) and has a recurring habit of leaving rooms before Celia has finishes her sometimes circuitous thoughts. Despite her love for mysteries, though, Celia finds it rather more stressful dealing with the real-life murder of a young friend of Naomi's, who has mysterious tropical origins and has been working as an artists' model. Even worse is that (quite unlikable) Inspector Codlington, who's handling the case, has settled on the village baker as prime suspect:</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36.2609865470852pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">"I only hoped the inspector had not yet put his threat into effect and arrested the poor man—and if he had what on earth should we all do for bread in the morning?"</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Along the way, we meet an array of villagers of all classes and types, and have quite a pleasant trip. The humor isn't overdone, but there are certainly some giggle- and grin-inducing moments. Sadly, there is also a single racist reference, though not one directed at any particular character.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But the greatest strength of the novel is Celia herself, who, we eventually learn, is not even going to remain a spinster for long:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36.2609865470852pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">…no doubt you have visualized an elderly, stout person wearing first clearers and already placed upon that undesirable shelf that is waiting for people who no longer count.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36.2609865470852pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But I am not like that.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36.2609865470852pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">What I am exactly like I shall leave to your imagination, and I intend to count for quite a long time yet, certainly in my own house. It's true I have grey hair and am not what the new generation would call young—but then they call nothing young that is any older than themselves—and youth really is not just a question of years—and I am engaged to be married to the best and dearest man in the world. It may not have much to do with Everal Deeping's murder, but it was an old romance.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How could we resist such a character? (Though perhaps we might be taken aback when we learn, later on, that she's </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not yet forty</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, though as she says, "to nineteen forty is Methuselah.")</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I'll certainly check out other works by de Crespigny as the opportunity arises. </span></span></p>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-27271579735677604232024-02-16T13:57:00.000-08:002024-02-16T13:57:33.983-08:00Detective on holiday: E. H. CLEMENTS, Bright Intervals (1940)<p><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMncJ_Mpw5n9OVRSr8C0irHMaxYg_Q3TKEjYjWTsfG_pnEl708LR6xBd02l7_91naf8oUAthhI6fJcdM3RRnD4SSV4VYPo2ZHlMoEgyaSee9ePUFNhUWe5asyn4cjSryi2mfjJA4SryJKjPaYjeN6FP-3csw0JMT10WjSJr4StuUYYKwOM4UurNGFSACWB/s400/Clements,%20Eileen%20Helen%20-%20Bright%20Intervals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="279" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMncJ_Mpw5n9OVRSr8C0irHMaxYg_Q3TKEjYjWTsfG_pnEl708LR6xBd02l7_91naf8oUAthhI6fJcdM3RRnD4SSV4VYPo2ZHlMoEgyaSee9ePUFNhUWe5asyn4cjSryi2mfjJA4SryJKjPaYjeN6FP-3csw0JMT10WjSJr4StuUYYKwOM4UurNGFSACWB/w279-h400/Clements,%20Eileen%20Helen%20-%20Bright%20Intervals.jpg" width="279" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Bright Intervals </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">was Eileen Helen Clements' second novel. Her first, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let Him Die</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, had appeared the year before, her first mystery and the introduction to her series detective Alister Woodhead, who would subsequently appear in twelve more mystery/thrillers. Clements also later wrote a number of stand-alone crime-themed novels that didn't feature Woodhead. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright Intervals</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, however, is a more or less one-of-a-kind (so far as I know) experiment, in that it features Woodhead and the Chattans, the charming, slightly eccentric family with whom he had solved a murder in </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let Him Die</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, marrying into the family in the process, but this time simply on holiday in Devon, with no detecting in sight. Rather like if Christie had written a novel about the domestic turmoil Poirot and Hastings encounter in a ramshackle holiday hotel, or about Miss Marple and her nephew Raymond venturing on a murder-free cruise and helping the ship's chef reunite with his lost love. (Now that I think of it, I really wish she <i>had</i> written those…) Certainly, some mystery novels become as much about other things as about crime—examples like </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Nine Tailors</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> or </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Surfeit of Lampreys</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> could arguably leave out the murders altogether and still be delightful novels—but I can't think of another example where a detective is used without a trace of a mystery element. Can you?</span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-738a2e0e-7fff-d3b2-4140-910015338c0a"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's an interesting and charming experiment, and certainly makes me want to read other Woodhead titles. I wrote </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2015/03/eileen-helen-clements-cherry-harvest.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (almost a decade ago, no less) about </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cherry Harvest</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1943), and noted that though Woodhead does put in an appearance (his first after </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright Intervals</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">), it's a brief one. Perhaps that was why I seem to have been a bit lukewarm on it. He seems to play a bigger role in Clements' subsequent book, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Berry Green</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1945). Alister is a charming, odd character—kind and loving, but fiercely anti-social with most people, and with a gruff sense of humor that can take one aback. When the family's legal guardian, whom all adore, falls ill:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"I'm going to see Graham—to cheer him up."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"How?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"I'm going to show him my stamp collection.''</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"God help him," said Alister wearily. "I give you up. I give you all up. If he's sickening for scarlet fever, may you all catch it and die miserably."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Or, his method of "comforting" one of the youngsters during a storm:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"I say, Alister, that was a good one, wasn't it? Was it a thunderbolt, do you think?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"I expect so. You go to sleep."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"Have you ever known anyone that was struck by lightning?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"No. But I know several who ought to be. Shut up and turn over."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But it's a sense of humor I relate to, and children often do seem to be delighted by light-hearted verbal abuse, so I soon got rather attached to Alister.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The plot, of course, is rather beside the point. Family holiday in Devon, oldest son slightly troubled and younger than his age, mixup with tawdry well-to-do folks, tensions around Graham's guardianship and around his surprise engagement to a fiancee who is none too sure about having her beau so deeply enmeshed in a whole family's problems and affections. Mostly played for laughs, and mostly effective laughs at that. Predictable, of course, and not an </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">absolute</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> favorite, but a very charming, entertaining read. I am now requesting </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let Him Die</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> from interlibrary loan so I can see how all the characters were introduced, and how they worked together in solving a murder. I would think it won't be long till we see Clements back in print from one of the several excellent publishers now focused on Golden Age mysteries, but whenever that happens, I do hope they include this one in their batch and don't shunt it aside because no one gets murdered.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I was inspired to read this one—and at least one other book I'll mention soon—because I've been hard at work on both a new batch of authors to add to my main list and, perhaps of more interest overall, a thorough revamping and expansion of my long out-of-date Mystery List (of which you can see the woefully inadequate and outdated current version </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-mystery-list-d.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">). I've not only more than doubled the number of authors on the list, thanks both to having added many, many new authors to the main list since 2016 when I last updated the Mystery List, but also thanks to more in-depth research and the book reviews to be found on the British Newspaper Archive. As I look up lots of titles in order to make the info on the new Mystery List as thorough and complete as possible, I've come to a number of books I just couldn't resist getting my hands on. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright Intervals</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> being one, and a quite enjoyable one at that.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My obsessive research both on new authors and on mystery writers in particular is thus one reason I haven't got round to reviewing as much as I would like. But rest assured, I am diligently working away behind the scenes, and the payoff will be the much bigger Mystery List, coming "soon". You know how fluid that word often is with me, but I really do plan to finish in the next couple of months…</span></p></span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-79500716742300389222024-01-27T13:51:00.000-08:002024-01-27T13:51:45.014-08:00"If she had not been careful": MONICA REDLICH, Cheap Return (1934)<p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBSwiL0BiolagkPqPCcooMDZJK5eaSfV_0K_0MuTrs2UMAV1aSMzHe-0yAVtpMv06oMLXufKj0qy2eO4d_q8rD99290R7vS6d8ea7PQ7kH6qtHT1LDNjQwIeHDNrrtRW0lUlvmhDP9RkhrmzvQEKYwSQvVyUKbgc5tAdhphQv41Mkv_0oJNz2qerUzss0a/s827/Redlich,%20Monica%20-%20Cheap%20Return%20pl%20fc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="558" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBSwiL0BiolagkPqPCcooMDZJK5eaSfV_0K_0MuTrs2UMAV1aSMzHe-0yAVtpMv06oMLXufKj0qy2eO4d_q8rD99290R7vS6d8ea7PQ7kH6qtHT1LDNjQwIeHDNrrtRW0lUlvmhDP9RkhrmzvQEKYwSQvVyUKbgc5tAdhphQv41Mkv_0oJNz2qerUzss0a/w270-h400/Redlich,%20Monica%20-%20Cheap%20Return%20pl%20fc.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><br />If she had not been careful, she might soon have realised the unflattering truth that Antony had thrown her over for somebody else: however, she was careful, and as soon as the turmoil in her mind began to grow calmer, she settled down to think things out in her accustomed manner.</span></blockquote><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-783c8d72-7fff-0515-0fa5-ecba69196500"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jan Forrester's ability to "think things out" is the central focus of </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cheap Return</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, the first novel (of four) by Monica Redlich, who was later the author of several travel-oriented books as well as two children's books I quite enjoyed. But for Jan, "thinking things out" means either romantically justifying whatever she has done or tragically bemoaning how cruel life has been to her.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's the story of a young girl in London, having just finished at a women's college and taken a flat of her own, who has her first love affair—with, rather unfortunately for her, the young author of a scandalous novel (called </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Blithe Morass</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, no less), a twit who still lives with his mother but harbors predictably self-serving fantasies of free love and breaking with bourgeois morality. Jan is young and silly, rather self-absorbed and rather deluded in imagining herself to be special and a cut above her friends. In other words, I fear, a very ordinary girl, or indeed person—I found myself more than once recalling myself at her age, and felt uncomfortable recalling what an arrogant idiot I was too. See these two lines, for example:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A middle-aged couple opposite looked at her, or through her, from time to time, and Jan let them see the kind of books she read.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Looking round the table, Jan perceived that she was the best-looking person sitting at it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I certainly did the former a few times, and if I didn't usually think about being handsome, I definitely thought—without any justifiable reason at all—that I was somehow more sophisticated and interesting than those around me. Sex has the weird distinction of being the thing that every generation thinks they're the first to discover, and the boundaries of sexual morality may very well only exist so that young people can feel naughty and special in overstepping them. It certainly has that effect on Jan.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYoRlll_C-RSu2D1maAVzG4ccl5itIUcxMbqDNYN_YMAEeX5pUgQkxJDbsvLuZvFkPsqbJmBvUlAM-vboqFo5iYQQ6uH2Rxu1GP2ieCtioNtBCK73RDA1gd2MC-8tlk7lNHM-s3P0wSIgABGyqalHnPrDj2iKE-2waSo8FDE13jFeax5bjMNLtLZDfLG2/s840/Redlich,%20Monica%20-%20Cheap%20Return%20tp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="528" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYoRlll_C-RSu2D1maAVzG4ccl5itIUcxMbqDNYN_YMAEeX5pUgQkxJDbsvLuZvFkPsqbJmBvUlAM-vboqFo5iYQQ6uH2Rxu1GP2ieCtioNtBCK73RDA1gd2MC-8tlk7lNHM-s3P0wSIgABGyqalHnPrDj2iKE-2waSo8FDE13jFeax5bjMNLtLZDfLG2/w251-h400/Redlich,%20Monica%20-%20Cheap%20Return%20tp.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">So I read most of </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cheap Return</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> thinking it a strikingly realistic (if not overly charming or entertaining) portrait of being young and stupid, and I still think it's surprisingly effective read that way. I was even praising Redlich to myself for being bold enough to look honestly and realistically at a heroine who has nothing special to recommend her (and a few strikes against her). But by the end (SPOILER ALERT, I should say, as if anyone will have a chance to read it for themselves unless they get to the British Library too!), when Jan has had a good spanking (metaphorically speaking), but has come through with all her self-justifying abilities and delusions intact, having apparently learned nothing, it occurred to me that the whole thing might have been intended as a satire—mocking Jan's silliness in a sort of </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gentlemen Prefer Blondes</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> type style. This is pretty strongly supported both by contemporary reviews and by a passage near the end when Jan, freshly dumped and trying to rebuild burnt bridges, decides—for appearances sake—to see a friend's priest for advice and reports on the meeting thus:</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As Jan had expected, Father Pyx did not understand. … In other ways, too, he had been very short-sighted. He had counselled her against all sorts of faults which were the very ones she was most free from. Self-deception, for example.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No reader could have reached page 272 of </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cheap Return</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and not laughed at that. But if the book as a whole was meant to be hilarious, it didn't work very well for me. Perhaps because Jan's delusions are too innocent and too common (ahem!) for me to want to mock her too harshly? I do wonder, though, what Redlich's father, the rector of Little Bowden in Leicestershire, thought of her young heroine's tawdry weekend in Brighton! Did he wonder how autobiographical it was?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One thing I did like in Redlich's portrayal of Jan, and that I found unusual for a novel published in 1934, and by a very young female author as well—is that she portrays Jan as apparently quite enjoying the sexual aspect of her relationship with Antony. Not explicitly expressed, of course, but clear enough, and it's refreshing that Redlich didn't feel obligated to make Jan's shameful dallying all bleak and depressing. It sounds as though they had rather a lot of fun, and as she doesn't end up pregnant either (the other plot twist one might have expected), I'd be inclined to say she should be thankful and chalk it all up to experience!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There are two descriptive passages in </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cheap Return</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that I just have to salvage from the sands of time and share with you. Irresistible little glimpses of a lost world. First, a slice of life in the old reading room of the British Museum:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Museum Reading Room, as usual, was full of strange sights. At each spoke of the great wheel of desks, among all the ordinary, diligent people, sat two or three freaks of such magnitude that even a Fleurallan student could not fail to notice them. An Indian sat in turbanned dignity, reading Elinor Glyn. A very, very fat woman was writing letters with a volume of the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Encyclopaedia Britannica</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> open in front of her. The man who was doing a dictionary was playing snap with his little white cards. Another man, much bearded, had six small flags of various colours pinned on to a card, and was also amusing himself. The free-love couple, bronzed and open-necked, were consulting an A.B.C. Everywhere, impassive, rubber-soled, and slightly vacant, moved the officials with stacks of books. The air was a delicate grey, the dome dim and high: and in the middle of the wheel, the pages of the catalogues flapped and cracked and rustled ceaselessly, as if a gardener were brushing up dead leaves.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And then, the now almost unfathomable luxury of a first class train journey in the 1930s (Mr. and Mrs. Albert Spender are the couple's aliases):</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The porter stowed away their bags, and ushered them into a magnificent Pullman. Jan remembered that Antony had said they would do the thing in style, and tried hard to look as though she took her surroundings for granted. They had an armchair each, with a table between them, and the attendant brought her a special footstool. She turned on the little table-lamp to see if it worked: which it did. There was an oldish woman level with her, with much bosom and many pearls upon it. In another seat was an old gentleman with very yellow boots, reading </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Country Life</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. There was an important-looking business man, condescending to a much less important-looking one, in the fourth corner; and that, with Mr. and Mrs. Albert Spender, was the lot. Jan felt for Antony's hand under the table. It seemed a long time before the train started. She took a few furtive glances at the hidden lights, and the wall decorations in inlaid wood that made the Pullman so beautiful: then she looked out of the window at the surging, third-class mob on the platform, making little grimaces to show Antony that she realised how dreadful they were.</span></p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I see now that I had similarly ambivalent but intrigued feelings about Redlich's third novel, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No Love Lost</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, back in 2019 (see </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2019/04/they-you-up-your-mum-and-dad-monica.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">). I have her second novel, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Consenting Party</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, also published in 1934, on my Kindle from our British Library orgy last year, so I'll be curious to see if I find it peculiar and interesting and not entirely satisfying as well. Or if you prefer Redlich's lighter fair, I wrote about her second children's book, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Five Farthings</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2017/07/wish-fulfillment-fantasies-mabel-esther.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—it was on a brainstorming list I did of possibilities for a batch of Furrowed Middlebrow children's titles, and I wish someone would reprint it and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jam Tomorrow</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> as well.</span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-34267566718499339002024-01-14T13:06:00.000-08:002024-01-14T13:13:46.587-08:00"Humiliatingly Victorian": AGNES ROSEMARY COOPER & MARY WELLER (as RAMSAY BELL), The Lake of Ghosts (1940)<blockquote><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3HtOZgFrKb6mOlbPoF-6BpvmIHxNkvo7lzYAyh6Apohf9Mf_FcqYfzpghIt0mR20oOtPKZF3fSY7SCBUr8J-vMbP_ou8Ael9Gxo0we8j4i8ACS-rH6cVWN1xZ38_x7yvYzqceFpT24A4cWEIbHtP_4Sx6X-G_gSfSmO8LWbZv67wI-3YIRg6ciA7Ii8S/s2453/Lake%20of%20Ghosts%20sp%20det2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2453" data-original-width="1106" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3HtOZgFrKb6mOlbPoF-6BpvmIHxNkvo7lzYAyh6Apohf9Mf_FcqYfzpghIt0mR20oOtPKZF3fSY7SCBUr8J-vMbP_ou8Ael9Gxo0we8j4i8ACS-rH6cVWN1xZ38_x7yvYzqceFpT24A4cWEIbHtP_4Sx6X-G_gSfSmO8LWbZv67wI-3YIRg6ciA7Ii8S/w180-h400/Lake%20of%20Ghosts%20sp%20det2.jpg" width="180" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />On just such a night,
thought Elizabeth, had the barge been sunk ... it was ridiculous to think like
that, just because Signor Baldini had told the story with such evident
enjoyment ... probably he had merely been savouring the opportunity of showing
off his excellent English. … The woods on the right of the path were like a
solid wall of blackness, felt rather than perceived. She wished tall Professor
Cobb, instead of poor little Mr. Blacker, were between her and that eerie
darkness ... anything might be happening in there ... it was a perfect setting
for a murder, or the re-enacting of some ancient scene of violence. …</span><p></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Here's another book that I flagged years ago and have only just got round
to, from my last batch of British Library titles. At the time, I only knew
that it was about a woman archaeologist encountering intrigue and danger at a
dig in the Apennines. I like mysterious doings, I like archaeology, and I like
a strong, career-minded heroine, so what was not to like? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Let me tell you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Agnes Rosemary Cooper and Mary Weller published four novels in as many
years under the joint pseudonym Ramsay Bell. I've recently researched them a
bit more. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dragon Under Ground</i> (1937)
is about a young woman who witnesses a crime and enlists two young men to save
her from the baddies (a critic called the plot weak but noted there was no lack
of excitement). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To Joanna</i> (1938)
features another young woman mixed up with jewel thieves and murder, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dangerous Promise</i> (1939) features the
surprising adventures of a young woman trying to pick up her fiancé’s passport
from his flat, oblivious to the shady business with which he’s involved. Any
one of those might have piqued my interest if I'd come across them first. But
it was, for better or worse, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Lake of
Ghosts </i>which first caught my eye.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I did finish this novel, which is not something
I always do these days if I'm not engrossed. I did consider abandoning
ship a couple of times, though. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lake</i> is
reasonably well-plotted, at least in the beginning, so an element of intrigue
kept me going, as well as the idea of a first century Roman pleasure boat,
ordered sunk mid-orgy with all parties (or partiers, as it were) on board, by
no lesser figure than Caligula (probably jealous of others having fun without him), having
been rediscovered in an isolated Italian lake and in the process of being
excavated. Young Elizabeth Lane has been sent to the scene as the English
expert, to analyze and record the finds, and arrives to find a rather surly
group of Italian workmen, bossed by a rugged Scotsman, Fergus McKinnon. Her fellow
camp residents include an Italian archaeologist/playboy, Marco Dulciti,
American scholar Professor Cobb, an engineer, Herbert Blacker, and his aging
would-be sex kitten wife Polly, and their magnificently spoiled daughter Tam. Nearby,
there's the wealthy owner of the land, one Signor Baldini, his practical
middle-aged cousin Miss Fitzgerald, and a beautiful young niece Consuelo.
Elizabeth also finds a growing tension in the camp—the workers have become
restless and discontented. (It's so hard to get good help nowadays.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Things escalate quickly. There are attempts on Fergus's life (about 50, it
seemed, though perhaps it was not quite so many), a near rape of Elizabeth, and the
murder of the would-be rapist, a workman who had been recently fired from the
dig. These events initially helped keep things moving, but ultimately became
rather repetitive, and the authors seemed to believe that suspense and intrigue
are enhanced by constant agonizing and hand-wringing among their cast of
characters (crisis, agonizing, recovery, crisis, agonizing, recovery, and so
on). Oh, and there's the discovery of a temple to Diana in the woods nearby,
and Elizabeth swears she has seen sacred rites going on by the overgrown altar.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">And here we have the crux of my problem with the novel. Elizabeth. We are
assured (repeatedly, ad nauseum even) how professional and independent she is.
Why, we are told, she had spent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">months</i>
on previous digs without ever so much as recalling for a single instant that
she's a woman, so little do men and romance matter to her. And she will have
none of your superstitious nonsense, thank you very much, as she is utterly
rational and practical and no nonsense. And unemotional! Gracious, how we are
reassured that she is not one to let her emotions control her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Well, the quote above, in which she's already giving herself the creeps
imagining violence and rituals when nothing has even happened yet, comes from
about 30 pages into the novel, so you can only imagine how it plays out from there. And
the moment she lays eyes on brawny, red-headed Fergus, whatever sort of
independent career woman she may have been before, she's just a tedious
heap of quivering jelly now (though for a long time she irritatingly refuses to
admit it to herself):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It was the blow she had
received, she decided, which had made her think and act so strangely. By
morning she would be her old detached, unruffled self again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">A bit later, she reassures herself again:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">She seemed to be making
a deplorable habit of thinking through her emotions—one normally quite foreign
to her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Sure thing, sister. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The weird disconnect between how Elizabeth sees herself and how she really
is actually reminded me of the governess in Henry James' <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Turn of the Screw</i>. But alas, "Ramsay Bell" lacks
James' subtlety and complexity. Here, Elizabeth just ends up seeming like a
deluded doormat that one would like to shake if one felt it was worth it. One
scene in particular made me nearly wonder about her sanity. When she is nearly
raped by a former workman seeking revenge on Fergus, her determination to see herself as unphased by anything becomes darn near pathological:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Even as she fought
against the wave of faintness which was the result of intense relief, she was
conscious of an obscure anger against herself for reacting to the situation in
a manner so completely and humiliatingly Victorian.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I'm pretty sure even the toughest, most practical woman is allowed to feel
shaken by an attempted rape, and the fact that Elizabeth doesn't seem to give
herself that permission comes to seem utterly bizarre. At any rate, let's say I found it difficult to be invested in her as a heroine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The solution to all the intrigue at the site is rather anticlimactic too.
I had a whole ending of my own worked out, involving a person or persons
desperate to prevent something <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">else</i>
from being discovered in the lake if the boat is excavated (bodies in cement,
perhaps? an ill-gotten treasure trove?), and therefore trying to force the
abandonment of the site. However immodest it might seem, I have to say that my ending was far better than Ramsay Bell's, which involves superstitious terror:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">He has allowed his
emotions to become involved until he is now convinced that when Lupus's barge
is raised, the evil which once flourished upon it will be let loose again, and
will sweep over and utterly destroy the good people for whom he believes himself
responsible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Said evil, of course, being people <whispers> having sex? There’s
certainly <i>something</i> humiliatingly Victorian going on here.</span><o:p></o:p></p>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-5308353147246333232024-01-08T06:01:00.000-08:002024-01-08T06:01:11.222-08:00PAULINE WARWICK, Diana's Daughter (1931) (aka The Girdle of Venus)<p><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMIZ5gs9Uj8tts_L2_g6C39c7FRjEXmnZd9BXk2mVII7TDW897smq_l1voZgawAD5qua2lnDN_DqX42Pud-OSQhe7TEVjuAuSw1qWmUctzDlPGkLpLa3Rv7F432MaGbBQ-mXQjHuXws7X4g1GIYz9opImIdxh9QA0cwVExt5b17JGRA3wMNqTul-qwv47G/s862/Warwick,%20Pauline%20-%20Diana's%20Daughter%20tp.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="566" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMIZ5gs9Uj8tts_L2_g6C39c7FRjEXmnZd9BXk2mVII7TDW897smq_l1voZgawAD5qua2lnDN_DqX42Pud-OSQhe7TEVjuAuSw1qWmUctzDlPGkLpLa3Rv7F432MaGbBQ-mXQjHuXws7X4g1GIYz9opImIdxh9QA0cwVExt5b17JGRA3wMNqTul-qwv47G/w263-h400/Warwick,%20Pauline%20-%20Diana's%20Daughter%20tp.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span>Lately I seem to have been, even more than before, in pursuit of light, funny frolics, and one thing that I've learned is that the perfect balance struck by D. E. Stevenson's </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Miss Buncle's Book</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, Ruby Ferguson's </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Apricot Sky</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, or Noel Streatfeild's Susan Scarlett novels (especially the early ones) is a </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">lot</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> harder to achieve than it might as first appear. I recently wrote </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">about how seductive Betty Trask/Ann Delamain sounded from reviews and blurbs, and how neither of her books that I sampled quite managed to strike that balance. Pauline Warwick sounds similarly irresistible in contemporary publicity, and produced similarly ambivalent results for me.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-c6a9f8fd-7fff-7b9e-b97e-31f457e8c5ab" style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Diana's Daughter</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (which sounds </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">enormously</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> more charming under its British title, </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Girdle of Venus</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">) is an entertainingly sprightly romance about a young woman who is forced to leave Oxford due to her mother's finances, and who is determined to avoid the silliness and irresponsibility that romantic love drives other women to, instead focusing on getting back to Oxford to finish her degree and have a productive single life making the world a better place. Well, we know how she would likely fare at that in </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">any</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> romantic novel anyway, but here her chances are rendered nil by the fact that she's wearing the aforesaid girdle of Venus, an ancient gold artifact retrieved (i.e. plundered?) from an archaeological dig and reputed to have mystical powers to make everyone and their dog and several cousins fall in love with its wearer (in this case, Patience).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Patience spends much of the novel trying to dodge advances from every man she meets, and she is generally an enjoyable character to follow about, though she becomes impossibly prudish and irritating about a wealthy cousin's attempted infidelity from her husband. (I'm afraid I'm inclined to feel that if a man is silly enough to marry a flibbertigibbet, then a) he deserves what he gets, and b) it's profoundly misguided to fling oneself into the fray desperately trying to prevent his trampy wife from leaving him—far better to facilitate her exit and hope he has better luck next time!) The tale is good-humored enough, particularly early on when Patience is being admirably and amusingly independent-minded. There are a few chuckles here and there before things get a bit melodramatic, and the novel offers a bit of armchair travel as Patience is hired as an archaeologist's secretary and travels with him to Constantinpole (the book must be set </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">minutes</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> before the name changed to Istanbul). But overall I'm afraid I found it much more lackluster than my description here probably makes it sound. Warwick's characters are not so entertainingly eccentric, nor so well-developed, as those of Dorothy Lambert at her best, and the plot's not as rollickingly entertaining as a Molly Clavering, nor did I care as much about the characters as in one of Streatfeild's Susan Scarlett romances. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That said, I can imagine giving Warwick another try, and another novel of hers, </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Background to Primula</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1932), is available from Hathi Trust, so perhaps my feelings will change.</span></p></span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Oddly enough, Warwick and Trask have more in common than their inclusion in my </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"Pleasant Enough if You're Snowbound in a Remote Hotel with No Books (and No Imminent Murders to Solve)" category. Like Trask, Warwick apparently had a prize named after her for best romantic fiction. The prize was being awarded in the 1960s at least, though apparently no longer—and not to be confused with the more recent Warwick Prize given by Warwick University. One begins to wonder: Just how many literary prizes named after forgotten authors might there be?</span></span></p><div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmWgPpZGDkBLi7y8dQN-ZA8H2vDSx_eWef11guAwfGsv7-6fjvmJAzoT6SAAKWGw5VvYm1xYxFKLR2X99YL5FPFJBgtJxSdAgHIpMhSgHYYDWMtf-HVxZtgbjNmKM6YaH_kS4T8rWSp9-mGoaZpc50U5-WUbIyYqw_0Vf9c5EdFAt7ldFbAuZFhJVRPBQ/s833/Warwick,%20Pauline%20-%20Madonna%20of%20the%20Thimble%20fc.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="833" data-original-width="598" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmWgPpZGDkBLi7y8dQN-ZA8H2vDSx_eWef11guAwfGsv7-6fjvmJAzoT6SAAKWGw5VvYm1xYxFKLR2X99YL5FPFJBgtJxSdAgHIpMhSgHYYDWMtf-HVxZtgbjNmKM6YaH_kS4T8rWSp9-mGoaZpc50U5-WUbIyYqw_0Vf9c5EdFAt7ldFbAuZFhJVRPBQ/w288-h400/Warwick,%20Pauline%20-%20Madonna%20of%20the%20Thimble%20fc.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I couldn't find a cover image of <i>Diana's<br />Daughter</i>, but how charming does this one look?</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-88124427309053952562023-12-31T11:40:00.000-08:002023-12-31T11:40:08.113-08:00THE FURROWED MIDDLEBROW DOZEN 2023<p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I almost decided to scrap my Dozen post this year. Following Rupert's , tragic death in March, my reading for much of this year went off the rails. There were several months when I was reading anything and everything but middlebrow fiction, which reminded me too much of our collaborations, so the number of really interesting discoveries I made in that field this year was down considerably from my norm—though happily my interest in the middlebrow revived by the time of our return visit to London and the British Library in September. (This was before the terrible cyberattack, of course—I've felt particularly bad in the past weeks for those researchers who come from faraway places, having planned and saved their pennies for the trip, to do work that can only be done at the British Library, and then have arrived to find they can do nothing. And how awful for the librarians and staff who have to deal with their stress and disappointment when they are frustrated themselves that they can't help them.)</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f4384741-7fff-7c57-3baf-6d555dca063f"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Even a couple of days ago, I thought, no, I just can't be bothered with a list. It's too depressing this year. But then today I finally took a look at the list of books I've read this year, and I thought, well, maybe I could at least write about some of those I enjoyed the most. And then—by cheating just a bit and including three books I only finally posted about this year despite reading them earlier, as well as including not one but two representatives of the Y chromosome—I realized that, even if the competition wasn't as fierce as usual this year, I had come up with a pretty darned respectable list of twelve books I enjoyed most. I also frankly felt that I owed it to you loyal readers, who were so supportive of my obscure reading habits when I had doubts a few months back!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And so here we are…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One thing I turned to quite a lot this year, in my avoidance of middlebrow fiction, was mystery. In addition to those mentioned below, I polished off my too-long-delayed reading of Edmund Crispin's novels, which I loved, enjoyed some more George Bellairs, discovered Clifford Witting, whom I look forward to reading more of, giggled over one very zany thriller by American Elliot Paul, and, following our trip to Japan in April, quite enjoyed Okamoto Kido's </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hashichi</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. I even fell prey to the Agatha Christie estate's relentlessly clever marketing and read </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Marple: Twelve New Mysteries</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and very much enjoyed it (my favorite stories were Lucy Foley's and Val McDermid's, for best capturing the feel of the "real" Miss Marple, with Ruth Ware's coming in next, but even the very untraditional ones—Miss Marple navigating the streets of New York or doing Tai Chi in Hong Kong—were highly entertaining and just what I needed to escape for a while. Of all the unlikely things, Chateaubriand's memoirs proved surprisingly distracting as well (I have volume 2 lined up to start before long)!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But here, for better or worse, are my top 12 reads of the year.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCEe994QxgkhlSH7KIIDMH8wPz72snJnQz6bP74L8Az3PP-rliZEaCgrwrPWWYtnSheEVtBrhrWySvrhttmIXj1KLIFn9NQniJU4Tw7WFSHy4JzdaBSwAX68zbiOk6OPo6Tf_pUdzZVoBdKCqVP3wlBqPRMS9thmc2x-RCRUqZrt8wrW_IfKRb8dwlW2yD/s2255/The_Secret_of_Chimneys_First_Edition_Cover_1925%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2255" data-original-width="1474" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCEe994QxgkhlSH7KIIDMH8wPz72snJnQz6bP74L8Az3PP-rliZEaCgrwrPWWYtnSheEVtBrhrWySvrhttmIXj1KLIFn9NQniJU4Tw7WFSHy4JzdaBSwAX68zbiOk6OPo6Tf_pUdzZVoBdKCqVP3wlBqPRMS9thmc2x-RCRUqZrt8wrW_IfKRb8dwlW2yD/w261-h400/The_Secret_of_Chimneys_First_Edition_Cover_1925%20(1).jpg" width="261" /></a></div><b><br />12) AGATHA CHRISTIE, </b></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Secret of Chimneys</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1925)</span></b><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Discovering that there was one Christie novel I had somehow never read—in 40 odd years of reading and re-reading her work—and then discovering that it's a really delightful, fun adventure story that I shall now want to re-read regularly, should really probably rank higher than #12 on my list. On the other hand, I suspect you </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">might</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> have heard of Christie before, so she's not exactly a discovery… I'll just say that, though I tend to avoid the very early Christie because they tend to be a bit tediously perky and/or a bit dull for me, this one is certainly an exception. Silly, yes, but very charmingly so.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8-oaLHX2eVQUDT4pnL6MhadgP_2fGtXIfRP4C0DZ-DhCI8mR9mu7dmS4Wqxb4xDaYw5GOn8jMPkXD88lGtld_FZv3R6imM71boKjiYdQOtnETN2TbvKvLhvAuG7hiMtAybMz0F-gOjkutoSLtwHH0lDGlSDqH8DYGpcn-fMRcFaLKBiYgPtu6Aj8RWTs/s544/lorac%20theft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="416" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8-oaLHX2eVQUDT4pnL6MhadgP_2fGtXIfRP4C0DZ-DhCI8mR9mu7dmS4Wqxb4xDaYw5GOn8jMPkXD88lGtld_FZv3R6imM71boKjiYdQOtnETN2TbvKvLhvAuG7hiMtAybMz0F-gOjkutoSLtwHH0lDGlSDqH8DYGpcn-fMRcFaLKBiYgPtu6Aj8RWTs/w306-h400/lorac%20theft.jpg" width="306" /></a></div><b><br />11) EDITH CAROLINE RIVETT (as E. C. R. LORAC), </b><b><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Theft of the Iron Dogs</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1946)</span></b><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I confess I've flirted with Rivett/Lorac for the past couple of years, since the British Library started reprinting them, and my mileage has varied. I was underwhelmed by one earlier in the year, and enjoyed but didn't love </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Death of an Author</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> over the summer. I was about to write her off altogether, but we were in the British Library shop in September, there was a 3-for-2 sale, this was hot off the presses, and I couldn't resist. And I absolutely loved it. One of several she set in rural Lancashire, including </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Fell Murder</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, which I'm saving with anticipation, and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Crook o' Lune</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1953), which I read and also loved when we got home. Though I found the mystery quite effective, it was almost unnecessary, so fascinating are the farming characters and the rural life described. I've also since very much enjoyed her wartime </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Murder by Matchlight</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1945), and I've grown attached to Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald, so I am now a solid (if selective) Rivett fan—and all thanks to the BL's clever marketing and the irresistible smell of a brand new book's pages!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1W6uAzFECYNj5HjgX6p1TPImW2o9TO7GFAIk2gfz-UKrTM2acWZkcK7Thp-_4tXXLavWEiJUCtmKBfhw4QQZfmlouPDFgUXIXMh5ywhM8jNDBtI9-RaCBG5iuYmzusKfSdGOVs5Q0vgq-m6WLRM7UsUaXQbz6SQqrbXDOWc7gKWjFEvwHxXb6bszIQw9c/s2239/Symons,%20Beryl%20-%20Jane%20Carberry%20Investigates%20fc%20&%20sp.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="2239" data-original-width="1936" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1W6uAzFECYNj5HjgX6p1TPImW2o9TO7GFAIk2gfz-UKrTM2acWZkcK7Thp-_4tXXLavWEiJUCtmKBfhw4QQZfmlouPDFgUXIXMh5ywhM8jNDBtI9-RaCBG5iuYmzusKfSdGOVs5Q0vgq-m6WLRM7UsUaXQbz6SQqrbXDOWc7gKWjFEvwHxXb6bszIQw9c/w346-h400/Symons,%20Beryl%20-%20Jane%20Carberry%20Investigates%20fc%20&%20sp.jpg" width="346" /></a></div><b><br />10) BERYL SYMONS, </b><b><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jane Carberry Investigates</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1940)</span></b><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Beryl Symons had already published a number of one-off thrillers and some romance when she created her own version of Miss Marple and wrote five novels about her. It's not too difficult to tell them apart however. Jane Carberry is a wealthy and glamorous middle-aged spinster with a brother who is Deputy Commissioner of Police and an arch nemesis in the Belgian police, who seems to make a habit of arresting Jane for the crimes she gets herself mixed up in but doesn't actually commit. Symons must have known Belgium well, as most of the books seem to involve Jane jetting back and forth from London. I can't ravely recommend it (I've only read this one so far, but I seem to have come across the others at the BL…)—it's ridiculous and implausible and there's no "detection" or "investigation" at all, only ludicrous coincidences and Jane stumbling into the middle of jewel thefts and murders and making everyone suspect her. But it reminded me </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">just</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> enough of Mrs. Pollifax to make me want to read more. I promise to properly review one of these soon-ish.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSdjAnCNfmPACssM8YDel4xsYFn40UWHUvv9qcD3v3qlaTWDeGo0NURvWOumQ23R9SFIUVtvz1KjjsCEPBrIiLwapJW9KM6H73WixDRumDEoGrO-hlh4HqeK5BTvhWSCF2Fi5IZEzgXmGPP0BTusbXmnWMQW96qxZkXp9pI_Ap8MfwFksPSBAHNjUoyJ-l/s842/Masterman,%20Margaret%20-%20Gentlemen's%20Daughters%20tp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="619" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSdjAnCNfmPACssM8YDel4xsYFn40UWHUvv9qcD3v3qlaTWDeGo0NURvWOumQ23R9SFIUVtvz1KjjsCEPBrIiLwapJW9KM6H73WixDRumDEoGrO-hlh4HqeK5BTvhWSCF2Fi5IZEzgXmGPP0BTusbXmnWMQW96qxZkXp9pI_Ap8MfwFksPSBAHNjUoyJ-l/w294-h400/Masterman,%20Margaret%20-%20Gentlemen's%20Daughters%20tp.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><br /><b>9) </b><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2023/12/youre-nothing-but-mean-beast-margaret.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MARGARET MASTERMAN, </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gentlemen's Daughters</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1931)</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Finally</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, a book I actually reviewed, and only recently! A quiet, charming little school story—marketed for adults, but could easily be enjoyed by all fans of the genre—about a girl's intellectual growth and sense of independence. Gently humorous, entirely plausible and realistic, and sensitively and subtly told.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWoiUsWc3ajuWsU_QRkcUtB-P38ivlJSE23m7Rdz6lQTlqaHd-lDcBRkeJr1zjx6bRlSEjx2t2TUrXs5ywZH9qp59cxux7qZgwn8y5pvmIixRuAGyN7O8Uq2-N-JQpJ3LgWOCSReoxePHMGuZgNdVJ7wgvoUerbnmck6MPyrjxWoJmUh3q_AVpe_5Ee5Yr/s2297/Stafford,%20Ann%20&%20Jane%20Oliver%20-%20Cuckoo%20in%20June%20fc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2297" data-original-width="1519" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWoiUsWc3ajuWsU_QRkcUtB-P38ivlJSE23m7Rdz6lQTlqaHd-lDcBRkeJr1zjx6bRlSEjx2t2TUrXs5ywZH9qp59cxux7qZgwn8y5pvmIixRuAGyN7O8Uq2-N-JQpJ3LgWOCSReoxePHMGuZgNdVJ7wgvoUerbnmck6MPyrjxWoJmUh3q_AVpe_5Ee5Yr/w265-h400/Stafford,%20Ann%20&%20Jane%20Oliver%20-%20Cuckoo%20in%20June%20fc.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br /><b>8) </b><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2023/11/youre-just-very-person-ann-stafford.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ANN STAFFORD & JANE OLIVER, </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cuckoo in June</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1935)</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Elder spinster (in her 30s, no less!) gets stuck with trying to keep her frivolous younger cousin away from men, first by taking her across Europe and then by hiding her away on her brother's farm. Cheerful, funny, and no substance whatsoever, but suffice it to say love is in the air and the farm is no place for either young woman to hide. Illustrated with Stafford's delightful drawings—hand-colored, even!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWkkW0ZgkYoTjam9Wm3EHeL3xvgOo0cbcRhjZLLHEKNEfit-BDgDvGpMuob9GVhVxhedSd7o9N_8-Oe-ZUIgTlGWoD54lgo_kAlmtaJcwDi6vFechBKLzBoohDuNbRJk23hdeY655Kh6uugUmC-rSWHURJJUUiM4StWnApShEjIR36qA5tVpcufKBeYEq/s1440/girl%20must%20live%20movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWkkW0ZgkYoTjam9Wm3EHeL3xvgOo0cbcRhjZLLHEKNEfit-BDgDvGpMuob9GVhVxhedSd7o9N_8-Oe-ZUIgTlGWoD54lgo_kAlmtaJcwDi6vFechBKLzBoohDuNbRJk23hdeY655Kh6uugUmC-rSWHURJJUUiM4StWnApShEjIR36qA5tVpcufKBeYEq/w266-h400/girl%20must%20live%20movie.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><b>7) </b><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2023/10/gentlemen-prefer-chorus-girls-emery.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">EMORY BONETT, </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A Girl Must Live</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1936)</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Unscrupulous, gold-digging Gloria Lind narrates her machinations to win an Earl at the expense of her fellow gold-digging chorus girls. Pure silly fun à la </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gentlemen Prefer Blondes</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> or </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How to Marry a Millionaire</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, with fashion elements to fulfill any fashionista's dreams, and charming illustrations by Anna K. Zinkeisen.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMh2fvVHRiflfpoehHVRBlFvgEpyhbJdw9hpraUKshGKY3Nz1YNdAbWbp_nxIyOtT-yoivJGv33CdqSZQcdxQU2-kC8j62hdKqQ5kpT5FmgJOo8neJTUVMUa_JBvlJ4yXFyUbXF21HU5_rh9L48N8vVpcs9_yjYVNi_SGre4DRlHUQbfuVqnlO5zjxCXF/s2155/Bird,%20Jane%20-%20By%20Accident%20tp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2155" data-original-width="1442" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMh2fvVHRiflfpoehHVRBlFvgEpyhbJdw9hpraUKshGKY3Nz1YNdAbWbp_nxIyOtT-yoivJGv33CdqSZQcdxQU2-kC8j62hdKqQ5kpT5FmgJOo8neJTUVMUa_JBvlJ4yXFyUbXF21HU5_rh9L48N8vVpcs9_yjYVNi_SGre4DRlHUQbfuVqnlO5zjxCXF/w268-h400/Bird,%20Jane%20-%20By%20Accident%20tp.jpg" width="268" /></a></div><br /><b>6) </b><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2023/12/nothing-but-sense-of-humor-jane-bird-by.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">JANE BIRD, </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By Accident</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1935)</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Two mysterious newcomers to an English village provoke speculation, intrigue, and romance. Comic and tragic by turn, but with a lovely, life-affirming spirit, this was an impulse purchase and impulse read, and the impulse paid off this time.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDR3YnZMJBN_HtZ3T660U83vztWBopDp6vtLU0bi2GY3ZrvPX-giIH_Bx1afiH-OfQTG-5XPmDy74PwkZDnD-8fzp1anZUTQW4mQbCYN6u0SJlGIDilc7-u2Acn2KcB5ZKeqlXFyKtW48RbEiv-7j3Fv1CJwvmIT2EtQv_26Ydr5Sh9UJW4O_qxpA4vAzv/s1072/milne%20four%20days.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="808" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDR3YnZMJBN_HtZ3T660U83vztWBopDp6vtLU0bi2GY3ZrvPX-giIH_Bx1afiH-OfQTG-5XPmDy74PwkZDnD-8fzp1anZUTQW4mQbCYN6u0SJlGIDilc7-u2Acn2KcB5ZKeqlXFyKtW48RbEiv-7j3Fv1CJwvmIT2EtQv_26Ydr5Sh9UJW4O_qxpA4vAzv/w301-h400/milne%20four%20days.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><br /><b>5) A. A. MILNE, </b><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Four Days' Wonder</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1933)</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This was a gift from my friend Kathy, who sent it for Christmas as one of her own absolute favorites. I couldn't help diving in right away, and then of course I couldn't stop reading. I know I read Milne's </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Red House Mystery</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> years and years ago, but I'd never read anything else, a fact I'll clearly have to address. Surely no one does silly, laugh-out-loud funny dialogue better. A murder mystery, albeit without the murder, and a rollicking good time throughout. Thank you, Kathy! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRuiS1lOtR4OSmdPvcxWocGXFkXg95l-utHke8XdC16VI7oVtNDi9p2vxgbevg4xadQtAhNspT6y5YeKuP14eslz94d-VKEnnJnvPIncUFoFieaERIOt8LW0gNo7UjjuT00sDfnzYxUNkbhZp11hQzPdno31_kHdFjntbiOtXxjXSQNmKyInB4C3c_Jvf/s1654/Pakington,%20Humphrey%20-%20Four%20in%20Family%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1654" data-original-width="1144" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRuiS1lOtR4OSmdPvcxWocGXFkXg95l-utHke8XdC16VI7oVtNDi9p2vxgbevg4xadQtAhNspT6y5YeKuP14eslz94d-VKEnnJnvPIncUFoFieaERIOt8LW0gNo7UjjuT00sDfnzYxUNkbhZp11hQzPdno31_kHdFjntbiOtXxjXSQNmKyInB4C3c_Jvf/w276-h400/Pakington,%20Humphrey%20-%20Four%20in%20Family%20cover.jpg" width="276" /></a></div><br /><b>4) </b><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2023/08/no-useful-purpose-would-be-served-by.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">HUMPHREY PAKINGTON, </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Four in Family</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1932)</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There's no better purely silly frolic on this list (unless it's #2 below, or perhaps #3, or maybe #5) than this early (first) novel from Pakington, a successful and fairly prolific author in his day who has been as thoroughly forgotten as any middlebrow woman. It's delightfully giggle-inducing throughout, a difficult thing for an author, however clever, to maintain. I mention this because a friend and I have each read some later Pakington and found him uneven, to say the least. I have high hopes for </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Roving Eye</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, another 1932 effort, but even if </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Four</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is his only perfect comedy, it's better than most authors ever manage to accomplish even once.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBK6V8eBD3EumZDJiTvMfBO0p6Js0aS7J40azfc5L1KmYNJvaSl-1FP8nbzRvhbuns8T2kX1xY06OaC5_hHJ3RUGAMuAhSYcLsVSpoGFCnyK8Ld7hJieRGouBr9eGo1uWRrjpKQ5zorxfkq_CP7D-7y-b5xGZ9dkR8THzjcNHHqpUkQ4tUoFZMcSNmBslq/s834/Monckton,%20Ella%20-%20August%20in%20Avilion%20pl%20fc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="834" data-original-width="549" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBK6V8eBD3EumZDJiTvMfBO0p6Js0aS7J40azfc5L1KmYNJvaSl-1FP8nbzRvhbuns8T2kX1xY06OaC5_hHJ3RUGAMuAhSYcLsVSpoGFCnyK8Ld7hJieRGouBr9eGo1uWRrjpKQ5zorxfkq_CP7D-7y-b5xGZ9dkR8THzjcNHHqpUkQ4tUoFZMcSNmBslq/w264-h400/Monckton,%20Ella%20-%20August%20in%20Avilion%20pl%20fc.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br /><b>3) </b><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2023/11/ive-had-lot-of-bother-with-you-myself.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ELLA MONCKTON, </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">August in Avilion</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1940)</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A bit rough around the edges, like a less polished </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Apricot Sky</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, but pure delight nonetheless, and it was just what the doctor ordered for a mood-lifter. A charming and funny family holiday in Cornwall, with the somewhat unusual but lovably eccentric family of an artist. "I was enjoying it so much that I did that thing where you start rationing the remaining pages to make a book last longer. It still didn't last long enough."</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZRFy0zmyrtFTeG5_mh9vAje_as32U7Wlgqxpyb_fn06cEzAU5hmRfK4Ml8IPOuzlWuACkIMPO7ICgfcGPvEpJmhHxiKjoQzg3hVhIMI9hOiS2eqv6KlQ-Whd6eoNcb6agjUEH0r4lo4sCkSIlXjPs2ssYeeD0Y17VhV9QT3E4DIMbCfF8NzM629A0KbvV/s491/Farjeon,%20Eleanor%20-%20Miss%20Granby's%20Secret%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="343" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZRFy0zmyrtFTeG5_mh9vAje_as32U7Wlgqxpyb_fn06cEzAU5hmRfK4Ml8IPOuzlWuACkIMPO7ICgfcGPvEpJmhHxiKjoQzg3hVhIMI9hOiS2eqv6KlQ-Whd6eoNcb6agjUEH0r4lo4sCkSIlXjPs2ssYeeD0Y17VhV9QT3E4DIMbCfF8NzM629A0KbvV/w280-h400/Farjeon,%20Eleanor%20-%20Miss%20Granby's%20Secret%20cover.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><br /><b>2) </b><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2023/07/they-sinned-need-one-say-more-eleanor.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ELEANOR FARJEON, </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Miss Granby's Secret</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1941)</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A novel within a novel, a format I usually shy away from, but in this case loved so much it hurt. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Bastard of Pinsk</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is an unpublished manuscript written by 16-year-old Adelaide Granby, later a bestselling Victorian author of gushingly romantic, purple prose and now deceased. The manuscript is read by Adelaide's suffragette grand-niece, along with her aunt's diaries, as she speculates about the mystery man who may have been "darling Aunt Addie's </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Grande Passion</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">." It's hilarious, but also touching, in its very clever examination of what a sheltered, repressed Victorian girl could have experienced of passion, and if you don't giggle at least once on every page, I'll eat my hat. (I don't actually wear a hat, so I'll just have another dark chocolate digestive biscuit instead.) </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLNqQxZhe6E3YwMOBOCyZjDyLIddhe10onTWtPboHO1nwoTObNNTl3RfY9ucWtvwunuuHRjdLOZbE5nddL_uz3-Ct_qsolVQhs3IqtF3gkW_3trcJiebrjPER-Gf3LLSpEiDI9YoFdYCN7-Cv1A_cXANK6zGSid6FPHJ3Vqm9ZldXwO7h1HN_88F1QyB42/s640/Dunning,%20Katherine%20-%20The%20Spring%20Begins%20pl%20sp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="398" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLNqQxZhe6E3YwMOBOCyZjDyLIddhe10onTWtPboHO1nwoTObNNTl3RfY9ucWtvwunuuHRjdLOZbE5nddL_uz3-Ct_qsolVQhs3IqtF3gkW_3trcJiebrjPER-Gf3LLSpEiDI9YoFdYCN7-Cv1A_cXANK6zGSid6FPHJ3Vqm9ZldXwO7h1HN_88F1QyB42/w249-h400/Dunning,%20Katherine%20-%20The%20Spring%20Begins%20pl%20sp.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><br /><b>1) </b><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2023/07/so-coolly-silent-so-vast-and-beautiful.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">KATHERINE DUNNING, </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Spring Begins</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1934)</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Perhaps a bit more serious #1 than usual this year, but this gorgeous thing deserves all the attention it can get. Heavily influenced by Woolf, but don't shy away if you're not a Woolf-hound because it's also more accessible and more down-to-earth, with it's focus on three young women just at the point of discovering men and sexuality. Two of them are servants, the other an impoverished gentlewoman, and their experiences and sensibilities couldn't be more different, but Dunning has so much to say about the vulnerability of women and the liberation they can find for themselves (sometimes). Don't tell anyone, but I might like it even better than </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mrs. Dalloway</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That's that for this year. What were your favorite obscure reads this year?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Happy New Year to all of you lovely readers! Good heavens, let's hope 2024 is better than 2023…</span></p></span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-7657203024103612612023-12-22T15:05:00.000-08:002023-12-22T15:05:23.289-08:00"You're nothing but a mean beast!": MARGARET MASTERMAN, Gentlemen's Daughters (1931)<p></p><blockquote><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD4m-uLueeVCJX9AIYNWzv9bOuuu6-Mq5UV97fynybm0V9Mq5xQubj3YJrWkwe41wWY9eTFVPdEuLRSrog7wgEhgRw-0A-mg9wfLlx8jDsU8Opx2BMaDc-vQjbRhopRaMhoau1XTGnTYE9Qc1BI4xxq39zjiwIuKa8a9gj3iVqbqd4LomwPgkuz0rjq_rU/s494/Masterman,%20Margaret%20-%20Gentlemen's%20Daughters%20sp%20det.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="487" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD4m-uLueeVCJX9AIYNWzv9bOuuu6-Mq5UV97fynybm0V9Mq5xQubj3YJrWkwe41wWY9eTFVPdEuLRSrog7wgEhgRw-0A-mg9wfLlx8jDsU8Opx2BMaDc-vQjbRhopRaMhoau1XTGnTYE9Qc1BI4xxq39zjiwIuKa8a9gj3iVqbqd4LomwPgkuz0rjq_rU/w394-h400/Masterman,%20Margaret%20-%20Gentlemen's%20Daughters%20sp%20det.jpg" width="394" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">"And now to finish," there was a throb in her voice, "let us put on the screen the patron of our Society, and show a picture of our gallant Prince."</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></blockquote><blockquote><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: preserve;">She retired with dignity into the darkness and tapped upon the floor. There was a click from the magic lantern and a gasp from the school; and Miss Blenkinsop turned round to meet the contented gaze of an aged cart-horse with his head half buried in his nose-bag.</span></blockquote><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-698d8217-7fff-35c0-6587-df1ebada2b8b"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's a bit deceptive to use one of the only laugh-out-loud funny passages from a novel to introduce it. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gentlemen's Daughters</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, set at Redcliffe, a middling girls' boarding school that has only recently become aware of its own mediocrity, is actually a surprisingly quiet, subtle story interspersed with moments of levity. If I had been expecting a raucous comedy about school life by a resentful former student getting her own back, or a scandalous insight into the secret lives of schoolgirls, I would have been disappointed indeed. What I found instead was something perhaps less rollicking and crowd-pleasing overall but also more memorable and even touching.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCpYHL048-c0Kw7Co0CHwvIhU8BOpXB_xFzzj8Bnt3sK5AUjVQxAPecXy5OHfnZ88-F2Z7-Xa4hTUx7aY3bakyhlzyKoo8HWTySvawo6vC93cJ6csSGCzbsVV7qziuk8UwGRzAIuyhqPZSajEc6mVZ0rnoT0tG55doEl1I8H_YIBvGu39RHNj8nGvWNU_g/s842/Masterman,%20Margaret%20-%20Gentlemen's%20Daughters%20tp.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="619" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCpYHL048-c0Kw7Co0CHwvIhU8BOpXB_xFzzj8Bnt3sK5AUjVQxAPecXy5OHfnZ88-F2Z7-Xa4hTUx7aY3bakyhlzyKoo8HWTySvawo6vC93cJ6csSGCzbsVV7qziuk8UwGRzAIuyhqPZSajEc6mVZ0rnoT0tG55doEl1I8H_YIBvGu39RHNj8nGvWNU_g/w294-h400/Masterman,%20Margaret%20-%20Gentlemen's%20Daughters%20tp.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">As the story opens, Joan Roxton and her friends are meeting on the train back to Redcliffe for a new term. They find there a bit of a shakeup, with a new form mistress, Miss Jackson (soon known as Jakie), and more rigorous standards for their work. Jakie clearly has influence with the headmistress, and the school begins to buck up under her new ideas. She establishes a Girl Guide company, and Joan and some (but not all) of her friends are inspired and awestruck by her. Over time, however (the novel takes place over several years as Joan progresses through the school), she becomes a bit too eager to achieve glory and encourages her favorites, including Joan, to use her own history essays as models for their own—i.e. to copy them. </span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The growing tension</span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> over the essays, as quiet as it is and interspersed with other day-to-day events, is the key turning point in the novel. Joan feels uneasy about it, but feels she can't question Jakie, and her friends are happy to be eased through their essay-writing difficulties. The scene in which Joan finally reaches a breaking point ("Miss Jackson, you're nothing but a mean beast!"), in large part because another, meeker girl has attempted to resist the cheating and been cowed into submission, is a satisfying and climactic moment, but what's most interesting about it is that it's not really an in-your-face kind of getting back at the villain scene. Jakie isn't a bad person, or even necessarily a bad teacher, and she really has greatly improved the school, but she is merely human and a bit narcissistic, and has allowed her ambitions for the school to cloud her judgment. Joan triumphs, with an essay she has written herself, and has crucially learned how to think for herself, but one might ironically say that she only triumphs because Jakie has taught her to how to, and in some way inspired her resistance. [Oh, these profound thoughts are hurting my head.]</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pJ6T5uVcpF7jQrMdJTddNnNM8SxGzUblF1SdqFEconfdwEMaAebCTjlqtAYrRPzFOyOVKk9U36ksoopsdgOtjFUMiBlM8bNsgwfT19Wnza4BW8AUwsa5TTRtGkBwFHFhTYG-oGgGwpLgGUmjKPcI9c51JTZo7bwDIoK2tFo5fQFp1sv18me2lVjrljbv/s834/Masterman,%20Margaret%20-%20Gentlemen's%20Daughters%20pl%20fc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="834" data-original-width="615" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pJ6T5uVcpF7jQrMdJTddNnNM8SxGzUblF1SdqFEconfdwEMaAebCTjlqtAYrRPzFOyOVKk9U36ksoopsdgOtjFUMiBlM8bNsgwfT19Wnza4BW8AUwsa5TTRtGkBwFHFhTYG-oGgGwpLgGUmjKPcI9c51JTZo7bwDIoK2tFo5fQFp1sv18me2lVjrljbv/w295-h400/Masterman,%20Margaret%20-%20Gentlemen's%20Daughters%20pl%20fc.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">This pivotal scene is only about halfway through the novel, and Joan's development continues with her unexpected advocacy for a girl who is a universal outcast in the school because she refuses to "play the game". That sounds very Chalet School, but it comes across with a bit more subtlety, as it gradually dons on Joan that the real world's standards aren't the same as the school's (her aunt meets this girl, Peggy, and immediately acclaims her the best of Joan's friends, when they aren't even quite, yet), and that she has the (exhilarating and terrifying) ability to make her own decisions.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Really, the entire novel reads much like an actual school story—particularly if one imagines it written by someone with the subtlety and sensitivity of, say, Josephine Elder. It's interesting to think why some books are marketed for adults and other for children. Possibly, Margaret Masterman's publisher just felt it was going to be a hard sell for schoolgirls—a quiet story about a girl learning to think for herself? No spies? Epidemics? No burning buildings, even? On the adult list then! And it would no doubt be an even harder sell today, with fewer possible readers who have experienced boarding school themselves. But it is a rather lovely little book.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And although there are indeed no burning buildings, there is perhaps the next best thing—a fire drill, the unique Redcliffe style of which is reported in one of Joan's letters home:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last night we had a fire practice. In the middle of the night a bell rang and we thought we would pretend to be asleep. But the Worm woke us and banged on the door, and Buckie was making an awful noise on the gong, so we put on the light. Then Birds rushed up and said we mustn't do that because the light was supposed to have fused. So we went downstairs to the landing where there was a label marked Fire. Then the Worm said that was quite wrong because it was there the fire was raging. So we had to go upstairs again and down the other stairs to the hall, where names were read out in a thrilling voice, and all the staff were there in their dressing-gowns. Then we went to bed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I enjoyed the book well enough to investigate Masterman's other two novels. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Grandmother</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1934) seems to be a humorous tale of an eccentric family ruled over by a tyrannical matriarch, set in an English resort town. And in </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Death of a Friend</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1938), Masterman appears to have turned to a more or less straightforward mystery, with a killer on the loose among a group of Friends and a gentle, elderly Quaker woman as her amateur detective (which certainly is an intriguing premise). Neither likely to be acquirable outside the British Library, but duly noted for whenever our next trip is…</span></span></p>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-5271299784567649942023-12-16T17:49:00.000-08:002023-12-16T17:49:18.305-08:00"You could trot a mouse on it": D. M. LARGE, The Open Arms (1933)<p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpS3UcFC23dV1RHv8mc2fr2oH9DvzPGkkivA7lqJJysDEyAr3av2Uolbgd8ERGIf1fXeEIaIFl1r-zq2x_ILRxDulBEDcN8kb2WTwEA46H80_P_Syn33vbU82olLTMpTxBXv2Ru6Qt2K3VsRfcPmGQkAphv3I3RfXg4X0AtEtuy2I0WC33ZwDf06uVOd-a/s521/Large,%20D.%20M.%20-%20The%20Open%20Arms%20sp%20det.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="431" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpS3UcFC23dV1RHv8mc2fr2oH9DvzPGkkivA7lqJJysDEyAr3av2Uolbgd8ERGIf1fXeEIaIFl1r-zq2x_ILRxDulBEDcN8kb2WTwEA46H80_P_Syn33vbU82olLTMpTxBXv2Ru6Qt2K3VsRfcPmGQkAphv3I3RfXg4X0AtEtuy2I0WC33ZwDf06uVOd-a/w331-h400/Large,%20D.%20M.%20-%20The%20Open%20Arms%20sp%20det.jpg" width="331" /></a></div><br />The small, spray-drenched village of Derrybeg emerged from the period of strife known in Ireland as "the troublesome times," with two smoke-blackened ruins, and with an entirely new and firm belief that the less said on the entrancing topic of politics, the better. A new spirit had been born in Derrybeg during those hectic years—the spirit of caution. The old days, in which political views were aired on every possible occasion, and with complete confidence, seemed then to have passed for ever: men glanced uneasily at each other, and they talked of something else.</span></blockquote><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-13ff2b43-7fff-543b-819e-d3b53db93b2e"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For this opening passage, and a number of others like it scattered throughout, I would happily have paid the price of admission for </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Open Arms</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Although in many ways this is a light and fluffy comedy about a woman who determines to turn her home in an isolated Irish village into what she imagines will be a lushly profitable hotel, this novel, like Large's later, WWII-era novel </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Quiet Place</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, which I reviewed </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2021/12/them-evacuants-d-m-dorothy-mabel-large.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, makes occasional fascinating mentions of the history and tensions in Ireland in the 1930s. (It also has a lot in common with the latter novel, which was also about a boarding house, so Large wasn't above recycling plots, though one gives us a peacetime look at Ireland, the other a wartime look.)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcF4ADZHCOaGy9ZOP64xWcZZNGYVkN3Pu8YfkP99a59R_6ywtGyVORTyeG7QSm8uXzB6L73cz6cHbgFINVec3q6byhb1FMHlmnif7lB2gbCVANZdROQQnHP_EGahZt-FQkW87zt1kpK9Dc6JiXzKyTDdkG7W4QxtfNG9uYRj6Mmcj7B3HKNOpbjFXWocR5/s2735/Large,%20D.%20M.%20-%20The%20Open%20Arms%20tp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2158" data-original-width="2735" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcF4ADZHCOaGy9ZOP64xWcZZNGYVkN3Pu8YfkP99a59R_6ywtGyVORTyeG7QSm8uXzB6L73cz6cHbgFINVec3q6byhb1FMHlmnif7lB2gbCVANZdROQQnHP_EGahZt-FQkW87zt1kpK9Dc6JiXzKyTDdkG7W4QxtfNG9uYRj6Mmcj7B3HKNOpbjFXWocR5/w400-h315/Large,%20D.%20M.%20-%20The%20Open%20Arms%20tp.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">There's precious little real plot here, apart from the preparation of the hotel and the slightly bumpy visits of the first guests, but there are quite a few chuckles and some charming, silly villagers to enjoy. I liked Large's gentle mockery of English attitudes towards Ireland, in reference to a letters received by an Englishman living in the village:</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 40.5pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One of Pat Turner's aunts on his father's side, continued to picture her adventurous nephew in the act of dodging from the shelter of one Irish wall to the haven of another, in order to escape the hail of bullets that, she was convinced, played all the time about his innocent head.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(Though for that matter, in Dorothy Lambert's </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Redferne M.F.H.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, which I reviewed </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2022/11/nothing-short-of-turning-hose-on-her.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, characters really </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">do</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> shelter from hails of bullets in Ireland.)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the most fun of all, for me, were two Irish expressions that popped up and made me laugh. Have you heard these? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">First, a reference to tea that was so strong "you could trot a mouse on it".</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And then, a servant referring to her cranky employer: "Didn't she ate the face off of meself the very one way."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I'm currently trying to think of ways to utilize these expressions in my work conversations.</span></p>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-69785921840923481502023-12-09T12:15:00.000-08:002023-12-09T12:19:46.244-08:00BETTY TRASK (as ANN DELAMAIN), Mabel Has Mink (1950) & Merry Widows Waltz (1943)<p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZCB_BiVHMeKsFqfBOzafrJKJAzc7zxgO7nr8WWUxJ4H1tMjvJ64slzG-W8DiiLwpQ6Q6bZ5FGqEPv8W_fYabL4YdwxRBvxPWEAsl8e0g1dl3NwE6Avcm26gCc2Ycg6mUOXIGpLBHamv-3jth6iHpHDHLysxcQuUoe_qokTc8HkVGOW9ssn77WyhvDBr25/s820/Trask,%20Betty%20(as%20Ann%20Delamain)%20-%20Mabel%20Has%20Mink%20fc.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="556" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZCB_BiVHMeKsFqfBOzafrJKJAzc7zxgO7nr8WWUxJ4H1tMjvJ64slzG-W8DiiLwpQ6Q6bZ5FGqEPv8W_fYabL4YdwxRBvxPWEAsl8e0g1dl3NwE6Avcm26gCc2Ycg6mUOXIGpLBHamv-3jth6iHpHDHLysxcQuUoe_qokTc8HkVGOW9ssn77WyhvDBr25/w271-h400/Trask,%20Betty%20(as%20Ann%20Delamain)%20-%20Mabel%20Has%20Mink%20fc.JPG" width="271" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span>If one researches her books by looking through contemporary reviews and snippets in ads, Betty Trask, who also published as Ann Delamain (as in the case of both books mentioned here), can sound every bit as alluring and glowing with potential as the likes of Dorothy Lambert or Elizabeth Fair. Humorous romances, often with small town or village settings, with eccentric and varied characters—you know these are like opium to me. But having sampled a couple of her books—the first an inexpensive copy found on Abe Books, the second one pursued all the way to the British Library—I have to say, reluctantly (and probably without having given up completely yet), that she's not quite living up to that potential for me.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-00b0cf3e-7fff-a05d-d0c4-676cdfebfc2d" style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The blurb for </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mabel Has Mink</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> would undoubtedly have pulled me in (and simultaneously annoyed me a bit—see exclamation points), even if it hadn't been virtually the only affordable copy of one of her novels:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Not many writers could rivet the reader's sympathetic attention so closely to a heroine over sixty. [!!!]</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But Ann Delamain does just that. Mabel, with a forcefulness and vitality years behind her age dominates the villagers and keeps her two sisters firmly up to the standards of "good" families in which all three had formerly been domestically employed. The story is concerned with Paddy Howland, whom Mabel, in service with the Howland family, had practically brought up. For him she would—and did, make every sacrifice.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The blurb goes on to reveal most of the plot developments, but I'll cut it off on the off chance that anyone actually comes across a copy (but yes, Paddy is as selfish and irritating as even this brief mention makes him sound). </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In short, this is a sort of tragicomic, 1950s precursor to </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Keeping Up Appearances</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, with Mabel Barter as a sixty-something aunt of Hyacinth Bucket. It's difficult (especially for an American) to grasp all of the implied or suggested class differentiations that Mabel recognizes, but it's clear that Mabel sees herself as considerably more genteel than the two sisters she lives with, not to mention the rest of the villagers in Ringerton—first because the family she was in service with was such a </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">very</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> superior one, but also due to the fact that she was soon advanced to the more prestigious position of nurse/governess. (Scholars interested in class distinctions could do worse than perusing this novel.)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEM6l9UUi2zAJKsWmFdlh5uSDGfqCsX9ETsChbGZ18YOB8Z7BJ7gGYldcZqGnEyiaUvRUph5h0hD2EO4tfFmXo5JitI6nZpDnFzBjIxYQ_iZ5x9POtvsm3hYbkjaAQ75yLaZOybXI8EGUSN_8a3_m6y5JQvF8bdX0k_eZnvOX8TxVm21MTP8gNuVyuSQ1j/s734/Trask,%20Betty%20-%20author%20pic.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="571" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEM6l9UUi2zAJKsWmFdlh5uSDGfqCsX9ETsChbGZ18YOB8Z7BJ7gGYldcZqGnEyiaUvRUph5h0hD2EO4tfFmXo5JitI6nZpDnFzBjIxYQ_iZ5x9POtvsm3hYbkjaAQ75yLaZOybXI8EGUSN_8a3_m6y5JQvF8bdX0k_eZnvOX8TxVm21MTP8gNuVyuSQ1j/w311-h400/Trask,%20Betty%20-%20author%20pic.jpg" width="311" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Betty Trask (aka Ann Delamain)</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span>The novel describes what happens when her former charge comes back into Mabel's life with a possibly shady young wife whose money never seems to run out, and Mabel becomes obsessed with her dear boy once again, and just as determined as ever to keep him on the straight and narrow and hold him to the old-fashioned standards she still associates with her upper-class employers. There are certainly some amusing and entertaining moments, though I'm not sure Mabel (any more than Hyacinth Bucket herself) is able to entirely "rivet the reader's sympathetic attention"—she's generally amusing, but also a bit exhausting and (like Hyacinth) hardly a person one would want to endure having tea with! But it's also true that I couldn't stop reading till the end, because it really wasn't clear how this atypical plot was going to resolve itself. In the end, though, I would say that it was pleasant and highly readable, but not a book to inspire joyous re-reads.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Trask/Delamain's writing was charming enough, however, that another not-very-informative blurb (</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"A story of refugees who tried to bring the sunshine, the laughter, gaiety, and music of Old Vienna to a small English country town") forced me to track another of her novels, </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Merry Widows Waltz</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, all the way to the British Library… </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Over the years, sampling various less-than-addictive forgotten titles run across in my research, I've gradually determined the need for a unique subcategory of middlebrow novels, though I'm afraid I haven't a very snappy name for it yet. The "Pleasant Enough if You're Snowbound in a Remote Hotel with No WiFi and No Other Books (and No Imminent Murders to Solve)" moniker is perhaps a bit clunky, but it does capture the gist of the feelings such books inspire.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Merry Widows Waltz</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, for which I had held out high hopes based on that blurb, seems to fit this category (PEIYSIARHWNWANOB(ANIMTS) for short), as have a few other books sampled recently. (I should note right from the start that I didn't finish reading this one—I got about halfway before getting distracted by more enticing reads, so I don't claim this as any kind of definitive review, only a report of my experience.)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A light-hearted wartime village comedy focused on (presumably Jewish, but only presumably—see below) Austrian refugees from Hitler was, in retrospect, probably unlikely to fully pan out—though I wrote </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2022/04/unfortunately-theyre-already-here-rose.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">here</span></a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> a while back about Rose Allatini's surprising success at drawing a joyful, life-affirming humor from the situations of Jewish refugees in her delightful </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Family from Vienna</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1941). I might have been unfairly expecting a duplicate of that pleasure here. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpPdeRXljAmrvDAgz8era-whbsjq5lmaA_X7mG1VFMuhW9QABTrZ-06A36hzoioG7H2yBx6hfexppNeY87eZa02vqezJj8krUwYBFRP-vNMw8Z1ZmQiE2ewDiNlOlDxESa0knVbD725FAKxgQ8QdDEnP40pKHPbS-UzXrnDrvTd_iINOt-4nEVwZ922zh/s488/Trask,%20Betty%20(as%20Ann%20Delamain)%20-%20Merry%20Widows%20Waltz.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="488" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpPdeRXljAmrvDAgz8era-whbsjq5lmaA_X7mG1VFMuhW9QABTrZ-06A36hzoioG7H2yBx6hfexppNeY87eZa02vqezJj8krUwYBFRP-vNMw8Z1ZmQiE2ewDiNlOlDxESa0knVbD725FAKxgQ8QdDEnP40pKHPbS-UzXrnDrvTd_iINOt-4nEVwZ922zh/w400-h324/Trask,%20Betty%20(as%20Ann%20Delamain)%20-%20Merry%20Widows%20Waltz.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span>Trask's tale centers on two widowed sisters, Toni Wessler and Anna Sieding, arrived in the small town of Pinsford from relative wealth and sophistication in Vienna. Anna is self-absorbed and superficial and on the hunt for a new husband, while Toni is more sensitive and responsible and tries to smooth over the disruptions caused by Anna and make the best of things (they might almost be Susan Scarlett characters). Toni's husband was dead of a heart attack just before the war began, while if there was a reference to the cause of Anna's loss, I seem to have missed it, but neither are overly distressed by their loss ("Toni put on a touch of the scent she had always used when she was married to her Siegfried, whose greatest value as a husband was his tact in ceasing, at just the right moment, to be one"). They are, however, distressed by their less affluent position in London, taken in (supposedly as secretaries, but work is, shall we say, not in the forefront) by a fellow immigrant, the formidable Hélène Moore, who years before had had the foresight to marry a wealthy Englishman and set up as the gracious lady of the manor.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The two widows have the expected difficulties settling into English village life and English cultural norms, and manage to arouse in turn antagonism, light scandal, and more than one of the local beaus. It sounds delightful, I know, and it truly is pleasant enough, but overwritten and overly wordy—Trask may have been under pressure to keep up her quota of books under both her Delamain pseudonym and her real name, amidst the pressures of wartime life, and it often felt like she was, to paraphrase Truman Capote being bitchy about Jack Kerouac, not so much writing as typing—feverishly, perkily, but ultimately without much direction or sufficient interest. As a side point, I have to wonder if publishers during WWII, with paper shortages and all, insisted on looooooooooooonnngggg paragraphs? Walls of words in tiny print—I've noticed the depressing tendency before, and it here certainly affected my level of interest.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I found it a bit difficult to really care for the characters here as well, and part of that might stem from their bewildering and invisible background. It feels as though the author specifically wanted to avoid any suggestion that the widows (or Hélène herself) might be Jewish, though it's hard to imagine what else they could possibly be. They seem unlikely to have engaged in passionately anti-Nazi political activism either. And yet they </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">are</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> clearly refugees, having left many of their glamorous belongings beyond when hastily leaving the country. They give the impression of having left the country because the Nazis were just a bit too gauche for their taste, or because in wartime they were having difficulty obtaining the best kind of streudel… It seems the author is trying to have her, er, streudel and eat it too—use the then-familiar trope of refugees adapting to new situations, but carefully obscure any of the trauma that would have put them in the situation in the first place. She wanted frivolous, silly, superficial refugees with no worries but finding fun and romance, and as a result, the characters don't ever seem as real or alive as even a middlebrow comedy would reasonably require them to be.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That said, if I had been unexpectedly snowbound etc., and </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Merry Widows Waltz</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the only entertainment available, I would undoubtedly have been quite content to finish it and enjoy it. With lots of other of enticing books breathing down my neck, though, I moved on to other things and opted not to worry how it all turned out (more or less happily, I'm sure).</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Despite my luke-warm feelings here, I do have one more Trask title (under her own name this time) among my British Library treasures—</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Only the Best</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1935) is set in a department store—shades of </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Babbacombe's</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, I fervently hope?</span></span></p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I have to note that Andrew Hall has created a fascinating webpage to share his research on Trask </span><a href="https://www.threeisacollection.org/authors/betty_trask.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">here</span></a><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and I owe grateful thanks to him as well for discovering in the process that Trask and Delamain were one and the same author—until he emailed me his findings, I had two separate entries for them. One fact Andrew discusses on his page is that, as obscure as Trask's own books have become today, a book award was established in her name in 1984, the Betty Trask Prize, and is still awarded to this day, including to some prestigious and recognizable authors whom Andrew mentions (though he also notes that the Society of Authors, who administer the prize, have long ignored the criteria she specified). But at least her name lives on. Even if her books don't…</span></span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-46334948632576029602023-12-03T09:50:00.000-08:002023-12-03T09:50:06.748-08:00Nothing but a sense of humor: JANE BIRD, By Accident (1935)<p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbuhiiX0P-MvDoQSHh4NXn4-jG1-0Ib_bFkZEFPuUBODMOZH_3D5H3KxKU-dLrhe2syviCMCBLerSzSX-ZEqMQSWjRXq4xk33SjkhT4llmzUgKH4a-VnzpVpMBZaZe8nGYMhXbXj0GeBz_pFa-XFd-hBb7hFCHtacwg5kLb-EZI8rAdfk-f8El1U7LqNc/s611/Bird,%20Jane%20-%20By%20Accident%20sp%20det.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbuhiiX0P-MvDoQSHh4NXn4-jG1-0Ib_bFkZEFPuUBODMOZH_3D5H3KxKU-dLrhe2syviCMCBLerSzSX-ZEqMQSWjRXq4xk33SjkhT4llmzUgKH4a-VnzpVpMBZaZe8nGYMhXbXj0GeBz_pFa-XFd-hBb7hFCHtacwg5kLb-EZI8rAdfk-f8El1U7LqNc/w295-h400/Bird,%20Jane%20-%20By%20Accident%20sp%20det.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><br />"Do you believe in anything, Susan?"</span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"No. Nothing. Except a sense of humour."</span></blockquote><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1c0dc3bc-7fff-3ecd-4beb-c3bbdd12380d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This book rather inconsiderately jumped the queue in my TBR, ahead of a few hundred other titles that have been waiting in line for years. But I only just came across this author in my research a few weeks ago, and although the only thing I knew about this novel (the first of only two by Bird, whose real name was Dame (!) Dorothea Croft, née Mavor) was a rather short and uninformative blurb from the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Observer</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (see below), some instinct kicked in and I not only ordered the one affordable copy but also plunged right into it as soon as it arrived.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheBk_t47S-vVL9iq9PtwmICvQlyQtIO87TZgMIRvFWq3MWwv999QLqUxNOhU37y70HO0rs-SfLM9DNhlK1GhRQzxwju2O7FMIsTwi_jVMOsFY01iuJuzKFrQCB_rrXBJhDKWh6oVOJu2zZVReeoNasv7uRYNKVfRCkFjzkybEwfHoY6eWwqy7yqCb8w2au/s455/Bird,%20Jane%20-%20By%20Accident%20blurb%20(Observer%2028%20Jul%201935).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="102" data-original-width="455" height="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheBk_t47S-vVL9iq9PtwmICvQlyQtIO87TZgMIRvFWq3MWwv999QLqUxNOhU37y70HO0rs-SfLM9DNhlK1GhRQzxwju2O7FMIsTwi_jVMOsFY01iuJuzKFrQCB_rrXBJhDKWh6oVOJu2zZVReeoNasv7uRYNKVfRCkFjzkybEwfHoY6eWwqy7yqCb8w2au/w400-h90/Bird,%20Jane%20-%20By%20Accident%20blurb%20(Observer%2028%20Jul%201935).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The blurb mentions both comedy and tragedy, but for the first 100 pages of </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By Accident</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, I felt happily confident that it was merely a light-hearted frolic of a novel—a village romance along classic lines, a bit silly, without much substance, and including such instantly recognizable characters as Mr. and Mrs. Barton, the ghastly, sanctimonious busybodies who should be smothered with pillows, their spoiled, neurotic, drunken son Nigel, the astonishingly absent-minded but perfectly lovable Vicar, his erratic servant Emma who occasionally goes on a bender in mourning for one or another of her lost husbands, not one but two mysterious new arrivals to the village, and Susan, a perky, no-nonsense heroine who is often, however reluctantly, at the center of village affairs.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">100 pages in, however, the tragedy began to make itself felt alongside the development of two separate romances, and it became a bit more melancholy and meaningful. I was worried at first that the difficulties—involving particularly the health problems of both of the village's new mystery residents, a fragile dress shop owner and a smashed-up former flying ace—would sink into melodrama. Both are soon enmeshed in romances with villagers; one will face a tragic end, while the other's future happiness is to be hoped for but not necessarily assumed. But in fact the author is able to keep things nicely in balance, with (just as the blurb stated) the tragic elements occurring alongside the comic, just as in real life.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnEKcPpvmnXIs5Iyu2UxxZQ8zFF95J2cZfWuvG2cy3ui7VeSLu1-RIl_tD3aWEp4_hhXXvSXHnhzpmd1JBgh2eRdfJLCBCh8CXVItiSjWzeCsZrKbIFPgfu6zEtT_5N6bDduDX-C57lQNmDzO9uIVyzYJZb1vG17jTaP4jPDkiCEsVuOWjnblCZ6snfdY/s2155/Bird,%20Jane%20-%20By%20Accident%20tp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2155" data-original-width="1442" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnEKcPpvmnXIs5Iyu2UxxZQ8zFF95J2cZfWuvG2cy3ui7VeSLu1-RIl_tD3aWEp4_hhXXvSXHnhzpmd1JBgh2eRdfJLCBCh8CXVItiSjWzeCsZrKbIFPgfu6zEtT_5N6bDduDX-C57lQNmDzO9uIVyzYJZb1vG17jTaP4jPDkiCEsVuOWjnblCZ6snfdY/w268-h400/Bird,%20Jane%20-%20By%20Accident%20tp.jpg" width="268" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The author would have been 38 when this novel appeared, with a husband and two young sons (she appears on the 1939 England & Wales Register perhaps evacuated from Hampstead, where she seems to have lived much of her life, to Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, with the boys and their nurse–of course giving her profession as "unpaid domestic duties" rather than mentioning the two novels published in recent years). No obvious evidence of trauma in her own life, then (her husband outlived her), though of course who can know what else she'd been through? But she seems to have had some very practical, stoic wisdom about the ups and downs of life, as shown in the quote opening this review (a philosophy to which I staunchly hold) and in this rather acerbic exchange between Susan and her young friend (and former beau) Robin toward the end of the novel:</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"You have to pay for everything."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"I should say so. And not only that. It's spot cash, and no credit. And when you've paid in full, you can't keep what you've paid for, and anyway it doesn't last, even if you could keep it. If that isn't a ghoulish way of doing business! I ask you!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But this is a rare cynical moment in characters who, for the most part, make the best of things, and therefore the novel never became depressing even in its sad moments. It's not a perfect novel (Bird seems to have been more amused by the Bartons' sanctimonious ravings than I was, and lets them go on too long, on too many occasions, though they bring about their own punishments in the end), but it was surprisingly satisfying over all, and has a tone all its own, far more memorable than I expected. I would love to proceed to the author's only other novel, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Both Hands</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1936), but alas it's nonexistent in libraries and the only copy on Abe Books at the moment is $200+ and I don't yearn for it </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">quite</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that much… Alas, another woman whose very significant potential as a writer seems to have petered out, perhaps due to lack of encouragement or simply lack of time.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But lest I leave you thinking the novel isn't primarily cheerful, a couple of glimpses of its humor. First, a passage from very early on, channelling some distinct Barbara Pym energy:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was nine o'clock in the evening, and the church clock had just struck sixteen. Susan was coming back from the village hall, where a show of vegetables was being arranged together with a display of jealousy and malice.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And then, poor Emma, refusing to accept, in a drunken stupor, that she had stumbled into the wrong house (let's overlook for now the fact that, were she a real person, Emma would certainly belong in rehab—as well as the distinct possibility that the delightful old Vicar might be suffering dementia…):</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mr. Binks silently appeared through a baize door. He regarded the figure of Emma, making a hazardous ascent of the staircase, with mild surprise. He looked a question at Susan, with an expressive glance.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"She blew in as I was going out," Susan explained. "She's mistaken the house."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"No I haven't," snapped Emma. "</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> have."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mr. Binks proved quite equal to the situation. He went up the few stairs which Emma had so far managed, and steered her firmly down again. She had started to giggle, which added to her uncertainty of direction.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"I'll have to see her home," said Mr. Binks, "or she'll never arrive."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"What impertinence!" Emma laughed. "I can't go home alone with you. It was a fog that led to my first marriage."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"You need not worry this time," replied Mr. Binks stiffly.</span></p>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-5792544858377709222023-11-27T05:36:00.000-08:002023-11-27T05:36:38.943-08:00"You're just the very person": ANN STAFFORD & JANE OLIVER, Cuckoo in June (1935)<p></p><blockquote><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFsUbPgLmo57lSjhrmqvZGpcgq98sREnsPNjd7XchD6hSk6NT4De4MhwmytWEf0ZN4omCaEStFYtNCCMaEihZj0GGWPt7PrKr6VrSUruIdWnbxp5X4K-NM8-AIwIYm6Qqgl2UznwSjSTjxInfw7HSjrBe8KDSvXc4S0LN74t1-DrBxQV_rCYYkBz2C7zLe/s2297/Stafford,%20Ann%20&%20Jane%20Oliver%20-%20Cuckoo%20in%20June%20fc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2297" data-original-width="1519" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFsUbPgLmo57lSjhrmqvZGpcgq98sREnsPNjd7XchD6hSk6NT4De4MhwmytWEf0ZN4omCaEStFYtNCCMaEihZj0GGWPt7PrKr6VrSUruIdWnbxp5X4K-NM8-AIwIYm6Qqgl2UznwSjSTjxInfw7HSjrBe8KDSvXc4S0LN74t1-DrBxQV_rCYYkBz2C7zLe/w265-h400/Stafford,%20Ann%20&%20Jane%20Oliver%20-%20Cuckoo%20in%20June%20fc.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br />Cousin Dorothy clutched me by the arm and murmured: "Kit, dearest, why didn't I think of it before? You're just the very person ... "</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I thought of Bazaars and Sales of Work and Committees and Church Charities and the devil and the deep sea. But Cousin Dorothy went straight on. "It's about Verity, darling. We're so worried. I simply must tell you from the very beginning ... "</span></span></blockquote><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-5afb39a1-7fff-c318-1ae3-0fac1563a5cf"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And this is how Kit Findlay, who worries that she's a bit past it now that she's in her thirties (!!), gets pulled in to take her rather shallow, flirtatious young cousin Verity first halfway across Europe, and then, since Verity finds charming men everywhere she goes (even a tiny village in the Swiss Alps), back to her brother Benjamin's idyllic farm in Hampshire. As Kit puts it:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A good deal has been said and written about the trials and joys of dodging chaperones, but as far as I remember, very little about the arduous amusement of not letting oneself be dodged.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO7K60QG4B8uowHW_L-dj3sskCoXniizu6T1YN9DBDW5Iy_cAtSh0ztaaE41dmiputcSlO82e-BvMTCNkJX3sTqX1cMyt53LSgMrIS1xKWZG-bJC-ff4egNpYh2MLzmjPmNdR1hjvQRosBo1IAbLPtx5RltQNklBpLvU5HPKPx2LOSWIpRMtHFaDjST77k/s2297/Stafford,%20Ann%20&%20Jane%20Oliver%20-%20Cuckoo%20in%20June%20ff.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2297" data-original-width="1189" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO7K60QG4B8uowHW_L-dj3sskCoXniizu6T1YN9DBDW5Iy_cAtSh0ztaaE41dmiputcSlO82e-BvMTCNkJX3sTqX1cMyt53LSgMrIS1xKWZG-bJC-ff4egNpYh2MLzmjPmNdR1hjvQRosBo1IAbLPtx5RltQNklBpLvU5HPKPx2LOSWIpRMtHFaDjST77k/w208-h400/Stafford,%20Ann%20&%20Jane%20Oliver%20-%20Cuckoo%20in%20June%20ff.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />First they go to stay with charming Tante Hélène in Rouen, meeting handsome John Hobart on the train, who has the darnedest knack for popping up in unlikely places. When he pops up once too often, Kit, against the advice of Tante Hélène (who might see more than they give her credit for), rushes Verity off to the Alps, where Herr Albrecht, a climbing aficionado, takes a bit too much of an interest. So before long it's back to the farm with young, handsome brother Benjamin (what could go wrong?), only to find that John Hobart has established a riding club nearby. The comedy continues with riding lessons and tennis tournaments, Verity at the end of a few months is a rather different person, and Kit may find that she is too…</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is all great fun and good for chuckles at various points. In particular, the pair's train journey had me giggling quite a lot, particularly as I realized that I am indeed thoroughly English in my heritage—just as my genealogy would suggest—as I completely relate to Kit's contempt for people who hate fresh air. Here are a few memorable excerpts:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I saw at once that we weren't going to be lucky. One glance at the woman settling herself into the corner by the door made me sure we had one of the Window-Shutters: she hadn't those check clothes and double-chins for nothing.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">The elderly body with the hatpins seemed to be asleep, for her head was rolling about as if someone had wrung her neck. But she managed to mumble thanks when Verity said she could put her feet on the opposite seat if she liked, while she was in the corridor. It was a relief to hear her speak after watching that wobbling head in the eerie light from the corridor and wondering whether people ever did die of a night in the train as well as feeling like it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">After a while I began to wonder where Verity was, and whether it would be a good plan to try and wash now before the corridor filled with refined people pretending they had come out to see the fields of France and less refined ones rattling the door of the Toilette at the end.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I read and very much enjoyed Stafford & Oliver's other three early collaborations—see </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2022/06/t-for-tiresome-s-for-stupid-d-for-dull.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">here</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-seventh-commandment-ann-stafford.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">here</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—last year, but when I acquired a copy of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cuckoo in June</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (at rather a hefty cost—let's not talk about that), I opted to save it on my TBR, reluctant to finish their fun authorial teamwork (both Stafford & Oliver went on to publish many more novels individually, and even went back to collaborating, under the pseudonym Joan Blair, on a number of romance novels, but these clearly have a very different tone from the four early works published under their own names). But having recently grown a bit fatigued with reading photographed books on my Kindle (some of the pics sadly demonstrating all too clearly that my hands have grown shakier as I get older), I plucked it off the shelf and settled in to enjoy. It's a perfectly charming read, and I wish Handheld Press (who reprinted the earlier </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Business as Usual</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">) or some other publisher would bring the remaining three titles back into print.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This book, too, is remarkable because it "has the distinction of being the first modern novel published with hand-coloured plates; it has eight pictures in colour, and in addition there are numerous line-drawings." Ann Stafford's drawings are as delightful as ever here, and the ones with colour do add a certain dazzle.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYINlOslXexTK7yzfb927xjLDFru2Z67PMTo8bkK2d2yKfWxRdMU1WYtHkkKZnC813A-HhQ7qoREFYfwHeRBbbNwqseQGc2V0VHsKFpcTnYouokIdgHVOGk1nID1pFIWbxD98xLqtmaoAGr0VNId9PsuDRRDDcXqG34Xw45IZw038VAWBe7u8jP3GepN16/s950/Stafford,%20Ann%20&%20Jane%20Oliver%20-%20Cuckoo%20in%20June%20color%20illus%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="644" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYINlOslXexTK7yzfb927xjLDFru2Z67PMTo8bkK2d2yKfWxRdMU1WYtHkkKZnC813A-HhQ7qoREFYfwHeRBbbNwqseQGc2V0VHsKFpcTnYouokIdgHVOGk1nID1pFIWbxD98xLqtmaoAGr0VNId9PsuDRRDDcXqG34Xw45IZw038VAWBe7u8jP3GepN16/w271-h400/Stafford,%20Ann%20&%20Jane%20Oliver%20-%20Cuckoo%20in%20June%20color%20illus%202.jpg" width="271" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHSZMABXgXCDuKFSgf1o_Se0VcM2ABIRlOGDcKyirFZgue0xB6CT37stFyNlcHtAeQYzES-ed7CsqrbmBJh9Ksvc3jGQnCbhg3QKzbpXEQf6xJj3EKoEAwsgDIKRjkM2mvrFTpLaMKO7O6tOJZv5mT1KWK-_Zl4yGrqyY6o-dbx8SYTr2j5zg_ogG32JSV/s951/Stafford,%20Ann%20&%20Jane%20Oliver%20-%20Cuckoo%20in%20June%20color%20illus%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="951" data-original-width="653" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHSZMABXgXCDuKFSgf1o_Se0VcM2ABIRlOGDcKyirFZgue0xB6CT37stFyNlcHtAeQYzES-ed7CsqrbmBJh9Ksvc3jGQnCbhg3QKzbpXEQf6xJj3EKoEAwsgDIKRjkM2mvrFTpLaMKO7O6tOJZv5mT1KWK-_Zl4yGrqyY6o-dbx8SYTr2j5zg_ogG32JSV/w275-h400/Stafford,%20Ann%20&%20Jane%20Oliver%20-%20Cuckoo%20in%20June%20color%20illus%201.jpg" width="275" /></a></div><p></p></span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-67396299381250526032023-11-17T07:53:00.000-08:002023-11-17T07:53:08.349-08:00"I've had a lot of bother with you myself": ELLA MONCKTON, August in Avilion (1940)<p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZM0Br8jhjIE8v9nDCCCStadJGY9eqAo34i5MnMVoPVaj0DBDbGhIgva0L2F6M4jFxH_eG655yvYO6GyXRxUpDtnFzxKkOObcPk5gSnaya5j7BNkpn8_JAIo7kTtMu4IxBdOSsHG-o3o4wwNQHO7RB8ugeO6WEzelPr-l4keVcf-5C8bKtgUnuRvHHRpu_/s834/Monckton,%20Ella%20-%20August%20in%20Avilion%20pl%20fc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="834" data-original-width="549" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZM0Br8jhjIE8v9nDCCCStadJGY9eqAo34i5MnMVoPVaj0DBDbGhIgva0L2F6M4jFxH_eG655yvYO6GyXRxUpDtnFzxKkOObcPk5gSnaya5j7BNkpn8_JAIo7kTtMu4IxBdOSsHG-o3o4wwNQHO7RB8ugeO6WEzelPr-l4keVcf-5C8bKtgUnuRvHHRpu_/w264-h400/Monckton,%20Ella%20-%20August%20in%20Avilion%20pl%20fc.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br />"Don't you remember she called me a fool when I married you?''</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">"You probably were then," Tim agreed. "I've had a lot of bother with you myself."</span></span></blockquote><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4d409cf0-7fff-a85f-9bb8-8737d5a51c73"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seventeen years after disowning her niece, surly Aunt Amabel has a change of heart, seeing what a success Jane Gates has made of her marriage to Tim, a once starving artist who is now making a good living for Jane and their four children. Aunt Amabel's amends amount to leaving Jane her old family home, a sizeable but ramshackle and long-neglected house called Avilion, on the (apparently fictional?) Perra Cove in Cornwall, near the town of Camford. Practically as soon as she informs Jane of her legacy, Aunt Amabel conveniently keels over, and Jane, with characteristic determination, decides she'll overcome the obvious drawbacks and make a summer home there for her family (at least if she can rid herself of the Pollitts, the house's caretakers, "a couple of trolls" who feel the property doesn't properly belong to Jane).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As some of you will have already guessed, this sets us up for a fun family holiday story not unlike (if perhaps not as polished as) Ruby Ferguson's </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apricot Sky</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2019/12/re-reading-favorite-ruby-ferguson.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as you know</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I particularly love. Tim remains stuck in London on a decorating gig for most of the novel, but in the meantime we come to know their children—Jeremy, Eleanor, Michael, and Jennifer—who have clearly been raised in laid-back artistic style, but who are mainly level-headed and responsible, if vividly imaginative. Arthur Royston, a friend of Jeremy's frequently neglected by his squabbling parents, soon arrives, along with Benjie, former nurse and now Jane's trusty right hand woman. Later, it becomes still more of a house party, as Hilda Morris, Jane's diva friend, grown bored with her own artist husband, arrives in a snit, along with Nils, a writer seeking inspiration in a nearby shack, and Jane's stodgy, judgmental brother Peter, loathed by the children for his philistine sportiness and intolerance. Then there's Robin Oakley, grandson of Aunt Amabel's solicitor, and infatuated with Jane from the moment he greets her at the train station. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What follows is a perfectly charming, often funny, and very eventful holiday story, including a dramatic fire rescue, traumatic diving lessons, a possible haunting, thunderstorms, a backyard brawl over Hilda, and neighborhood scandals launched by the vicar's wife (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"In a few plain words, Alfred, those people living at Avilion House are NUDISTS!"). Oh, and of course there's the children's games on the theme of Camelot, in which </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all the characters find themselves, knowingly or not, cast in prominent roles (Peter—unknowingly—as Mordred, of course). If it's sometimes a bit rough around the edges and unfocused, meandering from one event to the next with very little overarching plot, you know me well enough to know that's not a problem for me. In fact, I was enjoying it so much that I did that thing where you start rationing the remaining pages to make a book last longer. It still didn't last long enough. This one will definitely go on my list to re-read at some point when my world needs a bit of brightening.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The only scene I felt might startle modern readers was one in which all the children are reported to be smoking cigarettes as they plot their next move, to which Jane replies only </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Little beasts! I hope they're sick." Naturally, the children are gloriously unsupervised most of the time as well, in keeping with the times and the conventions of children's fiction (but what fun would it be to read about well-supervised kids?!).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ella Monckton seems to have published mostly children's fiction, often for very young children but also including the part-school girls' story </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Left Till Called For</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1937), the most readily available of her books (and quite pleasant if not particularly remarkable—I read that one before setting my sights on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">August</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at the BL). </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">August in Avilion </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">seems to have been marketed more as an adult novel, and contains some slightly more adult concerns and focus on adult relationships, but I'd say it really falls, mood-wise, more into the realm of children's fiction, and indeed I've only just discovered that it appears to be a sort of sequel to one of Monckton's earlier children's titles, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Gates Family</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1934), described as set in "the Bohemian household of an artist in Kensington." Food for thought for the next trip to the British Library!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I haven't thoroughly researched Monckton yet, but a web search revealed she was the wife of artist and illustrator Clifford Webb (who illustrated many of her books). They seem to have lived in Kensington themselves, so one wonders how much she is playing with real-life events in these books. One can only hope their real life was anywhere close to as cheerful as their fictional lives.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-1954990a-7fff-b5e5-6def-f91877c872f3"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I seem to have a definite affinity for "adult" novels written by children's authors. Noel Streatfeild's Susan Scarlett novels, E. Nesbit's </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Lark</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, not to mention Rumer Godden, Kitty Barne, Frances Hodgson Burnett's </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Making of a Marchioness</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, Richmal Crompton, Eleanor Farjeon's </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Miss Granby's Secret</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and indeed even Ruby Ferguson, whose pony stories have a lingering fame—all authors best known for children's writing who have given me great fun in books they wrote for grownups. It's almost a subgenre of its own, which perhaps deserves more attention…</span></span></p></span></span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-1702566600676415752023-11-06T11:23:00.000-08:002023-11-06T11:23:22.932-08:00Highlights of the “lost” update (2 of 2)<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Back with one more post to mention some of the most intriguing authors that I added to my main list last year, but didn’t get around to telling you about at the time. If you missed the previous post about this, see <a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2023/11/highlights-of-lost-update-1-of-2.html" target="_blank">here</a>, and for the complete list of the new authors added in this update, see </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-lost-update.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: blue; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">here</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-61c35eb4-7fff-a64d-564b-ca09636d617b"><span style="font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span>This post will be a little embarrassing, as well, because I actually have, in my hot little hands as it were, books by practically all of these authors, but of course I mostly haven’t got round to reading them yet. But looked at another way, this is great news for my reading over the next few months. Every cloud, etc.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For example, I have </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Take Cover!</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1939), the second of three novels published by </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MARJORIE DEANS</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, who was also a screenwriter and translator. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Take Cover!</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> deals with the Munich Crisis and the reactions of various London residents, and proved too intriguing for me to resist. Her earlier novel, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Not With Me</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1937), deals with a doubting clergyman and his family, but I haven’t found details about her last, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Men Don't Know</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1946). Deans also published </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Meeting at the Sphinx</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1946), a glitzy book about the filming of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Caesar and Cleopatra</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> with Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh. Among her screenwriting credits were several adaptations of George Bernard Shaw plays.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: -0.2pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLPDLIyPeEcOeThw5hA3k1yf2tknsyHT7nEL6cGNh6jupE0-Wrp8WszHiEm-7pEUkjBk4JaxwdG-K809ZIUM7vBGt4kHiDUj5KZj4d2ha5ZrEAH5I9yB-_5Lb7nPWLSwKcs8efbwUBo7wVjS7wR31-OAItjPGEJuEsNHbWlg4WhPSCPEFZ7Cz025Wf7anV/s583/Inskip,%20Betty%20-%20Chelmsford%20Chronicle%20-%20Friday%2009%20October%201931.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="405" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLPDLIyPeEcOeThw5hA3k1yf2tknsyHT7nEL6cGNh6jupE0-Wrp8WszHiEm-7pEUkjBk4JaxwdG-K809ZIUM7vBGt4kHiDUj5KZj4d2ha5ZrEAH5I9yB-_5Lb7nPWLSwKcs8efbwUBo7wVjS7wR31-OAItjPGEJuEsNHbWlg4WhPSCPEFZ7Cz025Wf7anV/w278-h400/Inskip,%20Betty%20-%20Chelmsford%20Chronicle%20-%20Friday%2009%20October%201931.jpg" width="278" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKNp7hVne3UWiA_By7J1mNQJui4xEgjQTwaClulXYgNNoM4hLAXejO4XcDpoBeU-oPaAXkMNB7EaTKZlHBVlvV3AZVfE1MfGy54DkZbfGuYiGsARvV7pXePufkQ3DvpVeOr9TDxBBbHpHKaJBShJR9yvay-tiHKN2u-5yajqTctv-WtQMcr4HvhSr4Zo89/s577/Inskip,%20Betty%20-%20Step%20to%20a%20Drum.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="494" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKNp7hVne3UWiA_By7J1mNQJui4xEgjQTwaClulXYgNNoM4hLAXejO4XcDpoBeU-oPaAXkMNB7EaTKZlHBVlvV3AZVfE1MfGy54DkZbfGuYiGsARvV7pXePufkQ3DvpVeOr9TDxBBbHpHKaJBShJR9yvay-tiHKN2u-5yajqTctv-WtQMcr4HvhSr4Zo89/w343-h400/Inskip,%20Betty%20-%20Step%20to%20a%20Drum.jpg" width="343" /></a></div><br />Also the author of three novels was </span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">BETTY INSKIP</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Her debut, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Ravelled Sleeve</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1929), sounds like a cheerful romance and is waiting patiently on my TBR. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Step to a Drum</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1931) was described as "a picture of life through the eyes of an essentially modern girl", and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pink Faces</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1939) was set in Austria before the rise of the Nazis. Tragically, Inskip died of complications from childbirth at the age of 39, right at the end of WWII.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: -0.2pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhii_M-_CNjiwPJD52j292aQIGKGU5BFLAw5Xnd9O5rIbl3xltJXNpuCYFSDR2FQes-zZi8YIdMAWNOqdv9vG1z61JfYZmddP9HHU0Xsy0C3yQpfXOoGu54ym8eEL2NgymGJOg6rtfQL7Kq9q3FH6bkTF2AX3h1PDpWlx4wkZChGZ-qq-E_e5-0yqNyV8NG/s437/Leighton,%20Wing%20-%20Whistle%20Me%20Over%20the%20Water%20short%20review%20(Burton%20Observer%20and%20Chronicle%203%20Aug%201944).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="352" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhii_M-_CNjiwPJD52j292aQIGKGU5BFLAw5Xnd9O5rIbl3xltJXNpuCYFSDR2FQes-zZi8YIdMAWNOqdv9vG1z61JfYZmddP9HHU0Xsy0C3yQpfXOoGu54ym8eEL2NgymGJOg6rtfQL7Kq9q3FH6bkTF2AX3h1PDpWlx4wkZChGZ-qq-E_e5-0yqNyV8NG/w323-h400/Leighton,%20Wing%20-%20Whistle%20Me%20Over%20the%20Water%20short%20review%20(Burton%20Observer%20and%20Chronicle%203%20Aug%201944).jpg" width="323" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />WING LEIGHTON</b><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">was</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">the name used for a single novel, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Whistle Me Over the Water</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1944), described by the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Observer</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> as "a romantic story of a love-crossed land-girl with a spy chase to finish. Dreamily readable—like a cathedral close tea-shop." Yep, couldn’t resist that either, but I haven’t read it yet. Her publisher's archive says the name is the pseudonym of a Mrs. Gammie, but she has not been further identified.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM8Ew4eIAfXwyAyyCH21ivnJt5Ikj0fSYetCoPJm07t8B3f8rTRHgbfd8CRnPgSQOg_zbsULwjCS4K7k0XdaFEtD93b8IyKxeAnFJHF991TOa1ldFwHTnKxIhx9GeGhYSm8c088jS0prGmbKvNnbmbGegn_9xUu7nCvZoFXwOhXNt8imvJ8Wjmk_lgU1Xb/s1412/Rolfe,%20Diana%20-%20Maiden%20Stakes%20front%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1412" data-original-width="989" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM8Ew4eIAfXwyAyyCH21ivnJt5Ikj0fSYetCoPJm07t8B3f8rTRHgbfd8CRnPgSQOg_zbsULwjCS4K7k0XdaFEtD93b8IyKxeAnFJHF991TOa1ldFwHTnKxIhx9GeGhYSm8c088jS0prGmbKvNnbmbGegn_9xUu7nCvZoFXwOhXNt8imvJ8Wjmk_lgU1Xb/w280-h400/Rolfe,%20Diana%20-%20Maiden%20Stakes%20front%20cover.jpg" width="280" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />I succumbed to temptation with regard to the one book I could track down by <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">DIANA ROLFE</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, author of five humorous novels about the high society hunting crowd. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Good Huntin'</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1939) is on my TBR and looks very promising. The others are </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Plain Sailin'</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1940), </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Maiden Stakes</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1947), </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ministering Angels</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1948), and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Period Portrait</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1949). More to come about her…</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: -0.2pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlhnOuzWnx2CudclgCnXzja2-ZerkRyf5-Bud336Ljk1oZ6kbWxxAqkV36Vxw1P29HmYpfh4jabjvvrCaFGxB5UYdAtOfClzdX2WEX9yvWhKBiiCRXo1sn3x9qjAwOlgQar4IA2D7v_qixj0GJPu6umrDx6aP4REINS4S7AfqrOhaOD2-CTl6c16H84ed/s415/Saunders,%20Edith%20-%20The%20Passing%20Hours%20review%20(Western%20Mail%20-%20Thursday%2021%20November%201935).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="316" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlhnOuzWnx2CudclgCnXzja2-ZerkRyf5-Bud336Ljk1oZ6kbWxxAqkV36Vxw1P29HmYpfh4jabjvvrCaFGxB5UYdAtOfClzdX2WEX9yvWhKBiiCRXo1sn3x9qjAwOlgQar4IA2D7v_qixj0GJPu6umrDx6aP4REINS4S7AfqrOhaOD2-CTl6c16H84ed/w305-h400/Saunders,%20Edith%20-%20The%20Passing%20Hours%20review%20(Western%20Mail%20-%20Thursday%2021%20November%201935).jpg" width="305" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />EDITH SAUNDERS</b><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> remains unidentified despite having published history and biography as well as at least two novels. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Passing Hours</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1935), about the residents of a London suburb, including a girls' school, had to be added to my collection, while </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Gods in Conflict</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1949) deals with a young girl's stay with a German family in 1939. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Mystery of Mary Lafarge</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1951), a retelling of a famous 1840 murder case, is sometimes referred to as a novel and sometimes as non-fiction. Among her historical works are </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A Distant Summer</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1946), about Queen Victoria's state visit to Paris in 1855, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Prodigal Father</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1951), about Alexandre Dumas both pere and fils, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Age of Worth</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1954), about the couturier to the Empress Eugénie, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Napoleon and Mademoiselle George</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1958), and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Hundred Days</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1964), about Napoleon's 1815 campaign. Her first publication was a children's title, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Fanny Penquite</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1932), described as an "exquisite", "vivid", "delightful" tale of a little girl's death and ascent to heaven. Color me a touch skeptical about that one…</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVdYI4E80b4oOBKvzE48e8rcJPj5m_L5xhffX_OImKfRfrQWWodQUtdhyphenhyphen-ctn03UOQZfAudK7BEpM2N36KxsN-ElCS5UjAInkDqSfzaxVaFHnb7RkynZaQzW8IXDT2iMXochO2UKM_wqxp0ob2Q1aNFA0pGVA072aHWOZ2-Mx3j7FGnD-V-rJWU6TWQYWF/s633/Parsons,%20G.%20M.%20T.%20-%20The%20Dove%20Pursues%20review%20(Aberdeen%20Press%20and%20Journal%208%20Aug%201933).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="633" data-original-width="436" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVdYI4E80b4oOBKvzE48e8rcJPj5m_L5xhffX_OImKfRfrQWWodQUtdhyphenhyphen-ctn03UOQZfAudK7BEpM2N36KxsN-ElCS5UjAInkDqSfzaxVaFHnb7RkynZaQzW8IXDT2iMXochO2UKM_wqxp0ob2Q1aNFA0pGVA072aHWOZ2-Mx3j7FGnD-V-rJWU6TWQYWF/w275-h400/Parsons,%20G.%20M.%20T.%20-%20The%20Dove%20Pursues%20review%20(Aberdeen%20Press%20and%20Journal%208%20Aug%201933).jpg" width="275" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />I was quite intrigued by descriptions of <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">G. M. T. (Grace Muriel Tempé) PARSONS</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">’s two novels. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Dove Pursues</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1933) is about the young daughter of a Norfolk rector who falls hopelessly in love with a tutor, while </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Laura</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1978), which only appeared more than 40 years later but may have been written earlier, is again set in Norfolk around the turn of the century and follows a young girl's attempted rebellion against conventions. A </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Guardian</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> review noted of the latter (which I have on my TBR list) that "under the quiet surface it is saying as much as </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Nightflower</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> or </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Women's Room</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, or for that matter the effusions of Erica Jong, about the plight of women in a society that thinks that freedom is first of all the right of men, and that the other sex can only have the left-overs from that right." Indeed! Parsons was herself a schoolteacher in Surrey.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFCrCDctF3OVvAqiFRzC30OAE2ODfFKzmseHRyPdiwDFYYfRGkA1-IKzENjM1BA4Y5NNj7SS98WVsXZayJb-cd1rfC-oBPMu0XmYSH-glqXJSxWC2W7Aaa0qEWl1G5KtlbUZF_Xv9_innRhoozT7LmKHIxWoq21wDik8eJ-4ef3Ckk3DbO-viUjr8xaFdS/s379/Orme,%20Eve%20-%20There's%20Something%20About%20a%20Soldier%20ad%20(Observer%208%20Mar%201942).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="247" data-original-width="379" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFCrCDctF3OVvAqiFRzC30OAE2ODfFKzmseHRyPdiwDFYYfRGkA1-IKzENjM1BA4Y5NNj7SS98WVsXZayJb-cd1rfC-oBPMu0XmYSH-glqXJSxWC2W7Aaa0qEWl1G5KtlbUZF_Xv9_innRhoozT7LmKHIxWoq21wDik8eJ-4ef3Ckk3DbO-viUjr8xaFdS/w400-h261/Orme,%20Eve%20-%20There's%20Something%20About%20a%20Soldier%20ad%20(Observer%208%20Mar%201942).jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />I’m not sure what to expect from <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">EVE ORME</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, but the title and wartime setting of her debut, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There's Something About a Soldier</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1942), proved too much for me to resist. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">First Light</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1943) is also set during WWII, and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Fruit of Action</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1944) deals with an Englishwoman who marries a German just before World War I. She wrote nine novels in all, as well as a play and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Magic Mountain</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1945), an account of a trip through the Himalayas with her husband, an officer in India. She suffered from arthritis and wrote two books about her experiences, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My Fight Against Osteo-Arthritis</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1955) and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Reflections of an Arthritic</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1956).</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Someone (I can’t remember who, but thank you in advance anyway) told me I’d enjoy </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Achachlacher</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1936), by </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">EMMA L. MENZIES</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, about life in a Scottish manse. The novel is in three parts and appears to have first been published in three short segments. The 1936 edition collecting all three segments contains the message: "Copies of the book may be had from Mrs. Menzies, High Manse, Tobermory, Isle of Mull." It was her only book.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKpxRge8HJM-2jlniKKfyzYM2K7-zs6uKr6VZKx3CiZgQbE1w9sk_2EP5RIIiFFvtn8y7Y6ogQJ_FpO8SuFqv5uFmLd9Lb2e9H5Kmbc6jY0gn9FQSrJFWXC4T90RuteOj40DqAIYjLRZf99Yd_RA_okUnIg1pvkkDETBW2NLrMTn1bQvzd5gghmidF614E/s2231/Harris,%20Rosemary%20-%20Venus%20with%20Sparrows%20fc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2231" data-original-width="1561" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKpxRge8HJM-2jlniKKfyzYM2K7-zs6uKr6VZKx3CiZgQbE1w9sk_2EP5RIIiFFvtn8y7Y6ogQJ_FpO8SuFqv5uFmLd9Lb2e9H5Kmbc6jY0gn9FQSrJFWXC4T90RuteOj40DqAIYjLRZf99Yd_RA_okUnIg1pvkkDETBW2NLrMTn1bQvzd5gghmidF614E/w280-h400/Harris,%20Rosemary%20-%20Venus%20with%20Sparrows%20fc.jpg" width="280" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />As I’ve commented here recently, authors best known for children’s fiction often write the most interesting fiction for adults, which is why, without reading either, I have accumulated two novels by <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ROSEMARY HARRIS</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. She’s particularly famous for her historical children’s trilogy set in ancient Egypt—</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Moon in the Cloud</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1968), which won that year's Carnegie Medal, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Shadow on the Sun</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1970), and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Bright and Morning Star</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1972). But she also wrote eight novels for adults, including </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Summer House</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1956) and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Venus with Sparrows</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1961), the latter of which is about an aging beauty who starts a finishing school for girls and provides unconventional advice. A friend has also recommended that one. Harris had a varied life, studying art and design, working with the Red Cross in World War II, and subsequently working as a picture restorer, book reviewer, and reader for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her father was Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, who achieved considerable prominence leading the RAF in World War II. </span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDSPXywF6KGIXcor0rSQ2mq7sFy3H11FjOkripqElAxklSmVFhwph9tUDwkgf-LLOMffrv8fggDH96cm-LsL-ac2lxCtOdUM56EoXTy-bz_00URi7yYlCT0dn8LsrZqZAUPrF31fBjCak7fMQXzJaHSD2noj5Ci3nzgC5Aap_a7YLlIG9t2KFGcxG7QQVY/s321/Batchelor,%20Paula%20-%20Bed%20Majestical%20ad%20(Observer%205%20Sept%201954).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="316" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDSPXywF6KGIXcor0rSQ2mq7sFy3H11FjOkripqElAxklSmVFhwph9tUDwkgf-LLOMffrv8fggDH96cm-LsL-ac2lxCtOdUM56EoXTy-bz_00URi7yYlCT0dn8LsrZqZAUPrF31fBjCak7fMQXzJaHSD2noj5Ci3nzgC5Aap_a7YLlIG9t2KFGcxG7QQVY/w394-h400/Batchelor,%20Paula%20-%20Bed%20Majestical%20ad%20(Observer%205%20Sept%201954).jpg" width="394" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />I often have uneven results with historical fiction, but somehow the description of <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">PAULA BATCHELOR</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">’s </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bed Majestical</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1954, aka </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If This Be Virtue</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">)—about a young girl trying to preserve her virtue at the court of an 18th</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> century German Grand Duke—seemed enticing for me. Batchelor’s only other novel was </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Angel with Bright Hair</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1957), which seems to be about the wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. One review states that the first draft of her first novel was written at age 15, while another says that she wrote her novels because she found most historical fiction unsatisfactory. In 1956, she was reportedly married to a schoolmaster and had two small sons.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I also have mixed luck with novels from very early in my time frame, but on the other hand they’re often available for downloading online. </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MRS. HORACE TREMLETT</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> wrote over a dozen novels, most apparently humorous in tone and some set in British-occupied Africa (also not a strong selling point for me). But </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Looking for Grace</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1915) deals with a woman who receives news of her husband's death from his colleague, who assures her that his final words were about "Grace" (not, alas, her name). Said wife then sets out to locate said woman. Potential there? We’ll see. In addition to her novels, Tremlett also published a travel book, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">With the Tin Gods</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1915), about Nigeria.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-y8UhiX4EKyfY9S4zzIvT6gIXFy0V6xUsgQ916cuH3aOI01oJ356yFjawi_TLw-cleLjnNCve6gMoH6CEb6UoiXb7fetk9cQD9HFRUcf23ER9xYvs7ZMTr1NAZMnE3zfIIkjFVsh-VDowPCEbFr-NyAkrf21nP4togNB_stHVW63esN8Y4-zuO42Q6xm/s1411/Feverel,%20Joanna%20-%20Nothing%20Lasts%20short%20review%20(Illus%20London%20News%2029%20July%201933).JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="1411" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC-y8UhiX4EKyfY9S4zzIvT6gIXFy0V6xUsgQ916cuH3aOI01oJ356yFjawi_TLw-cleLjnNCve6gMoH6CEb6UoiXb7fetk9cQD9HFRUcf23ER9xYvs7ZMTr1NAZMnE3zfIIkjFVsh-VDowPCEbFr-NyAkrf21nP4togNB_stHVW63esN8Y4-zuO42Q6xm/w400-h100/Feverel,%20Joanna%20-%20Nothing%20Lasts%20short%20review%20(Illus%20London%20News%2029%20July%201933).JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><b>JOANNA FEVEREL</b><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">’s only novel, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Nothing Lasts</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1933), features young love in a boarding-house. That’s the sum total of my knowledge of it, but something inspired me to request it at the British Library recently, so more to come about it soon I hope.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkNPLxZm5IWlRY5uVi_2qem7nv3Kkuydydc9up7iVVRdR2Q4cCHeTaEAxkc59ignobJZ24pB6gRSUJyhLIDq5DzxUdkA_VbVPIs-ZZrgnNciJX3Z7sFJL3MfxuVrebbiHt-T_6qjDycuR2ZFCihD9xMUfZ9IXB6rgrdAf-RZMjy5hu_RK6X5XhB6HfNTlD/s684/Hooke,%20Nina%20Warner%20-%20photo%20from%20book%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="682" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkNPLxZm5IWlRY5uVi_2qem7nv3Kkuydydc9up7iVVRdR2Q4cCHeTaEAxkc59ignobJZ24pB6gRSUJyhLIDq5DzxUdkA_VbVPIs-ZZrgnNciJX3Z7sFJL3MfxuVrebbiHt-T_6qjDycuR2ZFCihD9xMUfZ9IXB6rgrdAf-RZMjy5hu_RK6X5XhB6HfNTlD/w399-h400/Hooke,%20Nina%20Warner%20-%20photo%20from%20book%20cover.jpg" width="399" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nina Warner Hooke</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br />Acquiring one book by an author and not reading it is one thing; acquiring a whole trilogy and still not reading it is at a different level. But alas, that’s what I’ve done so far with </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">NINA WARNER HOOKE</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, whose trilogy of humorous novels about young people in the 1930s—</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Striplings</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1933), </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Close of Play</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1936), and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Own Wilderness</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1938)—garnered comparisons to Wodehouse and was later turned into a successful play. I </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">will</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> get round to sampling them soon (yadda yadda yadda). Of her other titles, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Home Is Where You Make It</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1952) is a memoir about two Londoners creating the home of their dreams from a row of derelict hovels, while </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Darkness I Leave You</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1956) was described as "a rip-roaring melodrama set appropriately in Victorian England", and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Deadly Record</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1958) appears to be a crime novel and was also adapted for the stage. In later years, she published several children's books—</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Starveling</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1958, aka </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">White Christmas</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Snow Kitten</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">), about "how a homeless kitten melts the sad cold heart of a spinster" (awwww), </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pepito</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1978, aka </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Little Dog Lost</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">), </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A Donkey Called Paloma</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1981), and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Moon on the Water</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1982). </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Seal Summer</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1964) appears to be a memoir about her interactions with a friendly wild seal during one summer holiday.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisnnKZ8XxO5SZuCSjw6kidHWG2t86Bnr0fXI6T0b16yIHFKQ9MtEMcxoCtMlhxPEvkzammJT_4tabZyh_LoTW70wfSbgJKqSs-FQpkd-E7IU6YvrLn2SyZLRhAYMwMNqPUeppXsMx02sjHnoNGubyq7O-H8-pkGtd25QtGz6SDvU7dOj0D7X6fnPfEOUqN/s577/Beatty,%20Helen%20&%20Katherine%20-%20Winter%20Wind.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="395" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisnnKZ8XxO5SZuCSjw6kidHWG2t86Bnr0fXI6T0b16yIHFKQ9MtEMcxoCtMlhxPEvkzammJT_4tabZyh_LoTW70wfSbgJKqSs-FQpkd-E7IU6YvrLn2SyZLRhAYMwMNqPUeppXsMx02sjHnoNGubyq7O-H8-pkGtd25QtGz6SDvU7dOj0D7X6fnPfEOUqN/w274-h400/Beatty,%20Helen%20&%20Katherine%20-%20Winter%20Wind.jpg" width="274" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />I didn’t quite realize just how many of these authors I had books by until I started putting together this post, but at last we come to five authors whose work I <span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">haven’t</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> yet acquired (but they do seem to have potential). </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">KATHERINE & HELEN BEATTY</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> were the authors of a single novel, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Winter Wind</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1946), described as "vivid pen pictures of life in rural Antrim." The authors were sisters, and a review of the book mentions that Katherine died before the book’s publication—perhaps Helen finished a book the two had begun, or possibly the publication was delayed due to World War II. At any rate, Helen doesn’t appear to have continued writing on her own.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQmMaRsQVoVxm-1feCEdJ46tewm0gxOvLf3pgo3P_zH0JZNYsyBQpiE6j5aa32OiKmBRsYMs-wR-Ny7xPy2d7pqG4Fbfh3ze2sh69ijzodTuy2l-mjS5gtapD1MnGO4UT57T2zcGgycJXjBKg8u79RXzaN6Zb6SJYySbKq_s0BMnRrwztPc2At-LX7T-38/s431/Edisford,%20Rosemary%20-%20A%20Picnic%20in%20the%20Shade%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="300" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQmMaRsQVoVxm-1feCEdJ46tewm0gxOvLf3pgo3P_zH0JZNYsyBQpiE6j5aa32OiKmBRsYMs-wR-Ny7xPy2d7pqG4Fbfh3ze2sh69ijzodTuy2l-mjS5gtapD1MnGO4UT57T2zcGgycJXjBKg8u79RXzaN6Zb6SJYySbKq_s0BMnRrwztPc2At-LX7T-38/w279-h400/Edisford,%20Rosemary%20-%20A%20Picnic%20in%20the%20Shade%20cover.jpg" width="279" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><b>ROSEMARY EDISFORD</b><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> published a single novel (or possibly biography, depending which review you consult), </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A Picnic in the Shade</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1958), about an eccentric family in a country home. A contemporary review says she was living at Kidmore End in South Oxfordshire, but I’ve not been able to locate any records for her, suggesting that the name is a pseudonym. If the family home she wrote about was in Kidmore End, it might well have been </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidmore_House" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: blue; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Kidmore House</span></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">?</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieTO8kWAuyNkuyWP46-15RSxILUVnHwEfNwQc5zsCbSOID12csIuxh2HcBZrFoCBu_3_LRSHaCdgntYxmgwvc74SCUQB8IcJwTNxBIXUtjuslUsCD7RhVnWsbvxr88wP7L4zqJZBD6IsB30_j4VY1a06FlEMwiMGlSk1f67fk2Y0cjPDW7FC9t6pLU3PUW/s5254/Brandon,%20Grania%20-%20Upon%20This%20Rock%20large%20ad%20w%20multiple%20blurbs%20(Observer%201%20Nov%201936).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4055" data-original-width="5254" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieTO8kWAuyNkuyWP46-15RSxILUVnHwEfNwQc5zsCbSOID12csIuxh2HcBZrFoCBu_3_LRSHaCdgntYxmgwvc74SCUQB8IcJwTNxBIXUtjuslUsCD7RhVnWsbvxr88wP7L4zqJZBD6IsB30_j4VY1a06FlEMwiMGlSk1f67fk2Y0cjPDW7FC9t6pLU3PUW/w400-h309/Brandon,%20Grania%20-%20Upon%20This%20Rock%20large%20ad%20w%20multiple%20blurbs%20(Observer%201%20Nov%201936).jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />The daughter of mystery writer John G. Brandon (author of the British Library Crime Classics reprint <span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A Scream in Soho</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">) was </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">GRANIA BRANDON</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, who published a highly-praised novel, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Upon This Rock</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1936), about a show business family in the early 20th century. It was on my long list for the British Library, but alas didn’t quite make the cut this time around. Brandon later turned her attentions to children's fiction with a series of tales about a family-run circus, beginning with </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sengler's Circus</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. One final story for children was </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Prews Go North</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1956), "about a delightful family who go to live in a derelict farmhouse on the Yorkshire moors." Despite her father's prominence, official records of Grania are difficult to find, apart from the fact that she was living in London when her first book appeared and in Essex with her parents on the 1939 England & Wales Register.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In some ways, </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">HONOR CROOME</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> would belong on a Canadian version of my list, but since she didn’t emigrate until she was an adult, I’m adding her as a Brit. She was a journalist and economist as well as the author of five novels. Her first three novels were written while living in Canada during WWII. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">O Western Wind</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1945), based on her family's own experiences of getting settled first in the U.S. and then Canada, was highly praised by Elizabeth Bowen. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You've Gone Astray</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1945) is about two friends in the 1930s up to the beginning of the war, while </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Faithless Mirror</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1946), set in wartime Ottawa, deals with difficulties between a brother and sister. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Mountain and the Molehill</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1955), set in a Swiss girls' school, was based in part on Croome's own experiences. And </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Forgotten Place</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1957) deals with a woman coming to terms with her childhood by visiting her mother's country house, now divided into flats. Croome also published several highly-regarded introductory texts on economics, and for a time in the 1930s, she was political secretary to first female MP Nancy Astor.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi93tL_NCqXH8-2hV8uuf6MpHHB05WaXJROliKbznGtjqTJuHFDtRhM-5rOF-EOKRReDxFQ-Pv1IwiVertJbMpjGdKK5NP3b9qBGS4Mj23io_b9rYRbYOCl4KPdvdcLXldLMRB4Y-LIs7fLetTf9cBhqcopZGJ9Z2GLNFf0DiqyP495cnEMIyx1OCpqh4q8/s675/Agar,%20Winifred%20-%20Living%20Aloud%20ad%20(Observer%2018%20Sept%201938).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="204" data-original-width="675" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi93tL_NCqXH8-2hV8uuf6MpHHB05WaXJROliKbznGtjqTJuHFDtRhM-5rOF-EOKRReDxFQ-Pv1IwiVertJbMpjGdKK5NP3b9qBGS4Mj23io_b9rYRbYOCl4KPdvdcLXldLMRB4Y-LIs7fLetTf9cBhqcopZGJ9Z2GLNFf0DiqyP495cnEMIyx1OCpqh4q8/w400-h121/Agar,%20Winifred%20-%20Living%20Aloud%20ad%20(Observer%2018%20Sept%201938).jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />And last but not least among intriguing additions to my list is <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">WINIFRED AGAR</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, who published two novels—</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Living Aloud</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1938), a biting, critically acclaimed satire of Bright Young Things, and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mermaids Sleep Alone</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1940), which appeared after she had evacuated to the U.S. with her children. Agar was born in Buenos Aires to mixed Irish/American/British parents, married a Brit and lived most of her adult life in London.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Whew! So that’s that for my update from last year. I have actually done some work already on yet another update, and we’ll see how long that one takes me…</span></span></p></span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-52297793253827255842023-11-01T06:05:00.000-07:002023-11-01T06:05:29.253-07:00Highlights of the “lost” update (1 of 2)<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">One
of the things I’ve sometimes had difficulty making time for in the past few
years was the ongoing updating of my main list of authors. I’m always coming
across (or being told about) authors who belong on the list, but getting around
to researching them is something else. And even when I did find some time to do
an update, as I did in May of 2022, the logistics were sometimes complicated.
In this case, I managed to post the updated list, which included 160 new authors
(nothing to sneeze at!), but then never got my act together enough to tell you
about it and mention some of the highlights. Looking back now, that seems like
a shame, so I’ve posted the complete list of new authors <a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-lost-update.html">here</a>,
and I’m going to take two posts to talk about a few of the ones I found most
interesting.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">To
show just how long this update has had to percolate, it includes at least three
authors already introduced by me in reviews (and none of them very recently)…</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0lievEbplKMy8ZB96zdEWDSVJ6QogV2K_dd1TT6Jt1SRKHJ_NqwdZHUiwCY7zXHZJNZwV35pbx3njO5u0KUSJy5m-VJXojXwYNS7-23sgYhPON0cxTJAWXzR85Be_toLBaFRxitLl4TeF3GomtKAq9RJYCCFc0ct5RuXvC1mVTuWU2bhiqcyiLt-c7zxA/s535/Batchelor,%20Maud%20-%20The%20Woman%20of%20the%20House%20original%20cover%20(from%20@sarra_manning)%20-%20Copy.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="376" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0lievEbplKMy8ZB96zdEWDSVJ6QogV2K_dd1TT6Jt1SRKHJ_NqwdZHUiwCY7zXHZJNZwV35pbx3njO5u0KUSJy5m-VJXojXwYNS7-23sgYhPON0cxTJAWXzR85Be_toLBaFRxitLl4TeF3GomtKAq9RJYCCFc0ct5RuXvC1mVTuWU2bhiqcyiLt-c7zxA/w281-h400/Batchelor,%20Maud%20-%20The%20Woman%20of%20the%20House%20original%20cover%20(from%20@sarra_manning)%20-%20Copy.png" width="281" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover photo courtesy of Sarra Manning</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_HI4uU47qZ_meUlLwQa0ixO3LX0QJ1orvh8Ax9YPIwR_DBv-0y63C2lkAf_2YjQVobRmcOXau3RCryl0E-xbM4FREdDZeKALfro-nK0oAvXUnZswjEOqQl3GO4V_QTyO64MPj4Vjkk_9BIAx8hYfogfhCgdneY61Bd-kD8R00qyc8eeTiItVrqj5uKy49/s2164/Batchelor,%20Maud%20-%20The%20Woman%20of%20the%20House%20(1934)%20illus%206.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2164" data-original-width="1414" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_HI4uU47qZ_meUlLwQa0ixO3LX0QJ1orvh8Ax9YPIwR_DBv-0y63C2lkAf_2YjQVobRmcOXau3RCryl0E-xbM4FREdDZeKALfro-nK0oAvXUnZswjEOqQl3GO4V_QTyO64MPj4Vjkk_9BIAx8hYfogfhCgdneY61Bd-kD8R00qyc8eeTiItVrqj5uKy49/w261-h400/Batchelor,%20Maud%20-%20The%20Woman%20of%20the%20House%20(1934)%20illus%206.jpg" width="261" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br />MAUD BATCHELOR</b> certainly deserves to be in print with her one and
only novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Woman of the House</i>
(1934), a humorous, illustrated diary of the life of a well-to-do London lady,
which I reviewed <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2020/04/a-felicitous-provincial-lady-ish-find.html">here</a></span></u>.
It turned out, after I’d written that review, that Batchelor was herself a
"Lady"; her husband was Stanley Lockhart Batchelor, a High Court
judge in India. I wish she had written more books.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: -.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 6pt -0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0mWtcuDrzu_ATFpARdNLBuCgO3qU-Z06R4bNgbpmKmcLtY55rYXTc8pG4eLASh6lwzBzc1auMIBd3sSPyVZ2iEahfMwDIRRv-ca-lE7WGpmoDnB2jh4b21bFTf9GH9b22G_lEEhb-0ZHARuXp86jxe1IUEIVEyyFiKK2zD9DhOWQEUPb57cE_LhRE2i43/s2338/Shayne,%20Elena%20-%20Everyday%20front%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2338" data-original-width="1597" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0mWtcuDrzu_ATFpARdNLBuCgO3qU-Z06R4bNgbpmKmcLtY55rYXTc8pG4eLASh6lwzBzc1auMIBd3sSPyVZ2iEahfMwDIRRv-ca-lE7WGpmoDnB2jh4b21bFTf9GH9b22G_lEEhb-0ZHARuXp86jxe1IUEIVEyyFiKK2zD9DhOWQEUPb57cE_LhRE2i43/w274-h400/Shayne,%20Elena%20-%20Everyday%20front%20cover.jpg" width="274" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br />ELENA SHAYNE </b>was
also a “one-hit wonder”, whose only novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Everyday</i>
(1935), is a somewhat more poetic take on a Provincial Lady diary, tracing a
young woman's life in rural England and, later, abroad with her aunt. I
reviewed that one <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2020/07/simple-uneventful-happenings-well-sort.html">here</a></span>
and speculated at the time about the author's life, but scholar Elizabeth
Crawford went much further and thoroughly (and fascinatingly) researched
her—see <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://womanandhersphere.com/2020/09/07/lock-down-research-elena-shayne-the-intriguing-author-of-everyday/">here</a></span>—even
speaking with her daughter and identifying the village in Devon in which the
novel is set and many of the real-life figures on which Shayne may have based
her characters. Huge thanks to Elizabeth for such a plethora of information!<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: -.1pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 6pt -0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxRR_9s3NweYEXm1VJwal22jWeFi8J7mDlJ3a23ipDQTJ3SM8IA2CgovaBqB0FkxK1tCXgHd795bVQG6fp5WFtggsZ46Xf7soK9MaidZhzQblmKbV0dDPHNcR8xnDRAQd7E0VmDV2iUmCxtNnymWbNvRvcT71QlbZ3srHwv3fqE4REDhmBMO3z-dhaxLe/s2239/Seth-Smith,%20Jane%20-%20Suite%20in%20Four%20Flats%20fc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2239" data-original-width="1515" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxRR_9s3NweYEXm1VJwal22jWeFi8J7mDlJ3a23ipDQTJ3SM8IA2CgovaBqB0FkxK1tCXgHd795bVQG6fp5WFtggsZ46Xf7soK9MaidZhzQblmKbV0dDPHNcR8xnDRAQd7E0VmDV2iUmCxtNnymWbNvRvcT71QlbZ3srHwv3fqE4REDhmBMO3z-dhaxLe/w271-h400/Seth-Smith,%20Jane%20-%20Suite%20in%20Four%20Flats%20fc.jpg" width="271" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />I also
reviewed <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">JANE SETH-SMITH</b>’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Suite in Four Flats</i> (1957) <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2022/04/a-fine-romance-jane-seth-smith-suite-in.html">here</a></span>
early last year. All that glitters isn’t gold, but it was still fun to sample
her work. Her other three novels were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Three
Suitors for Cassandra</i> (1955), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love
Thy Neighbours</i> (1959), and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Laird
and the Loch</i> (1960). Sadly, although the Library of Congress provides a
birth year for her, I’ve not been able to get any further in public records.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH9z4oq9Iuy4GJrbs5FqfK73ozmuZtwqr1gOyjNTROAirWcsbOA4I1nrwuDkupRUGhgXSWBfRCXLqmq9F5O5CXFtbE9AcMfpO_yS_INdbn18sKYbJ9edxeYHEa9rRxeIHXWL68hhaoGIHdCRw2oUqXZNkKow9gdawVjjWgJqyjhSjLD5GtLA8LnRNZUc4f/s486/Cairnes,%20Maud%20-%20Strange%20Journey%20(from%20Neglected%20Books).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH9z4oq9Iuy4GJrbs5FqfK73ozmuZtwqr1gOyjNTROAirWcsbOA4I1nrwuDkupRUGhgXSWBfRCXLqmq9F5O5CXFtbE9AcMfpO_yS_INdbn18sKYbJ9edxeYHEa9rRxeIHXWL68hhaoGIHdCRw2oUqXZNkKow9gdawVjjWgJqyjhSjLD5GtLA8LnRNZUc4f/w329-h400/Cairnes,%20Maud%20-%20Strange%20Journey%20(from%20Neglected%20Books).jpg" width="329" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />Another
author patiently waiting quite a long time for inclusion in my list was <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">MAUD CAIRNES</b>,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>who had time to be rediscovered by Simon Thomas at Stuck in a Book
and get back into print from his British Library Women Writers series before I
managed to get her added to the list. Her first novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Strange Journey</i> (1935), is about a young middle class wife who
begins to find herself switching bodies with an elegant member of the landed
gentry. See Simon’s discussion of the book <a href="https://www.stuckinabook.com/british-library-women-writers-14-strange-journey-by-maud-cairnes/">here</a>.
Her second novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Disappearing
Duchess</i> (1939), was apparently a more straightforward mystery. Cairns, whose
real full name was Lady Maud Kathleen Cairns Plantagenet Curzon-Herrick (née
Hastings)(yowza‼), was the oldest daughter of the 14th Earl of Huntingdon and
her husband's family had for centuries occupied the impressive <u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaumanor_Hall">Beaumanor
Hall</a></span></u>, which during WWII became a listening station in
collaboration with Bletchley Park.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1fEPHvP_R6XTE4oMnReXckfEDM1WMpmQ1EE17LLGH1TaIofpV_p36QgB_xYXPdf-GKiehcs_nuxySuXy2fNEbv28ZTqN4f1-rHVKrY2RE0FxOIjZu6fzsg43ptKbheUhMjW2QBXNoucMMAGc8wbSLrUdvmEEiWRYx6qDL9obUvNS_ZI9dyjXthB3FJJ8s/s861/Marshall,%20May%20-%20Impetuous%20Friend%20fc%20(photo).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="861" data-original-width="594" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1fEPHvP_R6XTE4oMnReXckfEDM1WMpmQ1EE17LLGH1TaIofpV_p36QgB_xYXPdf-GKiehcs_nuxySuXy2fNEbv28ZTqN4f1-rHVKrY2RE0FxOIjZu6fzsg43ptKbheUhMjW2QBXNoucMMAGc8wbSLrUdvmEEiWRYx6qDL9obUvNS_ZI9dyjXthB3FJJ8s/w276-h400/Marshall,%20May%20-%20Impetuous%20Friend%20fc%20(photo).jpg" width="276" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rW_KKt_65NohdFZndsKr8lYmVdfl8SOoa6dZ7c3zReMSGl3GsPQVX8E2i9oXkYo8KtOj6bFSdCFHT1iiLRhXwwLtbUs4fabOZhe5JSSfu-G3OAZWLPVjWsXd1GCbbxCF85tUz7OaMmhHNuxZ3vQMo5KVHbOvaYliBD7eib5RVWpJBxsXe4vroWMcY973/s1143/Marshall,%20May%20-%20Youth%20Storms%20In%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="910" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rW_KKt_65NohdFZndsKr8lYmVdfl8SOoa6dZ7c3zReMSGl3GsPQVX8E2i9oXkYo8KtOj6bFSdCFHT1iiLRhXwwLtbUs4fabOZhe5JSSfu-G3OAZWLPVjWsXd1GCbbxCF85tUz7OaMmhHNuxZ3vQMo5KVHbOvaYliBD7eib5RVWpJBxsXe4vroWMcY973/w319-h400/Marshall,%20May%20-%20Youth%20Storms%20In%20cover.jpg" width="319" /></a></div><br />Often,
in researching authors for my list, I either fairly quickly find some clues to
their identity or else hit a wall and can locate nothing. But once in a while a
really entertaining chase ensues, as was the case with novelist and children’s
author <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">MAY MARSHALL</b>. Not only that,
but I had the invaluable expert assistance of Hilary Clare, whom I contacted
because of her deep knowledge of children’s authors. I
have two of Marshall’s novels languishing unread on my TBR list—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Impetuous Friend</i> (1937), her first, about
a schoolmistress in a high school, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Youth
Storms In</i> (1956), about a young war widow whose arrival in the lives of her
older sisters-in-law wreaks havoc on their staid lives. She had worked as a
trained nurse, and other titles include <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">United
Family</i> (1952), about a doctor's family adjusting to postwar life, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mulberry Leaf</i> (1954), about the lives of
hospital nurses. The real fun started with the fact that the British Library
shows the author as "May Kathleen Marshall", but reviews included
tidbits about her relocation to Chester in the 1950s and the fact that her son
was prominent in the RAF, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">those</i>
facts, and the piecing together of various records, led us instead to Evelyn
May Marshall (1898-1971), whose son, Thomas Cedric, and his RAF adventures are
discussed <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.49squadron.co.uk/personnel_index/detail/Marshall_FNU">here</a></span>,
and whose entry in the 1939 England & Wales Register shows her profession
as “Journalist / Editor / Author.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Done and dusted!
A big thanks to Hilary for sharing the fun of this quest with me.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiao__A2v-xIcwhKRQQEIcOjXWhrJV3rAamHQ27O9BuY_6iJVxhkNWaiTn04mav9XHLgsY50q0WClp_R8jRsrlh2l7znbilnwrNR_atBQS9mxiEM7xvo5yZx703xtExCBlaBulJbED6Wf1bK6AkYvP54Tcr81C9y-CHpusiCecp6GN5_x5Ve1reAq1ShCWF/s377/Laurence,%20Elsie%20Fry%20(aka%20Christine%20Field).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="275" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiao__A2v-xIcwhKRQQEIcOjXWhrJV3rAamHQ27O9BuY_6iJVxhkNWaiTn04mav9XHLgsY50q0WClp_R8jRsrlh2l7znbilnwrNR_atBQS9mxiEM7xvo5yZx703xtExCBlaBulJbED6Wf1bK6AkYvP54Tcr81C9y-CHpusiCecp6GN5_x5Ve1reAq1ShCWF/w291-h400/Laurence,%20Elsie%20Fry%20(aka%20Christine%20Field).jpg" width="291" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elsie Fry Laurence, aka Christine Field</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />Unlike
Marshall, there are lots of authors who may remain mysteries forever, and when
I first looked into the intriguing backstory of <b>CHRISTINE FIELD</b>'s first novel it seemed
she was one of these. The name was known to be a pseudonym, used on a
single novel, <i>Half a Gipsy</i> (1916),
set among Russian peasants. According to news stories of the time, the novel
was submitted from Moscow as an entry in a contest sponsored by Andrew Melrose
& Co. It didn’t win, but an editor later came across it and liked it, only
to find that they were unable to trace the author. Their search, which garnered
some publicity, resulted only in a visit from an anonymous Englishwoman who
claimed the author was her adopted sister, who had gone to Russia as a
governess. She reportedly refused to reveal more, and insisted that Field’s
true identity should remain a mystery, with proceeds from the book going to the
Red Cross. Another newspaper report suggested that the author had died of
pneumonia in Canada. This is all the info I had when I made my update, which
still shows her as unidentified, but it seems (see her entry for the Canada's Early Women Writers project <a href="https://cwrc.ca/islandora/object/ceww%3A3716ba9d-3c92-4fdd-a096-725d5837f208" target="_blank">here</a>) that she is now known to have
been Elsie Fry Laurence (1892-1982), who did <i>not</i> die young of pneumonia,
but went on to become the mother-in-law of no lesser figure than novelist
Margaret Laurence, who discusses Elsie fondly in her 1989 book <i>Dance on the
Earth</i>. Elsie is known to have been a governess in Moscow before marrying
and emigrating to Canada, and in fact she even, after much delay while raising her family, published a
second novel, <i>Bright Wings</i> (1964), under her own name. It would be interesting to know why she and/or her relations were apparently eager to maintain her anonymity at the time the novel appeared. But at any rate, I already
need to update my update, drat it.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFAznGq7VCcxXKHZB9bBMjHDVYIOXVcbTCy0q-XVcpaWXtMg1CFb44pbob1BBntmlact55A8lRySRpGaZK2EzvI9k9qIkmIYcH3en7s_f3kwmToOhK35SYunor4hoJRwvq7eDkQiD0r04GKaNU3bZpU9fQTExy9nL5DL1lU7PU-0NwAuUTm7MpNkCBZ8vf/s1658/O'Donovan,%20Joan%20-%20author%20pic%20from%20Shadows%20on%20the%20Wall%20back%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1658" data-original-width="1190" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFAznGq7VCcxXKHZB9bBMjHDVYIOXVcbTCy0q-XVcpaWXtMg1CFb44pbob1BBntmlact55A8lRySRpGaZK2EzvI9k9qIkmIYcH3en7s_f3kwmToOhK35SYunor4hoJRwvq7eDkQiD0r04GKaNU3bZpU9fQTExy9nL5DL1lU7PU-0NwAuUTm7MpNkCBZ8vf/w288-h400/O'Donovan,%20Joan%20-%20author%20pic%20from%20Shadows%20on%20the%20Wall%20back%20cover.jpg" width="288" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirUzZ4OAjX5t6aMt7sMSQnFSQo8Dikohqlan4jvUxDrAWelLhfA6CRpdRPuv2CNY4BmtmZqnOh1cBE9gXN6dv54m5TRkM6krjLUKzjulluVNZuyvqbsmstjiLvZw_5ePnAaBPRANb2-F182m8F__irLkAFoFpWZqsNK5wlzJS07OB7gzi5lE_D4rbabhLp/s2361/O'Donovan,%20Joan%20-%20The%20Middle%20Tree%20fc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2361" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirUzZ4OAjX5t6aMt7sMSQnFSQo8Dikohqlan4jvUxDrAWelLhfA6CRpdRPuv2CNY4BmtmZqnOh1cBE9gXN6dv54m5TRkM6krjLUKzjulluVNZuyvqbsmstjiLvZw_5ePnAaBPRANb2-F182m8F__irLkAFoFpWZqsNK5wlzJS07OB7gzi5lE_D4rbabhLp/w260-h400/O'Donovan,%20Joan%20-%20The%20Middle%20Tree%20fc.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br />On
occasion, I get lucky and come across or am contacted by a relative or other
connection of an author. This happened with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">JOAN O’DONOVAN</b>, an author who seems really astonishingly forgotten
considering the acclaim her books received when they first appeared. I was
happily able to get in touch with her son, who provided wonderful details about
her life. O’Donovan published four novels and three story collections in all. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Visited</i> (1959, aka <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Singular Passion</i>) deals with an
unmarried woman in her 50s who becomes obsessed with marrying a shady fellow
traveler on a tour of Ireland. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Middle
Tree</i> (1961), about a young teacher at an impoverished school and her
flirtation with a Communist colleague and his ideas, presumably draws from
O'Donovan's own experiences as a teacher before WWII (her son notes that she
reported her profession as "writer" instead of "teacher"
when she joined the WAAFs as teaching was a reserved profession and she wanted
to escape it). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">She, Alas!</i> (1965)
focuses on a woman in her 50s who is publicly a widow though she never actually
married the man she still mourns. And in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Argument
with an East Wind</i> (1986), a woman of 60 reaches a turning point upon losing
her job and her lover. Her story collections are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dangerous Worlds</i> (1958), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shadows
on the Wall</i> (1960), and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Niceties
of Life</i> (1964). During and for a time after WWII, O'Donovan was in a
relationship with Michael Francis O'Donovan, better known to readers as Frank
O'Connor, and adopted his name. Later, she settled in Dordogne, France, and for
some time provided a home and care for author David Garnett in his declining
years. According to the author's son, among her unpublished work are an
additional collection of stories assembled in the 1980s, a travel book focused
on the Dordogne, and drafts and notes for an additional novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Prism</i>, never completed. Many thanks
to Oliver O'Donovan for his kind assistance and information about his mother.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi78h3j-kj2rHY6fwiQl3wIYlWf0Uk3Gln9-I4mRoKk-uuN1SLiWmmbivLMOe4SEmjd4CYwqD-g8GDnK-JU0hYK_ypteQiExZjQzGl-ViPoBW34c6dQqqIUVZ1AEVU4IuJ7gla0PrNcGyTau2JMpB9qnKSWjz90RIgjhHpSjJ0fibYPAlX9s3nnlk6BC3Y/s768/Cooper,%20Barbara,%20Lettice,%20Leonard%20-%20article%20in%20Leeds%20Mercury%2024%20Jan%201938.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="768" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi78h3j-kj2rHY6fwiQl3wIYlWf0Uk3Gln9-I4mRoKk-uuN1SLiWmmbivLMOe4SEmjd4CYwqD-g8GDnK-JU0hYK_ypteQiExZjQzGl-ViPoBW34c6dQqqIUVZ1AEVU4IuJ7gla0PrNcGyTau2JMpB9qnKSWjz90RIgjhHpSjJ0fibYPAlX9s3nnlk6BC3Y/w400-h255/Cooper,%20Barbara,%20Lettice,%20Leonard%20-%20article%20in%20Leeds%20Mercury%2024%20Jan%201938.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />And
while I’m writing about authors with connections to at least somewhat better-known writers, it took
this many years of researching to come across the tidbit that Lettice Cooper,
author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New House</i>, reprinted by
Virago, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">National Provincial</i>,
reprinted by Persephone, had not one but two siblings who also published
novels. Her brother, Leonard Cooper, doesn’t belong on my list (Y chromosome,
obviously), but <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">BARBARA COOPER</b>
certainly does. She published three novels—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sweet
Chariot</i> (1931), subtitled "The Story of a Coward" and apparently
set during the American Civil War, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Two
Walk Together</i> (1935), about which details are lacking except that the
publisher described it as about "the clash between sophistication and an
open-air country life", and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Light of Other Days</i> (1939), in which an elderly man reminisces about his
youth during the Regency, including cameos from Lord Byron, Caroline Lamb, and
John Keats. The latter seems to have been the most widely and positively
reviewed. Barbara and her sister lived together in London for much of their
adult lives.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-Jvnl_pKjDa5_qfsAasYYuZ8fxTjgDjgPD8LFXhzzyHohBiOmhBEW5QYWo_0mzxS2L2L0_K0KW4pthTX6aY0pTILCbDZ7_2tbQsVuVR1CbWR-fFM_4CrlzKu0mv3tSSfOUNY9-nTauWcNs8Auz4njao8-e4eARm39SGnhYffwNljmN40SRtdwY5-vu4s/s701/Rathbone,%20Lettice%20-%20photo%20from%20Smarden%20hist%20society%20video.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="527" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-Jvnl_pKjDa5_qfsAasYYuZ8fxTjgDjgPD8LFXhzzyHohBiOmhBEW5QYWo_0mzxS2L2L0_K0KW4pthTX6aY0pTILCbDZ7_2tbQsVuVR1CbWR-fFM_4CrlzKu0mv3tSSfOUNY9-nTauWcNs8Auz4njao8-e4eARm39SGnhYffwNljmN40SRtdwY5-vu4s/w301-h400/Rathbone,%20Lettice%20-%20photo%20from%20Smarden%20hist%20society%20video.jpg" width="301" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lettice Rathbone</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />Speaking
of Lettices, no less (what are the chances?), there’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">LETTICE RATHBONE</b>, whose first novel, about a young woman's search
for happiness in the English countryside, London, and Europe, bears the
irresistible title <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Occupation: Spinster</i>
(1935). (I have it, but haven’t read it—yadda yadda yadda.) Her second and
last, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Autumn Adventure</i> (1940), was about
the unusual friendship between a spoiled boy and his mother's middle-aged house
guest. Rathbone spent much of her life in Smarden, Kent, and I give warm thanks
to the Smarden Heritage Center for their help in confirming her identity. Among
other films of interest that organization has available online is one focused
on Rathbone's own recollections of World War II in the village—see <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ooEErdqmC0&t=605s">here</a></span>.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The
earliest novels of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">JOAN HENRY</b>—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This Many Summers</i> (1947), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Commit to Memory</i> (1948), and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Crimson Lake</i> (1950)—have been called
romances, but the first at least sounds like it has a slight edge: "A love
story in the Michael Arlen manner; scintillating and brittle, set against a
background of bookies' odds and the chink of ice in a barman's mixer."
They could be intriguing, or not? Her later work gets rather more serious;
after spending eight months in Holloway prison on forgery charges, she
published the bestselling <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who Lie in Gaol</i>
(1952) about her life in prison, followed by a novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yield to the Night</i> (1954), about a woman awaiting execution. The
former inspired the film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Weak and the
Wicked</i> (1953), and the latter was made into a film in 1956, for which Henry
co-wrote the screenplay and received a BAFTA nomination. Of particular interest
to me was the fact that, in addition to more screenwriting, Henry also penned
the play <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Look on Tempests</i> (1960), the
first play dealing with the topic of homosexuality after the Lord Chamberlain's
ban on the subject was lifted the year before, the cast of which in its first
production included Vanessa Redgrave and Gladys Cooper. Henry's second husband
was film director John Lee Thompson, whose films included <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Guns of Navarone</i> and the original <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cape Fear</i>.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm0MToMBkp01QGNGaFJdlI6h0owCqSE3mBvC1-HrcYM2GDJ1IxJjsm6KfnxW4HTDpSNPhljbxOnjb7JaXvvQTOkqQd3ag2YakaKCBJpaLISLiWXMhBHF64R0nreB2TOH179W6I5vUnA0Ys9lHL6jNcM0B3B4JUXViwdTU7bMyUqiG_IZknv1prRQAC_xQS/s604/Cecil,%20Rachel%20-%20Theresa's%20Choice%20fc%20angle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="395" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm0MToMBkp01QGNGaFJdlI6h0owCqSE3mBvC1-HrcYM2GDJ1IxJjsm6KfnxW4HTDpSNPhljbxOnjb7JaXvvQTOkqQd3ag2YakaKCBJpaLISLiWXMhBHF64R0nreB2TOH179W6I5vUnA0Ys9lHL6jNcM0B3B4JUXViwdTU7bMyUqiG_IZknv1prRQAC_xQS/w261-h400/Cecil,%20Rachel%20-%20Theresa's%20Choice%20fc%20angle.jpg" width="261" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />Another
one-hit wonder with good connections is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">RACHEL
CECIL</b>, whose one novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theresa's
Choice</i> (1958), about a young woman juggling three men in her search for a
husband, does intrigue me. A review in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Indianapolis
Star</i> says: "As Theresa roams the coils and pitfalls of romantic
entanglements, Lady Cecil takes her and us on a glorious tour of English social
life of the early 30s." Cecil was the daughter of literary critic Desmond
MacCarthy and the wife of Oxford professor and literary scholar Lord David
Cecil.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr1hkPEnbQdm2UXMzzXrY5GWgshXayebY-29ZKj_rXB-lYgx-L4HETVTDTeJe2-3dM6U-c7tLibT67P_9u-Sh0wIgwoIeC5n76vLD84GLjtjx2VsYOJ25QtxZ856FIIhqMqjVlsIHbSoWpkrR-y8ERg14UEYgKzuovqAMGqdM-LxmtGIU-01inupl0SQsw/s712/Fitzgerald,%20Barbara%20-%20We%20Are%20Besieged%20reprint.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="472" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr1hkPEnbQdm2UXMzzXrY5GWgshXayebY-29ZKj_rXB-lYgx-L4HETVTDTeJe2-3dM6U-c7tLibT67P_9u-Sh0wIgwoIeC5n76vLD84GLjtjx2VsYOJ25QtxZ856FIIhqMqjVlsIHbSoWpkrR-y8ERg14UEYgKzuovqAMGqdM-LxmtGIU-01inupl0SQsw/w265-h400/Fitzgerald,%20Barbara%20-%20We%20Are%20Besieged%20reprint.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reprint edition of Barbara Fitzgerald's first novel</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />And
wrapping up this first post of highlights is another author who was already
rediscovered by a publisher long before I got round to her. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">BARBARA FITZGERALD</b> was the Irish author
of two novels, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We Are Besieged</i> (1946)
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Footprints Upon Water</i> (1983),
both dealing with "big house" life in Ireland during and after the
unrest of the 1910s and 1920s. They were both reprinted by Somerville Press in
the early 2010s, to considerable acclaim, and are therefore relatively readily
available.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Next time, 17 more authors of potential interest
from my year-and-a-half old update (running a year and a half behind isn’t
really all that bad for me…), including a number whose works I’ve either already
sampled or plan to “soon” (yadda yadda yadda).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-15119417845604170782023-10-26T07:52:00.000-07:002023-10-26T07:52:49.545-07:00"Anything is possible": NOREEN BOND, Hide Away (1936) & Take Care (1938)<p></p><blockquote><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7C18r9sKO0WkTGG9EJ3VKgSJgO7ctIiaCgWDKy_bjQxyMCBs14qCyryMpyHKaqjksUCwLvEaCMFw4h2ZarklnF5F4uTFHW42oRZLhyX4th_5UrZKuxoKjvU-gKR6GzTtcIu2QFuMoTHj_xyYSPPAxOEuvhqu5s87AejcG1GE4v2gZOQxL0JxuYPiMg51X/s786/Hide%20Away%20tp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="534" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7C18r9sKO0WkTGG9EJ3VKgSJgO7ctIiaCgWDKy_bjQxyMCBs14qCyryMpyHKaqjksUCwLvEaCMFw4h2ZarklnF5F4uTFHW42oRZLhyX4th_5UrZKuxoKjvU-gKR6GzTtcIu2QFuMoTHj_xyYSPPAxOEuvhqu5s87AejcG1GE4v2gZOQxL0JxuYPiMg51X/w271-h400/Hide%20Away%20tp.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><br />"You know, that's a coincidence that no one would dare to use in a novel," Martin interrupted musingly.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"Nonsense," Miles retorted. "In the kind of novels I write, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">anything</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is possible. I shall use the situation in my next."</span></span></blockquote><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-aba1e179-7fff-8a1c-238e-ddad23e1196a"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When I completed the last update of my main author list, I still hadn't come across any details about the two novels written by one </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Nancy Helen Beckh under the pseudonym Noreen Bond. But something finally led me to dig a little deeper, and I came across short reviews of both which might have been calculated to pique my interest. Of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hide Away</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Aberdeen Press & Journal</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> wrote: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here is an unusual story—unusual not for its plot but for its heroine, a tomboy girl of eighteen, in an age of sophisticated young ladies of that age. On Susan's tomboy activities depends the solving of the mystery of "Hydeways," the house next door, and the unravelling of the various causes which have kept Colin Spencer tied to an invalid chair when he might have been living a normal useful life. Through all the mystery runs their delightful love story. The characters are unusual in a crime story, but bear the stamp of verisimilitude.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We shall come back in a moment to what on earth the reviewer could have been thinking using the term "verisimilitude" for anything at all in this novel (Bond/Beckh clearly identified with her author character, Miles, in the quotation above), but for now we proceed to the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Nottingham Journal</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">'s review of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Take Care</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Her heroine, Gillian Trevor, almost down and out, with two and ninepence in her pocket in a London boarding house, suddenly has mystery thrown in her path by a fellow boarder who reveals himself as a detective engaged on a jewel robbery case. Gillian enters into the scheme with her eyes open. She takes a job as caretaker [take care, get it?] in a lonely country house. Here she meets a cosy old lady, a taciturn young man, Peregrine, the ginger cat and some surprising adventures.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"Surprising" is quite the understatement, but at least this reviewer doesn't suggest there's anything </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">realistic</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> about it. These snippets were, at any rate, enough to make me seek out both books on our recent visit to the British Library, on the calculation that they might be irresistibly silly, energetic jaunts, and although I can't begin to claim that either turned out to be a treasure—or even irresistible—I have to say they were both pleasant enough to read. Not very far off from Mabel Esther Allan's girls' adventure stories. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzrt8fa6z3WZ7thHM8REwzAySZpNzrl09FBUfnQL1B10uvWdk0DUUrbFXTd5wbHYofK3LE7mzKLEFTR74aezsK6Ym7DHyzYmOvve9RYvff0xsytdAVCLJmjTCXJWFlNaCJLeIKxhCKydOdPXcnhdUpgCd-NxqamWK7kFmndfHIYtsYvC2TJrYGv2yRxMYC/s829/take%20care%20tp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="829" data-original-width="583" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzrt8fa6z3WZ7thHM8REwzAySZpNzrl09FBUfnQL1B10uvWdk0DUUrbFXTd5wbHYofK3LE7mzKLEFTR74aezsK6Ym7DHyzYmOvve9RYvff0xsytdAVCLJmjTCXJWFlNaCJLeIKxhCKydOdPXcnhdUpgCd-NxqamWK7kFmndfHIYtsYvC2TJrYGv2yRxMYC/w281-h400/take%20care%20tp.jpg" width="281" /></a></div><br />Hide Away</span></span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> features a daft criminal conspiracy worthy of Agatha Christie at her most paranoid, though the heroine—perky enough to have been drawn straight from a </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Chalet School</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> story—is fun to spend some time with, even if she often seems more like twelve than eighteen. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Take Care</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> features the more mature Gillian, who is plucky and brave and independent enough to rise (at least slightly) above the bonkers plot, involving a lost will, stolen jewels, and heaven knows what else.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Both books make every possible use of the most unfathomable coincidences, so that even a reader predisposed to generously suspend disbelief will surely be rolling her eyes. The Chalet School's flood and fire rescues have nothing on these tales! One half expects a villain to be taken out by a well-aimed meteorite. I can't sum up the plots without spoiling a dozen or so coincidental developments, so I'll just say that, daft as they are, a certain charm and skillful plotting kept me reading through both of them. I have a tendency to toss books aside if I become even slightly bored (soooooo many books, so little time), so that will have to stand as the best praise I can offer.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But I do have to single out one thing from the latter novel. The opening pages of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Take Care</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, in a rather startling bit of—yes, shock of shocks—</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">realism</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, contains one of the best portrayals I've seen in middlebrow fiction of poverty and hunger. Gillian has left a teaching post after an unpleasant scene and come to London to find work, but it's the Depression and work is scarce, she falls in between the types of workers being sought, and she is down to her last pence, running out of money for rent despite having been on a starvation budget for several days. She walks to delay her pathetic evening meal as long as possible, and to pass the time without the entertainment she can't afford:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When she reached Piccadilly everything looked blurred and grey. Waves of faintness swept over her but she stared hard into a tobacconist's window till the gay packets resumed their proper shape and colour. It would be too awful if she fainted here. Quite obviously it was time she had something to eat, but the thought of the long hours ahead before she could reasonably go to bed made her struggle on. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If she walked very slowly up Regent Street and made herself look in every window it ought to take nearly an hour. She'd go up the left-hand side because the curve of the street made it longer and there weren't so many places where food was displayed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One can't help but think that Bond/Beckh must have witnessed or personally experienced some impoverished days herself in order to so effectively capture the feeling. From this point on, there's no glimmer of realism to be found in the book, but the opening pages were really striking and even moving, and make me wish that Bond, who was in her mid-30s when she published these novels (from the tone I had imagined her a precocious author just out of school), had kept on writing, and focused a bit more on the things she knew first-hand, rather than on ludicrous adventures. There was certainly potential there, and who knows where she might have got to?</span></p></span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-37194099696192313202023-10-20T13:41:00.003-07:002024-01-11T14:59:11.195-08:00THE GROWN-UP SCHOOL STORY LIST<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I first created this thematic list—of (mostly)
novels for grown-ups, written by women in the first half or so of the 20th century,
with school settings—back in 2015, and subsequently updated it, as a result of
feedback and suggestions, in <a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-grown-up-school-story-list.html">May
of 2016</a>. Which means that since that time, for well over seven years now, I’ve
been keeping track, in my ongoing research, of titles which belong on the list,
without ever having (or at least making) the time to add them to the published
version. Better late than never, right?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The May 2016 version of the main portion of
this list—of non-mysteries by women—contained 65 titles, while this new version
more than doubles that number, to 141 titles. It’s a dizzyingly varied collection—from
comedic tales and career stories to memoirs of school life in wartime to edgy,
tragic, political, or even rather salacious stories with school or college
settings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The post linked above explains the logic of
the list—basically, that schools, as more or less closed societies, provide (or
at least <i>can</i> provide) a relatively unique focus on relationships between
girls and women, as opposed to the romantic or melodramatic focus of so many
other types of novels. Novels set in schools often feature women’s professional
lives and interactions with other women (rather than their attractiveness or
fashion sense, or their success or failure with men) as a central topic in ways
that novels with other settings only occasionally do. Surely the popularity of school
stories for girls in the first half of the 20th century helped pave the way for
these more mature looks at school life—indeed, some of the works here may
appear to be just “naughtier” girls’ school stories. But light or dark, naughty
or nice, there are certainly useful things to be learned from looking at these
books as a sort of subgenre of women’s writing in the period, and I hope you’ll
find that too.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Below the main list are sub-lists of
mysteries by women writers (where the closed society setting can create
particularly intriguing situations), a completely non-definitive list of some mysteries
by male authors with school settings, which some readers may find entertaining,
and a sort of miscellaneous list containing more recent titles, works by men,
or other books which don’t fit into the main list but may be thematically of
interest to readers with an interest in school settings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">In addition to all the folks who made
suggestions and offered feedback on the earlier versions of the list, I have to
particularly mention Sue Sims and Hilary Clare, whose glorious “Bible” of girls’
school writing, <i>The Encyclopaedia of Girls' School Stories</i> (first
published 2000, revised & expanded edition 2020) has been an invaluable
resource, both in general since my blog began and in particular for this list. Volume
1 of the new edition contains an extensive article about school stories written
for adults, as well as a brilliant bibliography of titles. One might imagine that
our lists would be largely the same (and we have often alerted one another to
new discoveries), but in fact our requirements for inclusion are quite
different. I include any type of school setting, while they limit their field
to girls’ boarding schools or colleges; on the other hand, they include titles
from any time period and by male authors, while I tend to focus on the first
half to two-thirds of the 20th century and only include women writers in the
main section of my list. But the rather lovely part of those differences is
that you can use and find useful both of our lists depending on what you’re
seeking! A special thanks to Sue and Hilary for all sorts of advice and
assistance over the years (and for a lovely lunch in Oxford last year).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">As always with my lists, please don’t
hesitate to contact me regarding errors, oversights, or new discoveries. And
now, without further ado (but I always seem to provide a <i>lot</i> of ado, adon’t
I?—sorry…), here’s the new, improved Grown-up School Story List.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b>(updated 11 Jan 2024)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p>
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OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 480;">
<tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">NON-MYSTERIES BY WOMEN</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">P. B. (PATRICIA
BARNES) ABERCROMBIE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Little
Difference</i> (1959)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Reviewed </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2018/05/p-b-patricia-barnes-abercrombie-little.html"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">RUTH ADAM, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I'm Not Complaining</i> (1938)<br />
Depression-era primary school.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MARJORIE ALAN (as
DORIS M. BUMPUS), Pattern in Beads (1944)<br />
Girl’s boarding school. Part school. About a country girl’s experiences at
boarding-school and then in London, including during the Blitz.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">ZOË AKINS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forever Young</i> (1941)<br />
American. Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">BESS STREETER
ALDRICH, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss Bishop</i> (1933)<br />
American. Retraces one woman’s life as a student and then as teacher in a
small Midwestern town. Filmed in 1941 as “Cheers for Miss Bishop.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MABEL
ESTHER ALLAN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Here We Go Round</i>
(1954)<br />
Primary school. Reviewed </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2015/11/reading-diary-edith-miles-mabel-esther.html"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">ANNE
ALLARDICE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unwillingly to School</i>
(1930)<br />
About a young woman's experience as a teacher in two different schools
(probably but not definitely girls' boarding schools).<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 8; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">VERILY ANDERSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Daughters of Divinity</i> (1960)<br />
Memoir. Girls' boarding school. Reviewed </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2016/12/verily-anderson-daughters-of-divinity.html"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 9; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">SYLVIA
ASHTON-WARNER, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Spinster</i> (1959)<br />
New Zealand. Primary school.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 10; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MARJORIE F.
BACON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Men Have Their Dreams</i> (1941)<br />
A bit fringe for this list, but unusual enough to include. Set in a school
for typing and shorthand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 11; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">CARMAN BARNES, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Schoolgirl</i> (1929)<br />
American. Girls' boarding school. Lesbianism and sexual experimentation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 12; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">KATHLEEN BARRATT,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To Fight Another Day</i> (1947)<br />
Girls' high school.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 13; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">BETSEY A. BARTON,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shadow of the Bridge</i> (1950)<br />
American. Girls' boarding school. Sounds rather bleak.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 14; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MARY BELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Summer's Day</i> (1951)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Reviewed </span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2013/08/mary-bell-summers-day-1951.html"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 15; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">FRANCES BELLERBY,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shadowy Bricks</i> (1932)<br />
Progressive school.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 16; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">PHYLLIS BENTLEY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trio</i> (1932)<br />
Part school. Girls’ college.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 17; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><a name="OLE_LINK1"></a><a name="OLE_LINK2"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">P. Y.
BETTS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">French Polish</i> (1933)<br />
Girls' finishing school. Reviewed </span></span></a><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/search/label/P.%20Y.%20Betts"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 18; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">DOROTHY MAYWOOD
BIRD, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Black Opal</i> (1949)<br />
American co-ed college. Borderline mystery.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 19; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">WINIFRED BLAZEY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Crouching Hill</i> (1941)<br />
Evacuated primary school. Loosely mystery-themed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 20; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">WINIFRED BLAZEY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Grace Before Meat</i> (1942)<br />
Village school. Loosely mystery-themed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 21; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">URSULA BLOOM (as
MARY ESSEX), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Haircut for Samson</i>
(1940)<br />
Boys’ prep school. Set at outbreak of WWII.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 22; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">VERA BRITTAIN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dark Tide</i> (1935)<br />
College.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 23; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">SARAH CAMPION, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If She Is Wise</i> (1935)<br />
Girls' boarding school in U.S., with British teachers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 24; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">SARAH CAMPION, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unhandsome Corpse</i> (1938)<br />
Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 25; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">EDWARD CANDY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Parents' Day</i> (1967)<br />
Co-ed boarding school. Reviewed </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2015/07/edward-candy-parents-day-1967.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 26; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">ELIZABETH CARFRAE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Good Morning, Miss Morrison</i> (1948)<br />
Girls' school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 27; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">HESTER W. CHAPMAN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Long Division </i>(1943)<br />
Boys' prep school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 28; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">HESTER W.
CHAPMAN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ever Thine</i> (1951)<br />
Boys' prep school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 29; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">VIRGINIA CHASE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The End of the Week</i> (1953)<br />
American. Elementary school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 30; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JOAN
COGGIN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And Why Not Knowing </i>(1929)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Described by Sims and Clare as a precursor to her Joanna Lloyd school
stories. Traces three girls from school days to early adulthood. Reviewed </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2019/05/misses-constance-rutherford-joan-coggin.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 31; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">COLETTE,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Claudine at School </i>(1900)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">French. Girls’ boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 32; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">CHRISTABEL
R. COLERIDGE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Green Girls of
Greythorpe</i> (1890)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Girls' charity boarding-school. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fifty
Pounds</i> (1891) appears to be a non-school sequel.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 33; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">IVY
COMPTON-BURNETT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">More Women than Men </i>(1933)<br />
Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 34; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">CATHERINE
COOKSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Devil and Mary Ann</i>
(1958)<br />
Girls' convent school. Sequel to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A
Grand Man</i> (1955), protagonist's tale continues in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love and Mary Ann</i> (1961).<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 35; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">ELIZABETH
COXHEAD, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Play Toward</i> (1952)<br />
Village primary school. Reviewed </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2015/04/elizabeth-coxhead-play-toward-1952.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 36; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">HONOR CROOME, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Mountain and the Molehill</i> (1955)<br />
Girls' boarding school in Switzerland.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 37; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">CLEMENCE DANE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Regiment of Women</i> (1917)<br />
Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 38; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">ANNA DE BARY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Letters of a Schoolma'am</i> (1913)<br />
Possibly non-fiction. Uncertain of type of school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 39; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">DOROTHY DENNISON,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Full Circle</i> (1954)<br />
Boys' school. About a servant in a private school for boys, by a well-known
author of girls' school stories.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 40; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">JOAN DERING, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Louise</i> (1956)<br />
Part school. “Second-rate public school.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 41; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">BETTY DE
SHERBININ, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monkey Puzzle</i> (1952)<br />
Canadian author. English girls' boarding school in Buenos Aires.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 42; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">TIAH DEVITT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Aspirin Age</i> (1932)<br />
Described in a blurb as mixing "finishing-school girls and gunmen."<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 43; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">VERA G. DWYER, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A War of Girls</i> (1915)<br />
Australia. Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 44; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">WATSON DYKE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As
Others See Us</i> (1899)<br />
Seaside (girls'?) boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 45; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SOPHIA ENGSTRAND, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss
Munday</i> (1940)<br />
American. Small town school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 46; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CHERRY EVANS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love
from Belinda</i> (1962)<br />
Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 47; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">HELEN FOLEY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Handful of Time</i> (1961)<br />
Set before and after WWII in and around Cambridge.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 48; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MARGARET FORSTER,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss Owen-Owen Is at Home</i> (1969)<br />
Girls' high school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 49; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">KATHLEEN FREEMAN
(later MARY FITT), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Huge Shipwreck</i>
(1934)<br />
Part school. Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 50; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MARION FOX, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Luck of the Town</i> (1922)<br />
Supernatural tale set at a university in an industrial town.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 51; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MENNA GALLIE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Man's Desiring</i> (1960)<br />
University. "Comedy of contrasts about a Welsh man and an English woman
at a Midlands university."<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 52; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">KATHLEEN GIBBERD, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vain Adventure</i> (1927)<br />
Set partly at Oxford.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 53; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">CAROLINE GLYN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don't Knock the Corners Off</i> (1963)<br />
Several types of school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 54; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">RUTH M. GOLDRING,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ann's Year</i> (1933)<br />
University. "[A] story combining school and business life in its
period."<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 55; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">RUTH M. GOLDRING,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Educating Joanna</i> (1935)<br />
Oxford.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 56; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">BARBARA GOOLDEN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Strange Strife</i> (1952)<br />
Private co-ed prep school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 57; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">GWETHALYN GRAHAM,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Swiss Sonata</i> (1938)<br />
Canadian author. Girls' finishing school in Switzerland.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 58; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">SALLY GRIFFITHS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Winter Day in a Glasshouse</i> (1968)<br />
Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 59; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">HELEN HAMILTON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Iconoclast</i> (1917)<br />
Girls' high school. About a schoolteacher's romance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 60; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">ELISABETH
HARGREAVES, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Miss</i> (1955)<br />
Girls' boarding school in France.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 61; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MARGARET HASSETT,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Educating Elizabeth</i> (1937)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Reviewed </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2015/05/margaret-hassett-educating-elizabeth.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 62; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MARGARET HASSETT,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beezer's End</i> (1949)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Sequel to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Educating
Elizabeth</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 63; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">E. L. HAVERFIELD,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Joan Tudor's Triumph</i> (1918)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Marketed for children, but possibly of interest to
adults due to its portrayal of post-traumatic stress.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 64; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">RENÉE HAYNES, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Neapolitan Ice</i>
(1932)<br />
Oxford.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 65; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">CECILIA HILL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Citadel</i>
(1917)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Uncertain. Appears to deal with "the domestic
fortunes of a schoolmistress in England", though it reportedly ends with
a vivid description of the fall of Dinant in Belgium in World War I.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 66; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">ROSE MARIE HODGSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rosy-Fingered Dawn</i> (1934)<br />
University.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 67; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">JOYCE HORNER, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Wind and the Rain</i> (1943)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Part school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 68; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">FRANCES HUISH, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Selena Triumphant</i> (1940)<br />
University (Oxford) & girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 69; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">ELIZABETH
JENKINS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Young Enthusiasts</i> (1947)<br />
Progressive school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 70; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">FANNY JOHNSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Statu Pupillari</i> (1907)<br />
Cambridge.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 71; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">PAMELA HANSFORD
JOHNSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Honours Board</i> (1970)<br />
Boys' prep school. ODNB said, "set in the enclosed world of the teaching
staff of a boys' preparatory school."<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 72; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">PRISCILLA
JOHNSTON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Narrow World</i> (1930)<br />
Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 73; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">PRISCILLA
JOHNSTON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Green Girl</i> (1931)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Sequel to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Narrow World</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 74; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">JOSEPHINE KAMM, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nettles to My Head</i> (1939)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Part school. Reviewed </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2019/04/schoolgirls-and-nazis-but-not-quite.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 75; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">BEL KAUFMAN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Up the Down Staircase</i> (1965)<br />
American. Inner city high school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 76; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">ANNA GORDON KEOWN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mr. Thompson in the Attic</i> (1933)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Boys' prep school.
Humorous tale of eccentric headmaster at South Coast prep school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 77; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">LUCY KINLOCK, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A World Within a School</i> (1937)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Girls' boarding
school. On the border between children's and adult fiction.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 78; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MADELEINE
L'ENGLE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Small Rain</i> (1945)<br />
American. First section set in Swiss boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 79; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">ELIZABETH LAKE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The First Rebellion</i> (1952)<br />
Girls' convent boarding school. Reviewed </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2015/03/elizabeth-lake-first-rebellion-1952.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 80; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">MARGARET LANGMAID, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Yes Man</i> (1935)<br />
Endowed school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 81; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">WINIFRED LEAR, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shady Cloister</i> (1950)<br />
Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 82; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">WINIFRED LEAR, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Down the Rabbit Hole</i> (1975)<br />
Memoir. Private school, grammar school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 83; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">ROSAMOND LEHMANN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dusty Answer</i> (1927)<br />
Part college.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 84; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">JOAN LINDSAY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Picnic at Hanging Rock</i> (1967)<br />
Australia. Women's college.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 85; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">CHRISTINE
LONGFORD, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Making Conversation</i>
(1931)<br />
Part girls' boarding school, part Oxford.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 86; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">V. I. LONGMAN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Harvest</i> (1913)<br />
Oxford. Part school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 87; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">SHENA MACKAY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dust Falls on Eugene Schlumberger</i>
(1964)<br />
Convent school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 88; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">LILIAN VAUX
MACKINNON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miriam of Queen's</i> (1921)<br />
Canada. University. Set around the</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> turn of the century at
Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. See Brian Busby's review </span></span></span><a href="http://brianbusby.blogspot.ca/2012/09/back-to-school-with-miriam-of-queens.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 89; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">ROSEMARY MANNING,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chinese Garden</i> (1962)<br />
Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 90; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MAY MARSHALL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Impetuous Friend</i> (1937)<br />
High school. "Deals with the life of a quiet high school mistress. It is
well told with humour and lively descriptions."<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 91; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">FRANCES MARTIN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Summer Meridian</i> (1956)<br />
Co-ed progressive school. Mentioned in brief </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/search/label/Frances%20Martin"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 92; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">MARGARET MASTERMAN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gentleman's Daughters</i> (1931)<br />
Girl's school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 93; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">JOLLIFFE METCALFE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Finished Abroad</i> (1930)<br />
Girls' finishing school in Switzerland.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 94; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">DIANA MORGAN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Delia</i> (1974)<br />
Wales. Early 1900s girls’ boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 95; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">MARY NICHOLSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Itself to Please</i> (1953)<br />
University. Set at Oxford in the 1930s.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 96; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">KATE O'BRIEN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Land of Spices</i> (1941)<br />
Girls' convent boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 97; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">FRANCES GRAY
PATTON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Good Morning, Miss Dove</i>
(1954)<br />
American. Small town grammar school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 98; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">WINIFRED PECK, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Winding Ways</i> (1951)<br />
Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 99; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">SUSAN PLEYDELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Summer Term</i> (1959)<br />
Boys' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 100; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">SUSAN PLEYDELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Young Man's Fancy</i> (1962)<br />
Boys' boarding school. Sequel to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Summer
Term</i>.<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 101; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">VANE POST, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plantagenet Anne</i> (1929)<br />
Part school. Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 102; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">LALAGE
PULVERTAFT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Golden October</i> (1965)<br />
Boys' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 103; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">EVELYN QUINLAN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Quest of Youth</i> (1950)<br />
Girls' boarding school. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 104; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">MONICA REDLICH, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cheap Return:
Portrait of an Educated Woman</i> (1934)<br />
Part school. Girls' college.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 105; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">HENRY HANDEL RICHARDSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Getting of Wisdom</i> (1910)<br />
Australian. Girls' boarding school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 106; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">FERN RIVES, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Friday, Thank God</i> (1943)<br />
American. Los Angeles area high school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 107; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">DORA SAINT (aka
MISS READ), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Village School</i> (1955)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Village school. Also, numerous sequels with connections to the school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 108; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">DORA SAINT (aka MISS READ), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fresh
from the Country</i> (1960)<br />
Suburban co-ed day school. Reviewed </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2018/05/miss-read-dora-saint-fresh-from-country.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 109; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">MAY SARTON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Small Room</i>
(1961)<br />
American. Women’s college.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 110; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">EDITH SAUNDERS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Passing
Hours</i> (1960)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Part school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 111; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">ELEANOR SCOTT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">War Among Ladies</i> (1928)<br />
Girls' high school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 112; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">NAN SHEPHERD, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Quarry Wood</i> (1928)<br />
University.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 113; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">BARBARA SILVER, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Our Young Barbarians, or, Letters from Oxford</i> (1935)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">University. Review
describes "faithful chronicling of a fairly ordinary routine."</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 114; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">CLARE SIMON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bats with Baby Faces</i> (1958)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Girls' convent
school. Part school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 115; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">VIOLET A. SIMPSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Occasion's Forelock</i> (1906)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Oxford.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 116; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MAY SMITH, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">These Wonderful Rumours!: A Young Schoolteacher's Wartime Diaries
1939-1945</i> (2012)<br />
Diary. Elementary school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 117; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">MARTHA SOUTH, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Apology of a Mercenary</i> (1933)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Elementary school.
"The difficulties, the hopes and disappointments in the life of an
elementary school teacher."</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 118; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">MURIEL SPARK, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie</i> (1961)<br />
Girls' day school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 119; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">DAPHNE STANFORD, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">June Harcourt</i> (1940)<br />
France. Girls' pensionnat. Per Sims & Clare, on the borderline of
children’s and adult fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 120; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">D. E. STEVENSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Charlotte Fairlie</i> (1954)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Part school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 121; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">D. E. STEVENSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Summerhills</i> (1956)<br />
In part about setting up a boys' school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 122; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">MONICA STIRLING, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dress Rehearsal</i> (1951)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Reviewed </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2021/09/a-simply-ripping-dorm-with-simply.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 123; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">LESLEY STORM, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Robin and Robina </i>(aka <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To
Love and To Cherish</i>) (1956)<br />
University & girls' boarding school. Part school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 124; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">DOROTHY STRACHEY (aka OLIVIA), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Olivia</i> (1949)<br />
Girls' boarding school in France.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 125; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">ALICE STRONACH, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Newnham Friendship</i> (1901)<br />
University.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 126; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">MARY
STURT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Be Gentle to the Young</i>
(1937)<br />
University.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 127; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">NETTA
SYRETT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A School Year</i> (aka <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Girls of the Sixth Form</i>)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>(1902)<br />
Girls’ boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 128; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">NETTA
SYRETT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Victorians</i> (aka <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rose Cottingham</i>) (1902)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Part school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 129; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">NETTA
SYRETT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The God of Chance</i> (1920)<br />
Girls' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 130; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GERTRUDE
WINIFRED TAYLOR, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Pearl</i> (1918)<br />
University.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 131; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ANGELA
THIRKELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Summer Half</i> (1937)<br />
Boys' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 132; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ANGELA
THIRKELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Headmistress</i> (1944)<br />
Girls' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 133; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">SYLVIA
THOMPSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hounds of Spring</i>
(1926)<br />
University. Part school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 134; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">URSULA
TORDAY (as CHARITY BLACKSTOCK), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Briar Patch</i> (1960)<br />
Girls' finishing school in France.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 135; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ANNE
TRENEER, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Stranger in the Midlands</i>
(1952)<br />
Memoir. Girls' high school in Birmingham.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 136; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GERTRUDE
EILEEN TREVELYAN, <i>Hot-House</i> (1933)<br />
College.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 137; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">FRANCES
TURK, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Summer Term</i> (1965)<br />
Girls' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 138; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GLADYS
VENNING, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Matron Remembers:
Reminiscences of School Life over Forty-Five Years</i> (1985)<br />
Memoir. Primary school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 139; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ROSALIND
WADE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Children Be Happy</i> (1931)<br />
Girls’ day school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 140; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">DOREEN
WALLACE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Little Learning</i> (1931)<br />
University. Part school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 141; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">KATHLEEN
WALLACE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Time Changes the Tune</i> (1948)<br />
University. About a group of women attending a reunion at their Cambridge
college.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 142; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ANTONIA
WHITE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frost in May</i> (1933)<br />
Girls' convent school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 143; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">BETTY
WHITE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I Lived This Story</i> (1930)<br />
American. College.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 144; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">MARY
BRADFORD WHITING, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Meriel's Career: A
Tale of Literary Life in London</i> (1914)<br />
Part school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 145; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">MARY WILKES, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Only Door Out</i> (1945)<br />
University & convent school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 146; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">BARBARA
WILLARD, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Proposed and Seconded</i>
(1951)<br />
Grammar school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 147; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ETHEL MARY
WILMOT-BUXTON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gildersleeves</i> (1921)<br />
Girls' high school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 148; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">MARGARET WOODS,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Invader</i> (1907)<br />
Oxford.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 149; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">D[OROTHY].
WYNNE WILLSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Early Closing</i> (1931)<br />
Boys' boarding school. Discussed </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2015/07/comedy-and-tragedy-dorothy-wynne.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 150; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 151; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">MYSTERY NOVELS BY WOMEN</span></u></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 152; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">LOIS
AUSTEN-LEIGH, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Incredible Crime</i>
(1931)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">University. "[A] witty take on academic life in Cambridge."</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 153; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JOSEPHINE
BELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Summer School Mystery</i>
(1950)<br />
Summer school for music students.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 154; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JOSEPHINE
BELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Death at Half Term</i> (1939)<br />
Boys' boarding school. Discussed in brief </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2016/11/book-report-what-i-read-on-holiday.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 155; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">DOROTHY
BOWERS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fear and Miss Betony</i> (1941)<br />
Wartime girls' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 156; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JANET
CAIRD, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Murder Scholastic</i> (1967)<br />
Scottish secondary school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 157; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">SARAH CAMPION, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unhandsome Corpse</i> (1938)<br />
Girls' boarding school.<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 158; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">EDWARD
CANDY (Barbara Alison Nevill), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Words
for Murder Perhaps</i> (1971)<br />
University.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 159; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">AGATHA
CHRISTIE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cat Among the Pigeons</i>
(1959)<br />
Girls' boarding school. Reviewed </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2014/04/recent-reading-mysteriously-yours.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 160; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">EILEEN
HELEN CLEMENTS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cherry Harvest</i>
(1943)<br />
Wartime girls' boarding school evacuated to a country manor house. Reviewed </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2015/03/eileen-helen-clements-cherry-harvest.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 161; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">G.
D. H. and MARGARET COLE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scandal at
School</i> (aka <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Sleeping Death</i>)
(1935)<br />
Girls' school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 162; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">AMANDA
CROSS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Theban Mysteries</i> (1971)<br />
American girls' school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 163; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">HELEN
EUSTIS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Horizontal Man</i> (1946)<br />
New England women's college.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 164; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ANTONIA
FRASER, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Quiet as a Nun</i> (1977)<br />
Girls' convent school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 165; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">MAVIS
DORIEL HAY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Death on the Cherwell</i>
(1935)<br />
University. Discussed in brief </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2016/11/book-report-what-i-read-on-holiday.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 166; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">P.
D. JAMES, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">An Unsuitable Job for a Woman</i>
(1972)<br />
Cambridge. Limited university content.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 167; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ELIZABETH
LEMARCHAND, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Death of an Old Girl</i>
(1967)<br />
Girls' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 168; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ELIZABETH
LEMARCHAND, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Affacombe Affair</i>
(1968)<br />
Girls' prep school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 169; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">HELEN
MCCLOY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Through a Glass Darkly</i>
(1949)<br />
American. Girls' boarding school. Discussed in brief </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2016/11/book-report-what-i-read-on-holiday.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 170; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GLADYS
MITCHELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Death at the Opera</i> (1934)<br />
Co-ed day school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 171; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GLADYS
MITCHELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">St. Peter's Finger</i> (1938)<br />
Girls' convent boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 172; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GLADYS
MITCHELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laurels Are Poison</i> (1942)<br />
Girls' training college.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 173; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GLADYS
MITCHELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tom Brown’s Body</i> (1949)<br />
Boys' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 174; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GLADYS
MITCHELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Faintley Speaking</i> (1954)<br />
Large co-educational school. Discussed in brief </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2018/04/catching-up-with-gladys.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 175; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GLADYS
MITCHELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Twelve Horses and the
Hangman’s Noose</i> (1956)<br />
Boys’ boarding school. Only brief school-related scenes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 176; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GLADYS
MITCHELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Skeleton Island</i> (1967)<br />
Part school. Boys' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 177; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GLADYS
MITCHELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Convent on Styx</i> (1975)<br />
Girls' convent boarding school. Discussed in brief </span></span></span><a href="https://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/2014/02/recent-reading-great-gladys.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 178; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GLADYS
MITCHELL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No Winding Sheet</i> (1984)<br />
Boys' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 179; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">DOROTHY
L. SAYERS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gaudy Night</i> (1935)<br />
Oxford.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 180; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">NANCY
SPAIN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Death Before Wicket</i> (1946)<br />
Girls' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 181; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">NANCY
SPAIN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Poison for Teacher</i> (1949)<br />
Girls' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 182; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JOSEPHINE
TEY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss Pym Disposes</i> (1946)<br />
Girls' physical training college.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 183; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ETHEL
LINA WHITE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Third Eye</i> (1937)<br />
Girls' boarding school (partial).</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 184; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GRACE
MILLER WHITE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Square Mark</i>
(1929)<br />
American author, but setting is English girls' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 185; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JUNE
WRIGHT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Faculty of Murder</i> (1961)<br />
Australian. Girls' hostel at University of Melbourne.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 186; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">MARGARET
YORKE, series featuring Patrick Grant (1980s)<br />
Oxford.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 187; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 188; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><b><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">MYSTERY NOVELS BY MEN</span></u></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 189; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ANTHONY
BERKELEY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Murder in the Basement</i>
(1932)<br />
Boys' prep school (partial).</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 190; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">NICHOLAS
BLAKE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Question of Proof</i> (1935)<br />
Boys' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 191; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">LEO
BRUCE, Carolus Deene series<br />
Boys' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 192; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">W.
J. BURLEY, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Taste of Power</i> (1967)<br />
Grammar school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 193; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">MILES
BURTON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Murder in the Coalhole</i>
(1940)<br />
Grammar school. No students appear.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 194; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">MILES
BURTON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Murder Out of School</i> (1951)<br />
Boys' prep school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 195; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">CHRISTOPHER
BUSH, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Case of the Dead Shepherd</i>
(1934)<br />
Co-ed high school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 196; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ALAN
CLUTTON-BROCK, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Murder at Liberty Hall</i>
(1941)<br />
Co-ed progressive school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 197; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">EDMUND
CRISPIN, Gervase Fen series<br />
Oxford.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 198; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">GLYNN
DANIEL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cambridge Murders</i>
(1945)<br />
University.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 199; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">S.
F. X. DEAN, Professor Kelly series<br />
University. New England college.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 200; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">D.
DEVINE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">His Own Appointed Day</i>
(1965)<br />
Scottish high school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 201; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">MICHAEL
GILBERT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Night of the Twelfth</i>
(1976)<br />
Boys' school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 202; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">REGINALD
HILL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">An Advancement of Learning</i>
(1971)<br />
University.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 203; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JAMES
HILTON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Murder at School</i> (1931)<br />
Boys' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 204; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JOHN
LE CARRÉ, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Murder of Quality</i>
(1962)<br />
Boys' boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 205; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">NORMAN
LONGMATE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Head for Death</i> (1958)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Boys' public school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 206; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">J.
C. MASTERMAN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">An Oxford Tragedy</i>
(1933)<br />
University.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 207; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">KENNETH
MILLAR (aka ROSS MACDONALD), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dark
Tunnel</i> (1944)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">American. University. See Brian Busby's review </span></span></span><a href="http://brianbusby.blogspot.ca/2013/11/munro-bellow-millar-macdonald-and.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 208; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">SIMON
OKE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hippopotamus Takes Wing</i>
(1952)<br />
Convent school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 209; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">STUART
PALMER, Hildegarde Withers series<br />
Withers is a teacher, but books feature few school-related scenes.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 210; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">Q
PATRICK, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Death Goes to School</i>
(1936)<br />
Boys' school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 211; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">IVAN
ROSS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Teacher's Blood</i> (1964)<br />
American high school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 212; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ERIC
SHEPHERD, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Murder in a Nunnery</i>
(1940)<br />
Convent school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 213; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ERIC
SHEPHERD, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">More Murder in a Nunnery</i>
(1954)<br />
Convent school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 214; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">R.
C. WOODTHORPE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Public School Murder</i>
(1932)<br />
Boys' school</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 215; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 216; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><b><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">OUTSIDE MY SCOPE BUT POTENTIALLY OF INTEREST</span></u></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 217; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">MARION
ADAMS-ACTON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Golden Days</i> (1873)<br />
German boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 218; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">CLARA
BENSON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Trouble at Wakeley Court</i>
(2015)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Girls' boarding
school. Originally fraudulently claimed to be written in the 1930s.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 219; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">EVE
BUNTING, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Spying on Miss Muller</i>
(1995)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">General fiction/thriller.
Belfast girls' boarding school during WWII.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></span></p>
</td>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 220; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">SARAH
CAUDWELL, Hilary Tamar series (1980s)<br />
Mystery. Law school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 221; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">PAMELA
DEAN, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tam Lin</i> (1991)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Fantasy. University. Combines a young woman's life at college with a
retelling of the traditional Scottish fairy ballad "Tam Lin".</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 222; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">RUTH
DUDLEY EDWARDS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Matricide at St.
Martha's</i> (1994)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Mystery. Cambridge. One of Edwards' Robert Amiss mysteries, this time
in a university setting.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 223; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ELLY
GRIFFITHS, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Justice Jones series,
beginning with </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Girl Called
Justice</i> (2019)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Mystery. Girls’ boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 224; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">BETH
GUTCHEON, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New Girls</i> (1979)<br />
American girls' prep school in the 1960s.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 225; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JOANNE
HARRIS, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gentlemen and Players</i>
(2005)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Mystery. Boys'
boarding school.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 226; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">HAZEL
HOLT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cruellest Month</i> (1991)<br />
Mystery. Oxford.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 227; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">HAZEL
HOLT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Murder on Campus</i> (1994, aka <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mrs. Malory: Detective in Residence</i>)<br />
Mystery. American university.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 228; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">LESLIE
HOWARTH, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ladies in Residence</i> (1936)<br />
University. Male author.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 229; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">RONA
JAFFE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Class Reunion </i>(1979)<br />
University (partial). Radcliffe in the 1950s.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 230; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ANGELA
LAMBERT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No Talking After Lights</i>
(1990)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Girls' boarding
school. Semi-autobiographical novel based on Lambert's own unhappy school
days.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 231; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ARTHUR
MARSHALL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Girls Will Be Girls</i>
(1974)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Perhaps not
strictly fitting this list, but definitely of interest. This is a compilation
of Marshall's humorous writings about school stories.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 232; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">CLARE
MORRALL, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">After the Bombing</i> (2014)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Girls' school. Set
partly in 1942 and partly in 1963. Reviewed by Call Me Madam </span></span></span><a href="http://callmemadam.livejournal.com/451973.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">here</span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 233; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">ROBIN
STEVENS, Wells & Wong mysteries (2013-present)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Mystery series set
in a 1930s girls' boarding school, featuring two schoolgirl detectives.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 234; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">LOUISE
TANNER, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss Bannister's Girls</i>
(1963)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">American. "A witty, scandalously hilarious look at the inmates of
a private girls' school—20 years later."</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 235; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">DONNA
TARTT, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Secret History</i> (1992)<br />
University. Thriller set at a posh Vermont college.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 236; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">KATHLEEN
WALLACE, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Grace on Their Doorposts</i>
(1944)<br />
Cambridge. Narrated by the daughter of a Cambridge don, but no actual school
setting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 237; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JILL
PATON WALSH, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lapsing</i> (1986)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Early non-mystery
by Walsh, about a young undergraduate at Oxford in the 1950s, whose romantic
travails lead her into a crisis of faith.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 238; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JILL
PATON WALSH, Imogen Quy mysteries (1993-2007)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Series of four
smart, cozy, Mrs. Malory-esque mysteries whose main character is a nurse at a
Cambridge college.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 239; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JILL
PATON WALSH, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Late Scholar</i>
(2013)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">One of Walsh's new mysteries featuring Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey;
this one takes place primarily at Oxford.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 240; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes; page-break-inside: avoid;">
<td style="padding: 0in 5.75pt 0in 5.75pt; width: 523.25pt;" valign="top" width="698">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Malgun Gothic";">JACQUELINE
WINSPEAR, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Lesson in Secrets</i>
(2011)<br />
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Mystery. Cambridge.
One of Winspear's Maisie Dobbs mysteries.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
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</tbody></table><br /></p>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-80864827744102094902023-10-17T08:21:00.000-07:002023-10-17T08:21:11.366-07:00Gentlemen prefer chorus girls: EMERY BONETT, A Girl Must Live (1936)<p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>[Thank you so much to all of you who offered supportive comments on my previous post and reassured me of your ongoing interest in my plumbing of the depths of obscurity. I definitely feel encouraged and reassured that my efforts are not for naught. And happily, I have a particularly fun one to kick things off again!]</i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-style: italic; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflbind4cUC_gXnT-kaJmG_ySaC5R_kyTuGtndo4E7bfm1lJL3Hd9DdUzR2JaEyBSAM1cuCsPZ2PwJZzTiE5kS9XoaACwmxzTOgQcikcuEtzKzrjLIEfXjxc8lssqz1to7sF8Wtp3RttMisP4QhJ8pmrY_yGtt3J1qdGgXQVYTKEgPkI_wyrbOWX2zg1nE/s831/Bonett,%20Emery%20-%20A%20Girl%20Must%20Live%20pl%20fc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="831" data-original-width="607" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflbind4cUC_gXnT-kaJmG_ySaC5R_kyTuGtndo4E7bfm1lJL3Hd9DdUzR2JaEyBSAM1cuCsPZ2PwJZzTiE5kS9XoaACwmxzTOgQcikcuEtzKzrjLIEfXjxc8lssqz1to7sF8Wtp3RttMisP4QhJ8pmrY_yGtt3J1qdGgXQVYTKEgPkI_wyrbOWX2zg1nE/w293-h400/Bonett,%20Emery%20-%20A%20Girl%20Must%20Live%20pl%20fc.jpg" width="293" /></span></a></div><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-80cc4a65-7fff-66f4-6db1-46bea1f55556"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"Why," he said, "don't you see, it's just the difference. After that roomful of people . . . you're like a breath of honeysuckle from a country hedge.''</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I leaned back and shut my eyes and just sighed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Nothing but an earthquake could stop me now.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This was the first of my recent acquisitions from the British Library that I plunged into when I got home, and it made for a very fun couple of afternoons' reading. If you enjoy cynical, manipulative, seductive gold diggers à la </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gentlemen Prefer Blondes</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> or </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How to Marry a Millionaire</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, then you would enjoy this quick, funny novel by an author who would later be better known (in collaboration with her husband) for a series of film industry-related mysteries. Narrated by Gloria Lind, perhaps the most unscrupulous among a group of chorus girls on the make (apart from poor, rather plain Leslie, who is clearly not a threat to anyone…), the book—about Gloria's determined attempts to snatch a romantically inclined Earl away from fellow chorus girl Clytie Burns, and how she winds up hoist on her own petard—is a bit of a one-joke monologue, but I still ate it up as greedily as I can make away with a packet of McVitie's dark chocolate digestives (fresh in my memory from our recent time in London).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz5R4z0c5QbH1nFsBA1kEa4ZNznlz5z-ZEe-SxGX3Balan5KchBBCJPzG_-qpTfkWW8ld10AlLwzRlhsjaqO68QwtEi0UN-5qPDqGuck2MFULEjpnKgtwWC-pFAhxImMFBj49XxG2NirVLsnKnw3IIpyg02tdhW_a-on881sSwf7whE7OTGxUXlt1biTov/s780/Bonett,%20Emery%20-%20A%20Girl%20Must%20Live%20illus%201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="646" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz5R4z0c5QbH1nFsBA1kEa4ZNznlz5z-ZEe-SxGX3Balan5KchBBCJPzG_-qpTfkWW8ld10AlLwzRlhsjaqO68QwtEi0UN-5qPDqGuck2MFULEjpnKgtwWC-pFAhxImMFBj49XxG2NirVLsnKnw3IIpyg02tdhW_a-on881sSwf7whE7OTGxUXlt1biTov/w331-h400/Bonett,%20Emery%20-%20A%20Girl%20Must%20Live%20illus%201.JPG" width="331" /></a></div><span><br /></span>There's not really a lot of plot to sum up—it's really just Gloria's various machinations to spend time with the Earl, and how they often backfire, fleshed out with a number of her fortune-hunting fellow chorus girls, a theatrical backer stepping out on his wife, and a phony Count/gigolo to liven up and complicate matters. So I'll just offer a few examples of Gloria's sometimes hilariously self-absorbed narration to give you an idea:</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Anyway, I didn't have to worry about her being in the house. She had no idea of making herself attractive to men. Just like a lot of other nice girls who might as well be dead.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Of course I have danced with titled people before, only this was the first really sober one.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"I am Mr. Bumpel, solicitor, but it is not as a solicitor I am calling on you, but to reason with you and to appeal to your better self on behalf of my wronged sister."</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I thought if his sister was anything like him and she'd managed to get herself wronged, she ought to be jolly grateful.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In addition to the giggle value of Gloria's tale, I should point out that she's also pretty lavish about describing her own and the other girls' dresses and outfits. Knowing not so much about clothing from any period, some of the descriptions went over my head (though I did learn that a "kestos"—as in "She was young and firm, and the only one among us who didn't need to wear a kestos"—was a popular brand of bra that first appeared in the early Thirties, lifting and accenting the breasts instead of flattening them, as had been the trend with flappers in the 1920s), but fashionistas could have a field day here. And the illustrations by Anna K. Zinkeisen are a completely charming complement to the text.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6swSTrF_FiK6WSKzATTPNHd5Tvui8bdC3ihhFO0vKh0ifjAZwN4r2Aige_g9s50V0tK4LB4fSPloNmI52G-rbWc2vrPWkHmCyjWV5KRGA0mN4rTKPICRefHprExh4UI0Mrntr13LNKPDgY5h8r6juP1p1LUEcqXopBFGbhswQptiGcd5SB5CmYw4QTcJw/s627/Bonett,%20Emery%20-%20A%20Girl%20Must%20Live%20illus%202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="605" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6swSTrF_FiK6WSKzATTPNHd5Tvui8bdC3ihhFO0vKh0ifjAZwN4r2Aige_g9s50V0tK4LB4fSPloNmI52G-rbWc2vrPWkHmCyjWV5KRGA0mN4rTKPICRefHprExh4UI0Mrntr13LNKPDgY5h8r6juP1p1LUEcqXopBFGbhswQptiGcd5SB5CmYw4QTcJw/w386-h400/Bonett,%20Emery%20-%20A%20Girl%20Must%20Live%20illus%202.JPG" width="386" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />I'll also mention that there's just a touch of awkward racial content. It doesn't seem to me intended in a very hateful way, and is in keeping with Gloria's no-holds-barred style of manhunting, but she does on multiple occasions make comments to the Earl intended to suggest that Clytie is of mixed race, and those comments rather grate on modern ears. Not a huge deal, and reflective of the attitudes of the time, but there is that.<p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A Girl Must Live </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">was made into a film in 1939 starring Margaret Lockwood and directed by Carol Reed. It's available on YouTube, and it looks quite entertaining (though clearly liberally adapted from the novel). I attempted to watch it, but alas, the sound quality is a bit too low and the accents simply impenetrable, even to someone who has watched British TV and films obsessively. Not to mention the speed of the dialogue! Like a Hollywood screwball comedy on speed. I imagine many Brits might even have trouble keeping up with it. But give it subtitles and I will definitely be there for it!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOkHl94TJ3oKjp-MSdTT6nanjyX5cU_HrhrsBCTuk3sVUGJGzBx6SlWot3oqTLMf2LwMBfBGRrOAmf4bI9wVlsHlG4foQVXXp_OnR32McNNBwNxHjJCV7t-ckVl4C5Qad74fOM-l5icfs-WX2DCRAI9kusmJHPvkFfo3eLyDq7wQHlGM54CgLFSfjh6b5u/s854/Bonett,%20Emery%20-%20A%20Girl%20Must%20Live%20illus%203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="686" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOkHl94TJ3oKjp-MSdTT6nanjyX5cU_HrhrsBCTuk3sVUGJGzBx6SlWot3oqTLMf2LwMBfBGRrOAmf4bI9wVlsHlG4foQVXXp_OnR32McNNBwNxHjJCV7t-ckVl4C5Qad74fOM-l5icfs-WX2DCRAI9kusmJHPvkFfo3eLyDq7wQHlGM54CgLFSfjh6b5u/w321-h400/Bonett,%20Emery%20-%20A%20Girl%20Must%20Live%20illus%203.JPG" width="321" /></a></div><br />Bonett (real name Felicity Winifred Carter) wrote two more solo, mainstream novels—<span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Never Go Dark</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1940) and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Make Do with Spring</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1941), the first at least also containing a theatrical element—before turning to a life of crime (so to speak) with her husband. Thanks to Grant Hurlock, who has often shared rare titles with me—I actually have scans of those two, which I hadn't (of course) got round to reading. But I'll be moving them up my TBR now…</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Also, if you're intrigued by Bonett/Carter's mysteries, I happened to notice that the first three are now available as e-books from Lume Books, along with a series of books written solo by her husband, John Bonett (real name John Hubert Arthur Coulson). I will meekly add that I also have one of the mysteries, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A Banner for Pegasus</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, languishing unread somewhere…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I'm happy that my first read from my BL titles was such great fun. Fingers crossed there will be more treasures to come!</span></p></span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-15513897274830722842023-10-10T11:36:00.000-07:002023-10-10T11:36:13.970-07:00Back (in at least one sense)<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">That is, back from our really lovely vacation in Portugal, followed by a few very busy days in London. We really loved Portugal. Friendly people (most English-speaking, at least in popular areas), great weather (having dinner outside almost every night really made an impression on me<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #351c75; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—if you haven't been to San Francisco, you might think we can do that all the time, but alas no, at least not without a very warm jacket), and some spectacular sights. Want a little sampling?</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Our first day, we were off on a strenuous, wet, and foggy tour to Sintra's eccentric castles and the so-called "Initiation Well" which has become an Instagram favorite in recent years (not ever a functional well, but rather a talking point for guests of a wealthy estate owner with, as D. E. Stevenson might have put it, "more dollars than sense").</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfGahilac9ZIHxmzQ8RKQJdTDLJbqVifqS9UBwgRf5t3ce3tR06nnKydrYsZ52nwDQxWEHlFcmZGmJwOeI6tGSoJKpK-pYXp9REBDX38wWunaQk0k0gvDy8zt5dAVVBauOveN7WrBDwWafK8Mre4RjREyL8ADwGgvCnOvFxYK4s0_uZ2bSVDXaitX5Iuw/s4032/2-Sintra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfGahilac9ZIHxmzQ8RKQJdTDLJbqVifqS9UBwgRf5t3ce3tR06nnKydrYsZ52nwDQxWEHlFcmZGmJwOeI6tGSoJKpK-pYXp9REBDX38wWunaQk0k0gvDy8zt5dAVVBauOveN7WrBDwWafK8Mre4RjREyL8ADwGgvCnOvFxYK4s0_uZ2bSVDXaitX5Iuw/w300-h400/2-Sintra.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sintra</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK06KaTXdXe9sUdPfG9e8NwTFrVNGcO5L7hISx1eQIjmD2R-f2G4ytjf-6Nu__BC1kEp6cFo2VRRkRwRt5GMeCL5OFmHEv_YVN4FSkMtrS_Re17xZpp7pfW-K1T2NEI2m9k_PrkTwWk4Oc2zfCrM6bvcTtV5gmjkDlPgrUBbGO4i2E5obty5nUxur85rFD/s4032/1-Sintra%20well.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK06KaTXdXe9sUdPfG9e8NwTFrVNGcO5L7hISx1eQIjmD2R-f2G4ytjf-6Nu__BC1kEp6cFo2VRRkRwRt5GMeCL5OFmHEv_YVN4FSkMtrS_Re17xZpp7pfW-K1T2NEI2m9k_PrkTwWk4Oc2zfCrM6bvcTtV5gmjkDlPgrUBbGO4i2E5obty5nUxur85rFD/w400-h300/1-Sintra%20well.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The "initiation well"</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Our second day, we did a completely disastrous, very badly managed tour (don't get me started), but it did enable us to glimpse the magnificent Batalha Monastery, so I can't complain too much (oh, I could, but I won't).</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpBO4t8qo1yARqZXIBFnWCMtnWVvk7lIs7RyF_XaFqhxvlvj5Lrivs8VehcYSzE7917kv10kn2Sh-myDhNhs7CpfH1foPUht5_pDVlTPquuiJp7sb5e3wwFlF7HIHs6ygTuUMvW8mbfGvQqcPVArKem6IewLYySe35Q1MjcM4YWFChgWaRmvh4yqSi99b/s4032/3-Batalha%20Monastery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpBO4t8qo1yARqZXIBFnWCMtnWVvk7lIs7RyF_XaFqhxvlvj5Lrivs8VehcYSzE7917kv10kn2Sh-myDhNhs7CpfH1foPUht5_pDVlTPquuiJp7sb5e3wwFlF7HIHs6ygTuUMvW8mbfGvQqcPVArKem6IewLYySe35Q1MjcM4YWFChgWaRmvh4yqSi99b/w400-h300/3-Batalha%20Monastery.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Batalha Monastery</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">And we ended the day in the really wonderful medieval hill town of Obidos.</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhZKOxq-srqr5VAVfyvljrm85o7ZDRswEnmKkwvHGti-djWfWZ13wyZIYSb_yaMbR4BMJ8q-xa0Jryilqrcnic57ucTJmPIPqSobavUy3q2sYaZOoRRacIH7SAdt9bgrFNbZ9Sl6lOiYc8vwjPYdQcbqWvqXHkE3SSEWEsBSzDyxwsFR-q2xiOODVHva6/s4032/4-Obidos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhZKOxq-srqr5VAVfyvljrm85o7ZDRswEnmKkwvHGti-djWfWZ13wyZIYSb_yaMbR4BMJ8q-xa0Jryilqrcnic57ucTJmPIPqSobavUy3q2sYaZOoRRacIH7SAdt9bgrFNbZ9Sl6lOiYc8vwjPYdQcbqWvqXHkE3SSEWEsBSzDyxwsFR-q2xiOODVHva6/w300-h400/4-Obidos.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Obidos</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Another tour led us inland to Evora, with its Roman temple and, along the way, a neolithic stone formation, Almendres Cromlech</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhANjdHFZwf7ocOaZkFLlAd6JBt-eA4QQN0BuVO9UYy-0hwMkpwBDSeJS3JbdiESgPOMKcboya52v2cQq4W4dx8MyeiYwxj5kuDE7gib5kUdqw0R5674_XzmU1D_2e2D0c7fLY67rHLTqU5z6Pz_k6pPdfwnHbP6wHGGtIllpJY4lgdZR7d8k36Mj1e0o5e/s4032/5-Almendres%20Cromlech.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhANjdHFZwf7ocOaZkFLlAd6JBt-eA4QQN0BuVO9UYy-0hwMkpwBDSeJS3JbdiESgPOMKcboya52v2cQq4W4dx8MyeiYwxj5kuDE7gib5kUdqw0R5674_XzmU1D_2e2D0c7fLY67rHLTqU5z6Pz_k6pPdfwnHbP6wHGGtIllpJY4lgdZR7d8k36Mj1e0o5e/w400-h300/5-Almendres%20Cromlech.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Almendres Cromlech</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO5ophPkzj1jygn8ckytCllmqbwkljsaeRUDd3JAy_Br7vtb9pfT27r3sSJOxfzQg_D0U7_6eyKvmAbML556tjFH7TeUffvEyOUSQI3VLnFCAPVR-MLH7PmPA0CM3pOf3lTwpHTz63b3bVeFgyK7Gf8DxA53g5KqrvJGxkIjM6NsQrZ_7-nCywhvZJnawx/s4032/6-Evora%20temple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO5ophPkzj1jygn8ckytCllmqbwkljsaeRUDd3JAy_Br7vtb9pfT27r3sSJOxfzQg_D0U7_6eyKvmAbML556tjFH7TeUffvEyOUSQI3VLnFCAPVR-MLH7PmPA0CM3pOf3lTwpHTz63b3bVeFgyK7Gf8DxA53g5KqrvJGxkIjM6NsQrZ_7-nCywhvZJnawx/w300-h400/6-Evora%20temple.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Roman Temple of Diana in Evora</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But easily the best of our tours (we did four day tours, and saved the best for last) was a Knights Templar tour. I don't have a lot of time to obsess over the current location of the Holy Grail, but this tour led us to the most impressive and interesting spots on our trip, starting with the Templars' Almourol Castle.</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUPZgS7qbiMeE_wjG22XMBKcj3ABix-zcjPEoQ8E4usDV4Lv28mkiRoKEJkGYYF4isCE8RvH0vEijo8PhGQkItjAnXoHDbnyywsugkVa7UzeRn73i4JaUOAf2lengQKjoJllgBOHKMta6nJH0GvEuV-aujCPFoPzH6pG95nQh3iNUFjBYKOzDIPmYFopk/s4032/7-Almourol%20Castle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUPZgS7qbiMeE_wjG22XMBKcj3ABix-zcjPEoQ8E4usDV4Lv28mkiRoKEJkGYYF4isCE8RvH0vEijo8PhGQkItjAnXoHDbnyywsugkVa7UzeRn73i4JaUOAf2lengQKjoJllgBOHKMta6nJH0GvEuV-aujCPFoPzH6pG95nQh3iNUFjBYKOzDIPmYFopk/w400-h300/7-Almourol%20Castle.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Almourol Castle</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXOhwZ6z483SbUhu_ck2DajJy1t6FooR-kW_2buaiJnJqMRneIDJLi__CwnnrEbwNIpTECrua8YTeKFqwKOc5lMff4x4_ehA-WNwcla_z_SB24IQ4jn1pf2upfefgj1LTL96MYo22xQTw55KJqrFtUid5DfpJNCbTRsat57I7C9MmkVkjniKWK0FmQueY/s4032/8-Almourol%20Castle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXOhwZ6z483SbUhu_ck2DajJy1t6FooR-kW_2buaiJnJqMRneIDJLi__CwnnrEbwNIpTECrua8YTeKFqwKOc5lMff4x4_ehA-WNwcla_z_SB24IQ4jn1pf2upfefgj1LTL96MYo22xQTw55KJqrFtUid5DfpJNCbTRsat57I7C9MmkVkjniKWK0FmQueY/w300-h400/8-Almourol%20Castle.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Almourol Castle</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Then on to the breathtaking Convent of Christ in Tomar, built by the Templars, a sprawling complex of gorgeous buildings and spaces and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I could have got lost there for days.</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNlOHTtbsxWQQg8O8lyZHxpxCDi02KfVz01WCNnnLo_fQ-igRgCvx1P43PpImnSSigQITqsBan9vnk1KguCjsSR87yVayso553kihDIc68TsPaVA7-mOmyqm5KpvM1LVpsECpMNd0AYp1x-SPhnpPbnrJvYf0DcFciF7ecFXTD_BxBaXMID0vCx9MuyPo/s4032/9-Tomar%20Convent%20of%20Christ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNlOHTtbsxWQQg8O8lyZHxpxCDi02KfVz01WCNnnLo_fQ-igRgCvx1P43PpImnSSigQITqsBan9vnk1KguCjsSR87yVayso553kihDIc68TsPaVA7-mOmyqm5KpvM1LVpsECpMNd0AYp1x-SPhnpPbnrJvYf0DcFciF7ecFXTD_BxBaXMID0vCx9MuyPo/w400-h300/9-Tomar%20Convent%20of%20Christ.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Convent of Christ</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWmIU6CjIwjO5BsmikuNdw_cQVVr8Z6XKxLr0wToxMTk5R2YOX8Up1VoTj1de2yYw3_k-CP57Nh2gyYr9ItOWM2dEkmAf2dfBuWUa0dHhH9YOilM0wdDc4vcaOuN1PQn9Dw5DXXZJIeecrfpU1La7bxtEE4cYTRRO4fBHlYzMsWFe8vVxocxucqrSxUffK/s4032/10-Tomar%20Convent%20of%20Christ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWmIU6CjIwjO5BsmikuNdw_cQVVr8Z6XKxLr0wToxMTk5R2YOX8Up1VoTj1de2yYw3_k-CP57Nh2gyYr9ItOWM2dEkmAf2dfBuWUa0dHhH9YOilM0wdDc4vcaOuN1PQn9Dw5DXXZJIeecrfpU1La7bxtEE4cYTRRO4fBHlYzMsWFe8vVxocxucqrSxUffK/w400-h300/10-Tomar%20Convent%20of%20Christ.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Convent of Christ</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7YWeqlUg3YHlwQOr7-AMFUXO75l0w1JLDKtVxXic0zUGzJG_-9fCrmjOytktpWGLNFOeWxP51pFE9KKYkIvSez8E7aUFdJbZ5on4p60HFtPg10bmUwvUtNnlNEJod8dm-YwxDZRLPLRkbPLWyMRuLJzBHK4L50pqYv9hZSbrXOwo6a5Bx973yuGnALSoO/s4032/11-Tomar%20Convent%20of%20Christ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7YWeqlUg3YHlwQOr7-AMFUXO75l0w1JLDKtVxXic0zUGzJG_-9fCrmjOytktpWGLNFOeWxP51pFE9KKYkIvSez8E7aUFdJbZ5on4p60HFtPg10bmUwvUtNnlNEJod8dm-YwxDZRLPLRkbPLWyMRuLJzBHK4L50pqYv9hZSbrXOwo6a5Bx973yuGnALSoO/w300-h400/11-Tomar%20Convent%20of%20Christ.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Convent of Christ</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">We kind of reversed the normal logic a bit in scheduling our tours for the first few days we were in Lisbon, so only on our last three days did we get to really explore the city itself, including some of its best-known postcard shots, like Lisbon Cathedral, Belem Tower, and the waterfront Monument to the Discoveries.</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO0UtVbDSvfnLRYhPjNK5e0iobIFkm6KKVTTXFGNKXIxhD6EDUvb0hZr__5l37wxE8fhjYL1JgsWiwdkahP3ljS6-sFU_iIpTJnCFieJX5aMyUBwIuQojim7nMTnzi_6_q8DFB91z217ye32kgK-kdo8hX8qlWrGbvMciD7aaXKEEDwSTDZ5G7pqY7kYMI/s4032/12-Lisbon%20Cathedral.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO0UtVbDSvfnLRYhPjNK5e0iobIFkm6KKVTTXFGNKXIxhD6EDUvb0hZr__5l37wxE8fhjYL1JgsWiwdkahP3ljS6-sFU_iIpTJnCFieJX5aMyUBwIuQojim7nMTnzi_6_q8DFB91z217ye32kgK-kdo8hX8qlWrGbvMciD7aaXKEEDwSTDZ5G7pqY7kYMI/w300-h400/12-Lisbon%20Cathedral.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lisbon Cathedral</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBfQsfTZdoJyEKueNmLCvqFsDyz-QY2v-jIJsS6pR0qUVbD4d_eCuY3F7oWU8kEUD_Aozej6f2QwcUrQe6xA8bsnFuTddPzD7tvPZ0MFfLFHxvtA0XPFvXBgVpRTiQEEV6jJRSJW6NV3K8zHIQe0IxzktgWVgwuUWUaz9PanBuA941rsNxmHg1XczeGeW/s4032/13-Belem%20Tour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBfQsfTZdoJyEKueNmLCvqFsDyz-QY2v-jIJsS6pR0qUVbD4d_eCuY3F7oWU8kEUD_Aozej6f2QwcUrQe6xA8bsnFuTddPzD7tvPZ0MFfLFHxvtA0XPFvXBgVpRTiQEEV6jJRSJW6NV3K8zHIQe0IxzktgWVgwuUWUaz9PanBuA941rsNxmHg1XczeGeW/w300-h400/13-Belem%20Tour.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Belem Tower</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi08-jtigeXgPPkpOzN678UkYS226yM27V5R4pNOOEUtJdUuIzYitx6FKfW-PJHGh7zn3WVEzJdTy61mdGTsfrI53oAs167JEE54l-xQVY6bge5nk8hSS8pvlyHFMD-3ARKBHDK9UUiijoJNJ5i8jbPOMGeK6KTLgOnZUUnk8ZEg0s1MVnxOD5pwQ0XyINd/s4032/14-Padr%C3%A3o%20dos%20Descobrimentos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi08-jtigeXgPPkpOzN678UkYS226yM27V5R4pNOOEUtJdUuIzYitx6FKfW-PJHGh7zn3WVEzJdTy61mdGTsfrI53oAs167JEE54l-xQVY6bge5nk8hSS8pvlyHFMD-3ARKBHDK9UUiijoJNJ5i8jbPOMGeK6KTLgOnZUUnk8ZEg0s1MVnxOD5pwQ0XyINd/w400-h300/14-Padr%C3%A3o%20dos%20Descobrimentos.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Monument to the Discoveries</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I was completely blown away by the Church of Santa Maria at the Jeronimos Monastery (happily we had been told by a tour guide that the church was spectacular but the monastery itself was pretty ordinary compared with the Convent of Chris, so we skipped the ENORMOUS line for the monastery itself).</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG8UINlgw_wV3NMNEURgP4eFNgLNNFd-LuhajQlMxV5L9ykI-XovwvM_NBUX0kLArU9JZVAVNm4kY8pRdomvE7yHbtlMyWxAQft2oQJwySIdI113MI9G66jF50-SHTeiFZIHuIn3svtx_WoEyzydIfmDW2Joe_uqZDaIyLUiR2A4TxLj8wwO2cpviOcwe4/s4032/15-Church%20of%20Santa%20Maria%20in%20Jeronimons%20Monastaery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG8UINlgw_wV3NMNEURgP4eFNgLNNFd-LuhajQlMxV5L9ykI-XovwvM_NBUX0kLArU9JZVAVNm4kY8pRdomvE7yHbtlMyWxAQft2oQJwySIdI113MI9G66jF50-SHTeiFZIHuIn3svtx_WoEyzydIfmDW2Joe_uqZDaIyLUiR2A4TxLj8wwO2cpviOcwe4/w400-h300/15-Church%20of%20Santa%20Maria%20in%20Jeronimons%20Monastaery.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Church of Santa Maria in Jeronimos Monastery</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKAagrP3U581v1ieH8omfj_AMVGSsnD58QZfmkjUI9gSc9DUmSTYAXuKbQdl6ZN_BPFHpQwV0zHu2K-h5a7R8k6g8OHf0RJiHllNuK0e7UiFo8juQA-tgvpu1dgJR54PV4Fobcp54KrDRWMedlnK-w8ItAtV27uefIrz5U8-15ns_-7tISQbZHcXqdqgW/s4032/16-tomb%20of%20Vasco%20da%20Gama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKAagrP3U581v1ieH8omfj_AMVGSsnD58QZfmkjUI9gSc9DUmSTYAXuKbQdl6ZN_BPFHpQwV0zHu2K-h5a7R8k6g8OHf0RJiHllNuK0e7UiFo8juQA-tgvpu1dgJR54PV4Fobcp54KrDRWMedlnK-w8ItAtV27uefIrz5U8-15ns_-7tISQbZHcXqdqgW/w400-h300/16-tomb%20of%20Vasco%20da%20Gama.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tomb of Vasco da Gama</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I think it may be a legal requirement now for every tourist to take Tram 28 through some of the most historic areas of Lisbon, and we are law-abiding folks...</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNp4MQW0unAZduvntGwHHX9sC8Qe2Vo-jqhe3nUJTw-Y0PJKeuyeF4l4G9ClZ5gxB4hB2bAAq-ke5iijnAJboowDtdqeoeMvobmccArfXFYeLLlnWS6gh6ELEJXbi9-slKdcAtqpeFsNPbADbqnYwTUf4C7coSQhYvciFqvSdQ0EXV9KDU-n6YmhB9RJt/s4032/17-Tram%2028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNp4MQW0unAZduvntGwHHX9sC8Qe2Vo-jqhe3nUJTw-Y0PJKeuyeF4l4G9ClZ5gxB4hB2bAAq-ke5iijnAJboowDtdqeoeMvobmccArfXFYeLLlnWS6gh6ELEJXbi9-slKdcAtqpeFsNPbADbqnYwTUf4C7coSQhYvciFqvSdQ0EXV9KDU-n6YmhB9RJt/w300-h400/17-Tram%2028.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tram 28</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgViPCmsP618Fom6Izz2NiSUhroq4n_WSviuiqL_ujA199I6_ZE4M9LXY9NZ1C054C8337UczuAoB5nxiZjC_F3OW-7fN5hELT3QcuT2dTljDbnL2NmOsG3EltTkxmfuj6YH6rc_C3m9fi9_Ag1TPi-FdPxm51noJ6paOoyR5ykxTrNeaFDoVlnErlNOPH8/s3280/18-Tram%2028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3280" data-original-width="2464" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgViPCmsP618Fom6Izz2NiSUhroq4n_WSviuiqL_ujA199I6_ZE4M9LXY9NZ1C054C8337UczuAoB5nxiZjC_F3OW-7fN5hELT3QcuT2dTljDbnL2NmOsG3EltTkxmfuj6YH6rc_C3m9fi9_Ag1TPi-FdPxm51noJ6paOoyR5ykxTrNeaFDoVlnErlNOPH8/w300-h400/18-Tram%2028.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Looking a wee bit frazzled after waiting to <br />board the very popular tram</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgje6vnQGdoMiya3cwPCW21Nf_Yi7t5gcxaV6lEaywH0oQ3nNAaVE3bf-UY-MkXMi-AYjUVSsWduYxuSYg0fL1uBcB25nzkodbUGou7sGi_m6yimrM1plsFufhTYB9wFpqsXm47BWY8faztaIlaiCNBuY9BbCpZ3xXiTCPB4iYQmVZ6-CrHCn92KhQAvtz8/s4032/19-last%20night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgje6vnQGdoMiya3cwPCW21Nf_Yi7t5gcxaV6lEaywH0oQ3nNAaVE3bf-UY-MkXMi-AYjUVSsWduYxuSYg0fL1uBcB25nzkodbUGou7sGi_m6yimrM1plsFufhTYB9wFpqsXm47BWY8faztaIlaiCNBuY9BbCpZ3xXiTCPB4iYQmVZ6-CrHCn92KhQAvtz8/w300-h400/19-last%20night.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A final outdoor dinner and glass of sangria</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">After our delightful 10 days in Lisbon, we had a busy flying visit to London, and a triumphant return to the British Library...</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikNVVHUMw-wM2hc5LlvAx5q2xE-By10hN6EaWiW1Yzk4Dj3qXIJ5jRpM7_Hpccw0x10fee02ANxz4EVPdqST7pGVaXvrstg2qu6NfoE7QYmt5YQxkSmUyGukUlQIjJM05pQ9h6UJt4ePNozLFBHNVDktKIjADsc2fUFE14KoDoYWQyd8JylIDzG572ZbQ1/s4032/20-BL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikNVVHUMw-wM2hc5LlvAx5q2xE-By10hN6EaWiW1Yzk4Dj3qXIJ5jRpM7_Hpccw0x10fee02ANxz4EVPdqST7pGVaXvrstg2qu6NfoE7QYmt5YQxkSmUyGukUlQIjJM05pQ9h6UJt4ePNozLFBHNVDktKIjADsc2fUFE14KoDoYWQyd8JylIDzG572ZbQ1/w300-h400/20-BL.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There's no place like home...</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The British Library isn't open at night, so we had to find alternative entertainment a couple of nights...</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9_3AKbG_mc1T_XtuDkvKZYYzYCKKjR7jaRAAjChDiVmpNvbd5iIDoqC5FfkNdxxAbxAJrqiQ2c67KOn3l2X90_1EQ8M7hxIqFtc-P8_iuFMBtXgLPNkBScnyKjzKxnI5MiDbafiQOfD59gMwyjvvKB5yjD_9Pk43a_ms40FezYdPriNC27PJ9oDkd-Xj/s3280/22-Moulin%20Rouge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3280" data-original-width="2464" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9_3AKbG_mc1T_XtuDkvKZYYzYCKKjR7jaRAAjChDiVmpNvbd5iIDoqC5FfkNdxxAbxAJrqiQ2c67KOn3l2X90_1EQ8M7hxIqFtc-P8_iuFMBtXgLPNkBScnyKjzKxnI5MiDbafiQOfD59gMwyjvvKB5yjD_9Pk43a_ms40FezYdPriNC27PJ9oDkd-Xj/w300-h400/22-Moulin%20Rouge.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtIYuKMeTpS-KIJgqfxDL2ThKGOCt0C1IxNZji6E7aowROUSOXTJWQwgc3hdQMH9s9JCVLi82c8A0GwxNgjvyPGdo_Ii7ZNo5yL6r9D1-wGtjxn2atSYBjYqntDXLi_JWr4C8PEnbA7QFoERIlqc7_zmd0uN1xpcX_5wZ0T1MHM9MLQ1hcgB40lAfBWS9u/s3280/25-Old%20Friends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3280" data-original-width="2464" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtIYuKMeTpS-KIJgqfxDL2ThKGOCt0C1IxNZji6E7aowROUSOXTJWQwgc3hdQMH9s9JCVLi82c8A0GwxNgjvyPGdo_Ii7ZNo5yL6r9D1-wGtjxn2atSYBjYqntDXLi_JWr4C8PEnbA7QFoERIlqc7_zmd0uN1xpcX_5wZ0T1MHM9MLQ1hcgB40lAfBWS9u/w300-h400/25-Old%20Friends.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Both shows were a blast, and we were in agreement that London would be a lovely place to live for a while, should we win a major lottery any time soon. I'll keep you posted.</span></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">So, back from vacation and back in the U.S. But am I also getting back to blogging? Well, from the stack of books I requested at the British Library, you might well think so:</span></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz9Ru9veKL7vHfmFrXveiqAiTJK-S6NOrJATkQS_Bnmw6pV_9lt9lcR616Fv7jkF0V9fhT-O6W_J44_UmVC6fZg-z7idkMbqwrmQz6cO76Vr9FfLyCJThDy7lQScuFSmRO8e6zUj6IJ8dFF6IKVtmDsgdPJqlveJ5ZNcvIJyaHcr8B7SP7b4z3KC4JvJnc/s4032/21-BL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz9Ru9veKL7vHfmFrXveiqAiTJK-S6NOrJATkQS_Bnmw6pV_9lt9lcR616Fv7jkF0V9fhT-O6W_J44_UmVC6fZg-z7idkMbqwrmQz6cO76Vr9FfLyCJThDy7lQScuFSmRO8e6zUj6IJ8dFF6IKVtmDsgdPJqlveJ5ZNcvIJyaHcr8B7SP7b4z3KC4JvJnc/w400-h300/21-BL.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I might have got a bit carried away? But oh what fun! And I may just have to report on some of these soon. </span></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I know that for some of you my ongoing focus on titles that no one has heard of and that are impossible to track down (outside of the BL) will lose much of its interest now that I won't have any power to bring even my best finds back into print (aside from perhaps drawing other publishers' attention to them?), but I hope some of you will still take an interest. When I started the blog back in 2013 (!!!), I said to myself that if there were 10 or 20 readers out there interested in the research I was doing, then it would be worthwhile to share it. I hope there's still that many of you, and for you, I'm planning to be back with more soon!</span></p><p></p><p></p>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-79889635752810750552023-08-13T11:03:00.000-07:002023-08-13T11:03:08.499-07:00“No useful purpose would be served by remaining in a vertical posture”: HUMPHREY PAKINGTON, Four in Family (1932)<p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">[I'm actually not even sure now when I drafted this review. It might be a few years ago now. Initially, I wanted to sample more of Pakington's books before raving about this one, and then I think I just had trouble fitting it in. Y chromosome and all... But better late than never!]</span> </i></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBjACDrTzeHP6mXoDMmVO_MQoVp4M5m3js-sBNZRArk2xJxDyW2PIVbmlYkiumW7EAz_zTLM4LaqbB15wyLN4NIEhAHeig0ZpDZmaZ2V9KrLUCT67_dQR9_-5igkEfEJnLdxYSLwyhD3nC/s1654/Pakington%252C+Humphrey+-+Four+in+Family+cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1654" data-original-width="1144" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBjACDrTzeHP6mXoDMmVO_MQoVp4M5m3js-sBNZRArk2xJxDyW2PIVbmlYkiumW7EAz_zTLM4LaqbB15wyLN4NIEhAHeig0ZpDZmaZ2V9KrLUCT67_dQR9_-5igkEfEJnLdxYSLwyhD3nC/w276-h400/Pakington%252C+Humphrey+-+Four+in+Family+cover.jpg" width="276" /></a></div><br />The guests left the Deanery at an hour consonant with the evening engagements of a Cathedral City, and Mrs. Hodge, feeling that no useful purpose would be served by remaining in a vertical posture, intimated shortly afterwards that she desired to assume a position of horizontality.</span></blockquote><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d75d1407-7fff-6303-11a8-2874fc15833e"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know there are few things more shocking than Furrowed Middlebrow writing about a male author, but you know that pure silly humor is like heroin for me, so how could I possibly resist a book with passages like this one?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brad Bigelow at Neglected Books got to Humphrey Pakington way ahead of me, writing about him </span><a href="https://neglectedbooks.com/?p=1832" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> quite a few years ago. But it has taken me longer, undoubtedly because of my incorrigible bias against the Y chromosome. So far I’ve only read this, Pakington’s first novel, but suffice it to say that this one could quite easily have been written by any one of several of my favorite women writers from E. M. Delafield to Carola Oman, perhaps with some help from Groucho Marx.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Four in Family</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is one of those lovely books that has no real overarching plot, but it primarily focuses on the Warmstrys--Robert and Helen and their four children Elizabeth, Crispin, June and Laura--who move to the country as their financial position improves. Robert is liberal-leaning, but finds himself confronted with the more conservative standards of the “County” and Helen’s yearning to be accepted. They must particularly play up to Colonel and Susan Canfield, the latter the self-styled mover and shaker of local social life, whose uptight sense of what is and is not “done” Pakington milks for all its comedic worth. The Dean and his sister, not to mention a Rector and a Bishop, figure in the proceedings, as do the hoity-toity Eaton-Shrubsoles, poor Miss Wilson from Ferry Cottage, who only gets invited to things when an extra woman is needed, and the Pilbeams, family friends also striving to find their place in the hierarchy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Undoubtedly a Brit of Pakington’s time (and perhaps today) would recognize the various gradations of class in these characters better than an oblivious Yank, but it’s quite entertaining enough just seeing them all struggling to impress or beat down each other, and fortunately no subtle understanding of social structures and strictures is necessary to get the jokes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Without any major overarching plot, Pakington is free to indulge in the most elaborate and entertaining set-pieces, such as the dialogue between Robert and Helen as they try to work out the precise language of the newspaper announcement of their move to the country. It takes several pages in all, but here's a sample:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Can't you see that 'gone into residence' is impossibly pompous?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"It's what the Canfields put when they came into Warnedon, Robert."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Ah, but Warnedon is much more of a place than this, and the Canfields are much bigger people than we are, or think they are—and it's very different when one 'comes into' a place, as you call it. I should just say 'arrived at'."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Very well, dear, but I think 'arriving' sounds rather sudden, as if we hadn't been expected."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There's an absolutely epic scene of the complications that ensue in Helen's efforts to ensure an equal balance of men and women at her first dinner party in the country—that and the party itself fill the better part of two hilarious chapters which in themselves are worth the price of admission.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And even more fun comes a few chapters along when Laura plans a house party that has at least one guest sleeping in a dressing room on a camp bed. I particularly loved the party games she insists upon, especially one in which she shows fragments of photos of famous figures' faces and the challenge is to guess who it is. Unsurprisingly, the results vary quite a lot—here's just a sample:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Mummy, how on earth were we to know it was Queen Mary, with only a tiny bit of cheek showing?" cried June.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"You weren't supposed to know," said Elizabeth.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Then why not cover the photograph up altogether? I'd got Mr. Henry Ford for that one."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Why Ford?" asked the Rector. "Why not Morris?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Why not anyone?" said June.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I had got William Morris for number eight," said Uncle William.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"You've made it much too difficult, Mummy," said June.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I don't think so at all, dear. They seemed quite easy to me."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"That's all very well, but you saw them all first: who's number three?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Number three," said Helen, "is the Archbishop of Canterbury."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"By jove," said Robert, "I was close that time! I put Edith Sitwell. Did you spot the Archbishop, Rector?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Er, no, not exactly, but I've got him down later. I suppose I could count a half for that."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"What did you put for that, Miss Porter?" asked Elizabeth.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I seem to have made some mistake," said Miss Porter; "I have been putting down the names of the photographers. I put Bassano for that one, but I see how you play now."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"It's all right, Miss Porter," said William Pilbeam, "I think you'll be as near as any of us."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At a later dinner party given by June in her new home, we encounter the dreadful Lady Langley, whose "medley of impertinences and insults" shifts from one victim to another as each is rescued in turn:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mrs. Hodge, released from the jaws of the inquisition, dragged her mangled form into a corner to be solaced by the familiar chatter of her friend Lady Papworth, who was a bird-like little woman in black and white with an interest in the mission-field.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pakington also has some fun with his local place names too, most prominently the Abbot's Bottom (a dip in the landscape), which gets quite a lot of amusing play. But my personal favorite is the church of St. Alice-in-the-Skittle-Alley.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s all absolutely terrific good fun, without any redeeming social or moral value whatsoever, which is right up my alley. Despite his Y chromosome, I’ve ordered a couple more of Humphrey Pakington’s novels and will be judiciously using them as needed for some sprightly literary uplift.</span></p></span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-91902043475385339942023-08-03T18:58:00.001-07:002023-08-03T18:58:18.020-07:00"A shattering present": KITTY BARNE, Mother at Large (1938)<p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">[Here's another unpublished short review written late last year and now retrieved from my archives. Hope you enjoy it!]</span></i></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1qz3lkfw4OWZGIYq2A2ibmo0eZKTA3TU6hyXQIfO9B7ZLAzWss-ZVhRUKLB-tUhnQAq0rY6JsYM8Sx-QLQb_Lmg96QqXS3R81WArPd0G-Y1VOBQT_3OoUB50zfciZFH-mI98IbzsjW1z9PTrA1IRxCgiTUtHq9C3xrZXUeO1jJFvIy5hdQhlb9NQs9g/s739/Barne,%20Kitty%20-%20Mother%20at%20Large%20sp%20det.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="367" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1qz3lkfw4OWZGIYq2A2ibmo0eZKTA3TU6hyXQIfO9B7ZLAzWss-ZVhRUKLB-tUhnQAq0rY6JsYM8Sx-QLQb_Lmg96QqXS3R81WArPd0G-Y1VOBQT_3OoUB50zfciZFH-mI98IbzsjW1z9PTrA1IRxCgiTUtHq9C3xrZXUeO1jJFvIy5hdQhlb9NQs9g/w199-h400/Barne,%20Kitty%20-%20Mother%20at%20Large%20sp%20det.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><br />"What a family! Uncle Robert's much the same as ever—he never was a great piece of work. I gather he is seldom there. One daughter is a rabbit, poor soul; nerves or glands or something of the kind. The other, Veronica, is attractive enough—she's captured John all right. She looks quite another kind of person. A gossipy old lady perched beside me for a moment and told me she had been abroad for three or four years; she said it in the sort of intense voice that hints as Pasts. But no one with that mother could have a past, or a future, or anything but a shattering present."</span></blockquote><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-411854bc-7fff-66a1-6de7-40f5eb73fc53"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two families—the charming, artistic, informal Symonds family and the stuffier, well-to-do, and rather more troubled Maxwell-Lindsays— neighbors who have just discovered a distant familial connection, come together with dramatic results when the two young Symonds twins are asked to sing at Mrs. Maxwell-Lindsay's party, after which 19-year-old John has an accident that requires him to stay at the Maxwell-Lindsay's house for several weeks (as so often tends to happen), where he therefore has ample time to fall naively but head-over-heels in love with Veronica, six years his senior, who "has a Past".</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The type of middlebrow fiction I most love—humorous, domestic-themed, romantically inclined, a bit on the cozy side—is not calculated to give me a lot of gasp-out-loud plot developments. Often, I could quite confidently place bets about more or less how a novel's plot will end up (though I am sometimes pleasantly surprised by exactly how it gets there), and this doesn't subtract from my reading pleasure any more than knowing, when reading a mystery, that the murderer will ultimately be found out and justice will prevail takes away from the fun of the unravelling. Which made it all the more exciting when I came to page 198 of </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mother at Large</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Kitty Barne's debut novel, and absolutely gasped in shock and delight, loudly enough that Andy came from the other room to confirm I hadn't maimed myself.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6JjhYIlyHJ11LK-z1FljzwlZqe8dq83ccrsDhBaG8OFgVxb7wCoD7XCrvKpbCxExMYDPTA3fbApy98PXRnQiJ1gaJKd-uk20CDRWgzV-L9wQmoo1YkwBmNoafstvD3b35H_tQn0I0rP2PS0PS2EpSH3rdbtk26tdrkZEGmw2H-22k_lpW6Pk8FzGdw/s904/Barne,%20Kitty%20-%20Mother%20at%20Large%20tp.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="593" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6JjhYIlyHJ11LK-z1FljzwlZqe8dq83ccrsDhBaG8OFgVxb7wCoD7XCrvKpbCxExMYDPTA3fbApy98PXRnQiJ1gaJKd-uk20CDRWgzV-L9wQmoo1YkwBmNoafstvD3b35H_tQn0I0rP2PS0PS2EpSH3rdbtk26tdrkZEGmw2H-22k_lpW6Pk8FzGdw/w263-h400/Barne,%20Kitty%20-%20Mother%20at%20Large%20tp.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I won't spoil anything about it, because should you be able to get your hands on this novel (or go to the British Library to read it), you should be able to gasp as well (do it quietly if you're at the BL, please), but although this was a slightly darker development than the climax of Doris Langley Moore's </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Game of Snakes and Ladders</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (and this novel overall isn't quite so masterly and brilliant as Moore's), I haven't had such a satisfying gasp/laugh moment since reading that book.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here, we have a prime example of the monstrous mother theme that was so popular among women writers of this period (I can't help wondering if a powerful Ph.D. dissertation couldn't be written about the sources of this prevalent theme—the changing times, the evolving roles of women, generational rebellion, efforts to liberate oneself from previous norms, etc.). Or in this case I should really say "monstrous Madre", as that's what Mrs. Maxwell-Lindsay's shell-shocked, beaten-down offspring call her. As we meet the family here, "Madre" has convinced herself, thanks to a fortune-teller's premonition, that she will die before the end of June of the current year, and her plans for her impending decease make her even more of a nightmare than usual—driving Gwen nearly to a breakdown and threatening to reveal Veronica's secrets.</span></p><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've read and enjoyed several of Kitty Barne's books—she is perhaps best known for her excellent children's book </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She Shall Have Music</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and its sequel (for grownups) </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While the Music Lasted</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the latter reprinted by Greyladies a few years back. Like her more famous in-law, Noel Streatfeild (who reportedly encouraged Barne to start writing), Barne is quite good at creating believable family dynamics and entertaining characters. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mother at Large</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> perhaps settles sometimes a bit too much into melodrama for my taste—the hand-wringing over Veronica's scandalous past is certainly realistic for its time, but a little tedious to read about these days—and the structure seemed a little unsteady to me—we start out with the likeable Symonds family (with whom I might have preferred to stay for the entire novel), but they soon all but vanish from the novel while we focus on the Maxwell-Lindsays. None of that kept me from happily turning pages, however, and the resolution of the tale is rather intriguingly unexpected, leaving open at least the possibility that all the characters (even Madre) will end more happily than they began.</span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-28862307133830224552023-07-28T08:18:00.000-07:002023-07-28T08:18:49.853-07:00"So coolly silent, so vast and beautiful": KATHERINE DUNNING, The Spring Begins (1934)<p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>[Another unpublished review written some time last year, following a very kind communication from a Dunning fan, as described below. I held off publishing it until we'd got round to considering the rights situation, but it's one of my favorite finds as a blogger and, indeed, my best claim to having found a truly great (in a literary sense) "lost" masterpiece.] </i></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4Ql8y4Tz22uDrArDsLh1zltSJOxPFK58SytzztciZHPkgs8DX2p8qhDh-pkoYm4BSQJ9SfsYuH5NAE65r9Bqp6H8MbQZrNe0sbRBChWnGGdjRFGZbTWRLxwfE0tSutEf8kfETwpOiD50D0T3I7A2thp-PvDLsdz5f_lSYOLC8w6WMxZ2XuuZbH8nqow=s640" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="398" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4Ql8y4Tz22uDrArDsLh1zltSJOxPFK58SytzztciZHPkgs8DX2p8qhDh-pkoYm4BSQJ9SfsYuH5NAE65r9Bqp6H8MbQZrNe0sbRBChWnGGdjRFGZbTWRLxwfE0tSutEf8kfETwpOiD50D0T3I7A2thp-PvDLsdz5f_lSYOLC8w6WMxZ2XuuZbH8nqow=w249-h400" width="249" /></a></div><br />But wasn't it silly, standing there waving her arms up and down and watching her big white nightgown moving so unreally in the darkness around her? If she just turned quickly on her toes like the children did when they were pretending to be fairies blown through the garden by the wind, her nightgown fled out away from her, leaving her body bare and light against the air. But it was not delicate or nice to think of herself as naked. It was all right from her head down to the top of her collar, and from her knees down to her toes she was flesh and blood again, but in between there was nothing at all—just a conveniently sized dummy's model on which to hang her blue gingham frock and white apron.</span></blockquote><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1f7e1fdf-7fff-a4fb-450c-cffb23343091"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This extraordinary novel, undoubtedly influenced by Woolf if a bit less radically experimental, takes place in and around the home of the well-to-do Kellaways, a family perhaps not unlike Woolf's Ramsays from </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To the Lighthouse</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. But here, by wonderful contrast with Woolf, the Kellaways themselves remain firmly in the background, rather ethereal supporting characters in the small dramas of which the lead actors are two of the Kellaway's young servants and a young neighbor, a classic impoverished gentlewoman, working as governess for the local vicar.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But while </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Spring Begins</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> evokes </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To the Lighthouse</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, it goes well beyond Woolf's areas of expertise in its focus on servant girls and their burgeoning sexuality—neither topics dear Virginia would have been able to address so vividly and convincingly as Katherine Dunning does here. Perhaps you might say this is </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To the Lighthouse</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> crossed with </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Picnic at Hanging Rock</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, though that hardly sufficiently describes its seductive charms.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There's the lovely Lottie, raised in an orphanage, in awe of her "betters" and thoroughly terrified of men due to the horrors gleefully described by the stern Nurse (a sort of opposite of Juliet's nurse, obsessed with morbid fantasies of brutality against women), yet vividly awake to the nature and people around her. She could most clearly be a Woolf character, with her intense responses to everything from sunshine and flowers to the morning light or the way her nightgown billows around her. And alongside the horrors Nurse has warned her about is the figure of George, an employee on the estate, who doesn't seem such a monster… It's a delight to be inside Lottie's head:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the edge of the sea Lottie halted, and spread out her hands a little. She was utterly alone, here by the sea's edge. Behind her was the sand, pale and cool-looking now, and the dark trees that guarded the house.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She drew in a long deep breath. It was heavenly here, so coolly silent, so vast and beautiful with the evening's stillness. Out further from the land the sea grew coloured with a pink that glanced lightly off the glistening water and changed and broke a little with each of the water's smooth, scarcely noticeable, movements.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, this would not do. This was not the way to find the baby's toy. The blessed little love! She went down on her hands and knees and began running her fingers over the sand. One of the other children might have trodden it beneath the loose surface. But she could not find it anywhere, though she searched over a large area. And now what would Nurse say to her?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then there's racy, sensual Maggie, the scullery maid, who has always kept herself a "good girl" but finds herself submitting to the lusty gardener whose passion for her, among other satisfactions, lends her an unprecedented sense of dignity in her constant scrubbing and sweeping and in her poor treatment by a scornful, never-satisfied Cook. She's an earthy girl, who knows her own mind even when her mind is overruled by her body, and it's hard not to love her as well. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB5RO6-1jdlqP9eb_q57XTAe3KpmZ1Xv4dcAOT4WHEBTskZNSk_dzyS71W5Vldd2I14XdTwAXnXgfM-n_RqC8ZnHscr8UUhOrZUqt0gjQPjd7Xf4X3QP2ioNR8kxk8lnvQq40okkodO59pv7HWQPJH6ZMs7Ur7kIBn2uGgOP3oW3d1_SK9Fbh-XeEtxg=s2200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2200" data-original-width="1526" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB5RO6-1jdlqP9eb_q57XTAe3KpmZ1Xv4dcAOT4WHEBTskZNSk_dzyS71W5Vldd2I14XdTwAXnXgfM-n_RqC8ZnHscr8UUhOrZUqt0gjQPjd7Xf4X3QP2ioNR8kxk8lnvQq40okkodO59pv7HWQPJH6ZMs7Ur7kIBn2uGgOP3oW3d1_SK9Fbh-XeEtxg=w278-h400" width="278" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">And there's Hessie, a "plain" young woman, impoverished middle class, constantly thinking of what is proper and acceptable behavior as a result of her mother's obsession with gentility. Hessie is a bit older than the other two protagonists, and has grown desperate for love both as a result of terrible loneliness and because of the impending marriage of her younger sister. Hessie's is the most difficult head to be inside—neurotic and needy, pathetic and insecure—and yet it's impossible not to be moved by her struggles to escape her cage. She convinces herself that Mr. Saul, a clergymen, is attracted to her, though it is crystal clear to the reader that he is barely aware of her existence, as when she answers a telephone call while working in the vicar's home:</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I'm afraid Mr. Benson is in the garden, but I could take a message."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Thanks, but I'll answer this myself."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Really there were moments when Mr. Benson was almost rude. There was no need to push her aside like that. Mr. Saul had sounded as if he had wanted to go on speaking to her. The way he had said "Hessie?" and then as though a light had dawned on him, he had added lingeringly, "Oh yes, Hessie!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The lives of these three main characters rarely overlap and they are only vaguely aware of one another (though Hessie stares enviously at Lottie's youthful beauty once at a picnic). But they are thematically interwoven because all three are at a stage of awakening sensuality and desire, though in wildly varying ways. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although we fear for all three women now and again (Mrs. Kellaway's brother, Andrew, clearly takes an interest in Lottie, Maggie risks a pregnancy that would savage her life, and who can say what Hessie might be driven to do?), Dunning admirably resists the Woman-as-Victim theme a lesser writer might have invoked. Instead, the brutal murder of an unknown maid while Lottie is with the Kellaways on holiday stands in for the harsh reality that could have been awaiting any of our three vulnerable heroines. I was in such suspense at times about their fates, and was nearly giddy to find that all three get happy endings of a sort, in keeping with their personalities, though Hessie's is, as one would expect, the most ambivalent.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I can hardly express how passionately I loved this novel that is itself so quietly and beautifully focused on passion. These women, though acted upon by employers, neighbors, family members, and the sometimes degrading situations of their work, are, if not in control of their own destinies (surely no one is really that), at least primarily driven by their own desires and needs, which is unbelievably refreshing in a novel of this period. All three women, though completely different in their experiences, are allowed their dignity and their sense of themselves, even while frightened or threatened or driven nearly to hysteria. We know them, and know how they have come to where they are. Even Hessie, whose mind is the most agonizing to see inside, as she delusionally convinces herself of the desire and admiration of every man she meets, is fighting a rather noble battle to free herself from her mother's repressive prudishness and class sensibility. We see her move from blind acceptance of her mother's gentility to gradual rebellion against some of those sacred precepts, and it's rather heroic, if no less painful, to witness.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because Dunning's heroines are so perceptive and aware of their surroundings, we get fascinating details of the running of a country house and the lives of servants, as well as small town life and class awareness. Not to mention the marvelous realistic details that make the family's day at the beach very like experiencing the beach yourself—you can feel the sea breeze as Lottie does, and the sand getting uncomfortably into crevices, the waves breaking, children laughing, Nurse nagging. You can feel Hessie's constraining clothes, Maggie's aching muscles, and Lottie's anxiety and excitement when George appears.</span></p><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a really brilliant, wonderful book—one of the best "lost" works I've come across as a blogger (!!)—and I owe a debt of gratitude to Roderick Barman, an historian and scholar from British Columbia, for contacting me to recommend the book. I had come across a mention of it years ago in a review, and had had it flagged ever since as possibly of interest (along with literally hundreds of others), but Roderick's rave recommendation inspired an immediate Interlibrary Loan request and an eager reading of the book as soon as it arrived. Dunning also wrote three other novels</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stephen Sherrin</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1932), </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whatever the Heart Appoints</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1950), and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bright Blue Eye</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1952)—which Roderick very kindly <i>gifted </i>to me after he'd read them. He felt that none of them lived up to <i>The Spring Begins</i>, and I have to agree, though both of the latter were enjoyable and intriguing in their own way, and Kathy, a good friend of this blog, fell in love with <i>The Bright Blue Eye</i>, As I value her judgment highly, I may have to have a second look at that later, very different and more lighthearted work.</span>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-27489784139075886232023-07-21T16:37:00.001-07:002023-07-21T16:37:52.293-07:00A literary conundrum?: ANONYMOUS (but clearly E. M. DELAFIELD), The Bazalgettes (1935)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">[Another previously unpublished review written some time last year.]</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGSAxOjcLAe_lbCwywO8LMkK1woQL0bCBpNcZm3sqN7fjXdSzLvprfZmIn3vhFct17bCjWY6mMQK_zS_vGQTGHT2qrwi3wW5Z2plmHpoZgxZsuugvK3jCB7ZEg1wTLA4jh4BXHxHANLpuSOdfGRXHJCyD_OlytjZgnQNL-rqsaGMwVraipNanI64Q5NlrY/s2300/Delafield,%20E.%20M.%20-%20The%20Bazalgettes%20tp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2300" data-original-width="1519" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGSAxOjcLAe_lbCwywO8LMkK1woQL0bCBpNcZm3sqN7fjXdSzLvprfZmIn3vhFct17bCjWY6mMQK_zS_vGQTGHT2qrwi3wW5Z2plmHpoZgxZsuugvK3jCB7ZEg1wTLA4jh4BXHxHANLpuSOdfGRXHJCyD_OlytjZgnQNL-rqsaGMwVraipNanI64Q5NlrY/w264-h400/Delafield,%20E.%20M.%20-%20The%20Bazalgettes%20tp.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This anonymous novel of the years 1870-76 is something of a literary conundrum and will, we believe, cause much discussion. When it came to us the style seemed faintly familiar and we suspected who might have written it. It seemed to us well worth publishing, both as a literary curiosity and also because it is interesting to see a theme that might well have been chosen by the most modern of present-day novelists treated in the Victorian manner.</span></p></blockquote><span id="docs-internal-guid-de50c4c7-7fff-760e-2df7-c161028c5315"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Such was the note from the publisher when </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Bazalgettes, or Folly and Farewell </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">appeared anonymously in 1935. Indeed, one feels sure that they </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">must</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> have "suspected who might have written it," since the royalty checks were presumably written to someone, but some critics seemed to have played along with the mystery, suggesting that perhaps it was a lost work by the likes of Charlotte Yonge or Rhoda Broughton. I suspect that very few critics </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">really</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> believed this entertaining melodrama of misguided marriage was of Victorian origin. Surely all but the most gullible would have realized it was by a contemporary author. But the question was who? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I came across this novel when I was pouring through reviews from 1935 in search of interesting unknown authors or new details about books I already knew. It's something I used to do more regularly, but have got back into recently—just selecting a year from my range and a publication that regularly did book reviews, and pouring through them on the glorious British Newspaper Archive. So I was first introduced to </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Bazalgettes</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> almost as a contemporary would have been—as an anonymous work that might be contemporary or might genuinely be Victorian. But as soon as I decided to see if any copies were available, the mystery was quickly resolved.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Of course, I have the advantage of having read several of E. M. Delafield's other works, which some of the predominantly male critics commenting on the novel might not have had. But I have to say there are quite a few clues within the novel that any Delafield fan would have picked up. Just choosing a passage a random, how about this as a clue?:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Her devotion, which begins by touching Margaret, is rapidly approaching the stage when its only effect is to </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">énerver</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> her almost beyond endurance.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Oh, that distinctive, wry slippage into French! </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg-NuR3njsWDWWnDj7eSmfpuuIYmuctpS0CLsh4PRiF-fdOhABlzuAESSCK4gGyX7L9dOpcaj2DcPbhYgBMaHwKmYb0hrLv9qOfFyvaS8oazlNi01RX3m1eTU6HzURbWYLplNbafg__g5yZvehaV2AFbIAw4fmkm8tSm5VrhOIMGSS8QOcYxAkr1h9_Nr7/s844/Delafield,%20E.%20M.%20-%20The%20Bazalgettes%20sp%20detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="441" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg-NuR3njsWDWWnDj7eSmfpuuIYmuctpS0CLsh4PRiF-fdOhABlzuAESSCK4gGyX7L9dOpcaj2DcPbhYgBMaHwKmYb0hrLv9qOfFyvaS8oazlNi01RX3m1eTU6HzURbWYLplNbafg__g5yZvehaV2AFbIAw4fmkm8tSm5VrhOIMGSS8QOcYxAkr1h9_Nr7/w209-h400/Delafield,%20E.%20M.%20-%20The%20Bazalgettes%20sp%20detail.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />The novel begins in Austen-esque mode, with Margaret Mardon, the oldest of two sisters hitherto believed unmarriageable by their terrible, tantrum-ridden father, discussing with her aunt her surprising engagement to the much older and well-to-do Mr. Bazalgette. Said aunt wastes no time in sharing her feelings about the decision:</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 40.5pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">'I cannot tell you at all unless you will give me your full attention. Only—only—pray do not think me very foolish, Aunt, but I had so very much rather that you did not look at me.'</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 40.5pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">'I am to give you my full attention, I am not to think you very foolish, and you had so very much rather that I did not look at you. Well, I can undertake to gratify your first and your third requirements.'</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Suffice it to say the marriage does turn out rather foolish, as Mr. Bazalgette is conservative and elderly in his views and activities, and Margaret finds her only pleasure in trying to coax his brow-beaten children from his previous marriage into some semblance of happy childhood. At least, that is her only pleasure until Mr. Bazalgette's adult son Charlie, whose existence has only just been revealed to Margaret, arrives on the scene for a visit…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Having discovered that the novel was by Delafield (and doesn't seem to be widely known by readers as part of her oeuvre), I of course had high hopes for it. I couldn't say those hopes were entirely fulfilled, though my lack of experience with Victorian melodrama may mean I'm not its ideal target audience. However, I did keep reading, and enjoyed it for the most part, though it sinks </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">quite</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> a long way into gushy sentimentality in the final section (possibly amusing and perhaps satirical for those who know more about the Victorian novels Delafield was channeling, but not quite so entertaining for me as the lighter, more humorous sections earlier on).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But even if this didn't fulfill my secret fantasies of a </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Provincial Lady in Victorian England</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, I still enjoyed reading </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Bazalgettes</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and what's more I suspected that many of you might not know about the book—or who really wrote it!</span></p>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-27087363689594363602023-07-13T08:53:00.000-07:002023-07-13T08:53:06.899-07:00"They sinned. Need one say more?": ELEANOR FARJEON, Miss Granby's Secret (1941)<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>[Another review from my archives which never got published here. This one I was definitely holding off on publicizing until we could confirm rights and move forward on reprinting it. It's one of my all-time favorite discoveries, and I hope someone else will get round to reprinting it soon.]</i> </span></p><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBOBvKp4MGVMi5FM7bnWEC0NA7ylmgYh5TisuRTalGGC7Rcel9o8pMrK54kryFgabwZZTNYAX-wz3BwGIPRwQlnnZTqfHv39Q14lBKplHPNuhyJXjlEB94a8lQx8NOU8i4sH8xuliJwMrWEA6JfjB7CuVVqoQG0rYlKdrQ-wOfOLyNBcHTLyHbkoafw/s491/Farjeon,%20Eleanor%20-%20Miss%20Granby's%20Secret%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="343" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBOBvKp4MGVMi5FM7bnWEC0NA7ylmgYh5TisuRTalGGC7Rcel9o8pMrK54kryFgabwZZTNYAX-wz3BwGIPRwQlnnZTqfHv39Q14lBKplHPNuhyJXjlEB94a8lQx8NOU8i4sH8xuliJwMrWEA6JfjB7CuVVqoQG0rYlKdrQ-wOfOLyNBcHTLyHbkoafw/w280-h400/Farjeon,%20Eleanor%20-%20Miss%20Granby's%20Secret%20cover.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>How much did Aunt Addie know?</i></span><p></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">How much did she feel?</span></span></p></blockquote><span id="docs-internal-guid-66418948-7fff-2420-fdc5-41330a2c9e37"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wouldn't usually begin a review with the final two lines of a novel, but in this case they're uniquely appropriate, and not at all a spoiler, since this entire clever, unexpectedly satisfying novel is clearly about—as well as leaving open to each reader's interpretation—just how much Aunt Addie </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">did</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> know.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aunt Addie is better known to the world at large as Adelaide Granby, the fabulously successful author of 49 volumes of Victorian purple prose—gushing, melodramatic romantic fiction. Upon her death in 1912, flowers and cards pour in, including one particularly lavish set "From Stanislaw", whom her independent-minded, suffragette grand-niece Pamela confidently asserts to have been "darling Aunt Addie's </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grande Passion</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rather to Pamela's surprise, she also inherits both Aunt Addie's childhood home and a stack of secret papers, which includes both diaries from Aunt Addie's youth and her first novel, written long ago when she was only 16 and inspired by the love of her life, entitled </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bastard of Pinsk</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. ("Bastard", 16-year-old Adelaide was convinced, referred to "A very noble Hero of Royal Blood"—she is gracious enough to provide a glossary of terms, which also includes "Pimp", "An exquisite Young Gentleman of Fashion", and "Wore", a woman "who has been worn by Life".) </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFsfyoHn6tvFp6V3w2XxQKwtvKyK5wxXUdntBu4K66vq2XzUZLUbvz-LwOec7plRSRd8CzR3f_dELdNgCdNJKJeaPLgaBPi1nlHa_km89xJVi2F2pwbvwwoRoAbE5loOlTSlDHk9urVWdglJal3SFrG7RCbMfth96vhl5P2BMQV2EXjScAPhS7KI5MbQ/s637/Farjeon,%20Eleanor%20-%20Miss%20Granby's%20Secret%20glossory.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="506" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFsfyoHn6tvFp6V3w2XxQKwtvKyK5wxXUdntBu4K66vq2XzUZLUbvz-LwOec7plRSRd8CzR3f_dELdNgCdNJKJeaPLgaBPi1nlHa_km89xJVi2F2pwbvwwoRoAbE5loOlTSlDHk9urVWdglJal3SFrG7RCbMfth96vhl5P2BMQV2EXjScAPhS7KI5MbQ/w318-h400/Farjeon,%20Eleanor%20-%20Miss%20Granby's%20Secret%20glossory.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">We, the reader, explore these documents along with Pamela, as well as her conversations with Alicia Linton, Adelaide's old governess who aided and abetted her romance, now residing in a Home for Gentlewomen in Surbiton, and Ada Dancey, daughter of Adelaide's maid and butler, who will play an important role in the unraveling of Aunt Addie's secret (if unravelled it be), to try to find the real-life source of Adelaide's romantic sensibility.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, despite some very enticing contemporary reviews of this book, when I saw that it included a 200-page novel-within-a-novel, an attempt at a bodice-ripper by a young girl with a clearly limited understanding of just how bodices get ripped, I confess I had a distinct sinking feeling. I don't typically get on well with novels within novels to begin with (even the universally praised </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Magpie Murders</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> proved too distracting for me), and I feared that the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Young Visiters</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-type humor would wear thin in much less than 200 pages, however intriguing I found the surrounding narrative from Pamela's perspective. But I have to admit that Eleanor Farjeon (well-known for her children's fiction, but rarely acknowledged for her adult novels—more on that below) pulled it off. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bastard of Pinsk</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, though certainly containing some wonderful jokes at the expense of poor Adelaide's ignorance (I couldn't stop giggling at the lines "They sinned. Need one say more?" followed by a footnote "Mem: Find out.-A.G.", and the novel ends with three sisters all expecting the departed Bastard's children at any moment—within hours, perhaps, or even after several years!), is actually a rollicking little page-turner, full of drama, secret identities, and plentiful romance. It's quite genuinely entertaining (with perhaps a bit of a satire on Georgette Heyer?), and in the context of the framing plot with Pamela investigating Adelaide's past, it's surprisingly effective.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don't want to give the impression that the novel is entirely comic, either. Its structure might evoke A. S. Byatt's </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possession</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, while it's perspective is a curious melding of </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Young Visiters</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and Elizabeth Taylor's </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Angel</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, with more than a hint of the nostalgia of Ruby Ferguson's </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. And yet it ends up producing effects all its own—humor at the expense of Addie's teenage romanticism and ignorance is leavened by a surprisingly touching story told in her naïve way; the acidity that Taylor brought to her portrayal of a silly writer of tortured romances is here rendered as a compassionate attempt to understand an oversheltered Victorian girl's experience of love; and the nostalgia for a simpler time that Farjeon must have intended as part of her 1941 novel's appeal (the brief author bio at the end notes that </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Miss Granby's Secret</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was written in a bomb shelter in London) is also undercut by the thoroughly modern Pamela's advocacy of progressive causes (initially the Vote, then others once that is achieved) and her gobsmacked horror at how sheltered and smothered Aunt Addie had been. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-frRlThXuAxdZirV7ez_DUd2II1uIqfMEQqelGiGt6YJZbF7J432rpRmWyv3AYqKdOiCL2ololpQdA4vrGAtSiajhgbEqosXHIJf5iSy-KLvw812lq_i1eDXYsSwx1pqxtxDAF8V2SclEgNWaauQ5_lhT3T_bSS18oDXfbx7t4dwbQWJHLZteYcyqdA/s1000/Farjeon,%20Eleanor.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-frRlThXuAxdZirV7ez_DUd2II1uIqfMEQqelGiGt6YJZbF7J432rpRmWyv3AYqKdOiCL2ololpQdA4vrGAtSiajhgbEqosXHIJf5iSy-KLvw812lq_i1eDXYsSwx1pqxtxDAF8V2SclEgNWaauQ5_lhT3T_bSS18oDXfbx7t4dwbQWJHLZteYcyqdA/w400-h400/Farjeon,%20Eleanor.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I love novels that can't quite be nailed down. This book is sentimental, yet brutally honest, nostalgic for and horrified by the sentiments of the past, romantic and political, hilarious and poignant, all at the same time. I couldn't begin to say what perspective ends up dominant, as I imagine it could well be quite different for different readers. And as to how much Aunt Addie knew and felt, and whether Stanislaw really was a "</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grande Passion</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">", each reader will ultimately have to decide that for themselves as well. I could see the novel triggering some fascinating discussions of what makes a love "real" and how much one really needs to know to experience it…</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One final quote, from the opening of </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bastard of Pinsk</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which I found doubly humorous because, though clearly a joke involving Addie's ignorance of certain words, it might read rather like a news story about any number of contemporary politicians: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin: 0pt 36pt 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These beauties were the wards and heirs of their great-uncle, Lord Tarletan of Braddon Hall and elsewhere. Lord Tarletan was a well-known lecher in London, where he enjoyed a wide and broad-minded acquaintance covering every class of society, from pimps to M.Ps.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I often seem to find that authors better known for children's books turn out to be surprisingly entertaining authors of novels for grownups. Margery Sharp, E. Nesbit, Ruby Ferguson, Noel Streatfeild, Verily Anderson, just among those we've reprinted, plus the likes of Rumer Godden, Dodie Smith, and doubtless numerous others I'm forgetting, all wrote entertaining novels for adults as well as their often more famous children's books. So I've meant to get round to Farjeon's adult novels for a long time now. She was quite well-known for her children's books (largely, if I'm not mistaken, for younger children), but also published a number of novels, particularly during World War II, for whatever reason. She was also, as many of you may know, the daughter of a major Victorian novelist, Benjamin Farjeon, and the sister of prolific mystery writer Joseph Jefferson Farjeon.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>[Sadly, since drafting this review, I've got hold of several more of Farjeon's novels for grownups, and the magic has not yet repeated itself. </i>Secret<i> manages a delicate balance of themes, as mentioned above, but the others I've sampled have tended more toward coyness or cutesyness. This one, however, remains one to treasure.]</i></span></p>Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.com4