off the beaten page: lesser-known British, Irish, & American women writers 1910-1960
No, I'm not going to attempt justify myself with apologies or excuses. I'm a terrible, awful, abysmal blogger, but nonetheless, here—just a bit earlier than usual due to the presence of one or two Christmassy/wintry titles—is my FM Dozen for 2025, an odd mix but one that includes several titles that might interest you lovely readers. We are just back from a excellent, spontaneous, and thoroughly…
Some of you may be interested in this book I picked up randomly a while back, and which somehow survived the great pre-Portugal book culling. It’s comprised of a series of lectures given by the great Argentinian author and poet Jorge Luis Borges in 1966, on the history of English lit (really British literature, as Scotland and Ireland in particular come into play, but the book cover says English,…
I am, I know, the world's worst and least reliable blogger, but I had to chime in today to thank some of you who expressed concern after Wednesday's terrible funicular derailment here in Lisbon. Fortunately, we were nowhere in the vicinity at the time, though it was shocking and distressing to hear about and we're so sad for the victims and their families. It could certainly have been us on…
Well, obviously this blog hasn't exactly become a hive of activity since my "return" last month. The rather sweltering Lisbon summer should have made staying indoors and furiously blogging a natural thing to do, but instead on many days it seems to leave me incapable of anything but draping myself across the furniture and reading. (In all fairness, the heat here is at least dry, so it could be…
I really can't thank you all enough for all the encouraging words and reassurance in your comments on my last post. It's pretty inspiring to be told, "Write about whatever you want and we'll enjoy it." It's unlikely that I'll take up trigonometry or the mechanics of nuclear fission as my next obsession, so you can feel reassured about that, but you've given me some ideas about directions I might…
I owe all of you lovely readers (if, indeed, there are any of you who haven't written me off forever by now) a sincere apology for vanishing for far longer than I had ever intended. I do apologize, and I feel terrible if any of you were fretting about us. It has been an extraordinarily eventful year—exciting and wonderful, but also logistically intense and requiring a fair amount of mental…
The long-awaited day has arrived! It's been a while since we've had a Release Day celebration for a new Furrowed Middlebrow title, but as of today Eleanor Farjeon's delightful Miss Granby's Secret is officially out in the world, and doesn't it look lovely added to my shelf? Thank you to all who pre-ordered. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
My apologies that this blog has got a bit creaky and cobwebby of late. There has been a lot going on (mostly positive—and indeed, a very interesting personal announcement will follow here in due course…). But at least now I get to make a big comeback with some very exciting middlebrow news! When Dean Street Press founder Rupert Heath tragically passed at far too young an age a little over a year…
Last but not least, in my fourth and final post highlighting authors recently added to my main writers list, I have 14 authors whose work was comprised of or included more or less traditional mystery or crime novels. The best news of all is that three of these authors have already been reprinted. The British Library Crime Classics series has already reprinted the one mystery by BILLIE HOUSTON ,…
This post, about 13 more authors added to my main author list in my most recent update, is a bit of a catch-all. All of them are interesting in one way or another—either for their work or their connections to better known figures, but they don't have anything in particular in common with each other. For example, I'm not certain I'll read any of JANE HUKK 's three novels, all concerned to some…
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 here and my previous post here ). 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…
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…
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…
Bright Intervals was Eileen Helen Clements' second novel. Her first, Let Him Die , 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. Bright Intervals , however, is a more or…
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. Jan Forrester's ability to "think things out" is the central focus of Cheap Return , the first novel (of four) by…
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…
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 Miss Buncle's Book , Ruby Ferguson's Apricot Sky , or Noel Streatfeild's Susan Scarlett novels (especially the early ones) is a lot harder to achieve than it might as first appear. I recently wrote about how seductive Betty…
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…
"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." 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…
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…
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…
"Do you believe in anything, Susan?" "No. Nothing. Except a sense of humour." 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…
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 ... " 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 ... " And this is how Kit…
"Don't you remember she called me a fool when I married you?'' "You probably were then," Tim agreed. "I've had a lot of bother with you myself." 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…
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 here , and for the complete list of the new authors added in this update, see here . This post will be a little embarrassing, as well, because I actually have, in my hot little hands as…