Another Grey Bank Holiday Weekend

It’s been a grey, wet and windy in Cornwall today. The sort of day you only venture out twice, and only then because the dog needs to be exercised. The sort of day when even Briar, when I opened the door, looked out with zero enthusiasm

And so for most of the rest of the day I have been reading and knitting.

Persephone Reading week has over-run in this house – I am still reading the poems of Virginia Graham and the short stories of Frances Towers. Both wonderful and both highly recommended.

And I have been perusing my shelves to put together a list for the R I P Challenge.

But it’s been more of a knitting day really.

Last year I gave mainly books for Christmas but this year I am knitting scarves. Here is what I have on the go at the moment: -

I always have several knitting projects on the go so I have something straightforward for odd moments, something portable, something more interesting …

The first is nearly done. Tilted blocks in two shades of purple for my future sister-in-law. Very simple but very effective.

The second is a cat’s paw scarf for a friend, in lovely Fyberspates sock yarn. I have only done a couple of repeats to see how it looks so far, but I am very pleased with the effect.

And then there is a shawl for my mother – she saw the yarn when I bought it without a project in mind and loved it. I decided on a shawl because she feels the cold in the evenings. Simple, but I did a few tests and stocking stitch seemed to suit the yarn best. The band at the edge unravels to form a fringe – I hope!

And finally, I’ve just cast on a ruffle scarf, knitted lengthways, for my niece. Another simple but effective pattern. 250 stithes now but it increases to nearly 2,000. I may need a second circular needle!

And now I’m going to open up The Alchemy of Murder by Carol McCleary. America’s first female investigative reporter encounters murder and mayhem at the World’s Fair in Paris. It looks wonderful!

What is a Persephone Book? (part 2) – Plus Giveaway Winners

I was felled by a mystery illness yesterday, and so I spent most of the weekend dozing, ocasionally rallying to read a short story from Tea With Mr Rochester by Frances Towers. I am delighted to report that it is every bit as delightful as the title suggests, and I don’t doubt that it is aided my recovery.

(I am feeling a lot better, but still not quite with it, so please forgive any incoherence!)

And then I pondered a second “What is a Perspephone Book?” post to try to convery the wonder of the words inside those lovely packages. Words failed me I’m afraid, and I can do no better than quote the Persephone website.

Persephone prints mainly neglected fiction and non-fiction by women, for women and about women. The titles are chosen to appeal to busy women who rarely have time to spend in ever-larger bookshops and who would like to have access to a list of books designed to be neither too literary nor too commercial. The books are guaranteed to be readable, thought-provoking and impossible to forget.

Do visit that delightful site, and do remember that Claire has provided links to many wonderful posts written for Persephone Reading Week.

And now to giveaway recipients:

Doreen will be finding a home with Merenia

Little Boy Lost will be going to Rachel

Could you let me have your mailing details by email (the address is near the top of my sidebar) or via a private messsage on LibraryThing please?

Persephone Reading Week has been quite wonderful. Thank you to our hosts, and here’s to next time!

Two Quotations and two Books to Give Away This Friday: Persephone Books

A variation on my usual Friday theme for Persephone Reading Week!

‘What an extraordinary place,’ said Hilary, standing in the entrance and staring at the grass growing between the cobblestones. ‘This isn’t Paris – it’s some shabby village away from all the routes natioanales.’ He added with a kind of delight, ‘It’s a splendidly romantic place to begin a search from.”

From Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski

I wrote about it here, and I’m giving away the Persephone Classics edition.

At this time of the morning, with an hour or more to go before the shops opened and the office staffs assembled, there were few people about on the streets and most of them were solitary women in their oldest clothes. Unconscious guardians of London’s morale, the cleaners went as usual to their work.

From Doreen by Barbara Noble

I wrote about it here and I’m giving away the original Persephone edition.

Both books are used, but in excellent condition. There are some books that when I find used copies I just have to pick up from the shelves and find good new homes!

It would be lovely to help a fellow devotee’s collection along, but it would also be lovely to be able to send somebody their first Persephone Book. So I’m going to make it easy. All you need to do to be in with a chance is leave me a comment telling me how you first discovered Persephone books …

Entries close Sunday 10pm BST. And could you mention if you’d like to go in both draws or, if not, which one please?

What is a Persephone Book? (part 1)

What is a Persephone Book? Well I could just say ” a sheer delight” and it would be true, but I think I shall elaborate a little. So what I’m going to do is consider the books as beautiful objects today and then take a look at what lies within tomorrow.

A Persephone Book is a well bound softback book. The paper is of excellent quality and so often when you look inside you will find a shorter book than you may have expected, because the paper is thicker than the norm.

It is dressed in a dove-grey dust jacket. The front cover and the spine each have a very discreet logo; and the title and the author’s name in a cream box.

The back has the logo too, plus the book’s serial number in small black type.

The book that you can see in the pictures in number 41 in the series – The Blank Wall by Elizabeth Sanxay Holding.

And you will see from the second picture that when you remove the dust jacket you will see that the book cover is designed in exactly the same way as the dust jacket.

But what do you find when you open that cover?

Well you will see a quotation from the book on the dust jacket flap:

 

“She got a book and read it in bed with stubborn determination. It was a mystery story she had got out of the lending library for her father, and she was not fond of mystery stories. Nobody in them ever seemed to fell sorry about murders, she had said. They’re presented as a problem m’dear her father said. What’s more they generally show the murdered person as someone you can’t waste any pity on. I’m sorry for them she said, I hate it when they’re found with dagger sticking in them and their eyes all staring from poison and things like that. Yet how little pity did she feel for Ted Darby! I relly did that, she thought amazed. I concealed a body. Anyhow I took it away. And when I ame back – after that – nobody could see anything wrong with me – anything queer. Maybe I haven’t got so much feeling, after all. Maybe I’m rather too tough. I’d better be too, she thought, as she rose and started to dress.”

And on the back flap you will find some biographical information about the author:

“ELISABETH SANXAY HOLDING (1889-1955) was born and brought up in New York and educated at Miss Whitcombe’s and other schools for young ladies. In 1913 she married George Holding, a British diplomat. They had two daughters and lived in various South American countries, and then in Bermuda, where her husband was a government official. Elisabeth Sanxay Holding wrote six romantic novels in the 1920s but, after the stock market crash, turned to the more profitable genre of detective novels: from 1929-54 she wrote eighteen, as well as numerous short stories for magazines. In 1949 Raymond Chandler chose her as ‘the best character and suspense writer (for consistent but not large production)’, picking The Blank Wall (1947) as one of his favourites among her books; it was filmed as The Reckless Moment in 1949 (by Max Ophuls) and as The Deep End (with Tilda Swinton) in 2001. After her husband’s retirement the Holdings lived in New York City.”

But before you read any of that you will have stopped to admire the beautiful endpapers. They are all based on fabrics and they will always be relevant to the book.

In this case the design is from late forties furnishing fabric. Contemporary with the book of course.

 

And you may find a bookmark inside your Persephone book. It will only come with your book if you order it direct from Persephone, but if you get in touch you can order a bookmark if you have a book without one.

The bookmark is made of stiff card, and I have borrowed the bookmark from A House in the Country by Jocelyn Playfair so I can show you both sides.

One side shows the same design as the endpaper and the other carries another tempting quotation:

 

“”My name is Donnelly,” he said. “Yes?” said Luia evenly. Maybe it’s nothing, she told herself. Maybe it’s just about insurance. Or selling war bonds. Or something ordinary. “I’d like a few words with you,” he said, and jerked his dark head toward the open door behing her. ” Well … what about?” she asked, with an attempt at defiance. He reached past her and closed the door. You’ll be wanting those letters,” he said. “What letters?” They were standing close to each other, facing each other; she looked up at him, still attempting that defiance, and he looked at her absently. “The letters your daughter wrote to Ted Darby,” he said. “The price is five thousand dollars. Cash.”"

After all of that I am sure that you will be ready to turn to the introduction and then the book itself.

But just one more thing I must mention. Originally all Persephones have been published in the the format I have described, but nine of them have now been published as Persephone Classics. No dust jacket or bookmark, but colourful covers, scaled-down flap information and endpapers and a lower price. They are lovely, but I am a traditionalist and will be sticking with with the dove-grey covers.

Though the Persephone Classics covers are beautiful …

Persephone Reading Week is being hosted here and here.

Persephone Poetry Books

Verity has written about Persephone’s wonderful non-fiction titles, but I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned the poetry yet.

There are two novels in verse: Lettice Delmer by Susan Miles and Amours de Voyage by Arthur Clough. Both look intriguing and are very definitely on my wishlist.

And then there are two collections of verse.

There’s Consider the Years by Virginia Graham, a wonderfully readable and evocative collection of verse about England between 1938 and 1945. Momentous years! I’m wending my way through the pages and I’ll write more when I’m done.

I’ve only flipped through It’s Hard to be Hip Over Thirty by Judith Viorst, but I can already see that it is a gem. It dates from the late 1960s and is a wonderful, frequently darkly comic, record of those times.

I’m disappointed that it’s one review on LibraryThing suggests that it is a volume that will date badly and soon disappear. My impression so far is that it succeeds in being both of its time and timeless.

Here is one poem that I think stands up wonderfully. In fact, it reminds me of a particular friend of my mother – she’s a lovely lady, but she has one particular trait …

IDA, THE ONE WHO SUFFERS

Whatever happens to me
Has already happened to Ida the one who suffers,
Only worse,
And with complications,
And her surgeon says it’s a miracle she survived,
And her team of lawyers is suing for half a million,
And her druggist gave a gasp when he read the prescription,
And her husband never saw such courage,
Because (though it may sound like bragging) she’s not a complainer,
Which is why the nurse was delighted to carry her bedpan,
And her daughter flew in from the sit-in to visit,
And absolute strangers were begging to give blood donations,
And the man from Prudential even had tears in his eyes,
Because (though it may sound like bragging) everyone loves her,
Which is why both of her sisters were phoning on day rates from Denton,
And her specialist practically forced her to let him make house calls,
And the lady who lean insisted on coming in Sundays,
And the cousins have cancelled the Cousins Club meeting,
And she’s almost embarassed to mention how many presents
Keep arriving from girlfriends who love her all over the country,
All of them eating their hearts out with worry for Ida,
The one who suffers
The way other people
Enjoy.

And finally, of course, there are the endpapers. These are based on a 1960s Liberty print, and they provide a wonderful burst of warmth and colour after the subtlety of the dove-grey jacket.

Persephone Reading Week is being hosted here and here.

High Wages by Dorothy Whipple

First a confession – and an unusual one for a Persephone lover – before this week I had never read anything by Dorothy Whipple!

I have collected her novels but, because they all seem to be long books and because I have heard so much good about them ,I have been saving them for a quiet, stress-free period that never seems to come around.

A few months ago I found a shorter, early Dorothy Whipple novel in an orange Penguin edition and I snapped it out without hesitation.

Later it was announced as one of this autumn’s three new Persephones, and so Persephone reading week seemed like the right time to read it.

I am delighted to report that High Wages is a joy. And that Jane, the heroine, is certainly the jewel in the crown.

I was charmed in the opening paragraph when, visiting town to see the shops on her half-day off, she finds herself looking more at the open sky.

“The whole expanse of heaven was covered with minute clouds, little abrupt things, kicking up their heels, flying off into nothing. They were so madly inconsequent that Jane laughed. And then, as if someone had said to them, “Come on now! Quietly! Quietly!” they stopped rioting and settled down. They were merged and gradually were lost to sight. A majestic gold arose and suffused the sky, leaving a pool of green in the east.”

Jane is alone in the world, but she finds a way forward through a combination of intelligence and hard work. And also because she is what my mother would call “ a people person”. Jane likes people, talking to them, understanding them and trying to help them when she can.

And she meets some wonderful characters. Dorothy Whipple’s depiction of the small Lancashire and its inhabitants is spot-on.

Jane pays for her success. She works hard, she is frustrated by the prejudices of the class system, and she has to deal with some difficult relationships. But she remains positive, and that spirit suffuses her story.

“Jane got up from the chair at last. Her mind was made up on one point; Mrs Greenwood was not going to get the better of her so easily. She would not let her living be taken from her without a fight. She walked into the shop to begin it.”

I was completely engaged and I was right behind Jane through all her ups and downs, willing her on. I was very sorry to have to leave her to go to work this morning. And needless to say, I shall be thrilled to share a name with such a wonderful Persephone heroine!

High Wages is a lovely story well told. I deliberately haven’t said too much because it really is the kind of book you must to sit down with and enjoy the story unraveling first hand.

So please do order a copy – and raise a glass to Persephone for this wonderful addition to their list!

And one last thought – with a heroine who works in a draper’s shop, I have high hopes for some wonderful endpapers based on a beautiful fabric!

Teaser Tuesdays / It’s Tuesday, where are you?

Just quote a couple of spoiler-free sentences the book you’re reading to tempt other readers.

Here is mine:-

“As she stood on the cobbles of the empty market-place, a beam of light struck suddenly from the right to her very feet. She looked up and saw that an obscuring eiderdown hanging in Chadwick’s shop window had been pushed aside and that a small man had stepped into the window and was affixing a piece of paper low down in the right-hand side of the pane.”

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB

Hello, I’m Jane. It’s my half-day off, and so I have come to Tidsley to look at the shops. And I’ve just seen this notice put into Chadwick’s window:

Wanted: a young lady to assist in the shop.
Apply within.

I haven’t come to Tidsley for weeks and on the very day I come in that notice appears.

Chadwick’s is the best draper’s shop in the town. Cars draw up outside, and I have even seen Lady Farnborough going in.

It would be wonderful if I could get into Chadwick’s. I am going to go in and enquire. Wish me luck!

 It’s Tuesday, where are you? is hosted by raidergirl3.

This all comes courtesy of High Wages by Dororthy Whipple.

A lovely book that has been out of print for a long time. Copies have been both rare and expensive. And so it is wonderful that there will be a new Persephone Books edition in October!

Hetty Dorval by Ethel Wilson

A small book named Hetty Dorval by an author named Ethel Wilson. It maybe doesn’t sound too promising? Rather old fashioned?

But fortunately Hetty Dorval has been sent out into the world in a dove grey Persephone Books imprint. A sign that it is really something rather special.

The story opens in a small town in British Columbia. Thirteen-year-old Frankie Burnaby had gone to the station to look out for trains coming in and to catch the first glimpse of a new arrival – Mrs. Dorval.

The scene is gently and quite clearly evoked.

Frankie is drawn to Mrs. Dorval, and Hetty welcomes her. Hetty Dorval is beautiful, wealthy and charming.

But, while Frankie is enchanted, her parents disapprove of the friendship. It could just be parental concern about an adult who does not follow the normal rules, but there are hints that it is something else.

Hetty is certainly unconventional, and she may well be immoral too. But what she may have done wrong is not clear, and is never fully explained.

Mrs. Dorval quickly moves on, but Frankie encounters her again at intervals over the years. And her childhood perceptions and responses change as she becomes an adult.

Ethel Wilson writes simply, effectively and beautifully.

Every character is perfectly formed; every scene is set out seemingly effortlessly and with wonderful clarity.

Hetty Dorval is a simple story, but it grips from beginning to end.

Why? Because it is a story of built on characters, and though it is set in the past its themes still resonate today.

This is a book definitely worthy of its dove-grey cover and beautiful endpapers!

Persephone Endpapers

Persephone Reading Week is being hosted here and here.

And I will be writing more about Persephone and giving two books away later in the week.

The Spy Game by Georgina Harding

“There are different kinds of memory, conscious and unconscious. There are memories that the conscious mind goes over repeatedly, that are recalled, observed, caught like a snapshot of the time, and oneself in it, one of the figures in the picture. Memories like these become like history, fact-filed for recall, detached from emotion. But there are others that come back without conscious thought and that are experienced again, more or less vividly, like dream versions of themselves.”

On a cold morning in January 1961, eight-year-old Anna’s mother watched her mother disappear into the fog.

Later she was told that her mother would not be coming home again. She was dead, after her car apparently skidded on black ice on the road to London.

Later the same day a sensational story broke on the evening news. A Russian spy ring had been uncovered in London and several arrests had been made. Arrests of seemingly ordinary people who had lead double lives and carried extraordinary secrets.

Anna and her elder brother Peter were told little about their mother’s death, they didn’t attend her funeral and they were never taken to her grave. Was there father trying to protect them, or was it something else?

The two children thought it was something else. They linked the disappearance of their mother – a German refugee – with the spy case.

They begin their own investgation. At first Peter takes the lead, but later it is Anna.

It would be unfair to say more than that about the plot, but there is much more to be said about the book.

It grips from the first page and doesn’t let go.

The story shifts between periods and perspectives. It is sometimes a little difficult to keep track, but it serves the author well as she recreates England in the Cold War and the world that Anna sees just perfectly.

Georgina Harding writes wonderful prose and she shows great skill in creating characters who are utterly believable but also, ultimately, unknowable.

The themes are fascinating and well explored there are so many intriguing details.

It all adds up to a brilliant second novel!

Library Loot

Why is it that just when you have more books than you an handle and when your library ticket is approaching capacity, wonderful books appear? I tried to be strong-minded, but I really couldn’t leave these two behind:

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

“‘Lock Cromwell in a deep dungeon in the morning,’ says Thomas More, ‘and when you come back that night he’ll be sitting on a plush cushion eating larks’ tongues, and all the gaolers will owe him money.’ England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey’s clerk, and later his successor. Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages. From one of our finest living writers, Wolf Hall is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion and suffering and courage.”

I love the period and I love Hilary Mantel’s writing. I knew that it I didn’t pick this one up I would probably have to wait a very long time for it to come around again, and so home it came!

Angel With Two Faces by Nicola Upson

“Inspector Archie Penrose has invited Josephine Tey to his family home in Cornwall, a struggling but beautiful country estate on a magnificent stretch of coastline. Still haunted by the dark events of the year before – depicted in An Expert in Murder – and disillusioned with the London stage, Josephine is ready to begin work on her second mystery novel and finds much to inspire her in the landscape and its legends – in particular, a lake on the estate which is said to claim a life every seven years, and the nearby Minack Theatre, an open-air auditorium which overlooks the sea. But death clouds the holiday from the outset: Josephine’s arrival coincides with the funeral of a young estate worker, killed in a mysterious riding accident, and another local boy disappears shortly afterwards. When the Minack proves to be a stage for real-life tragedy and an audacious murder, Archie’s loyalties are divided between his friends and his job, and he and Josephine must confront the violent reality which lies beneath a seemingly idyllic community – a community with one face turned towards the present, and another looking back to the crimes of the past.”

I left this on the shelves two weeks ago, but I regretted it as soon as I got home. So when it appeared again I had to pick it up. I enjoyed Nicola Upson’s first book, and this one has the added bonus of being set in my part of the world and in places I know.

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

And what did you find in the library this week?

See more Library Loot here.