Book Review by George S: Castle Gay is the second of John Buchan’s Dickson McCunn novels. The first was Huntingtower (1921) in which the elderly McCunn retires from hisprosperous Glasgow grocery business, heads off on a walk through the lowlands, and becomes embroiled in a fantastic plot, protecting a Russian princess from villains. He is … Continue reading
Filed under Book reviews …
Hatter’s Castle (1931) by A J Cronin
Book Review by Sylvia D: I decided to read Hatter’s Castle for the Scottish and Welsh session, because, apart from the treatment of its women characters, Cronin’s The Citadel was a good read with a strong message. Hatter’s Castle was his first novel and couldn’t be more different from The Citadel. It is 600 pages … Continue reading
Blue Danube (1943) by Eunice Buckley
Book review by George S: Blue Danube is the third novel to appear under the name of Eunice Buckley, but its author had written other books and plays before, under the names of R. Allatini, A.T. Fitzroy, R. l. Scott, Mrs Cyril Scott and Lucian Wainwright. As A.T. Fitzroy she had written Despised and Rejected … Continue reading
First the Blade (1918) by Clemence Dane
Clemence Dane Book Review by Sylvia D. First the Blade: A Comedy of Growth, a coming of age novel and an unresolved love story, was Clemence Dane’s second published novel. Its format for the first two chapters is unusual in that it takes the form of the narrator of the story discussing its main characters … Continue reading
Enter Sir John (1929) by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson
Book Review by George S: Enter Sir John is a detective story. It’s a book I’ve mildly wanted to read for many years, ever since seeing Murder!, the slightly odd 1930 film that Alfred Hitchcock based on the novel. The story begins in the town of Peridu, where a troupe of touring actors are presenting … Continue reading
Miss Bunting (1945) by Angela Thirkell
(published by Hamish Hamilton) Book review by Hilary Temple. Jane Austen notoriously ‘didn’t mention the war’ in her novels according to some critics – though anyone reading Mansfield Park or Persuasion with any attention finds the international perspective is a given. Thirkell, writing similarly about ‘3 or 4 families in a country village’, uses WWII … Continue reading
The Woman of Knockaloe (1923) by Hall Caine
Review by George S: This novel comes with two forewords, one by Newman Flower, the head of Cassell’s publishing house, and one by the author. The gist of each is that this book will disturb and offend some, but that it is a story that needs to be told.
All Things Betray Thee (1949) by Gwyn Thomas
Book Review by Sylvia D. Gwyn Thomas (1913-1981)is one of Wales’s great literary figures. He was born in the Rhondda and won a scholarship to read Spanish at Oxford where, Chris tells me, he was very unhappy because he felt totally out of place.
Cheerfulness Breaks In (1940) by Angela Thirkell
Book review by Hilary Temple. (Published by Hamish Hamilton) Cheerfulness Breaks In might seem an odd title for a novel dealing with the outbreak of WWII. Its origin can be found in any dictionary of quotations: in Boswell’s Life of Johnson Oliver Edwards says ‘I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher; … Continue reading
Walter Greenwood Interview…
This feels a bit egotistical, but Liverpool University Press have posted a short interview with me about WG on their blog. It might be of interest: https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/blogs/english-literature/walter-greenwoods-love-on-the-dole-10-minutes-with-chris-Hopkins – Best Chris.
