Book review by Sylvia D: When Compton Mackenzie’s The Vanity Girl (the copy I read being the Remploy reprint of 1973) was first published in 1920 by Macdonald, it was dedicated to Mackenzie’s sister, Fay Compton, the actress. When it was republished in 1954, Mackenzie (1883-1972) re-wrote the original dedication, with the words ‘Dearest Fay, … Continue reading
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Enduring Adventure (1944) by Norah C. James
Book Review by Sylvia D: Norah C[ordner] James (1896-1979) came from a wealthy Hampstead family and the British Library catalogue lists more than 70 books written by her, mainly novels but also cookery and children’s books. Some were co-written with Barbara Beauchamp, James’s partner for the second half of her life. All the novels she … Continue reading
Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935) by Christopher Isherwood – a second review
By ARP. Isherwood’s story Mr Norris Changes Trains is set in pre-war Berlin between 1935 and 1939. The story is filled with mystery from the beginning due to the illusive protagonist ‘Herr Norris’ and a rather young and naïve narrator, William Bradshaw, who takes everything and everyone at face value. The two characters meet, by … Continue reading
The Heat of the Day ( 1948) by Elizabeth Bowen
By LA It is war time in the blazing city of London and the beginning of this novel introduces the protagonist Stella and her two male interests. Stella battles between the man she loves, Robert but also the man who seems to feel affection for her, Harrison. Harrison is a spy following Robert as he … Continue reading
The Death of the Heart (1938) by Elizabeth Bowen
By LMC Written by Elizabeth Bowen, The Death of the Heart (written in 1938), is one of her best known novels. The novel focuses on the main protagonist, Portia, who goes to stay with her half-brother, Thomas and his wife, Anna, due to her being orphaned. However, Portia is considered to be unusual by Anna, … Continue reading
Coming Up for Air (1939) by George Orwell
By JF The author of this novel, George Orwell, most famously known for his satires on society in Animal Farm and 1984, here composes what can be interpreted as the preliminary text in a trilogy which serves as a worthy political antecedent to these two great, significant literary pieces. Often overlooked by many, Coming Up … Continue reading
Brideshead Revisited (1945) by Evelyn Waugh
By AW Written between December 1943 and June 1944 following a parachuting accident, Evelyn Waugh’s “operation of divine grace on a group of diverse but closely connected characters” (so described in the novel’s preface) has received significant acclaim: Time magazine in 2005 heralded it as one of the hundred best post-1923 novels of the English … Continue reading
The Three Miss Kings by Ada Cambridge
Book review by Sylvia D: The Three Miss Kings by Ada Cambridge (1844-1926) was serialised in The Australasian in 1883. It was then published by Heinemann in England and Australia in 1891 and I read a Virago 1987 edition.
Holdfast by A. G. Street (1946)
Shedding a relatively rare light on the plight of rural England in time of war, this novel by A. G. Street (author of the better-known Farmer’s Glory (1932)) concentrates on the story of a single farm in the south west of England. It centres on the character of Phoebe Carpenter, a young farmer’s wife who … Continue reading
The Land of Mist (1926) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Land of Mist picks up some of the characters who discovered an island full of prehistoric creatures in Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, and sets them exploring the even stranger world of ghosts and spirits.
