Book review by Hilary Temple. The twenty-third title in the Barsetshire series, this novel requires Thirkell to start with some recapitulation. The first sentence contains a reference to Queen Elizabeth II who by this date has been on the throne for two years, enabling the author to describe the effects of the coronation in June … Continue reading
Tagged with comedy …
Beginning with a Bash (1935) by Alice Tilton
Review by Kathryn Rangeley: Like another member of the group, I chose to find a book by a woman in the hope that I might get the ‘hard-boiled’, tough aspect of the story without too much gratuitous violence and misogyny’. I found what I hoped would be exactly the right novel at the Pier Bookshop … Continue reading
Skin-Deep (1927) by Naomi Royde-Smith
Book Review by George S: Naomi Royde-Smith is probably best-remembered for her career as a literary journalist, first on the Westminster Gazette (where she ran the celebrated competition pages) and later on Time and Tide, but she also wrote twenty-six novels. These gained respectful reviews, but were not hugely successful at the time, and have … Continue reading
Before Lunch, (1939) by Angela Thirkell
Book Review by Hilary Temple Written in 1938 and unclouded by any rumours of war, this novel is surprisingly filmic compared with Thirkell’s previous and subsequent Barsetshire titles. In the opening chapter we watch an irritable middle-aged man looking out of his bedroom window. We are not told who he is until a horse-drawn farm … Continue reading
The Lanchester Tradition (1913) by G.F. Bradby
Book review by George S: This is a book about what happens in a celebrated public school, very set in its ways, when a new headmaster arrives, intent on reform. It is very much a book about teachers – the students only have minor walk-on parts. G.F. Bradby (1863–1947) was the son of the headmaster … Continue reading
Merlin Bay (1930) by Richmal Crompton
Merlin Bay (1930) by Richmal Crompton Book review by Frances S: I first came upon William Brown in a 1950s edition of William Carries On from the family bookcase and subsequently enjoyed various television adaptations and the Martin Jarvis Radio 4 readings. I knew very little about Richmal Crompton herself until Reading 1900-1950 invited us … Continue reading
Frost at Morning(1950) by Richmal Crompton.
Book Review by Mary P: This adult novel from an author now best known for her Just William children’s books was published in 1950. Children are the main concern of the story, which unfolds over a period of 23 years. The novel centres around an unnamed village, in what I imagine to be the Home … Continue reading
The History of Mr Polly (1910) by H G Wells
Book Review by Sylvia D: The last time the Reading Group considered books by H G Wells, I read Ann Veronica which, with the exception of the frustrating dénouement, I enjoyed. I was hoping Mr Polly would be equally entertaining, but was disappointed. We first meet Mr Polly when he is 37 and a half … Continue reading
August Folly (1936) by Angela Thirkell
Book review by Hilary Temple. As the Penguin blurb to August Folly said (1949): ‘The village of Worsted is one of those English rural communities where life is as full of interest as it is devoid of sensation.’ Sensation in this instance must mean sensationalism, as feelings run high and in some cases irrationally. The … Continue reading
Summer Half (1937) by Angela Thirkell
Book Review by Hilary Temple ‘It seems to me highly improbable that any such school, masters, or boys could ever have existed.’ In writing this as a preliminary to Summer Half Thirkell had her tongue firmly in her cheek (a place it was quite used to occupying). Mother of three very bright sons, she had … Continue reading
Reading 1900-1950 