Peter West (1923) and The English Air (1940) by D.E, Stevenson

Book review by Mary G: When I read that D. E. Stevenson came from the same family as Robert Louis Stevenson and wrote romantic novels, I immediately assumed, mistakenly, that she would have much in common with O. Douglas, sister of John Buchan and author of 15 novels some of which had romantic plots. They … Continue reading →

Mrs Miniver (1939) by Jan Struther

Book Review by Sylvia D.: For our comfort reading session, I initially considered one of the books I had loved as a child but then discovered I had parted company with them at some stage, so I looked along my shelves and came across two books I’ve really enjoyed, E M Delafield’s Diary of a … Continue reading →

Joy and Josephine (1948) by Monica Dickens

Book review by Sylvia D: What a shock it must be suddenly to discover in your teens that the people you thought were your parents are only your adoptive parents. And what a much greater shock it must be to discover that no-one actually knows who you are. You must be overwhelmed by a sense … Continue reading →

Mrs Frensham Describes a Circle (1943) by Richmal Crompton

Book review by George S: Mrs Frensham Describes a Circle is about an extended family in an English country town during the Blitz. Richmal Crompton shows how the war brings out different responses in the varied personalities of the family, and suggests which temperaments are best able to deal with a historical crisis.

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.

She Was His Wife (1936) by Augusta Varty-Smith

Book Review by Sylvia D: My second book from the Mark Valentine donation is Augusta Varty-Smith’s She Was His Wife, published by Heath Cranton in 1936. Peter Carmichael is a successful, third generation City businessman whose father had built up an extensive estate, Long Ashes, a train ride away from the City, and had provided … Continue reading →

Just Like Aunt Bertha by W. Pett Ridge (1925)

Review by Helen N: The book centres round Aunt Bertha, a woman of resource who deals with both a professional life and sorting out all of her friends and acquaintances. They get into scrapes and she sorts them out, while being constantly criticised for interfering. It is a good-humoured book and written to entertain. Just … Continue reading →

The New House by Lettice Cooper (1936)

Review by Sylvia D: Very little seems to happen in The New House (1936).  Over one long day a widowed mother and her 30-something daughter move from a large imposing secluded house with beautiful gardens to a much smaller one overlooked by a housing estate.  The old house is to be knocked down to make … Continue reading →

The Village by Marghanita Laski (1952)

Review by Val H: Oh how I enjoyed The Village (1952) by Marghanita Laski! On the surface, it is a simple, even dull love story, but this is merely a cover for a witty and fluent examination of class in England immediately after World War II. In places the novel has dated, but to anyone … Continue reading →

The Citadel by A. J. Cronin (1937)

Review by Sylvia D: The Citadel is a powerful attack on the medical system in this country before the inception of the National Health Service in 1948. The vehicle for this attack is the career of Scotsman, Andrew Manson, who starts out as a newly qualified doctor’s assistant in the 1920s in the drab South Wales … Continue reading →