Herland (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Book review by Mary P: When we were given the choice between utopian and dystopian fiction this month, I immediately went for the former. During the lockdown from Covid 19 and all the discussion about how things will be different when it is all over, it seemed appropriate to look at how others have imagined … Continue reading →

Ann Veronica, by H G Wells (1909)

Spoiler alert.   Oh, Ann Veronica, Ann Veronica!  You had me, growing up in the 1970s, from the start.  I sympathised with your yearning for independence and fulfilment.  I felt your exasperation with your narrow-minded relatives.  I wanted you to unwrap your ‘wrappered life’.  And in a way you did, in spite of the society … Continue reading →

Lucy Carmichael by Margaret Kennedy (1951)

Margaret Kennedy is probably best-known for her 1924 novel The Constant Nymph. It’s a pretty strange novel, about a bohemian English family living in the Austrian Tyrol. The ‘constant nymph’ is Tessa, who is 14 at the beginning of the novel, and only 15 when she runs away with an adult family friend. It is … Continue reading →

Joanna Godden by Sheila Kaye Smith (1921)

Today we have our second review of Joanna Godden (see the first review here). Both our readers were very impressed with the novel – time for a reprint perhaps? Review by Sylvia D: In 1897 Joanna Godden inherits her father’s sheep farm, Little Ansdore, in the Kent marshes.  There are no strings attached.  He doesn’t … Continue reading →

The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby (1924)

With Winifred Holtby we return once more to the novelists of the 1900-1950 who have been found acceptable to the modern palate. The Crowded Street was among the first Virago reprints in 1981, and is now in print with Persephone. Review by George Simmers (see his blog Great War Books) Muriel, the heroine of this novel, … Continue reading →

‘The Fashion in Shrouds’ (1938) by Margery Allingham

For the reading groups so far I’ve been picking out novels which share a subject, such as last month’s World War I fiction; this month I thought it would be interesting to read a particular genre. Detective fiction was the obvious choice – it was such a popular genre in the period (indeed you could … Continue reading →

‘Company Parade’ by Storm Jameson (1934)

Review by Jane V: Set in London immediately after WW1, the novel, the first of a trilogy, centres on Hervey, the only girl in a group of pre-war graduates who are trying to regroup after the war.  (Hence the title.)  Returned from the front, the men are disillusioned and isolated.   Society has changed and it … Continue reading →