The Shuttle (1907) by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Book review by George Simmers: When my daughter was young I used to read to her regularly, and when she was ten or eleven we both greatly enjoyed the children’s books of Frances Hodgson Burnet. The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Editha’s Burglar. Wonderful stories. Frances Hodgson Burnet. was born in Manchester, … Continue reading →

Tales of Pirates and Blue Water (1922) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Book Review by George S: This 1922 volume contains stories written by Doyle over a long period, and the most striking are the four about the evil pirate Sharkey, set mostly in the Caribbean during the early eighteenth century. In the course of them, Doyle presents a potted history of the Caribbean. He depicts it … Continue reading →

The Bungalow Mystery (1923) by Annie Haynes

Book Review by Sylvia D: Haynes was born in Leicestershire in 1865. By 1908 she was living in London with the daughter of an eminent orthopaedic surgeon who introduced her to literary and feminist circles, the members of whom gave Haynes their support. She wrote newspaper serial novels followed by 12 mysteries published between 1923 … Continue reading →

The Young Clementina by D.E. Stevenson (another review)

Book review by Sylvia D.: The Young Clementina was first published in 1935 under the title Divorced from Reality. Neither title seems very apt as the novel is mainly concerned with the story of The Young Clementina’s aunt, Charlotte Dean, who is certainly not divorced from reality. It is in four parts. Daughter of a … Continue reading →

The Gate Marked Private (1928) by Ethel M Dell

Book review by Sylvia Dunkley: I listened with fascination to all the tales of rape and violence in most of the books by Ethel M Dell read by the other members of the Monday Reading Group. The Gate Marked Private contains nothing like that; just two kisses, one of which is portrayed as ‘a short … Continue reading →

Helen of Four Gates (1917) by Ethel Carnie Holdsworth

Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s previous novel, Miss Nobody (1913), had not been a commercial success, and that may be one of the reasons why her new publisher, Herbert Jenkins, chose to issue this one anonymously as by ‘An Ex Mill Girl’. Some reviewers found the pseudonym confusing; it suggested that they would be reading an account … Continue reading →