1930s America. 15 year old Thea Atwell is 'sent away' from her home in Florida to The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, hidden in the North Carolina mountains. Her father drives her, though it is a long journey, as '[her] parents did not trust [her] enough to let [her] ride the train alone.' We soon… Continue reading The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani
Category: Reviews
Laura Lamont’s Life In Pictures by Emma Straub
What attracts people to fame? Narcissism? Feelings of inadequacy? A need to be loved? For Laura Lamont, it's all these things; but it wasn't always. Laura Lamont the movie star begins life as Elsa Emerson, a young girl growing up in Door County, Wisconsin, in the 1920s and 30s. Her parents run a theatre in… Continue reading Laura Lamont’s Life In Pictures by Emma Straub
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Midnight in St. Petersburg by Vanora Bennett
At university I signed up for a course called Demonic Literature, and started doing some of the reading in the summer holidays. When term began, we were told the course had been cancelled - cue mass anger from English Lit students (i.e. ineffectual grumbling). I had already read and annotated over half of Dostoyevsky's Demons for… Continue reading Midnight in St. Petersburg by Vanora Bennett
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The President’s Hat by Antoine Laurain
The President's Hat is a charming little novel that really cheered me up on a dreary afternoon, and I am glad Gallic Books sent it to me. Set in 1986, the novel tells the story of a hat that belongs to French President Francois Mitterand; Daniel is sitting in a Paris bistro when the President… Continue reading The President’s Hat by Antoine Laurain
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Travels With Myself and Another: Five Journeys From Hell by Martha Gellhorn
I was walking down Long Acre with my boyfriend; we wandered into Stanford's to ogle maps and travel books. After having a wander we came to the books table back near the entrance. I was attracted to the dated-in-a-good-way cover of Travels With Myself and Another (from Eland), not only because of the layout and… Continue reading Travels With Myself and Another: Five Journeys From Hell by Martha Gellhorn
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Helena Rubinstein: The Woman Who Invented Beauty by Michele Fitoussi
This book came to me entirely by chance when I saw it was up for grabs from the publisher Gallic Books on Twitter. I had heard of Helena Rubinstein at some point, not sure where, but my first memory of hearing her name was in an episode of Sex and the City when the girls… Continue reading Helena Rubinstein: The Woman Who Invented Beauty by Michele Fitoussi
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Mad Girl’s Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson
Deadlines are generally a good thing but when it comes to this book it's a good thing that I didn't have one. I bought it of my own volition and read it, and thought about it for a long time, and attended a Q&A with the author, and only now am I about ready to… Continue reading Mad Girl’s Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson
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The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
After last week's Maggie-fest, I went home, picked up my copy of The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, and read it in two days. It's not very long, and my copy has quite wide set print, but I read it so quickly mostly because it was compulsive. It is, simply, an amazing book. Examined once… Continue reading The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
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Published Today: A Treacherous Likeness by Lynn Shepherd
A Treacherous Likeness by Lynn Shepherd is a historical novel, but it is also a mystery, a thriller, a crime novel - there is so much inside its pages. It picks up where Shepherd's previous novel Tom-All-Alone's left off, with Victorian detective Charles Maddox finding a card left for him bearing the name 'Shelley' -… Continue reading Published Today: A Treacherous Likeness by Lynn Shepherd
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Notes: Mrs Dalloway and The Hours
I have just finished reading Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf... and oh I am swept away. I hadn't actually sat down to read Woolf since studying her at university when we read The Waves and To The Lighthouse for a course on Modernism and the concept of time (I forget the official course title), and that was, well... two years ago (ish).… Continue reading Notes: Mrs Dalloway and The Hours
These Little Words 