Sybille Bedford and sequels by the original author vs sequels by a different author… we need to come up with snappier titles for these things.
In episode 47, we start with a topic suggested by Karen via email – sequels, and whether or not we like sequels written by a different author to the original book. In the second half, we look at a novel (a sequel, in fact) by Sybille Bedford alongside some of her travel writing – A Compass Error (a sequel to A Favourite of the Gods) and Pleasures and Landscapes. This is also a contribution to the 1968 Club, because A Compass Error was published in 1968.
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Here are the (many!) books and authors we mention in this episode:
Stephen Leacock
Hetty Dorval by Ethel Wilson
The Equations of Love by Ethel Wilson
Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson
My Remarkable Uncle by Stephen Leacock
Stephen Leacock by Margaret MacMillan
Letters of Margaret Laurence and Adele Wiseman
A Journey Round My Skull by Frigyes Karinthy
Oliver Sacks
Coral Glynne by Peter Cameron
Thrush Green series by Miss Read
The Sense of the Ending by Julian Barnes
The Past is Myself by Christine Bielenberg
Mrs de Winter by Susan Hill
Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee
The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
The Backward Shadow by Lynne Reid Banks
Two is Lonely by Lynne Reid Banks
Rebecca’s Tale by Sally Beauman
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Mrs Darcy’s Dilemma by Diana Birchall
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope
Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid
Old Friends and New Fancies by Sybil Brinton
Longbourn by Jo Baker
Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean
Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Mary Poppins series by P.L. Travers
Guy Fraser-Sampson
Mapp and Lucia series by E.F. Benson
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
The Starlight Barking by Dodie Smith
The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
The Book of the Green Planet by William Kotzwinkle
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
Closing Time by Joseph Heller
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Paradise Regained by John Milton
Paradise Lost by John Milton
The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Provincial Lady series by E.M. Delafield
Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
Unguarded Moments by Diana Tutton
The Enchanted August by Brenda Bowen
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim
A Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim
In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth in Rugen by Elizabeth von Arnim
A Compass Error by Sybille Bedford
A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford
Pleasures and Landscapes by Sybille Bedford
Two Middle-Aged Ladies in Andalusia by Penelope Chetwode
John Betjeman
The Faces of Justice by Sybille Bedford
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford
A Visit to Don Otavio by Sybille Bedford
A Legacy by Sybille Bedford
The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden
The Semi-Detached House by Emily Eden
Totally agree with Rachel about sequels. I’m only interested if there’s some kind of twist. I can’t think of any books at the moment that I recommend (though I am now intrigued by Longbourn) but I really loved the BBC production Lost in Austen, in which a modern-day JA superman discovers a portal to Longbourn through her bathroom, and she and Elizabeth Bennet trade places. Hilarity ensues as her presence ruins the entire story. It’s really funny and I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it. Overall, though I think books should end where there authors intended — I don’t want to know if Lizzie dies in childbirth or if Darcy has an affair with Caroline Bingley.
I also love that you’re reading Emily Eden! I read both those novels (novellas, really, they’re quite short) and I really enjoyed both. They are not really related but are both delightful, I look forward to hearing what you think about them.
OH my gosh I LOVE Lost in Austen. I was so prepared to hate it, but I adored it – so clever and affectionately done. I’ve watched it a zillion times.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/04/hercule-poirot-new-lease-of-life-agatha-christie-orient-express
Tea or Books right on the Zeitgeist here! Sophie Hannah calls them continuation novels.
Austen sequels are usually very disappointing to me too. For one thing, the language never does feel quite right. I enjoyed “Old Friends, New Fancies” fairly well, perhaps partly because it was about 100 years closer to Austen’s English than we are today. To me the writing and dialogue were therefore slightly more natural-sounding in that book, as opposed to many of the sequels we get now, which honestly just read like chick-lit with a token attempt at Regency slang thrown in there!