Another brief blog entry, to point you in the direction of another blog. Quite a new one, though not an unfamiliar source – Persephone Books have started The Persephone Post. The form the blog takes is a picture – painting, photograph, reproduction – and a small explanation. Quite diverse, they’ve already included a vintage poster, some chairs and a Morris Traveller, somehow it’s cohesive in the Persephone spirit. Go, enjoy.
I very nearly kept this exciting competition all to myself…
Only kidding. But, if the competition to win the Bloomsbury Group books (now closed) weren’t enough, Bloomsbury are also offering a chance to head off to Guernsey, in celebration of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Was it really a whole year ago this wonderful book entered my life? More here on what I thought of the novel, and the information from the Bloomsbury newsletter is below.
Enter our competition for your chance to take your book group to Guernsey. One winner will be selected to travel to Guernsey with five friends from Friday October 2nd to Monday October 5th, 2009. Activities will include a joint book discussion with a US book group, an island tour, and more. There is one Grand Prize and ten First Prizes. The Grand Prize consists of A 4-day/3-night trip for six people (including the Grand Prize Winner) to Guernsey. Ten First Prizes: One copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society will be awarded to each of ten first prize winners. For full details of how to enter and for terms and conditions, visit our website.
And I am now back from my first ever Persephone Book Group! I do hope it’s the first of many, because the people were lovely, the discussion was fun, and meeting Persephone fans new or old is always a delight. I *am* a little worried that my Persephone obsession was a little too forthright… will have to temper my “Oo! Oo! I know that one!” for next time…
We discussed Flush by Virginia Woolf, which I read a few years ago and re-read last week. It’s all about Elizabeth Barrett and her courtship with Robert Browning, from the perspective of their dog Flush. I think it’s a brilliant book – mostly because it so successfully presents a new angle, a new way of perceiving things. Lots on smell especially – I liked this, on Flush’s astonishment that Mr. Barrett cannot tell Mr. Browning has been there:
‘Don’t you know,’ Flush marvelled, ‘who’s been sitting in that chair? Can’t you smell him?’ For to Flush the whole room still reeked of Mr. Browning’s presence. The air dashed past the bookcase, and eddied and curled round the heads of the five pale busts. But the heavy man sat by his daughter in entire self-absorption. He noticed nothing. He suspected nothing. Aghast at his obtuseness, Flush slipped past him out of the room.’
Critics haven’t always been enamoured by the novel, perhaps because the initial concept sounds a trifle silly. But in Woolf’s very able hands this is a clever, funny and very well observed book. I almost never get bothered about depictions of places in novels, but from the entirely new angle of a dog, I found descriptions of London and Italy fascinating.
The book group seemed, on the whole, to like the book a lot. Most of us didn’t know much about Elizabeth Barrett Browning before we started, but didn’t think that made much of a difference. Woolf’s slightly odd views on class were discussed, but so too her liveliness and breaking free from Victorianism. Whilst I love Flush, I don’t think it’s the most representative of Persephone’s books, and I’d be intrigued to see what the views are on other titles. Next time is Joanna Canaan’s Princes In The Land, and after that Rachel Ferguson’s Alas, Poor Lady. I’ve not read either of them, and sadly I’m going to miss the next one, but looking forward to July and Alas, Poor Lady.
If anybody from the book group is dropping in (since I shamelessly advertised this blog) please do say hello! I look forward to seeing you again.
Just to warn you, over the next couple of weeks my blog posts may be a little short and sporadic, as my dissertation is due in on 15th June!
And very brief tonight… tomorrow I’m off to my first Persephone book group in Oxford, where we’ll be discussing Flush by Virginia Woolf, which actually tied in nicely as a peripheral book to my dissertation. I’ll hopefully write about my thoughts tomorrow, and the thoughts of the group, but why not gather some opinions here first?
Anybody read this pseudo-biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s dog? And what did you think? Better or worse than Woolf’s other books – and how is it different?
You guys might remember that I love, honour, and obey the wonderful Cake Wrecks website. To quote the tagline, it’s where professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong. What’s not to like?
But Jen, who writes the blogs, also appreciates really good cake decorating. So every Sunday she shows cakes that are excellent – probably aided by those each week which make you want to cry, they’re so bad.
This Sunday it was book-themed. ‘Book’ seems to be synonymous with ‘children’s book’, but that’s fair enough, as sadly adults get fewer themed-cakes than children do. Though I’ve had Mr. Men cakes more since I turned 18 than before.
Basically, go and have a look at them.
Awww. I want a birthday cake. Right now. With a Miss Hargreaves theme.
(N.B. my birthday is only, err, five months away… so I deserve a cake, right?)
Enjoy! Hope the weather is as sunny where you are as it is in Oxford. And hope you aren’t going mad, like me, over the dissertation that never ends… (only two weeks left, then fun, frolic[k]ing, and a road trip to Devon!)
I’ve recently finished one of the funniest books I’ve read this year. I bought Say Please by Virginia Graham because (a)it was a nice old hardback, (b)Virginia Graham is both a Persephone author, and co-author of the wonderful letters to and from Joyce Grenfell, (c) I re
ad the Foreword. Which I will now quote in full:
‘This is a book on Etiquette for Ladies, neither of which or whom now exists, as everybody knows; so the whole thing, both from my point of view and from yours, is the most shocking waste of time, and I have really no idea how it happened. The only thing that can be said for it is that it will not help you in the least to be a lady, which is all to the good as I believe it is not a desirable status, but it may make you laugh, which is always nice, even if this, also, is a waste of time. It may, of course, do nothing of the kind, which will be an enormous pity.’
Thus set up, how could I resist? Published in 1949, Say Please is a tongue-very-much-in-cheek guide to everything from leading committees (‘A very good Chairman never lets anybody speak at all but assumes with perfect confidence and with a perfect disregard for the truth that everybody is in agreement’) to dealing with an ill relative (‘any information he cares to give must be regarded as puerile… If a patient insists on being spoken to, then he must be addressed in the third person as though he were a baby.’)
This book, though obviously not meant to be an accurate reflection of everyday life, does still give a snapshot of the obstacles faced by the 1940s woman. Still sections on huntin’ shootin’ fishin’, and servants – but also how to deal with rationing and post-War discussions. Not forgetting the Tennis Party, present in so many books of the early twentieth century, now a thing of the past. The section on Tennis included an epigraph from Harry Graham (her father): “She also served but mostly stood and waited”. A-ha-ha-haaa, if you’ve read your Milton.
A pseudo-etiquette guide may not seem immediately your cup of tea, but any fans of The Diary of a Provincial Lady are advised to get a copy of Say Please: the humour is often quite similar. There are quite a few cheapish (£2-3) secondhand copies on Amazon and abebooks, and doubtless elsewhere. A few editions appear to have been printed in the late ’40s and early ’50s, but nothing since… it seems to linger on only in collections of sporting quips. Say Please could be a good candidate for a reprint, only which market would it fall into?
One of the funniest books I’ve read this year, and might well make my top ten of 2009… I’ll leave you with a quotation from the section on Invitations.
After reaching a certain age it is legitimate to throw etiquette to the winds and be frank. In society, and indeed out of it, frankness is considered very bad-mannered, and that is why one has to be of a certain age before one attempts so drastic a measure. (How certain the age is can only be ascertained when one reaches it.) Then, in a voice nicely balanced between self-depreciation and arrogance, one can say: “No, Jane! It is sweet of you, but you know how stupid I am? I simply loathe the country in the winter and nothing in God’s earth will make me come to Norfolk in November! I’m sorry, darling. I love you, but NO”. This type of remark, firm but loving, resolute but begging sympathy is unfortunately dreadfully wounding, but on reaching that certain age (curse the thing) one prefers, alas, to wound rather than go to Norfolk.
Remember that to get a name for not going out eventually means you will not be asked out. This is rather a bore, for the whole charm of life lies in being asked everywhere and going nowhere. When you are a very old lady living in one tiny room with only one tiny frayed aspidistra for company, you may wish you had gone to Norfolk after all and kept up with dear Jane, who is still being photographed blowing, with her last remaining breaths, down a hunting horn at local Hunt Balls.
I spotted on Juxtabook the other day a viral campaign which has been gaining quite a lot of momentum.
Salt Publishing are an independent publisher of poetry (and, I believe, some short stories). Long-term Stuck-in-a-Book readers will know that I’m not much of a poetry buff, but I certainly support the publication of it for those who are, and always happy to be proved wrong with something special. In this economic climate, however, and with funding coming to an end, Salt are facing some difficulties.
And so they’ve started a campaign. The whole thing is below, but essentially it’s Just One Book. Buy just one book from them, and they might well stay afloat. (Check out the WWF-inspired video they’ve done for it) The campaign has been incredibly successful – in the first four days they got six weeks’ worth of sales. But they’re not out of the woods yet. I encourage you to go along to Salt’s website and choose Just One Book. And, when you do, let me know which poetry volume might convert me…
The statement from Salt:
As many of you will know, Jen and I have been struggling to keep Salt moving since June last year when the economic downturn began to affect our press. Our three year funding ends this year: we’ve £4,000 due from Arts Council England in a final payment, but cannot apply through Grants for the Arts for further funding for Salt’s operations. Spring sales were down nearly 80% on the previous year, and despite April’s much improved trading, the past twelve months has left us with a budget deficit of over £55,000. It’s proving to be a very big hole and we’re having to take some drastic measures to save our business.
Here’s how you can help us to save Salt and all our work with hundreds of authors around the world.
JUST ONE BOOK
1. Please buy just one book, right now. We don’t mind from where, you can buy it from us or from Amazon, your local shop or megastore, online or offline. If you buy just one book now, you’ll help to save Salt. Timing is absolutely everything here. We need cash now to stay afloat. If you love literature, help keep it alive. All it takes is just one book sale. Go to our online store and help us keep going.
2. Share this note on your profile. Tell your friends. If we can spread the word about our cash crisis, we can hopefully find more sales and save our literary publishing. Remember it’s just one book, that’s all it takes to save us. Please do it now.
With my best wishes to everyone
Chris
Director
Salt Publishing
http://www.saltpublishing.com
A few days ago I spotted on Danielle’s blog the Orange Prize Longlist 1996-2009. It was put together by Kimbofo, and comprises all the books longlisted for the Orange Prize in that time. That’s 260 books, by my quick count. And I’ve read… 7 of them. Seven. Gosh. The ones struck-through. (Eight, if you count the first 50 pages of the quite dreadful Lionel Shriver book.) And I read mostly books by women… though not, it must be said much modern fiction. Still. My head is hanging in shame. See if you can do better!
A L Kennedy Everything You Need
A L Kennedy So I am Glad
Ajay Close Official and Doubtful
Ali Smith Hotel World – shortlist
Ali Smith The Accidental – shortlist
Alice Greenaway White Ghost Girls
Alice McDermott Charming Billy
Alice Sebold The Lovely Bones
Allegra Goodman Intuition
Amy Tan The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Amy Tan The Hundred Secret Senses – shortlist
Andrea Barrett The Voyage of the Narwhal
Andrea Levy Never Far from Nowhere
Andrea Levy Small Island – winner
Anita Desai Fasting, Feasting
Anita Desai The Zigzag Way
Anita Rau Badami The Hero’s Walk
Anita Shreve The Weight of Water – shortlist
Ann Patchett Bel Canto – winner
Ann Patchett The Magician’s Assistant – shortlist
Ann Weisgarber’s The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Ann-Marie MacDonald Fall on your Knees
Anna Burns No Bones – shortlist
Anna Quindlen Black and Blue
Anne Donovan Buddha Da – shortlist
Anne Michaels Fugitive Pieces – winner
Anne Enright The Gathering
Anne Tyler Digging to America
Anne Tyler Ladder of Years – shortlist
Anne Tyler The Amateur Marriage
Audrey Niffenegger The Time Traveler’s Wife
Barbara Ewing A Dangerous Vine
Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible – shortlist
Barbara Neil A History of Silence
Bella Bathurst Special
Bernadine Evaristo Blonde Roots
Beryl Bainbridge Every Man for Himself
Beryl Bainbridge Master Georgie
Carol Shields Larry’s Party – winner
Carol Shields Unless– shortlist
Carrie Tiffany Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living – shortlist
Catherine Chidgey In a Fishbone Church
Catherine O’Flynn What Was Lost
Célestine Hitiura Vaite Frangipani
Charlotte Mendelson When We Were Bad
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Half of a Yellow Sun – winner
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Purple Hibiscus – shortlist
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The Mistress of Spices
Chloe Hooper A Child’s Book of True Crime – shortlist
Christina Koning Undiscovered Country
Christine Dwyer Hickey Tatty
Christine Pountney Last Chance Texaco
Clare Allan Poppy Shakespeare
Clare Clark The Great Stink
Cristina Garcia The Aguero Sisters
Crystal Wilkinson Water Street
Curtis Sittenfeld American Wife
Curtis Sittenfeld Prep
Danzy Senna From Caucasia, with Love
Deborah Robertson Careless
Debra Adelaide The Household Guide to Dying
Deirdre Madden One by One in the Darkness – shortlist
Deirdre Purcell Love Like Hate Adore – shortlist
Dinah Lee Küng A Visit from Voltaire
Donna Tartt The Little Friend – shortlist
Drusilla Modjeska The Orchard
E Annie Proulx Accordion Crimes – shortlist
Edna O’Brien In the Forest
Eilis Ni Dhuibhne The Dancers Dancing – shortlist
Elizabeth Knox The Vintner’s Luck
Elizabeth McCracken Niagara Falls All Over Again
Elizabeth Strout Amy and Isabelle – shortlist
Ellen Feldman Scottsboro
Elspeth Sandys River Lines
Emma Richler Sister Crazy
Esther Freud Summer at
Esther Freud The Wild
Gail Jones Dreams of Speaking
Gillian Slovo Ice Road – shortlist
Gina B Nahai Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith
Gina Ochsner The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight
Haven Kimmel The Solace of Leaving Early
Heather O’Neill Lullabies for Little Criminals
Helen DeWitt The Last Samurai
Helen Dunmore A Spell of Winter – winner
Helen Dunmore House of Orphans
Helen Dunmore The Siege – shortlist
Hilary Mantel Beyond Black – shortlist
Hilary Mantel The Giant O’Brien
Ingrid Hill Ursula, Under
Isla Dewar Keeping Up with Magda
Jackie Kay Trumpet
Jacquelyn Mitchard The Most Wanted
Jamaica Kincaid The Autobiography of My Mother
Jane Gardam Old Filth – shortlist
Jane Hamilton The Short History of a Prince – shortlist
Jane Harris The Observations – shortlist
Jane Mendelsohn I Was Amelia Earhart – shortlist
Jane Rogers Island
Jane Rogers Promised Lands
Jane Smiley Horse Heaven – shortlist
Jane Smiley Ten Days in the Hills
Jane Urquhart The Underpainter
Janet Davey English Correspondence
Jayne Ann Phillips Motherkind
Jeanette Winterson Gut Symmetries
Jeanette Winterson The PowerBook
Jennifer Clement A True Story Based on Lies
Jhumpa Lahiri The Namesake
Jill Dawson Fred & Edie – shortlist
Jill Dawson Watch Me Disappear
Jo-Ann Goodwin Danny Boy
Joan Brady Death Comes for Peter Pan
Joan Didion The Last Thing He Wanted
Joan London Gilgamesh
Joanne Harris Five Quarters of the Orange
Joolz Denby Billie Morgan – shortlist
Josephine Humphreys Nowhere Else on Earth
Joyce Carol Oates Middle Age
Joyce Carol Oates Rape A Love Story
Joyce Carol Oates The Falls
Judy Budnitz If I Told You Once – shortlist
Julia Blackburn The Book of Colour – shortlist
Julia Blackburn The Leper’s Companions – shortlist
Julia Darling Crocodile Soup
Julia Leigh The Hunter
Julie Otsuka When the Emperor was Divine
Karla Kuban Marchlands
Kate Atkinson Case Histories
Kate Grenville The Idea of Perfection – winner
Kathryn Heyman The Breaking
Kathy Page The Story of My Face
Kira Cochrane Escape Routes for Beginners
Kiran Desai The Inheritance of Loss – shortlist
Kirsten Bakis Lives of the Monster Dogs – shortlist
Kitty Aldridge Pop
Laura Fish Strange Music
Laura Hird Born Free
Laurie Graham Dog Days, Glenn Miller Nights
Laurie R King With Child
Leila Aboulela Minaret
Leila Aboulela The Translator
Leone Ross All the Blood is Red
Lesley Glaister Now You See Me
Lesley Glaister The Private Parts of Women
Leslie Forbes Fish, Blood & Bone
Lily Prior La Cucina
Linda Grant The Cast Iron Shore
Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs
Linda Grant When I Lived in Modern Times – winner
Lindsey Collen The Rape of Sita
Lionel Shriver We Need to Talk About Kevin – winner
Lisa Moore Alligator
Lissa Evans Their Finest Hour and a Half
Liz Jensen Ark Baby
Liz Jensen Egg Dancing
Liz Jensen War Crimes for the Home
Lori Lansens The Girls
Lorraine Adams Harbor
Louise Welsh The Cutting Room
Louise Young Baby Love
Lucy Ellmann Dot in the Universe
Lucy Ellmann Man or Mango?
M J Hyland Carry Me Down
Maggie Gee The Flood
Maggie Gee The White Family – shortlist
Maile Meloy Liars & Saints – shortlist
Manda Scott Hen’s Teeth – shortlist
Margaret Atwood Alias Grace – shortlist
Margaret Atwood Oryx and Crake – shortlist
Margaret Atwood The Blind Assassin – shortlist
Margaret Forster Over
Marianne Wiggins Eveless Eden – shortlist
Marilyn Bowering Visible Worlds – shortlist
Marilynne Robinson Gilead
Marina Lewycka A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian – shortlist
Marly Swick Evening News
Mary Kay Zuravleff The Frequency of Souls
Mary Morrissy Mother of Pearl
Maureen Duffy Restitution
Meaghan Delahunt In the Blue House
Meera Syal Anita and Me
Meg Wolitzer The Position
Melanie Finn Away From You
Melanie Wallace The Housekeeper
Michele Roberts Impossible Saints
Michelle de Kretser The Lost Dog
Michelle Huneven Round Rock
Michelle Lovric The Remedy
Miranda Hearn Nelson’s Daughter
Miriam Toews The Flying Troutmans
Monica Ali Brick Lane
Nadine Gordimer The House Gun
Nancy Huston Fault Lines
Nani Power Crawling at Night
Naomi Alderman Disobedience
Nell Freudenberger The Dissident
Nell Leyshon Black Dirt
Nicole Krauss The History of Love – shortlist
Nora Okja Keller Comfort Woman
Nora Okja Keller Fox Girl
Oonya Kempadoo Buxton Spice
Pagan Kennedy Spinsters – shortlist
Pat Barker The Ghost Road
Patricia Ferguson It So Happens
Patricia Ferguson Peripheral Vision
Patricia Wood Lottery
Paulina Simons Red Leaves
Pauline Melville The Ventriloquist’s Tale – shortlist
Penelope Fitzgerald The Blue Flower
Philippa Gregory The Constant Princess
Preeta Samarasan Evening is the Whole Day
Rachel Cusk Arlington Park – shortlist
Rachel Seiffert Afterwards
Rachel Seiffert The Dark Room
Rebecca Gowers When to Walk
Rose Tremain The Colour – shortlist
Rose Tremain The Road Home
Rosina Lippi Homestead – shortlist
Rupa Bajwa The Sari Shop
Sadie Jones The Outcast
Samantha Harvey The Wilderness
Samantha Hunt The Invention of Everything Else
Sandra Benitez Bitter Grounds
Sandra Cisneros Caramelo
Sarah Hall The Electric Michelangelo
Sarah May The Internationals
Sarah Waters Fingersmith – shortlist
Sarah Waters The Night Watch – shortlist
Sena Jeter Naslund Ahab’s Wife
Shauna Singh Baldwin What the Body Remembers
Shena Mackay Heligoland – shortlist
Sheri Holman The Mammoth Cheese – shortlist
Shirley Hazzard The Great Fire – shortlist
Siri Hustvedt The Enchantment of Lily Dahl
Siri Hustvedt What I Loved
Sonya Hartnett What the Birds See
Stef Penney The Tenderness of Wolves
Stella Duffy State of Happiness
Stephanie Grant The Passion of Alice
Stevie Davies Kith & Kin
Stevie Davies The Element of Water
Sue Gee The Mysteries of Glass
Sue Miller Lost in the Forest
Sue Monk Kidd The Secret Life of Bees
Sunetra Gupta A Sin of Colour
Suzanne Berne A Crime in the Neighbourhood – winner
Toni Morrison Love
Toni Morrison Paradise – shortlist
Tracy Chevalier Girl with a Pearl Earring
Trezza Azzopardi The Hiding Place
Tricia Wastvedt The River
Valerie Martin Property – winner
VV Ganeshananthan Love Marriage
Xiaolu Guo A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers – shortlist
Zadie Smith On Beauty – winner
Zadie Smith The Autograph Man – shortlist
Zadie Smith White Teeth – shortlist
Zoë Heller Notes on a Scandal
Two things I wanted to draw your attention to today, both warping Pride and Prejudice. One meets with my censure and the other my mirth. We all know that I’m not adverse to messing around with Jane Austen a bit, if it’s done intelligently and with affection. My love for Lost in Austen, for example, makes a mother’s love for her newborn look like callous disregard. But when it is done solely for commercial reasons, or done without any respect for the original or the authoress, then my wrath is untold.
But, first the pleasant. For anybody familiar with Facebook, you’ll enjoy this link.
And now the unpleasant. You’ve probably heard, by now, of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It does what it says on the tin. I’m going to be wicked, and not mention the author or show the cover, as I only want to raise the title to tut-tut and shake my head in disgust, not give him publicity. 85% of the book is taken straight from P&P, apparently, and I can only imagine the remaining 15% was taken from a passing 13 year old boy. I should confess at this juncture that I haven’t read it, won’t read it, and won’t consort with anyone who does read it. Or have anything to do with the film, which is apparently in the pipeline.
So why do I accept some distortions and not others? As I said, intelligence and affection. And my own contrary little mind, I suppose. But I’d be surprised if my reaction and horror and disgust wasn’t echoed in much of the blogosphere. It is officially no longer possible to come up a spoof concept for manipulating Pride and Prejudice. I simply can’t think of anything more ridiculous than the ideas already being shown the light of day.
I’m back from a fun weekend camping with friends in the New Forest. That sounds incredibly adventurous, when in actual fact we were at a camp site. Still, we had campfire breakfasts and inadequate showers, so it was pretty at-one-with-nature-esque. At what age does sleeping in a tent cease to be acceptable, temperature-wise? I wore more or less everything I own, and still froze.
In amongst this Spartan activity, we did pay a couple of fleeting visits to Winchester, saw a castle and the place where Jane Austen died, and I bought some books (quelle surprise). This picture shows them, plus one of the review books which has come my way lately, and which I’m especially excited about.
Indiscretions of Archie – PG Wodehouse
I couldn’t leave a book with this title behind, and fancied some cheerful reading after a couple of good but sad novels. Wodehouse is often quite similar, but, as I memorably said, ‘If it don’t broke, ain’t fix it.’
Olivia – Olivia
I’ve seen this a few times, but never with any blurb or explanation. This slim novel is actually by Dorothy Bussy, Lytton Strachey’s sister, though initially anonymous. All about a schoolgirl’s ‘crush’ on her teacher, but apparently ‘a remainder that never in our lives do we love so deeply, desperately, selflessly, as during adolescence’. Ok then.
A Family and a Fortune – Ivy Compton-Burnett
I expressed my love for ICB back here, but haven’t read one of her novels for ages.
The Listeners – Monica Dickens
Lots of us have loved MD’s One Pair of Hands and One Pair of Feet, so I’m intrigued to see what happens when she turns her hand to the more sombre subject of The Samaritans.
A Fine Old Conflict – Jessica Mitford
The sequel to Hons and Rebels, another dash of Mitford never did anybody any harm. Still trying to like Jessica, currently only just above Unity in my estimation of the clan.
The Last Letters to a Friend – Rose Macaulay
I read RM’s letters to a Catholic priest last year, mentioned here, during the correspondance she rediscovers her faith, and it’s a very moving collection. I didn’t realise there was a sequel, so snapped it up.
Maidens’ Trip – Emma Smith
Thank you Alice at Bloomsbury for sending me a copy of this book, a reprint of Emma Smith’s 1948 account of her 1943 time with the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company. The Great Western Beach was something special, I wrote about it here. I’m sure this will be equally wonderful.