Dorothy Whipple, Winifred Peck, and authors who hop genres – welcome to episode 55!
In the first half of this episode, Rachel and I discuss a topic suggested by my friend Paul (thanks Paul!) – versatility vs dependability. Well, the way he phrased it was ‘would we buy a book by an author we liked if it was in a different genre’, and we interpreted it into a question that was easier to type into a subject line.
In the second half, we look at two novels from around the same period – House-Bound (1941) by Winifred Peck and The Priory (1939) by Dorothy Whipple – both of which have been republished by Persephone.
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The books and authors we mention in this episode are:
An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks
Family Man by Calvin Trillin
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
Happy Returns by Angela Thirkell
The Lark by E. Nesbit
Penelope Lively
High Wages by Dorothy Whipple
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Dorothy Whipple
Marghanita Laski
Tory Heaven by Marghanita Laski
P.G. Wodehouse
Agatha Christie
Richmal Crompton
Anne Tyler
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Relatively Speaking by Alan Ayckbourn
Henceforward… by Alan Ayckbourn
Susan Hill
Stephen King
The Beacon by Susan Hill
A Kind Man by Susan Hill
Barbara Pym
Hilary Mantel
Penelope Fitzgerald
Beryl Bainbridge
Straw Without Bricks by E.M. Delafield
Provincial Lady novels by E.M. Delafield
Consequences by E.M. Delafield
Saplings by Noel Streatfeild
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
Anthony Trollope
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
A.A. Milne
William Maxwell
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
How To Run Your Home Without Help by Kay Smallshaw
Monica Dickens
Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple
Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther
One Pair of Hands by Monica Dickens
Arrest the Bishop by Winifred Peck
Bewildering Cares by Winifred Peck
Great podcast! Of course I had to rush home (was listening whilst walking the dog) and look up The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, can’t decide if I should buy it immediately or show some self-restraint and request it for a Mother’s Day gift — that’s a whole month away! I did check the Amazon US website and it’s oddly renamed as The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. . . . hope that isn’t a spoiler!
I was also thinking about dependability vs versatility in authors and I thought of Ruth Rendell who also writes as Barbara Vine, and J. K. Rowling who also writes the Robert Gailbraith novels — have you done a podcast discussing authors who use pseudonyms? — or write in two different styles? I also thought of Georgette Heyer who wrote a ton of Regency novels but then also wrote Golden Age crime stories.
As far as Persephones go, I did think of The Hopkins Manuscript by R. C. Sherriff, have you read it? It’s bit unusual for a Persephone in that it’s a sort of dystopian/post-apocalyptic story. And, D. E. Stevenson also wrote a sci-fi novel which is sort of bizarrely post-apocalyptic — there’s a terrible electrical storm and everyone on Earth disappears except people who happen to be flying. The main character is flying in a dirigible and is one of the few female survivors. It’s very weird and set in the 1970s though written in the 1930s. Copies are hard to find but I’m sure you could find it in a UK library. It’s sort of strange but fascinating to read a 1930s idea of the future. I think Anthony Trollope also wrote a futuristic novel — could be the subject of another podcast!
I really enjoyed this episode, per usual. I haven’t read the two latter books in the episode–I’ve had trouble finding these two authors at my local bookstore and library (in the U.S.), but I’ll track them down sooner or later.
I was thinking of Marilynne Robinson for the first part of the podcast. So far she’s written nonfiction essays and literary fiction, so two distinct styles. However, her fiction is very similar in its tone and themes, even Housekeeping, which isn’t part of the Gilead trilogy. I love that she can explore the same two families and five main characters (John, Jack, Glory, Robert, and Lila), but it never gets old because she exposes new layers and new depth in each character when it’s that person’s turn to tell the story. Gary Schmidt is a middle grade novelist I love who also has a very distinct style. After you’ve read his novels, it’s easy to pick up on the style, but it always surprises me with its depth and the lovely way he uses language.
I would definitely pick dependability. Case in point, I’m reading Miss Read’s Thrush Green novels now with the #MissReadAlong, and I’m always so eager to get to the next book even though they’re all so similar. :)
Interesting! Certainly, with some authors (like Agatha) I expect dependability and pretty much always get it. But a perverse part of me sometimes likes my favourite authors to step outside their usual format…. ;)