A Forgotten Wife

Title: The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
Publisher: Sourcebook Landmarks (Oct 2016), 304 pp
Genre: fiction, historical fiction
3 stars
Author:
From her bio "Once a New York City lawyer, Marie Benedict had long dreamed about a fantastical job unraveling the larger mysteries of the past as an archaeologist or historian -- before she tried her hand at writing. While drafting her first book, she realized that she could excavate the possible truths lurking in history through fiction, and has done so in THE OTHER EINSTEIN, the story of Mileva Maric, Albert Einstein's first wife and a physicist herself. Writing as Heather Terrell, Marie also authored The Chrysalis, The Map Thief, and Brigid of Kildare. She is a graduate of Boston College and the Boston University School of Law, and lives in Pittsburgh with her family."
Story line:
This is a novel about Albert Einstein's first wife, Mileva (Mitzi) Maric (1875-1948). She was born into a wealthy Serbian family and was extraordinarily talented in physics and mathematics; she attended all boys schools and programs where women were restricted, excluded) encouraged by her father. Einstein, a socially awkward geek promised her equality and seduced her. After their first child dies, he marries her (1903). His 'miracle' year was 1905 when he produced several papers he had been developing. Let's just categorically state no man/woman works in isolation and several of his theories depend on brilliant mathematics (her forte). Two children later he starts an affair with his first cousin Elsa (marrying her (1914) as soon as the divorce was finalized, 5 years after separation). Yes Einstein appears to be something of a scoundrel, born up in several other accounts, but I was more astonished at the transformation of the brilliant mind with the potentially astounding career into a meek housewife. Moral of the story? Don't get pregnant until you are well into your career. I have taught classes on women in science, and she has been an example (her test papers are brilliant). There is not a lot of science here, indeed, it almost is a romance novel. I enjoyed her friends and her initial outlook. The rigors of social and intellectual society were detailed and contrasted, with most women frustratingly dependent on beauty standards and husband potential. And while it was interesting and thought provoking, I thought there was too much artistic license. It is a slow paced ambitious story with reasonable characterization; It serves to remind women what is still at stake in today's society. It left me depressed.

Quotes:
Turn the knob and push the door open, I told myself. You can do this. Crossing this threshold is nothing new. You have passed over the supposedly insurmountable divide between male and female in countless classrooms.
“Be bold,” Papa would whisper in our native, little-used Serbian tongue. “You are a mudra glava. A wise one. In your heart beats the blood of bandits, our brigand Slavic ancestors who used any means to get their due. Go get your due, Mitza. Go get your due.”
Was he truly so self-focused that he believed I withdrew my affections first? That my self-protection and the recent strengthening of my resolve happened before he cheated on me and bled me dry of my scientific ambitions?
Since he’d unilaterally removed my name from those papers, thereby putting the actual award out of my reach, the least I deserved was the money.
As I took on the roles of his lover, the mother of his children, his wife, and his secret scientific partner, I allowed him to trim away all the parts that didn’t fit his mold.
I have reclaimed my intellect and my scientific passion by tutoring promising young female scientists.
Read on:
Nonfiction: Albert Einstein/Mileva Marić: The Love Letters, edited by Jürgen Renn and Robert Schulmann; Einstein in Love: A Scientific Romance by Dennis Overbye; In Albert’s Shadow: The Life and Letters of Mileva Marić, Einstein’s First Wife, by Milan Popovic; Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson; and Einstein’s Wife: Work and Marriage in the Lives of Five Great Twentieth Century Women, by Andrea Gabor.
Memoir: Jane Hawkins Traveling to Infinity
Fiction: Paula McLain The Paris Wife,  Lynn Cullen Mrs Poe

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley.

Romantic illusions

Title: The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg
Publisher: Random House
368 pp
Genre: historical fiction, biographical novel, literary fiction, George Sand
5/4.5 stars****
Author: Elizabeth Berg is a NYTimes best selling author (25 books).  Open House was an Oprah a bookclub select (2000). Durable Goods and Joy School were selected by ALA as a Best Book of the year. Talk before Sleep was shortlisted for an ABBY Award (1996). She won the 1997 NE booksellers Award for her body of work. A nonfiction work Escaping into the Open: the Art of Writing True was published in 1999. I was introduced to her writing when I lived in MN as she was born in St Paul. I would rate her novels consistently 4 stars, although I have always found them sentimental. This novel is different from her others, in that it is a biographical novel of a famous literary bohemian, George Sand. I personally think it is her best novel (5 stars for the writing/ emotion and 4 stars for the technical plotting, although her life is quite difficult to sort out). I put this book on several friends must read list two months ago when I first read it. A second reading was equally rewarding.
Story Line:
This novel reads like a memoir, in lyrical first person. It concerns the French romantic writer George Sand, (1804-1876) the pseudonym for Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin/Dudevent. Here, as an older woman, she is retracing her steps. Memories which can always be somewhat unreliable can also be vividly informative with the distance of time.
Berg has an intimate, sympathetic voice. From an unusual and unhappy childhood, to a disastrous marriage, her early years reveal her intelligence and understanding of an unforgiving society. In Paris she gives herself a fresh start pursuing her dream of writing and a new name. The success of her first novel gives her a degree of independence as her husband continues to squander her inheritance.
She embraces life, unconventional and scandalous to the times, a pioneer feminist. There is a cast of characters (and lovers) in her life that is larger than life: Alfred de Musset, Gustave Flaubert, Franz Liszt, Eugene Delacroix, Victor Hugo, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Marie Dorval, Frederic Chopin, Pauline Viardot. Many appear in her works. She wrote five memoirs, 42 novels and 12 plays which gave her some financial security to live an independent life. She was also conflicted, always seeking love while being independent. I was surprised by the vulnerability which shines through. Her lasting love (10 years with Chopin) is a small portion of this novel, almost an afterthought for an extremely complicated relationship: friend, lover, confidante, nurse.
Sand was strong and disciplined with her writing, yet vulnerable and influenced by her passions (children, artists, lovers). Is it not telling that Victor Hugo could boast of 2000 conquests, while Sand had perhaps 20 lovers? Much criticism and antipathy has been generated of her and her works simply because she was not a "proper lady".
If it seems like a sad novel, the timelessness and resilience of her art shines through. I hope this novel brings her works more exposure. There is also an interesting PBS series on her life.
In The Dream Lover, there is an everyday, ordinary  feeling for what was then an unconventional and controversial woman. It is a well researched and thoughtful account, true to the character of a unique literary figure.  The reader will note many parallels to current affairs: wide ranging book club discussions are expected. The pace of this novel is leisurely and descriptive, almost the 19th century writing style. Yet these were also turbulent times with enormous social and political change. It was also very interesting to get the feel of her life in conjunction with what she was writing, a perspective on her work. This is beautifully written (I have 1/3 rd of the book highlighted for lyrical passages). I would have appreciated a list of sources, as well as excellent translations. (I can still remember considering one novel dreadful in English class and being completely changed by a different translation. See Kathleen a Robin Hart.) There are fabulous descriptions of the beauty and energy of Paris, gardens and estates of France, the sublime nature of the countryside as well as interesting portraits of social interactions and mores.

"There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved." George Sand

Read On:
George Sand Story of my Life, Indiana, Gabriel (translated by Kathleen Robin Hart)
Susan Cheever American Bloomsbury
Megan Marshall Peabody Sisters and Margaret Fuller
Benita Eisler Chopin's Funeral
Dan Hofstadter The Love Affair as a Work of Art
Nancy Horan Under the Wide and Starry Sky
Robin Oliveira I have Always Loved You
Susanne Dunlap Liszt's Kiss
Lucasta Miller The Bronte Myth
Nancy Milford Savage Beauty
Dea Birkett Spinsters Abroad
AS Byatt Possession
Quotes about her:
"What a brave man she was, and what a good woman." Ivan Turgenev
"George Sand was an idea. She has been released from the flesh, and is now free. She is dead, and now she is living." Victor Hugo
To George Sand: A recognition Elizabeth Barrett Browning
"What inexhaustible goodness, always so quiet and calm, always such an essential part of her character." Pauline Viardot

Read as an ARC from Netgalley! Thanks!

Book of the Moment - Letter from Skye

June 2013
The Bookmore Cottage

Dear Gentle Reader,

Summer is almost upon us and I am not sure what happened to spring. I somehow didn’t have enough time to read with all the gardening, travelling and packing, to say nothing of shoveling unexpected May snow. But planes are perfect places to read, so I have always loved summer travel. Cars invite audiobooks across miles. And of course, the chaise lounge on the back deck can take you so many places. Last week I ended up in Scotland, alternating between present day, WWI and WWII.

Letters from Skye is the charming debut novel by Jessica Brockmole. Dear Reader, you will love this beautiful portrayal of old fashioned love in the time of war, the nuances of letter writing, the captivating period detail, and the two cultures (American and Scottish) which will stay with you long after you have turned the last page.

Through these letters, I met a new friend that I think you will also adore, the lovely Scottish poet Elspeth Dunn from the island of Skye. Her letters sparkle with her love of countryside, youth, family, her fears and dreams and her compass. I felt the same sea breezes, gazed at the stormy seas, despaired for days and years, questioned my own journey and just so enjoyed her erudite company. The letters of her daughter Margarite, her American friend and lover David Graham, along with various family memebers reveal secrets, friendships, bravery and trials, but as with the very nature of letters leave some experiences to the reader’s imagination. There was a satisfying resolution which celebrated joy, something worth remembering in turbulent times. “I have never stopped loving you.”

I have always been a letter writer, an anomaly/anachronism more so with the passing to the electronic age. The graceful correspondence makes for easy reading and is punctuated with lovely humour, wit and passion. I loved the development of the realistic characters (I have a number of Scottish friends I recognised instantly) over the years but also through the eyes of other family members. I enjoyed being reminded of my Grandmother’s time, and also reminding me of how grateful I am to live in this time. And of course, I want to go back home to Scotland now.

Most Sincerely,

A British Bluestocking

PS  Be sure to Read on to:
Yes it has been compared with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows), but it reminds me more of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs, Julia Stuart’s The Tower, The Zoo, The Tortoise, or her Pigeon Pie Mystery and Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons or Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simon (see previous reviews!).

Quotes:
“Like any whose blood runs tartan, I adore W.S…. his poetry really does a fine job of capturing Scotland in all of her changeable moods.”

“ All a person really needs to get them through the vagaries of life are the Bible and W.S. (both of them).”

“I like a good western too and reading things like Zane Grey when I want to take a break from ‘literature’.”

“Our world has already vanished," he said. "I can’t get it back, but I’ll sure as hell try to keep the rest from going to pieces.”

“The night was so pregnant, so poignant, one of those Scottish nights that make you understand why some still believe in spirits and wee folk.”

“Did you know that your eyes are the exact brown-green of the Scottish hills in wintertime?”

Read as an ARC
4 stars for a delightful summer read
Published July 9th 2013

Paula McLain The Paris Wife
One good book leads to another – if you have read Hemingway’s memoir, A Moveable Feast, you have your next book: The Paris Wife. I liked that he finally recognised what he had lost with his divorce, from this comment: “I wish I had died before I loved anyone but her (his first wife, Hadley)." McLain writes primarily in Hadley’s voice providing her version of events. A previous biography (Sokoloff, 1973) is quite good, but this novel portrays the woman who loved him, for himself, and is fascinating! Paula McLain painstakingly researched the biographies, letters, and Hemingway's novels, to accurately detail their lives, including their marriage (1921-1926). She is also a poet, which is evident in her fine language craft and evocative prose which captures the glamour, emotions and trials of the 1920s, Europe and especially Paris.

Hadley (Elizabeth Hadley Richardson 1893-1979) was a 28 year old midwestern girl when she met the 21 year old Hemingway who was already brash and ambitious. You are caught up in their whirlwind courtship and the infinite possibilities that await them in life (even knowing the baggage that came later, you love the current story). Her inheritance enabled them to move to Paris and initially provided Hemingway with the stable environment which promoted his writing and provided him with material/experiences.

The reader is charmed by the warm generosity, beliefs and support of Hadley, delighted by the glittering expatriate world which is littered with well know literary and artistic figures as Gertrude Stein, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Ford Maddox Ford, Jean Rhys, and many others, and heartbroken when their marriage dissolves; Unable to survive the fame, the drinking and womanizing, especially in wake of the birth of their child John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway “Bumby” and her family values.

Hemingway wrote The Sun Also Rises during this time frame, dedicating it to her (and their son) partly in recognition of her sacrifice to his art. The royalties were hers as well. I will always wonder if she had stood up to him more, what greatness they could have achieved together. He desired her because she was not the independent, modern woman, but forgot she was her own person. She struggled to find her place in his ever changing world. While she embraced his adventures, the outdoors, the bullfights, etc their romance didn’t survive the drinking, jealousy, celebrity, ambition, depression and angst.
McLain is also sympathetic to Hemingway, recognising his early troubles, from his controling mother, the trauma of the great war and his depression. We know the man he became. Hadley married journalist and political writer Paul Mowrer in 1933 (Pulitzer 1929), eventually moving back to Chicago. He was also the Poet Laureate of New Hampshire (1968). Bumby (1923-2000) went on to become an American writer and conservationist (he finished the memoir, A Moveable Feast).

Deanna Raybourn

There is a Silent Series (on the Moor, in the Sanctuary, etc) that I have found charming. Another stand alone book was an easy summer read. I adored the bookstore sign that said "vampire free zone", and am mostly avoiding those tales. THIS last book though was delightful - historical mystery from Edinburgh to Transylvania, an unexpected romance with period descriptions. Will have to comment more! Devoured it in 2 hours.

Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout

What a difference a book makes. I haven't been terribly fond of her previous books, but absolutely loved this one. Olive Kitteridge won the Pulitizer in 2008, and was a book I thought to get to eventually (I still haven't forgotten the previous minister tale, although not for the right reasons Abide with me). However, Olive is an incredibly complex book - I can't describe it as a Maine or NE book, it is more deeply perceptive into the human condition/narrative. There are 14 different people/stories in this book, with Olive involved in all of them. She is fiercely proud of her heritage (10th generation American, from Scotland as indentured servants) but I think of this as more a generational book (specific voice / era or small town (anywhere)) than Yankee. Perhaps I don't feel Yankees are so intensely lonely, alone, full of loss all lives full of quiet grief. I read it curiously, not heart wrenching - as layers of character were revealed. I admired Olive for her relentless views, although that was some time coming (your introduction to her charming husband colours your initial impression, as is her point). Everyone has a different perception of people, relationships are all complex, but need to change with time, place and with the relationship as well. She was a fierce math teacher, but remembered by all fairly. (Ok, not by her son!). Her one concern at 77 was her daily exercise - the 6 mile walk, to exclude people, but that it was exercise that would make her live longer - only if she could die quickly, and not in a home lingering, like Henry). Her quest to learn, to grow, to understand. Not just within her community, but into the bigger picture. (I absolutely adore her comments/opinions of Bush in the White House). "Bad things happen. Where have you been?" - do not make excuses.

a few haunts : Rebecca "This can't be my life."

When I read a review that said it was a "penetrating portrait of ordinary coastal Mainers, ...with sweeping descriptions of lush Maine landscape - I can't believe we read the same book. It is the people in here that are absolutely fascinating, their grappling with their lives and unexpectedly intersecting lives and those impacts that will stay with you for weeks.

2010 Reading List

I am travelling for a period, and finally getting time to look through the diary, check the emails, look over the lists, sort out my paper life! As it happens, with the invention of the iphone and built in camera, I have used the camera to take snapshots of books I want to read. In the last week, in various bookstores (Vermont has 55 wonderful used bookstores, and LOTS of libraries which are having summer book sales - and yes I am shipping books home out of the luggage) I have photographed a number of books: the list looks like this:

Julie Orringer The Invisible bridge

Georgette Heyer Duplicate death

Where the wild things are

Tinkers Paul Harding

AMS Double Comfort Safari Club

J. Maarten Troost Lost on Planet China

Eva Rice The lost art of keeping secrets

John McPhee Giving good weight

Archer Mayor Price of Malice

Rusty Dewees Scrawlins

Images of America, Caledonia county VT

Marina Fiorato The Botticelli secret

Juliet Gael Romancing Miss Bronte

Tana French Faithful Place

Yes I have read a couple of these years ago, but revisiting is also fun, sometimes in a different format (dvd or audio). Sometimes it is the republication cover that attracts attention and reminds you what a wonderful book that was. Or reminds you of where you were when you read it.

That plus another list, means I have alot to catch up on! But I have actually read a few books lately, and listened to a couple more travelling the back roads of Vermont. I am typing this in the Stowe Public Library, where I was a patron 25 years ago. I read through their entire collection of books on tape (and it was cassette tape then!) during my commute to Burlington, or to Huntington (Camel's Hump research site). This was where I learned to listen to children's books on tapes and can still recite some of the wonderful lines by incredible voices (and people!). And here I listened to hours of poetry, especially Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson, as well as radio programmes, that connected me again with my parents "the shadow knows!". This is a wonderful library, and community, and state. Tomorrow I head to Montpelier for two of my favourite bookstores: Rivendell and Bear Pond Books. With a couple of PO mailing boxes in hand.... ;-)

Taking Liberties, Diana Norman

I am trying to read all of her novels - just hard to find them.

This was published 2003? the ppbk edition I had anyway. (She is also the author of the Mistress of Death series which I love). She is a journalist, now novelist because she loves historical detail. Reviews of all her books are excellent. There is so much detail, you can reread these books. There are nuances and great detail, but galloping reads as well.

My heart broke for the woman in this story - married at 18 within the aristocratic England; incredible descriptions of family, duty, life. She never forgave her parents for her marriage yet accepted her duty. The arrival of her son was her deepest joy and worst hurt as her husband removed all joy and and beat out all happiness. But she finds herself free at 39 with his death. Only to have her son and his wife cripple her (financially) - and yet she gives her son what he needs, clinging to his wife for support and affection. BUT she escapes by 'visits' - and the arrival of a letter that awakens the dream of the only happy time in her life when she was 13/14.

Then comes the crusade to save the 'boy', to help a friend, to have an adventure and 'live'. She falls in love, what a magical relationship that is. What astounding characters/people. (a slave is given his freedom, and gives it back to save the cause - prisoner exchange. the second woman Makepeace - so very different, so alike and the tale that combines the two lives, making a social history). Profound on so many levels.

City of Light by Lauren Belfer

City of Light by Lauren Belfer was published in 1999 - and I am sorry I missed it!! this was a tremendous book. Factually historical, wonderful romance tale, interesting plot, mystery and story, excellent writing for a great read. Takes place in Buffalo NY in the early 1900s, you will feel right at home after reading Devil in the White City. Some similarities, but much more intricate story, much more academic. This does involve academic life, but also the electrifying of cities and houses (and businesses). The revelations and secrets were fairly obvious to me, but the facts on Niagara falls, electricity, girls schools, power struggles in class, society and between male/female is ever present. I read this one because I had heard of her newest book, which wasn't available from the library yet.

So why is this a Celtic read?? The opening, and closing will grab you.

"I am lucky: I know what people say about me. To some I am a bluestocking: a woman too intellectual to find a husband. To others I am an old maid, though I do not consider myself old and I am no maiden." "Self knowledge as the greeks might say, the only knowledge worth having." Louisa Barrett 1909.

I will be looking for her latest fiction, to be sure. (A Fierce Radiance, 2010)

Erin Hart, Irish mystery series

I was introduced to a new author Erin Hart, partly because her books are Irish/celtic, partly because the latest one takes place in MN and partly because she has a beautiful way with language. I love this quote: The celts speak in riddles, hinting at things, leaving much to be understood (Poseidonius, Greek Ethanographer of 1st century BC).
These are the Nora Gavin (american pathologist) and Cormac Maguire (Irish archeologist) award winning series that take place primarily in bogs, in Ireland. Haunted Grounds was the first (2003) then Lake of Sorrows (2005) then False Mermaid (2010). The first novel is based on a true story (she first heard of in 1986 when visiting) of finding a severed head of a woman with red hair (probably from the 1650s Cromwell era) in 1955 - she was able to speak to the people involved! She wanted to create a story because so little could be learned of the girl. The haunting descriptions are theirs as well as family experience (her husband is Paddy Orien). "the past is not buried, but lives and breaths" - e.g. peat.
They really need to be read in order, but there's only three (and she is a slow writer, so you are lucky to catch up now!).

Her favourite authors are PD James, Dorothy Sayers, with Elizabeth George and Umbretto Eco in the mix. She would also like to take AS Byatt to lunch at WAFrost. She is currently reading Geraldine Brooks People of the Book as her next novel will involve an ancient manuscript! These remind me a bit of Sharyn McCrumb, whose appalachian series I adore (for Nora Bonesteel), with that local flavour, myth/folklore/historic detail. Some gothic suspense, similar to Mary Stewart (I always wished she had written more novels about the same people). And the chilling forensic details are reminscent of Kathy Reichs and Simon Beckett. Softer story, with rather tumultous love affair, maturing, but with issues.

The Glassblower of Murano Marina Fiorato

The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato (2008)
This is a debut novel, with a lot of personal detail (the author is also half-venetian and a graduate of Oxford University. So many of the details are perfect. The history is wonderful and it is a very romantic story. A double story, present day and in 1681 with an ancestor. He who 'defected' to Paris to create the mirrors of Versailles. Both stories are poignant, intriguing, interesting and page turners. All in all, a charming book. The reading group guide at the end of the paperback is also definitely worth reading, and adds more dimensions both to the author, the story and the history. Not the details of The Historian, The Plague Tales, The Owl Killers, but a great read for summer.

BBC News, Elliott Prize

The BBC just announced the short list for the Desmond Elliott Prize, which includes Ali Smith's Girl with Glass Feet. This was a magical, well written tale that I read, recommended by Gail Harris. It is not expected to win, but please read!

Anne Perry, The Sheen on the Silk

Anne Perry, The Sheen on the Silk
This is an interesting book, similar to the Ariana Franklin books I have just finished reading. It is however all Perry - intricate plot, complex characters, intrigue, incredible detail and wonderful historic setting. Constantinople and Constantine 1100s. A girl who masquerades as a physician to restore her twin brother's name/reputation. A girl with a complicated past, uncertain present and nearly no future. Constantine is equally fascinating, leaving one wondering if he did indeed realise how corrupt he had become, and the implications of his power designs. And all those lost souls.

Canadian Authors

I have been asked (quite often) who are my favourite authors (in a particular genre).
So here are a list of some of the Canadians! It is quite humbling to know how many authors I have missed, yet to read, will never get to.
Margaret Atwood Payback (and so much more)
Roberston Davies Deptford Trilogy, Rebel Angels (and everything)
Alistair McLeod No Great Mischief plus every short story
Gil Adamson the Outlander
Dave Duncan science fiction start with the Guilded Chain
Thomas Costain history
Don Coles Forests of Medieval Worlds (poetry)
WP Kinsella Shoeless Joe
Robert Service wonderful poetry
Lucy Maud Montgomery Anne of Green Gables
Ralph Connor Man from Glengarry
William Gibson Neuromancer
Grey Owl
Graeme Gibson
Carol Shields Stone Diary, Bio of Jane Austen
Paul Quarrington Whale Music
Greg Wilson Children's books and programming tomes

As you can see there are many more. Enjoy, send me YOUR favourites.

SJ Parrish, Heresy

SJ Parris Heresy 2010 Pen name of Stephanie Merritt (fabulous writer from Britain; journalist for Guardian and and Observer. She has also written the Dangerous Book for Boys and Bones of the Hills). This novel Heresy is based on the life of scientist Giordani Bruno in Oxford in 1583 and is a FABULOUS historical thriller, entertaining whodunit. Factual details, and vivid, intense characters; - haunting sense of place. One description was Brother Cadfael meets Voldemort - it was enough to make me open the cover!

Jane Austen: how Jane Austen conquered the world. Claire Harman

OK all you Janeites!! there is a new (ish) biography that it utterly fascinating!

Jane's Fame by Claire Harman (2009) How Jane Austen conquered the world. Well written, interesting critique, well researched, such that I am in search of her other three books now too. How did I miss the one on Robert Louis Stevenson??

Paraphrasing some of the pages: "two hundred years and tens of thousands of books on Austen later... her fame and readership continue to grow." the Dawn of Janeism was around 1870 with Margaret Oliphant. In 2007 Pride and Prejudice was voted the book the UK couldn't do without (the Bible was 6th)...Til then Jane was as an author "a critic's novelist - highly spoke of and little read" in the 1830s-60s. Many people liked that there were no letters, no private information of either her or Shakespeare to keep the mystery and make the work itself more important...

Enjoy reading, and then peruse the footnotes, the biography, and be inspired again.

Favourite British authors

Just to update the blog, which I have neglected while working on other blogs!

Spur of the moment 15 authors....(OK, it is more than 15, in three minutes!) (But I already have the next batch of 15 too!)

Dorothy Sayers

Ian Rankin

PDJames

Kate Atkinson

Dorothy Dunnett

AL Kennedy

Clifford Hanley

John Connolly

Susan Hill

Kate Morton

Anne Perry

Alexander McCall Smith

Antonia Fraser

Mary Stewart

Andrew Greig

Liz Lochhead

Roger Deakin

Elly Griffiths

Craig Fergusson