You wouldn't know it, because I scheduled some posts for last week, but I've been in hospital for a week and just got home yesterday. I'd had a hip replacement in March and it hadn't gone quite right so had to have it partially redone. Not very pleasant but not terribly serious and now I'm happily back at home, on my sofa like a Victorian lady, with the woodburner crackling away merrily. All very cosy.
I had very limited internet access -- just able to keep up with emails and such -- so most of my time was spent reading. Far from the worst thing that could have happened. Here, to the best of my memory, is what I read.
The Lost Prince and The Little Princess, both by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I'd never read The Lost Prince before and really enjoyed it.
To Bodies Gone by Barney Norris. A study of the plays of the playwright Peter Gill. Very good.
The Disappeared by Kristina Ohlsson. A Scandinavian noir got as a Kindle Daily Deal. Well worth 99p.
The Runaways by Elizabeth Goudge. Haven't quite finished this yet as a package arrived from Faber containing 4 new Faber Finds, novels by Frances Vernon. I've read two and a half of these with enormous pleasure and admiration. They are:
No, I'd never heard of Frances Vernon either. She died by her own hand in the 1980s, at the age of 27, having written six novels, the first while she was still at school. I can't begin to tell you how good they are so you'll have to wait for my reviews here and on Shiny New Books.
