Erica

LATEST ARTICLES ( 397 )

• The Man with Red Hair by Hugh Walpole (1925)

  

  A late entry into our series of Hugh Walpole reviews. See also reviews of The Killer and the Slain, Farthing Hall, Judith Paris and The Cathedral. Read more

  Posted on 06 November 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Village by Marghanita Laski (1952)

  Review by Val H: Oh how I enjoyed The Village (1952) by Marghanita Laski! On the surface, it is a simple, even dull love story, but this is merely a cover for... Read more

  Posted on 29 October 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski (1949)

  From the political comedy of Tory Heaven, to a very different kind of novel indeed…. Review by Margaret B: Hilary Wainwright, emotionally repressed English... Read more

  Posted on 23 October 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Tory Heaven Or Thunder on the Right by Marghanita Laski (1948)

  

  We had a very good reading group on Marghanita Laski. She began her novel-writing career with comic political satires, first Love on the Supertax, and then... Read more

  Posted on 22 October 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• We’re in the Yorkshire Post!

  

  There was very well-written article in the Yorkshire Post on Saturday about a collection event we’re holding on Wednesday about popular fiction in World War I. Read more

  Posted on 20 October 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Citadel by A. J. Cronin (1937)

  

  Review by Sylvia D: The Citadel is a powerful attack on the medical system in this country before the inception of the National Health Service in 1948. Read more

  Posted on 29 September 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Stars Look Down by A J Cronin (1935)

  

  Review by Helen N: This book if expressed simplistically might be expressed in the words of the old Music Hall song – It’s the same the whole world over… It’s... Read more

  Posted on 23 September 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Three Loves by A J Cronin (1932)

  

  Our reading groups started again in September after an August break, and the first novelist to report back on is A J Cronin. Archibald Joseph Cronin (1896 –... Read more

  Posted on 19 September 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Chatterton Square by E. H. Young (1947)

  

  Review by Thecla: This is the story of two contrasting families, the Blacketts and the Frasers, who live in adjacent houses in Chatterton Square, Upper... Read more

  Posted on 10 September 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Bright Day by J. B. Priestley (1946)

  Review by David R: The story opens in the immediate post-WW2 period. The narrator, Gregory Dawson is a scriptwriter staying at an hotel in Cornwall while he... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Yonder by E. H. Young (1912)

  

  Review by Jane V: Alexander is a country boy living in a remote place with his mother, a strong, capable character, and his father, a weak failure of a man whos... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Vicar’s Daughter by E. H. Young (1928)

  Review by Margaret B: The story takes place over a period of a week at the end of the summer. Edward Stack, his wife Margaret and their nineteen year old... Read more

  Posted on 25 July 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Confessions and Impressions by Ethel Mannin (1930)

  This book has a fair amount in common with Beverley Nichols’ autobiography-but-really-about-other -people Twenty-Five. Just shows the appetite for celebrity... Read more

  Posted on 23 July 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Killer and the Slain by Hugh Walpole (1942)

  

  Review by Thecla: This is a dark, uncanny novel, one of Walpole’s macabre works. It is subtitled “A Strange Story” and the dedication to Henry James reads... Read more

  Posted on 08 July 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther by Elizabeth Von Arnim (1907)

  

  WordPress tell me that today is this blog’s second birthday. So Happy Birthday Reading 1900-1950! Thank you to everyone who has written reviews and everyone... Read more

  Posted on 07 July 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Farthing Hall by Hugh Walpole and J. B. Priestley (1929)

  

  This novel is a collaboration between Walpole and Priestley. Walpole, the older novelist, writes as the young artist, while Priestley takes the character of... Read more

  Posted on 04 July 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• ‘Trollope Meets King Lear’: The Cathedral by Hugh Walpole (1922)

  

  Review by Margaret B: The initially humorous tone of Hugh Walpole’s The Cathedral for a while masks what is eventually a very tragic story with parallels to Kin... Read more

  Posted on 03 July 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Hugh Walpole (1884-1941)

  

  Next, reviews of Hugh Walpole. Who reads Walpole now? Very few people, I suspect. There is an excellent 2013 article on the BBC which wonders if a new theatre... Read more

  Posted on 02 July 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• ‘Culture Wars’ Conference Papers

  

  Culture Wars 1900-1950 14th June 2014 Giacomo Patri, White Collar (1938)   Some of the papers from our collection conference on the 14th June are now online. Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE

• In the Mountains by Elizabeth Von Arnim (1920)

  

  The first edition of this novel was published anonymously, though it most have been obvious to readers familiar with Elizabeth’s style that she was the author. Read more

  Posted on 27 June 2014 BOOKS, CULTURE