As mentioned, I spent a couple of nights in beautiful Malvern – sadly I felt pretty ropey with a cold, but it didn’t stop me popping into the excellent Malvern Bookshop, and Amnesty secondhand bookshop and the Malvern Book Collective. For a small town, it is well-served with bookshops! On my way home, I stopped for chips in Tewkesbury and a pop-in to Cornell Books, which has a very well-selected range of fiction. And I had a nice chat with the lady there about Virago and the Provincial Lady.
Here’s what I picked up over the weekend…
The Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
Look, I’m well aware that space is limited in my flat and I don’t technically NEED lots of editions of the Provincial Lady series. But it’s my one indulgence in duplicates, and I couldn’t leave this lovely cover behind.
Susan Spray by Sheila Kaye-Smith
I’ve still only read her non-fiction, but have a couple of her novels. I’m a bit scared they’ll be Mary-Webb-style yokel rural novels, but I flicked through and didn’t see any excruciating dialect, so hopefully I’m safe
Open the Door! by Catherine Carswell
You might have spotted that the British Library Women Writers series recently reprinted her novel The Camomile – it’s one of the handful of BLWW titles that I didn’t recommend, so she was a new author to me. She only had two novels published, and this is the other one
Antarctica by Claire Keegan
I’ve enjoyed but not loved the two Keegan books I’ve read – I hesitate to call them novellas, as they are clearly short stories packaged as individual books. So I thought getting a collection of short stories could be a good next step… and I think perhaps it was mentioned on A Good Read recently?
This Could Be Everything by Eva Rice
LOVE Eva Rice and have been meaning to pick this one up ever since it was published.
Rhine Journey by Ann Schlee
The only book in my haul that was in a new-books bookshop – I have a personal rule that I buy at least one book if I’ve gone into an independent bookshop, and you can imagine how HARD it is to keep to that rule. Firstly, I trust Daunt Books to pick gems; secondly, a fair few people highlighted how good it was during #SpinsterSeptember.
The Second Mrs Ellyot by Jennifer Mannock
I don’t know anything about this 1947 book or author, and the internet doesn’t seem to provide any further details – but I am always intrigued by a name in the title, and this one has got me asking questions. Are we in for a Rebecca situation?
Prelude by Beverley Nichols
“Nobody buys him any more!” said the lady in the shop, when I came away with this novel and a couple other Nichols titles for a friend who also loves him. She’s right, and that’s why I always manage to snap them up!
Osebol: Voices from a Swedish Village by Marit Kapla
This chunkster might be familiar if you listen to Tea or Books? podcast, because it was one of Rachel’s favourite reads of 2022. She made it sound so interesting that I couldn’t resist when I found it in a charity shop.
Quite pleased with my eclectic mix, and spoilt for choice with where to start. Anything that you’d recommend, or particularly interests you?
Osebol! The longest book you’ll read in a single setting.
Hope you feel better soon.
Thanks Dave! And yes, flicking through I was impressed the publisher was willing to make such a big book with so few words.
Love the Provincial Lady cover and envious of the Virago Carswell. I have The Camomile but not this one. Of course, I haven’t read it or the Susan Spray!!!
Enjoy your finds, Malvern sounds like a must visit.
They had a small but very good Virago selection at the Tewkesbury bookshop. I’m impressed Tewks has maintained such a good little bookshop – their speciality is ordnance survey maps, which maybe keeps them afloat!
I am most jealous of the Provincial Lady (I too have several copies but not that one!) and Open the Door which has been on my wish-list since I read the wonderful Camomile earlier in the year (one of my favourite BLWW’s issues).
I’ve never seen this edition in the wild before, though I think I must have seen the picture online somewhere. The bookshop in Tewkesbury has such a good selection.
That’s a great haul, Simon – particularly the Beverley. *Why* are people not buying him any more???? I am, though I rarely come across his books!
I do seem to have quite a lot of luck finding him in the wild, though you never know where he’s going to be shelved!
“I couldn’t leave this lovely cover behind.” Of course you could not!
I love the chorus of people here and on instagram agreeing that I couldn’t leave it behind. We get it!
I feel like “are you well enough to go book shopping?” is clearly an excellent diagnostic test for ill bibliophiles.
haha! If that falls, then all is lost
The short story Antarctica appears in another collection of hers that I read. They’re very good, but I think she’s best at the novella length.
Interesting – I do find her novellas feel like short stories, so I was hoping the short story would be her metier!
I have the Carswell in the TBR so I’ll look forward to hearing how you find it.
If no-one buys Beverley anymore why do I so rarely find him? Maybe no-one donates him either!
Hope you’re much recovered now Simon.
Yes, that Provincial Lady is a must by and I’m saying that ages later so it must be true!