Rebecca West, Rosamond Lehmann, and book groups – welcome to episode 58!
I can hardly believe that we’ve not done an episode on book groups before – but here we are! In the first half, Rachel and I talk about whether or not we’re in book groups, and what would constitute our ideal book group. In the second half, we discuss Rebecca West’s 1956 novel The Fountain Overflows and compare it with Rosamond Lehmann’s 1932 novel Invitation to the Waltz – both the beginning of series, and both about young women entering the world.
We’re always very happy to hear suggestions for topics or authors – do let us know if there’s anything you think we should cover.
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The books and authors we mention in this episode are:
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gower
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Stonecliff by Robert Nathan
Portrait of Jennie by Robert Nathan
The Train in the Meadow by Robert Nathan
Mr Whittle and the Morning Star by Robert Nathan
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
Being Dead by Jim Crace
Reading Groups by Jenny Hartley
Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras
Regeneration by Pat Barker
Thomas Hardy
Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
Jose Saramago
George Macdonald Fraser
P.G. Wodehouse
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Immortality by Milan Kundera
E.M. Delafield
Illustrado by Miguel Syjuco
To The North by Elizabeth Bowen
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay
Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
This Real Night by Rebecca West
Cousin Rosamund by Rebecca West
The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann
Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge
Barbara Comyns
Rachel Ferguson
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
The Echoing Grove by Rosamond Lehmann
Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann
Virginia Woolf
Thank Heaven Fasting by E.M. Delafield
‘Her First Ball’ by Katherine Mansfield
Harriet Hume by Rebecca West
H.G. Wells
Rebecca West by Victoria Glendinning
Random Commentary by Dorothy Whipple
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson