John Fowles, Tracy Chevalier, and eating in books – Lyme and limes, if you will!
Sorry for a bit of a delay (because I had to read two quite long books) – and advance apologies for the delay before our next episode, as Rachel moves house and completes her dissertation. Thanks for bearing with us! In this episode, we use a recommendation from my friend Rachel (a different one) and ask about characters and food. In the second half, we compare John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman with Tracy Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures. Do let us know your thoughts on either!
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The books and authors we mention in this episode are:
The Brontes by Juliet Barker
Letters by Virginia Woolf
The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
Famous Five series by Enid Blyton
Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester
Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard
The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
Edith Wharton
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen
Provincial Lady series by E.M. Delafield
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Matilda by Roald Dahl
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert Jenkins
Speaking of Love by Angela Young
Concert Pitch by Theodora Benson
Mr Pim Passes By by A.A. Milne
Four Days’ Wonder by A.A. Milne
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
I have just read At Mrs. Lippincote’s by Elizabeth Taylor which contains a scene where the characters discuss the food eaten in the Bronte’s and in Jane Austen’s novels. The food in this novel is generally terrible, though there is the implication that the wife can cook well when she takes the trouble. I didn’t see the food angle at the time of reading as an amplification on the theme of a disintegrating marriage, but when she serves yesterday’s leftover egg sandwiches to her husband for dinner, you have to feel that she has lost respect for him and the marriage. The meals start will burnt sausages and no mustard and apart from one party the food goes downhill from there.
Immersing yourself in Woolf is amazing. I read the diaries in my twenties and *lived* Woolf – wonderful experience! As for food I don’t think I’ve ever paid as much attention to it in books as I did in my childhood reading Blyton! 😂
I love to cook and bake, so I love books where food matters. It’s such a good way to develop atmosphere and setting and character. I love the food in British novels in particular. I’m listening to Right Ho, Jeeves! right now and Anatole’s food certainly sounds good. :) Also, one of my favorite genres of nonfiction is food memoirs, ‘My Life in France’ by Julia Child being a particularly good one. Great topic idea, Simon’s other-friend-named-Rachel!
I went to Lyme Regis on my last trip to England, so I’m excited to read both the novels. I didn’t know much about Mary Anning at the time. I was mostly there because of Persuasion (and a River Cottage cooking class, see above paragraph, ha!).
I’m also a big fan of food in novels — I once met an English professor who pointed out all the best children’s books have lots of food in them, and she is so right — most of my childhood favorites have amazing descriptions of food. All of Roald Dahl, the Little House, Narnia, the Oz books. . . I could go on and on. Sadly, Enid Blyton hadn’t crossed the Atlantic during my childhood.
I’ve read both Remarkable Creatures and French Lieutenant’s Woman, and I mostly remember the narrator of FLW being really annoying. I think I liked Remarkable Creatures but I was mostly infuriated by how then men treated Mary Anning. But I was in Lyme Regis last month and did walk along the Cobb (did NOT jump — and those steps are pretty scary!) and I even saw Mary Anning’s house. I should post photos on my blog.
I’m looking forward to your A. A. Milne podcast.
Very much enjoyed this episode. I too wonder why I gave you the Chevalier! but thanks for the mention. I do remember loving it at the time – but I think I’d be more critical of the writing now…
Also, you mentioned Bruce Bogtrotter and the chocolate cake from Matilda. That always reminds me of the scene from Cool Hand Luke (which was a book before the film, by Donn Pearce), when Paul Newman bets he can eat 50 hard boiled eggs!
I do not think we used to eat large meals in terms of the portion sizes … but perhaps ate more often during the day … early morning tea then a full English breakfast but with only 1 or 2 rashers of bacon, a choc biscuit with ones coffee for elevenses, lunch at one, afternoon tea with a sandwich & a slice of cake at 4 p.m. then dinner at eight …
I was glad to hear Simon mention the boeuf en daube in To the Lighthouse–that always intrigued me and ultimately spurred me on to make the dish. Food is almost a character in Barbara Pym’s novels and it’s hard to imagine them without the fairly detailed descriptions of meals. One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed Alexander McCall Smith’s Scotland Street series is that each volume always ends with some sort of summing up dinner party with guests and Italian dishes and wine you’d want to be involved with.