Tag Archives: British literature
The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy’s novel, The Trumpet-Major, published in 1880, is a great favourite. It’s certainly not one of his masterpiece tragedies (Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure), but neither is the book as light as his rural humorous romance Under The Greenwood Tree. … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Hardy, Thomas
A Tale Told by Moonlight by Leonard Woolf
“But who ever felt the sun set or rise in London or Torquay either? It doesn’t: you just turn on or off the electric light.” Yes, a collection of shorts by Leonard Woolf aka Mr Virginia Woolf, the man with … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Woolf Leonard
The Well-Beloved by Thomas Hardy
I was long overdue for a Hardy Novel, but I couldn’t decide which one to select. Finally I choose The Well-Beloved. This is not my favourite Hardy–although it’s close, but it is one I think about quite often. It’s an unusual novel, … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Hardy, Thomas
The Man Who was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
Beware the agent provocateur…. The Man Who was Thursday sat on my shelf for years, and then I recently read about the doings of the Hairies and the infiltration of an anti-fascist organisation by an undercover policeman who subsequently lost his moral bearings. … Continue reading
Filed under Chesterton G.K.
The Merry-Go-Round by W. Somerset Maugham
“As if hell were needed when every sin brings along with it its own bitter punishment.” The Merry-Go-Round, an early and largely forgotten novel from W. Somerset Maugham is not considered his best, but it’s one of my favourites. The Merry-Go-Round was written … Continue reading
Filed under Maugham, W. Somerset
The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope
“I think it would be well if all single women were strangled by the time they are thirty.” Years ago, a very dear friend recommended periodic reading of Trollope as a tonic against modern life, so recently I picked up … Continue reading
Filed under Trollope, Anthony
My Lady Ludlow by Elizabeth Gaskell
“Like a piece of sea-wreck, I have drifted away from those days: quiet, happy, eventless days.” As a Jane Austen fan, I read and loved the coziness of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford. This led me to the 2007 BBC film version … Continue reading
Filed under Gaskell, Elizabeth
The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
“It is no easy matter to get into the families of the great” The plot of the 18th century novel, The Vicar of Wakefield makes the book sound like a soap opera. It’s the tale of a sweet, unworldly vicar–Dr … Continue reading
Filed under Goldsmith, Oliver
A Month in the Country by J.L.Carr
“Nothing’s so secret as what’s between man and wife.” In A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr, Tom Birkin arrives in the remote country village of Oxgodby to restore a medieval mural that has been discovered in a local … Continue reading
Filed under Carr, J.L.
The Papers of A.J. Wentworth, BA by H.F. Ellis
“I am here to teach, not to trifle with hosiery.” Arthur James Wentworth is a middle-aged, bumbling, fusty assistant master at the Burgrove Preparatory School for boys. Wentworth is the object of affectionate ridicule from both the boys in IIIa … Continue reading
Filed under Ellis, H.F.
