Transcription by Kate Atkinson The shady and shadowy world of WWII espionage is the subject of the latest Atkinson novel. Like many of her novels, the plot does not unfold chronologically but rather skips back and forth between three pivotal years (1940, 1950, 1981) in the life of Juliet ... [Continue Reading]
How Hard Can It Be?
How Hard Can It Be? by Allison Pearson One of my favorite novels of 2003 and maybe the entire decade was I Don’t Know How She Does It featuring working mom Kate Reddy who battles sexism and sleep deprivation while climbing the corporate ladder at a London hedge fund. Flash forward seven years, ... [Continue Reading]
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
I’ve been looking for a juicy fiction read and finally found it! Set in 1893, The Essex Serpent is a Dickens-esque story of recently widowed Cora Seaborne who leaves London for the wilds of Essex in search of fossils and freedom. What she finds is family, friendship, and a mythical beast. The ... [Continue Reading]
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
Published in 1930, Diary of a Provincial Lady is the gently satiric fictional diary of an upper-middle-class lady living in a Devonshire village. In a witty and self-deprecating tone, the Provincial Lady (PL) records her daily struggles to keep her little household afloat and her sanity intact. PL ... [Continue Reading]
The Novels of Barbara Pym
The Novels of Barbara Pym 2013 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of my favorite British authors Barbara Pym. So by way of celebration, I reread a handful of her charming novels. Pym was a modestly successful author of six novels when in 1963 her longtime publisher rejected her ... [Continue Reading]
Last Friends by Jane Gardam
Last Friends by Jane Gardam In the final novel in the Old Filth trilogy, Jane Gardam spotlights Terence Veneering, a pivotal but shadowy character in the story of Sir Edward Feathers and his wife Betty, who were the subjects of the previous novels, Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden ... [Continue Reading]
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson Don’t you wonder what might have happened if you had married another, spoken sooner, or taken a different route home? Ursula Todd, the protagonist of Kate Atkinson’s new novel Life after Life, experiences all of these options for as Ursula lives, she ... [Continue Reading]
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson I love an English village, or rather I love the English village as it is portrayed in certain novels. Whether such a place exists beyond the pages of books by Jane Austen, Barbara Pym, or Agatha Christie, I’m not sure, but the fictional version is ... [Continue Reading]