Postmen all over the country must be finding their bags weighed down with Persephone Books' latest releases, if my Instagram feed is anything to go by. I daresay no one reading here will be unaware that Tirzah Garwood's autobiography Long Live Great Bardfield, and Every Good Deed and Other Stories by the much-loved Dorothy Whipple have just been published, and doubtless many of you already have your copies and are well into one or other of them as this is book post of the best kind.
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Ian Rankin's latest Rebus novel, Rather Be The Devil, will be out next week; Mr. C. read it in an afternoon and promises a review, but for now says it does not disappoint.
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Diana Athill is still going strong at 98 and is about to publish A Florence Diary, an account of a trip she made just after the war:
"In August 1947, Diana Athill travelled to Florence by the Golden Arrow train for a two-week holiday with her good friend Pen. In this playful diary of that trip, Athill recorded her observations and adventures - eating with (and paid for by) the hopeful men they meet on their travels, admiring architectural sights, sampling delicious pastries, eking out their budget and getting into scrapes. Written with an arresting immediacy and infused with an exhilarating joie de vivre, A Florence Diary is a bright, colourful evocation of a time long lost, and a vibrant portrait of a city that will be deliciously familiar to any contemporary traveller."
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When Pete Brown's The Apple Orchard: The Story of Our Most English Fruit came out last month I read an associated article and snapped up the book. Here's the blurb:
"An orchard is not a field. It's not a forest or a copse. It couldn't occur naturally; it's definitely cultivated. But an orchard doesn't override the natural order: it enhances it, dresses it up. It demonstrates that man and nature together can - just occasionally - create something more beautiful and (literally) more fruitful than either could alone. The vivid brightness of the laden trees, studded with jewels, stirs some deep race memory and makes the heart leap. Here is bounty, and excitement.
Taking us through the seasons in England's apple-growing heartlands, Pete Brown uncovers the magic and folklore of our most familiar fruit, showing its place at the heart of our lives."
Coming across the Pond in January and the Persephone store in London is on my itinerary. Thanks for the suggestions. Hope Diane Athill's book is out by then. Sounds wonderful.
Posted by: Mary | 28 October 2016 at 08:47 PM
I hope you have a great trip, Mary!
Diana Athill's book is due out next week (3rd. Nov.).
Posted by: Cornflower | 28 October 2016 at 09:23 PM
Sorry to say I am completely ignorant of these publications by Persephone Books.
Posted by: Dark Puss | 29 October 2016 at 11:08 AM
No, I wouldn't have you down as an avid reader of The Persephone Post or the Biannually, DP!
Posted by: Cornflower | 29 October 2016 at 05:15 PM
Oh you have done it again and put bookish temptation in my path!
I have the latest Biannually but have yet to do more than glance at it so I missed the two books you have - both of which very much appeal to me!
As unfortunately do the books by Pete Brown and Diana Athill and as Elin Hilderbrand's lovely Nantucket-set books are a not so guilty pleasure, I also crave the third in the Winter Street series!
I suppose I could put them on a Christmas list but unfortunately my nearest and dearest are all of the opinion that I have too many already!
Posted by: LizF | 30 October 2016 at 11:13 PM
I haven't read Elin Hilderbrand before so I'm glad to hear her books are good.
As for having "too many" books, let's think of acquiring more as an act of support for authors, illustrators, publishers, booksellers, libraries ... !
Posted by: Cornflower | 31 October 2016 at 10:38 AM
I had an e mail from Persephone today telling me that my copy of Long Live Great Bardfield is in the post, I'm hoping it arrives tomorrow.
Posted by: Claire | 31 October 2016 at 10:18 PM
Hope so, Claire.
Posted by: Cornflower | 01 November 2016 at 01:21 PM
Thank you for the reminder of the Whipple short stories, I really don't want to miss it.
Posted by: Toffeeapple | 01 November 2016 at 05:47 PM
You're welcome.
I must go and watch the Virago documentary and see if there's any mention of 'the Whipple line'!
Posted by: Cornflower | 01 November 2016 at 07:47 PM
They wouldn't be counted as great literature by those who are snobbish about books but she writes lovely absorbing family stories that are a lovely light relief if you have been reading heavier fare. I have always been fascinated by Nantucket and the Cape Cod area too so that makes them even more enjoyable.
I am currently reading Lindsay Hawdon's Jakob's Colours about the Romany Holocaust which is beautifully written and a book which will remain with me but it is heartbreaking so I will probably be in need of something lighter when I have finished!
Posted by: LizF | 02 November 2016 at 11:41 AM
Did you? And was there?
Posted by: Toffeeapple | 02 November 2016 at 05:00 PM
I did, and there was not, and thank goodness there's Persephone to give Mrs. Whipple's books a home.
Posted by: Cornflower | 02 November 2016 at 09:22 PM
Jakob's Colours is excellent - and harrowing, as you say.
Posted by: Cornflower | 02 November 2016 at 09:29 PM
Oh yes!
Posted by: Toffeeapple | 03 November 2016 at 12:59 AM