Elisabeth Sanxay Holding’s The Blank Wall (1947) “It was a mystery story she had got out of the lending library for her father, and she was not fond of mystery stories. Nobody in them ever seems to feel sorry about murders, she had said.” How unfortunate that Lucia is
Agnes Jekyll’s Kitchen Essays (1922) Persephone No. 30 Persephone Books, 2001 Agnes Jekyll explains in her introduction to Kitchen Essays that these pieces have been published in book form as a result of readers of The Times having requested such a ready reference. These traditional recipes and rituals straddle nostalgia and practicality,
Reading in company. It’s always more fun, isn’t it? Not that a stack of Persephones and a stack of lemon cakes aren’t enjoyable in and of themselves. But there’s something about knowing that there are similar stacks of books and stacks of sweets at hand for other readers. That, just
Isobel English’s Every Eye (1956) Persephone Number 18 Persephone Books, 2000 Cynthia has died. We learn that in the first sentence of Every Eye. From Hatty. Who is telling her story from the perspective of her middle years. Hatty is freshly married and Cynthia has freshly died. Both events have
Nicola Beauman's A Very Great Profession: The Woman's Novel 1914-39 (1983) Virago, 1984. Persephone No. 78, 2008. I'm certain that I've said this before, but this is one of my favourite kinds of books about books. Nicola Beauman's A Very Great Profession is obviously written out of a passion for
