Today marks 170 years since Charles Dickens advertised what would become his latest novel to his public. That novel was Hard Times, one that he would serialise between April and August 1854 in his periodic journal Household Words. We are so used to reading Dickens’s novels as whole books that it is sometimes difficult toContinue reading “Writing Dickens”
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My World of Dickens
It started with a message. It was from my sister, telling me that my nieces were to appear in their latest theatre school production, and asked me if I would like tickets. The show in question, Oliver. Of course it is. When I caught up with my nieces later that week, their talk was ofContinue reading “My World of Dickens”
Thoughts on The Book of Desire by Meena Kandasamy
The Book Of Desire by Meena Kandasamy My rating: 5 of 5 stars In translating Simone de Beavoir’s Le Deuxième sexe (The Second Sex), the translators, Constance Borde and Shiela Malovany-Chevallier, in their note at the beginning of the Vintage Classic edition raise the difficulties any translator faces, commenting: ‘different times have produced different conceptionsContinue reading “Thoughts on The Book of Desire by Meena Kandasamy”
A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh: Thoughts
I received this book as part of a launch party with New Writing North, where the author, Sarah Marsh, treated us to a reading of the beginning of the novel. I thought I was going to love the novel, especially as the reading initially put me in mind of Hetty Sorrel from George Eliot’s AdamContinue reading “A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh: Thoughts”
Spoilt Creatures by Amy Twigg
I was lucky enough to attend a proof party hosted by New Writing North recently, where I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book. It is definitely one to look out for next year. Spoilt Creatures: ‘A simmering debut, heady with the righteousness of female rage’ Kiran Millwood Hargrave by Amy Twigg My rating:Continue reading “Spoilt Creatures by Amy Twigg”
Brief Thoughts on Woman Writer by Joyce Carol Oates
The usual disclaimer, that this is not an academic review. Published in 1989, with an eclectic mix of essays moving from thoughts on writing, writing process, nineteenth-century literary themes, and popular culture, this was an enjoyable and engaging read. I predominantly purchased this for the essays exploring Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre,Continue reading “Brief Thoughts on Woman Writer by Joyce Carol Oates”
A (non-academic) review of The Marriage Question by Clare Carlisle
The Marriage Question by Clare Carlisle My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is not an academic review, although some of my thoughts are influenced by my PhD research on divorce law reform in the nineteenth century. This is a wonderfully entertaining, well-written, and thoroughly researched book exploring the issue of marriage as it impactedContinue reading “A (non-academic) review of The Marriage Question by Clare Carlisle”
The Idea of North by Peter Davidson: Some Thoughts
Books about the North seem to have a magnetic attraction for me at the moment as I continue to explore what it means – for me – to be a Northerner following my return to live in the North East of England. I was drawn to this book, sitting on a bookshelf in a giftContinue reading “The Idea of North by Peter Davidson: Some Thoughts”
The Green Man of Eshwood Hall by Jacob Kerr
The Green Man of Eshwood Hall by Jacob Kerr My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book was something of a slow burn for me. A sense of uneasiness pervades the whole of the novel, with the nomadic lifestyle of the family suggesting that something is not quite right, and that unsettling eerie atmosphere carriesContinue reading “The Green Man of Eshwood Hall by Jacob Kerr”
Emma and the Silencing of the Working Class Woman
Today I finally made it to the Manchester Art Gallery to view the epic painting ‘Work’, by artist Ford Madox Brown. It is a dense painting, full of intricate detail, in which Brown attempts to depict the gospel according to Thomas Carlyle – that all work, even cotton-spinning work, is noble. There is much toContinue reading “Emma and the Silencing of the Working Class Woman”
Deborah Siddoway 