Monday 26 April 2010

I do feel a bit guilty having spent two gloriously sunny days with my head buried in a book. And I'm the one who was moaning all winter about missing the sunshine.
I blame the arrival last week of Persephone Biannually which is always a treat. Jumping ahead to their autumn list, I discovered a copy of Monica Dickens' The Winds of Heaven on Amazon for 1p. And on Saturday morning it arrived, its 1950s dust-jacket pristine, once I'd flicked it with a duster, and even more desirable than a dovegrey Persephone. At least I think so.
And, of course, I jumped in straight away - and I've only just emerged. I remember my mum reading Monica Dickens back in the 1960s when she was a columnist in the good old days of Woman's Own.
The story is about a widow in her late 50s (when 50 meant that you were past it) who is left penniless by the death of her overbearing husband. Completely dependent on her three grown-up daughters - for a roof over her head, for a new dress, even for a busfare - she lives out of suitcases, passed around her family like an unwanted parcel. Her only friend, apart from a misfit little grand-daughter, is a fat man who sells beds in an Oxford Street department store.
I can see why Persephone chose to publish this in the autumn because it's a real, hugging-the- fire indulgence read. I didn't surface until the overblown ending.
But looking at what I've been reading lately, I feel somewhat overblown myself and gorged on too much 'feminine' literature. I've enjoyed it ... but it's time for something with grit.


7 comments:

Ali said...

And I'm feeling just the opposite - I've been doing a lot of 'should' reading for work and missing out on much that I want to read for my own pleasure. It's a little soul-sapping.

mary said...

I do agree, Ali. Work-reading is the worst. It sends me into such a trance, and then I'm marooned on the same paragraph for ages.

Hannah Stoneham said...

What a lovely post. My first Monica Dickens - Marianna (the Persephone version) arrived in the post only on Friday and i am so looking forward to it. I have never read her books before so am slightly on tenterhooks.

thanks for sharing

Hannah

mary said...

Hannah, I liked this one better than Mariana, but sometimes it's the mood you're in rather than the book. I've read others by Monica Dickens but so long ago, I barely remember them ...

kristina said...

So impressed you're one ahead on your Persephones: will look forward to this one in the autumn. And very intrigued as to what your next, grittier read will be! K x

Darlene said...

Kristina took the words right out of my keyboard!

mary said...

Yes, the trouble is I haven't really got anything in mind. And I'm going to have to crack on with Wolf Hall or I won't have read it in time for next month's book group. But I do find that sometimes I overdo the nostalgia genre and end up feeling as if I've eaten a box of chocolates all in one go.