Hot on the heels of the rerelease of The Diary of a Provincial Lady in the VMC list is another rerelease of a title from their back catalogue, The fountain overflows by Rebecca West, the first of a trilogy of books, which is released at the end of march.
Like the Provincial Lady, I'd read this pre-blogging, so the post I wrote here is a little minimal.
But here's the synopsis from the press release that Virago sent me to whet your appetite. I'm looking forward to reading the new introduction by Amanda Craig, whose books I greatly admire.
"Rose Aubrey is one of a family of four children. Their father, Piers, is the disgraced son of an Irish landowning family, a violent, noble and quite unscrupulous leader of popular causes. His Scottish wife, Clare, is an artist, a tower of strength, fanatically devoted to a musical future for her daughters. This is the story of their life in south London, a life threatened by Piers's streak of tragic folly which keeps them on the verge of financial ruin and social disgrace . . ."
I rather like the pastel shades combined with silouettes chosen for the cover. I don't know if there are plans to do the rest of the trilogy, but hope they would be done to match.
I just got a delivery yesterday from Virago and there is a new edition of The Return of the Solider that has a similar cover. Their new South Riding is a similar feel as well I think.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE The Fountain Overflows. One of my absolute favourite books ever. I have a beautiful first edition at home. Virago have done a great job with this cover - I am liking it a lot! Much less 'chick lit' than some of their other new offerings of late!
ReplyDeleteI love the cover! It has such a vintage feel reminiscent of covers from the mid-20th century. I do have an old Virago edition of this which I confess I haven't read yet.
ReplyDeleteI remember loving this as a family story - I don't think I ever got to read the sequels, would love the chance to do so.
ReplyDeleteStill on the TBR list. . . sigh. I do love that cover though. And I agree with Thomas, it is a little like the new South Riding cover.
ReplyDeleteI received this too but really struggled with The Fountain Overflows in the past and found its characters frustrating.
ReplyDeleteAs Thomas points out, the new edition of The Return of the Soldier has a similar cover; I quite like the new branding.
I love that new cover. I think the old cover of The Fountain Overflows was completely unrepresentative of the story. This one illustrates the musicality of the sisters and shows something of the Edwardian elegance of the novel.
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