The Sheik (Hull) 411

It's been a while, for which apologies. Along with apologies for the fact that most of the last posts on this blog have started in this way. I was so tired in November and December and my brain was so full up with other things that I didn't manage to read anything terribly literary (highlight was a reread of the Little House books!), and certainly not attack my Virago TBR pile. I've still got a way to go with my challenge to read all of the VMCs so I will certainly need some discipline to both read and write about them.

But here I am with my latest VMC acquisiton. Over at the wonderful site Library Thing there are community groups, and there is one devoted to Virago Modern Classics. I'm sure I must have mentioned this before as several members have kindly sent me VMCs in the past. Each year, there is a Virago Secret Santa and this year I joined in for the first time. Julie was my santee, and I bought her two Virago Travellers as well as a Storm Jameson VMC. My secret santa was Mary, all the way from Tennesse, and she chose a book from my wishlist - The sheik - by Edith M Hull. It had been on my wishlist for so long that I can't remember quite why I added it but I am glad that I did as it was a most enjoyable read.

Described on the back cover as "one of the Virago's trio of turn of the century erotic best-sellers", it was certainly a bit of a racy read. But not perhaps in the way that one is used to with books these days - there is sex, but it is much more implicit than explicit, certainly in the details anyway.

It tells the story of Diana Mayo, a boyish girl who embarks on a tour of the desert. She has never had any sort of relationship before, never even been kissed, when she is kidnapped by a Sheik, who spotted her a few days previously and forces her into bed with him. She is appalled and holds the Sheik in great contempt, until perhaps inevitably she falls in love with him. Of course the Sheik has announced earlier on that he gets easily bored by women in love with him, and one of the reasons that he likes Diana so much is because she isn't in love with him. But once she's fallen in love with him, she can only hope that he will do the same.

What I found most interesting of all was finding out that Hull was a farmer's wife who had never been near a desert at all. I suppose it was a bit obvious as the settings were never terribly detailed but I was impressed that she imagined so much.

It's just been published once, with a modern green cover, although my copy was actually a print on demand issue of this. Thank you very much again to Mary for sending this to me.

Virago Book Club

Virago have asked me to post a little message to promote their book club. It doesn't exclusively deal with Virago Modern Classics but it still sounds really interesting and any of you that find it easy to get to London might fancy popping along.

Naomi says:

"Virago hosts a live book club event every month during which we invite members of our Book Club to come into Little, Brown for some wine and/or cake and a chat with our featured author and their editor. This month, on 29th November, our book club will be discussing Polly Samson’s Perfect Lives with Polly and Lennie Goodings, her editor. Here is the link for the book club:

http://www.viragobooks.net/bookclub/how-the-virago-book-club-works/

All members are able to attend the live event and get a 20% discount at Foyles on the book that is featured each month, as well as unlimited access to our Forum (http://bookclub.viragobooks.net/forum.php) where they are free to discuss anything and everything book and/or Virago related!"

Seventh heaven (Hoffman)

It's not often these days that I spot a VMC at the library which I haven't read, but I did last week - it was Seventh Heaven by Alice Hoffman. I was already aware of Hoffman as quite a prolific author of whom I've already read a couple of books; it turns out that Seventh Heaven is her only VMC. Written in 1990 it must be one of the most recent VMCs to be on the list.

Set in the late 1950s on Long Island, it tells the tale of a mother and son who move to a suburban community and are outcasts. It's a time when social mores are absolute, and a single mother, a divorcee, is considered scandalous. There is a veneer of perfection in the suburb, but it is obvious from early on that there will be cracks and it is only time before they are revealed. To some extent, the arrival of Rita and her son precipitate this.

Reading reviews of Alice Hoffman's work, it seems that she is famous for magical realism in her writing. I have to say that I didn't especially notice that in this book, but this is also one of her more realistic books. I just found the plot and the characters absorbing as she paints a very good picture of life in the suburb.

It's been published once by Virago, with a modern green cover.

Aurora Floyd (Braddon); Now in November (Johnson)

It's been a while, and I actually have been reading VMCs since I last posted, just did not get around to posting about them :( So I am going to briefly mention two very different VMCs in this post.

The first is Aurora Floyd by M.E. Braddon. The author was actually recommended to me last year when I started to get into Wilkie Collins books and was interested in exploring other sensation literature. So when I saw that Braddon had two in the VMC series, I had to get hold of them. Of course sensation literature is particularly good to read in the Autumn as the nights draw in, and I did enjoy this book, even though it took a lot of concentration due to the densely written plot with a lot of pages and very small writing. Do pop over and read Simon Savidge's review of it here; he was disappointed by it after reading her other VMC novel, Lady Audley's secret, so I should certainly give that a go.

The second is Now in November which seems an appropriate title to write about since I have not posted since October, although I read it back then. I spotted this in the local Oxfam bookshop - it was not a VMC that I'd ever heard of and of course I picked it up. It turned out to be a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Josephine Johnson. This is her only VMC, although she did write a handful of other novels. Absolutely wonderful. It won the prize in 1935, and tells the story of a farming family deep in the Depression. Think Grapes of Wrath only somewhat more succinct and written by a female author. It is depressing, it is grim, but it is still an exceptional book that is very much worth reading.

Exciting news from Virago

Some of you may have spotted this article in The Bookseller. I got in touch with Virago to find out more and this is the response that Donna, the senior editor, kindly sent me.

"I am pleased to say that in 2013 we will be starting a VMC YA list so that our books can reach a wider audience and we can include some great novels that we might not otherwise be able to publish. Our recent acquisition of some of Rumer Godden’s backlist has provided the opportunity to launch this venture, and alongside her adult novels such as Black Narcissus and Kingfishers Catch Fire, we shall also be publishing some of her books for younger readers – these will include her ballet-themed books, Thursday’s Children and Listen to the Nightingale in 2013, and The Dark Horse and An Episode of Sparrows the following year. She’s an incredible writer who writes as well for adults as for children, yet her books for younger readers are never patronising or overly simplified and can be read and enjoyed by an adult audience – so I hope you like them! "

I am particularly excited about this as I loved Rumer Godden's ballet books when I was little. Too bad that it's still a while before they will be landing in the bookshops!

A woman of independent means (Hailey)

Wow! Sometimes during what at the moment feels like quite a struggle through the Virago Modern Classics list, a book pops up which I absolutely love, and want everyone else to read, and a book that I probably might not have come across were in not for that list. A woman of independent means by Elizabeth Hailey is this fantastic book.

Written in letters, it covers over 60 years of Bess's life, from early letters to her childhood sweetheart, whom she eventually marries, to the end of her life when most of her friends have died. The book is partly based on Hailey's grandmother - in fact the author says in the introduction that one of her grandmother's friends believed that it was HER letters - but also born out of 1970s feminism (the book was published in 1978). Hailey says in the introduction "I tried to imagine the letters [my grandmother] might have written from childhood to old age and in the process show how full of drama even a seemingly ordinary life could be".

Bess is quite simply an inspiring heroine. The independent means to which the title refers to is the legacy that Bess recieves which gives her considerable independence at a time in the early twentieth century when the majority of women were reliant on their husbands or their fathers for support. But Bess has plenty of independent spirit; she travels by herself, she deals with thhe death of her husband. The independence is perhaps most signified when she marries her second husband and what is effectively a pre=nuptial contract is drawn up.

The structure of the book is impressive; I can't quite conceieve how difficult it must be to come up with a plot, and then tell it not just through letters to one person but to a variety of correspondents.

Here is a quote which I love because it talks about marriage, something which is still very much on my mind at the moment:

""I am always amazed to hear people say the first weeks or months of marriage are the best and then, 'the honeymoon is over.' Of course I thought I loved you with all my heart when we were married, but it took marriage to teach me the outer limits of my anatomy, both physical and spiritual, and now I know that every moment we share further increases my capacity for love." (to her husband, Rob, in 1917)"

This book has just been published once by Virago with a modern cover.

The old man and me (Dundy)

I actually read this before I was struck down with mumps, so apologies for not remembering that much about it! I had been looking forward to reading this book for a while, since reading the Dud Avocado very early on in the VVV, but had been waiting for a second hand copy to turn up.

It tells the story of Honey Flood, an American girl, who comes to London to find her quasi stepfather - the man who married her stepmother after her father died, called Charles McKee. She sets out to seduce him in an attempt to get his month.

In some ways it was very similar to the Dud Avocado, I found myself a bit annoyed by the narrator. It's just been published once by Virago with a modern cover.

PS: I have now read/blogged 380 VMCs! This means I have 176 to go! Hope to make to to 400 by the end of the year...if only I could read 3 a week and then I'd be done in a year's time!!