For a week now our home has been a bit of a centre of misery as we’ve both had rotten colds. Jack got it first and generously passed it on to me – share and share alike! With explosive sneezing bouts occurring frequently we’ve both been too exhausted to do anything much, but when I’ve had the energy I’ve been reading.
But decisions, decisions – what should I read? I tried The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson. It’s on my list of Scottish books to read for the Read Scotland 2017 Challenge. But I only got a couple of pages into it before realising that my brain was not going to cope with the medieval style of English that it seems to be written in. I gave it up intending to go back to it when I’m back to normal.
I then picked up A.J. Cronin’s The Citadel, but the subject matter of medicine and Harley Street doesn’t appeal to me at the moment. So I put it down again.
I couldn’t find my copy of The Young Pattullo by J.I.M. Stewart – so opted to start reading Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes. It had just dropped through our letterbox a few days before. It turned out that these short stories – often very short were just perfect for my mood.
They were originally published in The New Yorker magazine, giving people in America a flavour of what life was like for women in wartime Britain. There’s a date at the beginning of each story, presumably when it was originally published, the first one being 14 October 1939, so just a month or so into the war. The early stories are quite light-hearted and amusing but towards the end of the book nerves are getting frayed as food shortages and changes in life-styles begin to bite.
This is the first book by Mollie Panter-Downes (I can’t help it but her name always makes me smile) that I’ve read, and I’ll definitely be reading more. This one just hit the spot exactly.
I know that a lot of people prefer the original plain grey Persephone covers but I was particularly pleased that this one has as a cover which is one of my favourite World War 2 paintings, capturing what must have been the reality for people, women in particular, standing in queues for hours on end in an effort to get enough food to feed their family. The painting is by Evelyn Dunbar.
I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed this. I love Mollie Panter-Downes. One Fine Day is a wonderful book. It is beautifully written and I highly recommend it. Her London War Notes are fascinating. It is a compilation of the columns she wrote for The New Yorker describing life in Britain during the war. It is so nice when others enjoy an author you love!
Jennifer,
As it happens, I’ve just ordered a copy of One Fine Day so now I’m really looking forward to that one. She had a remarkable writing career and seems to have been very modest about her writing talent.
Get well soon!
I’ll try to track that book down, it sounds like one I’d enjoy.
Valerie,
I hope you enjoy it if you get around to it. I was lucky and got my copy cheaply off the internet, often Persephones are expensive considering they are paperbacks. Thanks. I’m feeling muh bettter today, just bunged up now, no explosive sneezes!
This sounds like a wonderful book – I completely understand having to find the book to read that suits my mood and mental energy at the time.
I read the Citadel by A.J. Cronin years ago after watching a tv version on Masterpiece Theater. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the story, but it is one of my favorites.
I hope you and your husband are well soon!
Paula
Paula,
I thought that I had read The Citadel in the 1970s but realise now that I didn’t. I did read quite a few of Cronin’s books then as I grew up in Dumbarton which is the town that he lived in and was a doctor there, although before my time. My in-laws knew him.
Mollie Panter-Downes is a writer I must get around to one of these days. Hope you’re feeling better now, Katrina!
Sandra,
I think you would really enjoy her writing. Thanks, I’m feeling better now, about 90%, these colds can drag on though!