Revived Writers
Fairly often a well-deserving writer is rediscovered by readers, publishers, or reviewers/critics. The neglected books are brought back into print, retrospective appreciations are written (Dawn Powell) or a sudden rush of affection overwhelms the writer late in life (Barbara Pym). Sometimes the writer’s works are whacked with the magic wand of Hollywood, and the writer becomes much more famous and widely read than in his or her mortality (Philip K. Dick).
Recently I was struck by the handsome editions that a British publisher, Hodder Books, brought out for Pamela Hansford Johnson’s novels. Johnson (1912-1981, CBE, FRSL) was a prolific and multi-talented writer who was the guest of many universities in the US and celebrated in her day. Her second husband, C.P. Snow, had an even higher profile as a writer bridging the sciences and the humanities and wrote successfully and abundantly, including an epic 11-volume series, Strangers and Brothers. Johnson is now back in print. Snow is out of print entirely in the US. Publishers — and booksellers — are mysterious in their giving and taking away. It pays to stay alert to what is revived.
On this page, beginning in the pandemic days of Spring 2020, we will hunt around for revived fiction and its writers. We begin with Johnson. I look forward to listing other authors I carry: Nancy Mitford, Georgette Heyer, Eugenia Price, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and others. (Why are all the names I am thinking of women writers? No idea.)
Enjoy! Experiment! And come back to check on new listings.
The Shepherd of the Hills
The Shepherd of the Hills
“Here and there among men, there are those who pause in the hurried rush to listen to the call of a life that is more real. He who sees too much is cursed for a dreamer, a fanatic, or a fool, by the mad mob, who, having eyes, see not, ears and hear not, and refuse to understand.”
—The Shepherd of the Hills
Originally published in 1907, The Shepherd of the Hills is a timeless story of love, loss, and redemption. When an elderly shepherd escapes his life in the bustling city and moves to a village in the Ozark hills, he enters a pastoral world that forces him to question his past and the mysterious death of his only son.
As the shepherd struggles to overcome his painful history, he becomes involved in the lives and affairs of the people in the hills. He witnesses the developing romance between Sammy Lane and Young Matt and discovers the threat of brutal Wash Gibbs and his band of outlaws. Most of all, the shepherd befriends Pete, a young orphan whose past is linked with the shepherd’s own. As tensions rise in the mountains and the tragedy of a lost love haunts the villagers, the shepherd gradually uncovers the secrets of the town and his own tragic past.
Beginning in the 1930s, The Shepherd of the Hills was adapted into a play and remains the longest-running outdoor play in Branson, Missouri. Hailed as Wright’s most famous work, this classic novel celebrates human strength and the ability to overcome failure and achieve atonement.