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.
Winter and Rough Weather
Winter and Rough Weather
I’m not really worrying, but it’s very isolated. Boscath is like an island in some ways.”
“I see what you mean,” nodded Jock.
“And Rhoda isn’t used to islands.”
James Dering and his new wife Rhoda are returning from their honeymoon, and Jock and Mamie Johnstone are delighted to welcome them to their new home on a neighbouring farm. But Mamie’s concern proves justified, and Rhoda, a talented painter who has chosen marriage over art, finds rural Scotland lonely after life in London. She soon finds new inspiration in the beauty around her, and in the process gives the bright but difficult young Duggie a new lease on life. But her art will also uncover secrets, and lead to dramatic, far-reaching consequences for those around her.
In this novel, in which characters from Vittoria Cottage and Music in the Hills recur, D.E. Stevenson wonderfully evokes the chill and bluster of winter in the Scottish Borders, contrasted with the warmth and charm of her irresistible characters. This new edition features an introduction by Alexander McCall Smith.
Praise
“Miss Stevenson has her own individual and charming way of seeing things.” Western Mail