Time goes by so quickly and I have just realised that it is a little while since I posted so as it is a cold chilly afternoon and I am indoors nice and warm and music playing, now seems the perfect time to catch up on my recent reading. A lot the titles I have read in the last week or so are old friends and re-reads with a couple of new ones thrown in. We will start with the old friends first.
A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter. I first came across this book in my teens. I had never heard of it and there it was languishing on the shelves at my school library. As far as I know I was the only person who ever read it. When I left school I checked and it was still there, my date stamp on it the only one. Rather sad really.
It was published in 1909. The author came from Indiana and later, when she was well known, used her position and infuence to urge legislative support for the conservation of Limberlost swamp and other wetlands in the State. A Girl of the Limberlost is her best known work and brought her worldwide fame. The central character Elnora Comstock is a lonely poverty sticken girl living on a farm in Adams County with her mother who cares little for her daughter and neglects her. Elnora goes to the Limberlost Swamp to collect and sell moth speciments and earns money to pay for her education.
Elnora's mother went into labour while trying to save her husband who had fallen into the swamp and had to watch him die. She blamed her daughter for his death and Elnora's upbringing is a barren and unloving one. Her mother finally discovers her husband was faithless and was visiting his mistress when he fell into the swamp. Once she realises this Katherine does her best to make up to Elnora for all the loveless years.
At time the story reminded me somewhat of Anne of Green Gables - in both books we have a humourless dour woman softened and changed by the love of their daughter. I re-read this story on a whim last week when I was tidying my shelves and picked it up. It seemed to suit my mood at the time and I loved it all over again. (It is available for your Kindle at 99p - a bargain).
The Governess by Peggy Chambers. I recently tracked down a newer copy of htis than the one I possessed which I have had since the sixties. It is a Penguin book and cost me 4 shillings which gives you an idea of how long I have had it. The pages were brown and falling out and so I went on the internet and found another copy which I now have.
The title is self explanatory. Isabel Dennison is alone in the world and has to earn her living and the only profession open to her was that of a Governess. She has a post with the Staveley family, seven children of varying ages, and hopes to stay with them for a long time and secure her immediate future. Mrs Stavely just wants her children to follow the convential route of minimum teaching and the daughters to marry well and the sons to live a society life. But they have different ideas and encouraged by their governess and her teaching look for more fulfilling lives.
A thoroughly enjoyable book. It was published by the Peacock section of Penguin, then a brand for junior books, but I have read it several times as an adult and it is beautifully written and I found I read it right through again just as I did the first time. I have no idea who Peggy Chambers is and have not managed to find out anything about her so if anyone out there has any information I would be delighted to hear. This seems to be her only fiction book.
OK so another re-read now. Queen Alexandra by David Duff. Quite some time since a biography was written about the consort of Edward VII. I have the impression that she is viewed as of little interest and just regarded as a beautiful woman of little brain but this is not the case. Dealing with a husband such as hers certainly tested her mental strength and her character.
I am currently reading Inside the Royal Wardrobe, a dress history of Queen Alexandra by Kate Strasdin. This is quite a read and I am taking it slowly but I thought it a good idea to have a popular history about her to hand to read in tandem. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it - David Duff wrote many books on Queen Victoria and Albert back in the sixties and seventies and I read them all so it was good to renew happy memories.
Oh dear I have loads more to write about but think I will have to split this post into two parts else it will be interminable. I will be back with more. Two new Golden Age reprints to write about and some Camilleri and lots of D E Stevenson. Nothing hugely intellectual but all immensely enjoyable.
Au reservoir.
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