Hope the knee heals soon. Ornaments...hilarious! Enjoy the part spaniel couple. I am sure they will bring much joy. Also have booked your course for a boost and inspiration. Love your characters. Thanks so much for not bumping dear old Charles off x
A very belated thank you! I'm so pleased you've signed up for the course. Hopefully it will have some inspiring ideas - I'm working on it at the moment while working on my own characters so all ideas will definitely be well tested!
I do sympathise with you vis a vis the knee, and wish you a complete recovery. My right one has never been the same since I attempted some very ill-advised Russian dancing in my early twenties, fifty* * * * * years ago. Four times over the following 15 -20 years my leg was plastered from ankle to groin; and you thnk you have trouble with a leg brace! Just try going to the loo with one rigidly plastered leg, is all I will say. Meanwhile very best of luck with the purchase of the flatbacks, and thank you, as ever, for the Notes of Cheer.
A very belated thank you for your good wishes. The duff knee is doing well thank you, although a new one is lurking in the future I fear. Your leg plastering sounds absolutely horrific! Crikey. I hope it was worth it and that you were fixed! I have the dance ability of a tractor so will stay clear of attempting the Russian one!
I am definitely in for the sanatorium - especially if I can get the traditional bright eyes and good complexion of the literary consumptive and end up marrying one of the doctors. Possibly after being rescued from a snowstorm.
In case you need another auction timesink, I can highly recommend thesaleroom.com which is just a collection of all the auctions from auction houses round the country - devastating for the wallet and very addictive. (I once bought a painting only to realise upon collection that it was two metres square, but don't let that put you off).
A very belated thank you for this excellent additional opportunity for Top Timewasting and Probable Penury. I love it and will mortgage the dog immediately in order to take part. I'm very pleased you will be part of the sanatorium and look forward to the wedding when you marry one of the doctors. Catering on the house of course. Recruitment criteria of all staff will include snowstorm rescuing abilities and opportunity to bring their own St Bernard.
So cheering! I shall start on Molly Clavering on your recommendation. I also have a huge Rumer Godden thing going on - isn't she brilliant at writing children? Have you read The Greengage Summer? I've just finished it and it is a glory. I wrote about it in my newsletter this week. I am also reading Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels - so good, so funny, so light and perfect.
Thank you! I haven't read The Greengage Summer but really must - greengages were big news when I was little but you don't hear so much about them now. Shame! I love the Angela Thirkell novels - 100% agree re light and funny. I was working my way through them and must pick up again.
Here's a Note of Cheer - Dear Miss Lake is the first "readers also enjoyed" on Harriet Evans' GR page for The Treasures. Maybe she will invite you to her new "upstairs in Persephone Bookshop" book club (Good Books Only) - starts this Wednesday 15th
Not an author but I love the sound of the San! Also the SFB, never really looked at them before but their faces alone made me laugh as much as your cheery writing😊
Should I ever be voted into power. Well, stranger things/people etc .... anyway, at the point I will make sure your Substack is provided for all, on the NHS .... it is such a tonic. Thank you.
Hurray, thank goodness for Notes of Cheer! I find myself nodding away in agreement like a spring-headed spaniel on the back shelf of a Hillman Minx. Definitely in for the home of.... i'll crochet endless blankets and bake cakes :)
Always happy to see your newsletter in my inbox. It's aptly named "Notes of Cheer", as it never fails to make me smile (or laugh out loud). Hope you're up and at 'em soon!
I hope you ‘won’ the flatback, I laughed out loud at your description. Please feature it again if you’re now the proud owner! Excellent book recco’s and yes of course I am ‘in’ with the Home for etc etc. Please may I volunteer in the library? I can think of no better medicine. And speaking on medical themes, all good wishes for a speedy recovery.
I've just checked the flatback and with only 47 hours to go I am still the highest - and indeed only - bidder! 😂 If I win it will be in next month's letter for sure. Great to hear you're keen to volunteer in the library - thank you for that. I've told Hugo he won't be able to smoke his pipe indoors. I see a row coming on. 😂😂😂
Having also stupidly broken my wrist this week mid-final house clearance push, I am definitely on the waiting list for your rest & recuperation hotel. Having also just finished Audition off the Booker shortlist, it is so restorative to sink back into a world (of housekeepers, yes!) but pre-digital slower worlds where you don't have to psycho-analyse your every gesture or suppressed thought. I recommend you read everything you can find of Rumer Godden's including her and her sister Jon's memoirs of growing up in India. Put together with MM Kaye's similar background, they really paint a picture of upcountry life in early 20th century India. Take all the official Sit Down you can, I am told it is worth it long-term. Take care!
I am so pleased I found your Substack. I so enjoy women authors (or mainly women) from the 20s, 30s and 40s. My gateway drugs were the thicker Peter Wimsey novels of Dorothy L Sayers, when she got much more interested in her characters than the plot, and Nevil Shute. I so realise that Shute's career was rather later, but Angela Thirkell kept writing into (I think) into the 60s, and possibly also DE Stevenson, so I can't be too dogmatic about it. Anyway, I look forward very much to your Notes of Cheer, and to the comments of other readers, so thank you very much
That's so nice to hear - thank you very much. I use 'mid-century' re novels extremely loosely I think - 1925-1955 perhaps? With allowances into the 1960s and 1910s?!
I need to explore the Peter Wimsey novels as it is one of the many gaps in my reading. Should I start with Whose Body? Thank you!
I would probably start with Strong Poison, which I think is the very start of the transition. It is the first appearance of Harriet Vane. The Wimsey-Vane relationship starts to be developed in Have His Carcase and we spend a lot of time in Harriet's head. Murder Must Advertise reverts to the Christie-style of whodunit. Then The Nine Tailors doesn't have Harriet in but I feel the writing has hit a new level. Then in the last two, Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon, the relationship between the two protagonists is, for me, the main focus. Also, and it's not a spoiler because of the name of the last novel, a marriage proposal received is a happy ending but not the happy ending. Harriet and Peter, who both have their baggage, have to work out how to be a couple as well as solving a mystery
Gorgeous. The River, Black Narcissus and In This House of Brede, and with small children in tow. Another writer who lived at Lamb House in Rye. I learnt the other day that EF Benson and his friend Fred had also lived there. My other go-to women of the period.are Ethel Mannin, Ann Bridge and Pamela Frankau, all available cheap in book club hardbacks with lovely dust jackets
Also, please reserve a space at the home. Looks perfect!
You're in! 🤣
Hope the knee heals soon. Ornaments...hilarious! Enjoy the part spaniel couple. I am sure they will bring much joy. Also have booked your course for a boost and inspiration. Love your characters. Thanks so much for not bumping dear old Charles off x
A very belated thank you! I'm so pleased you've signed up for the course. Hopefully it will have some inspiring ideas - I'm working on it at the moment while working on my own characters so all ideas will definitely be well tested!
Love your newletters! They always cheer me up! ☺️
Hope your leg is better soon! 🧡
A very belated thank you! It is on the mend thanks although my days with the Royal Ballet may be over. 🤣
I do sympathise with you vis a vis the knee, and wish you a complete recovery. My right one has never been the same since I attempted some very ill-advised Russian dancing in my early twenties, fifty* * * * * years ago. Four times over the following 15 -20 years my leg was plastered from ankle to groin; and you thnk you have trouble with a leg brace! Just try going to the loo with one rigidly plastered leg, is all I will say. Meanwhile very best of luck with the purchase of the flatbacks, and thank you, as ever, for the Notes of Cheer.
A very belated thank you for your good wishes. The duff knee is doing well thank you, although a new one is lurking in the future I fear. Your leg plastering sounds absolutely horrific! Crikey. I hope it was worth it and that you were fixed! I have the dance ability of a tractor so will stay clear of attempting the Russian one!
I am definitely in for the sanatorium - especially if I can get the traditional bright eyes and good complexion of the literary consumptive and end up marrying one of the doctors. Possibly after being rescued from a snowstorm.
In case you need another auction timesink, I can highly recommend thesaleroom.com which is just a collection of all the auctions from auction houses round the country - devastating for the wallet and very addictive. (I once bought a painting only to realise upon collection that it was two metres square, but don't let that put you off).
A very belated thank you for this excellent additional opportunity for Top Timewasting and Probable Penury. I love it and will mortgage the dog immediately in order to take part. I'm very pleased you will be part of the sanatorium and look forward to the wedding when you marry one of the doctors. Catering on the house of course. Recruitment criteria of all staff will include snowstorm rescuing abilities and opportunity to bring their own St Bernard.
Excellent! I'm putting forward a request for strudel during kaffee und kuchen.
So cheering! I shall start on Molly Clavering on your recommendation. I also have a huge Rumer Godden thing going on - isn't she brilliant at writing children? Have you read The Greengage Summer? I've just finished it and it is a glory. I wrote about it in my newsletter this week. I am also reading Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels - so good, so funny, so light and perfect.
Thank you! I haven't read The Greengage Summer but really must - greengages were big news when I was little but you don't hear so much about them now. Shame! I love the Angela Thirkell novels - 100% agree re light and funny. I was working my way through them and must pick up again.
Here's a Note of Cheer - Dear Miss Lake is the first "readers also enjoyed" on Harriet Evans' GR page for The Treasures. Maybe she will invite you to her new "upstairs in Persephone Bookshop" book club (Good Books Only) - starts this Wednesday 15th
How lovely - thank you!
Not an author but I love the sound of the San! Also the SFB, never really looked at them before but their faces alone made me laugh as much as your cheery writing😊
Thank you! All are welcome at the San - I'm putting you down as a definite yes! 😀
Should I ever be voted into power. Well, stranger things/people etc .... anyway, at the point I will make sure your Substack is provided for all, on the NHS .... it is such a tonic. Thank you.
Ahhh, that's lovely - thank you! 😀
Hurray, thank goodness for Notes of Cheer! I find myself nodding away in agreement like a spring-headed spaniel on the back shelf of a Hillman Minx. Definitely in for the home of.... i'll crochet endless blankets and bake cakes :)
Thank you! You will be extremely popular in The Home - Hugo will love a blanket! 😀
Always happy to see your newsletter in my inbox. It's aptly named "Notes of Cheer", as it never fails to make me smile (or laugh out loud). Hope you're up and at 'em soon!
That's so kind of you - thank you!
I hope you ‘won’ the flatback, I laughed out loud at your description. Please feature it again if you’re now the proud owner! Excellent book recco’s and yes of course I am ‘in’ with the Home for etc etc. Please may I volunteer in the library? I can think of no better medicine. And speaking on medical themes, all good wishes for a speedy recovery.
I've just checked the flatback and with only 47 hours to go I am still the highest - and indeed only - bidder! 😂 If I win it will be in next month's letter for sure. Great to hear you're keen to volunteer in the library - thank you for that. I've told Hugo he won't be able to smoke his pipe indoors. I see a row coming on. 😂😂😂
Enjoyed newsletter from beginning to end, but sorry about your knee…Excited for your next book!
That's so kind - thank you very much!
Having also stupidly broken my wrist this week mid-final house clearance push, I am definitely on the waiting list for your rest & recuperation hotel. Having also just finished Audition off the Booker shortlist, it is so restorative to sink back into a world (of housekeepers, yes!) but pre-digital slower worlds where you don't have to psycho-analyse your every gesture or suppressed thought. I recommend you read everything you can find of Rumer Godden's including her and her sister Jon's memoirs of growing up in India. Put together with MM Kaye's similar background, they really paint a picture of upcountry life in early 20th century India. Take all the official Sit Down you can, I am told it is worth it long-term. Take care!
Thank you so much. I'm sorry to hear about your wrist and hope it heals very soon. I'll push on with plans for the hotel asap!
I am so pleased I found your Substack. I so enjoy women authors (or mainly women) from the 20s, 30s and 40s. My gateway drugs were the thicker Peter Wimsey novels of Dorothy L Sayers, when she got much more interested in her characters than the plot, and Nevil Shute. I so realise that Shute's career was rather later, but Angela Thirkell kept writing into (I think) into the 60s, and possibly also DE Stevenson, so I can't be too dogmatic about it. Anyway, I look forward very much to your Notes of Cheer, and to the comments of other readers, so thank you very much
That's so nice to hear - thank you very much. I use 'mid-century' re novels extremely loosely I think - 1925-1955 perhaps? With allowances into the 1960s and 1910s?!
I need to explore the Peter Wimsey novels as it is one of the many gaps in my reading. Should I start with Whose Body? Thank you!
I would probably start with Strong Poison, which I think is the very start of the transition. It is the first appearance of Harriet Vane. The Wimsey-Vane relationship starts to be developed in Have His Carcase and we spend a lot of time in Harriet's head. Murder Must Advertise reverts to the Christie-style of whodunit. Then The Nine Tailors doesn't have Harriet in but I feel the writing has hit a new level. Then in the last two, Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon, the relationship between the two protagonists is, for me, the main focus. Also, and it's not a spoiler because of the name of the last novel, a marriage proposal received is a happy ending but not the happy ending. Harriet and Peter, who both have their baggage, have to work out how to be a couple as well as solving a mystery
PS Have you read Kingfishers Catch Fire yet?
Gorgeous. The River, Black Narcissus and In This House of Brede, and with small children in tow. Another writer who lived at Lamb House in Rye. I learnt the other day that EF Benson and his friend Fred had also lived there. My other go-to women of the period.are Ethel Mannin, Ann Bridge and Pamela Frankau, all available cheap in book club hardbacks with lovely dust jackets
Born part spaniel,.. Indeed! 😀 Your Notes of Cheer make me laugh out loud. Hope your knee will be better soon!
Thank you so much - that's lovely to hear. 😃