The Antonia Fraser memoir sounds lovely - I love it when a biographer turns a light on themselves! Although now that I say that, Claire Tomalin is the only one I'm thinking of...
I love the sound of Antonia Fraser's memoir and that closing excerpt is wonderful! Edward Blishen's name is very familiar as a children's author, so I was glad to hear about his books for adults. The sort of thing that readers of Slightly Foxed magazine would appreciate, I bet.
Edward Blishen's Oxford Book of Poetry for Children illuminated my childhood - both Blishen's quirky and challenging selection (I was an English child of eight or so poring over ballads in Scots!) and the stunning colour illustrations by Brian Wildsmith, a star of British children's book illustration who seems to be largely forgotten here (though apparently there is a museum of his work in Japan). It really opened the world of poetry to me at an age when I was still receptive to it, and it did the same I think for my daughter when I read to her from it - I remember her, age five, being piqued by Yeats' 'Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.'
I remember my mother reading Blishen's memoir of his father and my dipping into it and discovering that children's authors had complicated adult lives. It's a long time ago now but I seem to remember his father was a civil servant, very stern and demanding and disappointed by his son.
I had never heard of Blishen but I enjoy "A Good Read" too! That quote about how his mother experienced his father's death is beautiful.
I am definitely going to have to get the Antonia Fraser book at some point. It sounds every bit as good as I would expect. Looking forward to that one.
Good luck with the paperback Sarah. The book is fantastic, and here's to "itchy fingers"! 😊
The Antonia Fraser memoir sounds lovely - I love it when a biographer turns a light on themselves! Although now that I say that, Claire Tomalin is the only one I'm thinking of...
That's a challenge...my brain is whirring. Hey, Edna Healey!
I love the sound of Antonia Fraser's memoir and that closing excerpt is wonderful! Edward Blishen's name is very familiar as a children's author, so I was glad to hear about his books for adults. The sort of thing that readers of Slightly Foxed magazine would appreciate, I bet.
Edward Blishen's Oxford Book of Poetry for Children illuminated my childhood - both Blishen's quirky and challenging selection (I was an English child of eight or so poring over ballads in Scots!) and the stunning colour illustrations by Brian Wildsmith, a star of British children's book illustration who seems to be largely forgotten here (though apparently there is a museum of his work in Japan). It really opened the world of poetry to me at an age when I was still receptive to it, and it did the same I think for my daughter when I read to her from it - I remember her, age five, being piqued by Yeats' 'Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.'
I remember my mother reading Blishen's memoir of his father and my dipping into it and discovering that children's authors had complicated adult lives. It's a long time ago now but I seem to remember his father was a civil servant, very stern and demanding and disappointed by his son.
I need to read it. But certainly his wife was scared of him
I had never heard of Blishen but I enjoy "A Good Read" too! That quote about how his mother experienced his father's death is beautiful.
I am definitely going to have to get the Antonia Fraser book at some point. It sounds every bit as good as I would expect. Looking forward to that one.
Good luck with the paperback Sarah. The book is fantastic, and here's to "itchy fingers"! 😊