Ali Hope 📚📚

1) A Wreath for the Enemy by Pamela Frankau 2) Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair 3) The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence 4) The Devastating Boys by Elizabeth Taylor 5) Old New York by Edith Wharton 6) The Skin Chairs by Barbara Comyns 7) Pilgrimage 1 by Dorothy Richardson

A new blog post today on some of my favourite Virago Modern Classics
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Book cover for The Benefactors. Three Women stand one behind the other, their images overlaid with images of city streets.

I started reading The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine a couple of days ago. A very ambitious, polyphonic novel with some seriously flawed characters. It's fascinating and very readable. 📚💙

Rupert Heath, Publisher and founder of Dean Street Press, reading on the beach.

Text of a poem for my late brother.

At Dean Street Press, we believe in the power of the written word to transcend time. Today marks three years since we lost my brother, our founder. He spent nearly a decade helping curate the worlds our readers love to get lost in. We remember him today, celebrating his legacy on every page. ♥️

The Barracks by John McGahern First published in 1963, The Barracks was John McGahern’s debut novel, written when he was in his late twenties. Now considered one of Ireland’s greatest authors, McGahern wrote about a world he kn…

'She was Elizabeth Reegan: a woman in her forties: sitting in a chair with a book from the council library in her hand that she hadn’t opened [...] with a life on her hands that was losing the last vestiges of its purpose and meaning...' #BookSky 💙📚

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I don't get through my physical books very well, which I worry about as I have some lovely ones. However, I continue to cope better with Kindle. That has directed my reading a lot the last few months particularly.

I got The Benefactors and Gloria Don't Speak. Have you read many on this year's longlist?

Book cover, Touch and Go by Patricia Wentworth. The centre image, a black and white picture of a young woman in thirties dress holding a large umbrella.

Tucking myself into bed with my latest book. A 1930s golden age mystery - so comforting, oddly. Touch and Go by Patricia Wentworth. @deanstpress.bsky.social

Paulette is such a good character. I loved her.

Congratulations, I have just bought a copy. Looking forward to reading it. 😊

The Women's Prize longlist is very interesting. I have only read one - The Best Of Everything by Kit de Waal. However, I have found myself buying two others this evening. There are several others I fancy reading in the future.💙📚

The Party was my third by Tessa Hadley. A short novel, I very much enjoyed it. Beautifully observed and very atmospheric. She's an excellent writer.

The Flint Anchor, was Sylvia Townsend Warner's final novel first published in 1954. An historical novel centering around the family of John Barnard a merchant and leading figure. He has a great love/favouritism for one of his daughters and the weak man she marries. His is a dysfunctional family.

I haven't heard of those stories. I do love a good short story collection.

Oh yes, I read Tea on Sunday (last year I think). It was good. 😊

February books: Fanfare for Tin Trumpets by Margery Sharp Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh Birding by Rose Ruane Dancing with Death by Joan Coggin The Party by Tessa Hadley And so Did I by Malachi Whitaker The Flint Anchor by Sylvia Townsend Warner.

My February reading round-up. 7 books, one was a re-read (though I had remembered nothing). A really excellent mix of books, mainly fiction but each quite different. Full list in alt text. Hard to pick one favourite. So, I call that a good month. What good things did you read in February? 💙📚

Well, it's a little while ago but I did go. 😊 I often drag myself down there on a Friday evening just for an hour or so, have one drink and chat to others who live here.

Book cover: penguin classic of The Flint Anchor. A grey sea with a couple of small sails, and a blue grey sky above

I have finally started reading the last Sylvia Townsend Warner novel I had left to read. The Flint Anchor. No idea why it's taken me so long. 💙📚

Book cover. Dancing with Death. Two young women in vintage evening wear stand in front of a vintage car.

I haven't been great the last few days/weeks. Kept myself amused with a jolly murder mystery by Joan Coggin over the weekend. Dancing with Death. It was just the right thing. I did guess the ending, which was probably obvious, but made me feel clever. 💙📚

They do! 😁

No days off, just degrees of badness. I understand the dread of things going back to how they were though. 🫤

The really shit thing about a chronic illness is, the absolute everyday-ness of it. Unremittingly gruelling. I mean, you'd think we'd get a day off now and again. 🫤

I enjoyed the different stories of the women. Well told, I thought. Quite thought provoking.

Birding was excellent. I think it will give my book group a lot to talk about next month. 📚💙

Book cover. White band toward the bottom bearing the title And so Did I and author Malachi Whitaker. Two thirds of the book blue/grey coloured featuring the image of a woman's eyes.

Last night I started reading a rather lovely little book. And So Did I by Malachi Whitaker, a kind of mix of memoir and journal. First published in 1939, and reissued by Boiler House Press. @malachiwhitaker.bsky.social 📚💙

I've read Tokyo Express, Inspector Imanishi Investigates and A Quiet Place and thought they were excellent. A Quiet Place was definitely darker than the first two. I would definitely read more by him.

Yes very atmospheric. I enjoyed it, but it was probably not quite as strong as the two Tessa Hadley novels I read last year, The Past and Late in the Day. An author I'm glad I discovered.

Brilliant. 😁

I really enjoyed this one. Such clear sighted observations, excellent writing. I shall definitely carry on reading novels by Tessa Hadley. 💙📚

Title of the book and author picked out in alternating colours. Central image of a woman's green blouse her hand holding an ice cream.

There is something rather delicious, yet slightly sinister about a down at heel English seaside town, and also peculiarly British. Just started my next book group read, Birding by Rose Ruane. Not managed to read more than a few pages yet, but I very much like the author's style. 💙📚

I keep hearing about these books. I must say, I am tempted.