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Articles by Melanie Gay

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About Melanie Gay

A former literary agent with three published novels of her own, Melanie retains her life-long love of the written word and recently mastered the Kindle. She is currently writing a historical novel set in 17th Century Britain and Holland. More Posts

Days Without End/Sebastian Barry

It was Roy Hodgson, the former England manager, who was the recommender of Sebastian Barry. I had really enjoyed The Secret Scripture – the story of a woman who was unfairly locked up in a mental asylum. Apparently in catholic Southern Ireland this was not a difficult process and made by a [...]

December 26, 2021 // 0 Comments

A Good Read

Few traditional radio programmes better illustrate the triumph of diversity in BBC programming than A Good Read  on Radio 4. The title and the introduction by well-read presenter Harriet Gilbert would surely indicate that  the purpose of the programme is recommendation. Yesterday a palliative [...]

November 3, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Magician/Colm Toibin

One of the interesting aspects of biography is the attitude – often better described as the relationship – between the writer and his/her subject. Gitta Sereny wrote an excellent biography of Albert von Speer but seemed to be in thrall of him. Tristram Hunt wrote a detailed account of [...]

October 29, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Plot

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is more than a page-turning who done it. The author who wrote The Undoing, which was dramatised on television with Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman in the leading roles, lampoons the writers world of creative writing, publishing and best sellers. The central character [...]

September 2, 2021 // 0 Comments

Lord Dismiss Us

It’s an interesting discussion which actually took place on Radio 4’s A Good Read on reaction to re-reading an old favourite. With this in mind, I recently read for the third time Lord Dismiss Us by Michael Campbell. The novel, which I suspect is strongly biographical, is set in [...]

August 26, 2021 // 0 Comments

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

Inspired by the excellent Ken Burns documentary of Ernest Hemingway I decided to read one of his works. For Whom the Bell tolls I read at school and found it heavy going. Farewell to Arms I knew the story from the film. I’m not a reader of short stories so I plumped for the audio version of The [...]

July 30, 2021 // 0 Comments

Recent fiction: Barcelona Dreaming & Widowland

Both the above two books – written by Rupert Thomson and C.L. Carey – were favourably reviewed but I had not heard of either author. Barcelona Dreaming is three interlocking short stories set in modern Barcelona. In the first Amy, who has a curio shop, meets a young Moroccan outside [...]

July 14, 2021 // 0 Comments

A Good Read

An interesting issue was raised in this week’s Good Read on Radio 4 presented by Harriet Gilbert – namely, you can enjoy a book at one period of your life but not in another. She gave as her example The Franchise Affaire by Josephine Tey. I read a lot of Christopher Isherwood as a kid [...]

July 8, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Rock Pool (Cyril Connolly) and The Shot (Philip Kerr)

I am an enthusiast and when I review a book it’s generally  in the hope that it will be read. However in the above two I have no such aspirations. I must have read The Rock Pool at least 40 years ago when I had a greater interest in writers of the 1930s. It struck me as a louche account of [...]

May 15, 2021 // 0 Comments

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