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Look what I’ve found

Yesterday, through a combination of circumstances, my brother and I found ourselves at our father’s abode – he being away for the next fortnight – and decided to embark upon a review of the innumerable files, boxes of papers, photographs, memorabilia and sundry magazines, books and ephemera [...]

September 2, 2014 // 0 Comments

Bill Naughton: prophesy realised

The name Bill Naughton  may not resonate with the modern reader till I explain that he was the author of Alfie. He was from the gritty northern  school of writers of the sixties typified by Keith Waterhouse, John  Braine and Alan Sillitoe who are largely unread these days . Bill Naughton was [...]

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

The literary value of letters

The other day I had dinner with a barrister friend who is extremely well read and the conversation turned to Arthur Quiller Couch, a Cambridge Professor of English and editor of the anthology of Oxford verse. Q, as he was known, was a resident of Fowey and a influence on the writing of Daphne Du [...]

August 20, 2014 // 0 Comments

Observation and insights

For some time now, the world has been aware that Clive James – Australian author, columnist, television and book reviewer, lyricist and poet – is terminally ill. I have been an admirer of his from the days long ago when he made his name in Britain as The Observer’s television critic and [...]

August 6, 2014 // 0 Comments

Fest by Robert McCrum

Fest by Robert McCrum is both a murder story and pastiche on literary festivals. It probably succeeds better as the former. McCrum was the distinguished editor of Faber for many years and knows the publishing world intimately. The result was that the satire on literary festivals was rather [...]

July 30, 2014 // 0 Comments

Back on the du Maurier trail

I visited Jamaica Inn, with its Daphne du Maurier museum. We Du Maurier fans were disappointed that the BBC made such a hash of dramatising the book. It’s an early novel, her second, and reflects the independence of spirit that symbolised those years in her life, as seen in the heroine the [...]

July 15, 2014 // 0 Comments

Daphne du Maurier’s Cornwall

To understand and appreciate the fourteen du Maurier stories that are based round Cornwall it’s vital to be in situ, which is why I made  this trip. I prepped up in the morning by reading Daphne du  Maurier’s Cornwall.  She always did her research thoroughly and she writes fully on [...]

July 13, 2014 // 0 Comments

A literary journey

    For a few years I wanted to visit Daphne Du Maurier’s Cornwall. Few novelists are so associated withe their locale as du Maurier is with Cornwall, in particular the area around Par. Daphne Du Maurier I succeeded  in reserving a week at Pridmouth Cottage overlooking the cove [...]

July 12, 2014 // 0 Comments

Village of Secrets

Twenty or so years ago I met an interesting New York lawyer in Paris who scarcely conformed with the venal prototype of that profession. He had come to Paris not just to join a European law group, but as part of a charity called Christians who saved Jews. Their  mission was to trace those who [...]

July 7, 2014 // 0 Comments

The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair

The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair is a bestseller, having sold 2 million copies and been translated into 18 languages. The author is swiss ,Joel Dicker,  and this is his first novel. He is not yet 30 – a startling career beckons, or does it? The novel begins with a writer Marcus [...]

June 5, 2014 // 0 Comments

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