The Trick to Time is a poignant story of love and loss. Mona, an Irishwoman nearing 60, lives in a coastal town in England where she makes dolls for a living that she sells in her shop and online. The dolls' bodies are of wood, beautifully carved and finished by an almost reclusive carpenter who … Continue reading Book Review – The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal
Marriage
Book Review – The Women in Black by Madeleine St John
The Women in Black is a delightful book set at the end of the 1950s in the Ladies Cocktail Frocks section on the second floor of F G Goode’s Department Store in Sydney (loosely based on David Jones). The story centres around the lives of the black-frocked sales assistants working there – Patty, Mrs Williams, … Continue reading Book Review – The Women in Black by Madeleine St John
Book Review – The Woman in the Shadows by Carol McGrath
The Woman in the Shadows* is a fictional account of the adult life of Elizabeth Wykes, the wife of Thomas Cromwell, a man from relatively humble origins who rose from merchant and lawyer to become chief minister to Henry VIII. For most people, all that is known of Elizabeth is as Cromwell’s wife, a background … Continue reading Book Review – The Woman in the Shadows by Carol McGrath
Book Review – When a Marquis Chooses a Bride by Ella Quinn
This delightful Regency romance is part of a series called The Worthingtons but can be read as a standalone novel. Dorothea 'Dotty' Stern has come down from the country to stay with her friend Lady Charlotte Carpenter for the Season with no immediate thought of marriage. When she meets the the dour and reputedly heartless … Continue reading Book Review – When a Marquis Chooses a Bride by Ella Quinn
One Minute Book Review – Tomaree by Debbie Robson
Tomaree begins in 1972 with Peggy Lockwood returning to Nelson Bay, a coastal town in New South Wales where she had grown up. In 1943 Peggy had married an American naval Lieutenant, Tom Lockwood, who was stationed at Nelson Bay and, as a war bride, Peggy had moved to the United States following the war. … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Tomaree by Debbie Robson
Early Modern Women – Margaret, Lady Hoby (1571-1633)
Margaret, Lady Hoby, is best known as the author of the earliest known diary written by a woman in English. While her diary began as a religious exercise and includes details of her religious practices, prayer and reading, it is also a window through which we can glimpse the busy domestic life of a woman … Continue reading Early Modern Women – Margaret, Lady Hoby (1571-1633)
Book Review – Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore
Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore begins and ends with short chapters set in the present. The story proper commences in 1789 with a man burying a woman’s body in an isolated glade in the fading darkness before sunrise. Three years on Lizzie Fawkes begins her story - she is newly married to widower, John Diner … Continue reading Book Review – Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore
Book Review – Miss Nobody by Ethel Carnie
The 19th century produced a great many female novelists from Jane Austen at the beginning of the century through the Brontes and Elizabeth Gaskell to Ellen Woods to name some of the most famous. Writing at the same time as Ethel Carnie at the start of the 20th century were, among others, Virginia Woolf, Dorothy … Continue reading Book Review – Miss Nobody by Ethel Carnie
One Minute Book Review – The Wife’s Tale by Christine Wells
The Wife’s Tale by Christine Wells is a novel with dual intertwining timelines. The modern strand involves Australian lawyer Liz Jones who, under the pretence of writing a novel about the 18th century Lady Nash, goes to the Isle of Wight to discretely investigate her employer’s claim to descent from Delaney Nash. As she delves … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – The Wife’s Tale by Christine Wells
Marriage amongst the Middling Sort
A very interesting article from Pen and Pension on the making of marriage. In many ways the approach was similar in the 16th century and even into the 20th. Marriage was a significant part of life for the majority in 18th century England as it still is today. Not everyone married, of course, but most … Continue reading Marriage amongst the Middling Sort
Catherine Meyrick 