Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon
Endpapers taken from 1970s knit fabric in private collection
When I read Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski a year ago, I felt as if my heart had been ripped out in the heightened emotion of the closing pages; with Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon, the emotional intensity was present from the opening page and sustained [...]
The Blue Castle
It is all too seldom that one finds a book to embrace to your heart upon finishing but The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery is one such book. I clasped it with such joy and contentment and poignancy that the experience was over; I fell in love with this book and I am delighted [...]
Boxer, Beetle by Ned Beauman
“This is a novel for people with breeding” is the self-proclaiming tag-line for the novel Boxer, Beetle by Ned Beauman, son of Nicola Beauman of Persephone Books. It is an astonishingly accomplished debut that is highly erudite and original. Boxer, Beetle is intelligent and witty and one of the best debut novels I have read; [...]
Claire’s Corner
So, I’ve been blogging rather sporadically of late; all I can offer as a reason is that I’ve been busy and London was in the sweaty grips of a heatwave (the operative word being “was”). Pedicures and Pimm’s have been more appealing than posting, to be honest, but I do miss conversing about all things [...]
Recent Acquisitions
My latest acquisitions have been accumulating in a couple of piles over the last few weeks and are a mixture of books bought and sent.
The Viragoes at the top were both one and the other; the stunning lilac edition of Janet Frame short stories was kindly sent by Sophie of Virago (please have a look [...]






