Penguin has just followed publishers such as Virago, Persephone and Furrowed Middlebrow in launching  a new series of reprints of women’s novels, the Mermaid Collection. I loved Lettice Cooper’s Fenny which was first published in 1953. A young Yorkshire woman goes out to Italy in 1933 to be a governess (I seem to be keen on governesses at the moment), and we follow her life at intervals up to 1949. There is some sadness but also kindness, integrity and hope. I found it enthralling and very good at evoking the atmosphere of the place and time.

Overall I prefer Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver mysteries to her other crime novels and thrillers, but some of her standalones are very good. I really enjoyed Nothing Venture in which a likeable, honourable and determined young woman offers to marry a man so he won’t lose his inheritance. She then has to try to persuade him that his life is in danger and that people are not necessarily as innocent as he thinks they are. There is a good contrast between mundane details about working in an office in relative poverty, and a much more affluent life. There are also thrilling moments of acute danger, and some dry humour.

I loved Harriet Walter’s She Speaks! What Shakespeare’s Women Might Have Said. In this she writes interesting and effective short speeches by a large selection of Shakespeare’s female characters. Her brief discussions of her acting experiences and reasons for deciding what the women should say add much to the book’s appeal. I did not know much about many of the characters, but still really enjoyed their pieces. There is a good mix of humour and pathos in this unusual book. I found it a compelling read and would have appreciated it when I was studying Shakespeare.

I was fascinated by Malcolm Gladwell’s Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders and the Rise of Social Engineering. This is a very readable consideration of these issues, and it covers a wide range of topics. These include how certain individuals are inadvertently ‘better’ at spreading disease, and how a popular television show helped to change people’s attitudes to gay marriage. He makes it clear that the ‘tipping point’ can be dangerous, but that it can also provide more beneficial changes in society, and that a greater awareness of it can help.

Do ask if you want any more recommendations.

Happy Reading!

Frances

Please note that I have taken the idea of ‘superlatives’ from the excellent book blog Elle Thinks (https://ellethinks.wordpress.com/).