Elspeth Barker
Kiss Me, Katya
Vinegar Girl, Anne Tyler’s version of The Taming of the Shrew, comes third in the Hogarth Shakespeare series, in which novelists retell eight of Shakespeare’s plays. The accepted question at the labyrinthine heart of The Taming of the Shrew is how Petruchio will persuade Katherina, well known to be a shrew, wildcat and fiend of hell, to marry him. His unflinching interest in her is entirely mercenary: ‘I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;/if wealthily, then happily in Padua.’
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'Thirkell was a product of her time and her class. For her there are no sacred cows, barring those that win ribbons at the Barchester Agricultural.'
The novelist Angela Thirkell is due a revival, says Patricia T O'Conner (£).
https://literaryreview.co.uk/good-gad
'Only in Britain, perhaps, could spy chiefs – conventionally viewed as masters of subterfuge – be so highly regarded as ethical guides.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-spy-who-taught-me
In this month's Bookends, @AdamCSDouglas looks at the curious life of Henry Labouchere: a friend of Bram Stoker, 'loose cannon', and architect of the law that outlawed homosexual activity in Britain.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/a-gross-indecency