Margaret Forster
On Reviewing
Reviewers are universally reviled. It is alleged that they do not read the books they review (or that they read them blinded by envy because they are failed authors themselves). It is said they only review for the money (or alternatively that they get paid so little they cannot afford to take the time to do their job properly). It is rumoured that they use their wretched reviews as platforms for their own ideas (or that they lack originality and are mere echoes). Only reviewers who are dead are revered and they of course were a different breed: Literary Critics to a man.
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'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