I read excellent reviews of Sally Phipps’s biography of her mother, Molly Keane. The best was in The Oldie but they left me pretty sure that I didn’t need to read her book. However, fate intervened.
Galateo has never been out of print, at least in Italy, since it was written in the 1550s. Its author, Giovanni Della Casa, was born near Florence in 1503.
If you went to Eton you know what beaks are – if you didn’t, it is what the teachers are called. In 1959, in Bud Hill’s house, there were two extra beaks.
Continuing the theme of writers who have sunk into obscurity, I was given a 1946 novel by Phyllis Bottome for Christmas. She must have spent a lot of time repeating, “Bottome with an E”.
I don’t know how I know the story of The Monkey’s Paw. Perhaps it was done as a play at Castle Park or read to us there? It is a short story published in 1902 and subsequently adapted for stage, screen and the wireless. The genre, if you don’t know it, is spooky, chiller,thriller.
A few mid 20th century writers have been mentioned here as being unjustly neglected today: Alec Waugh and Peter Fleming, both overshadowed by their younger brothers, William Sansom and now I have another name to add to the list.