Friday, August 2, 2013

Beautiful Barbara Comyns

I can't remember if I've already blogged about the beautiful new editions of some Barbara Comyns novels that Virago have brought out, but it bears repeating.  They tend not to send me review copies, and I can't justify buying myself duplicate Comyns books when I have zero income - and I'm not getting rid of my Stanley Spencer covers - so it's pictures off the internet for now... but I'm going to have to find someone to give one of these two, as I hanker to see one in the flesh.  (Hmm... do you think Waterstones would stock them?)

They've reprinted Sisters By A River, The Vet's Daughter, and the inevitable Our Spoons Came From Woolworths.  I don't know why that one clings onto print when it is far from her best, and they neglect gems like The Skin Chairs and Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead, but I'm delighted to see the first two of those reprinted titles.  If you've never tried Comyns, now's your chance - if you like your fiction a little edgy and unsettling, go for The Vet's Daughter; if you're  more a fan of surreal memoir, plump for Sisters By A River.  Here are the new covers - I do hope that 'W Book Club' isn't printed on the book... but I fear it probably is...




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