Happy Families

The third Hesperus review this week (and don't forget my competition draw) is from the pen of Elizabeth Gaskell - I can proudly state that I was one of those smug people who'd read Cranford before the Dames Eileen and Judi received their scripts. That's not all, I had Wives and Daughters under my belt, as well as a couple of short story collections. No matter that I got Wives and Daughters confused with Sons and Lovers on occasion (titles only, you understand) and had avoided all the grim-oop-North novels, I think I could count myself a Gaskell aficiando. Or at least admirer.

So I swooped on Cousin Phillis like a swallow, er, swooping somewhere. If not simply for the author, also for the beautiful cover, and the fact that Jenny Uglow (a Gaskell biographer) wrote the Foreword.

Paul Manning is the first person narrator, who goes off into the countryside to make the acquaintance of distant relatives - Mr. and Mrs. Holman, and their young daughter Phillis. Their simple kindness wins over both Paul and the reader - Gaskell's portrait of uncomplex country folk with hearts of gold has none of the absurdity of Dickens, nor a hint of patronisation, but comes across as both genuine and touching. When Manning's sophisticated and admired colleague, Holdsworth, makes a lengthy visit, the trails of quiet passion and potential romance become far from simple, and leave a subtle and subdued heartache for more than one.

Cousin Phillis is a gentle tragedy without a baddie, a perfectly structured depiction of friendship, family, honesty and romance which is all the more moving for its verisimilitude. It is the sort of situation Gaskell would often frame in her short stories, though never so toucingly. Another Cranford this is not, neither in scope nor tone, but I can only agree with Uglow when she calls it a 'perfect miniature nestling among the great Victorian three-volume novels'. Yesterday we saw that the Russians could do concise - who knew the Victorians could too? At this rate we'll find a short sentence by Henry James.

Har Pot

According to the LA Times, the last Harry Potter book will be split into two films and shot at the same time. They will be released in November 2010 and May 2011, respectively. Book Six in the series is scheduled for release this November.

 

Russian Around Hesperus

Isn't this the most wonderful thing for Hesperus Week? Thank you so much Peta (aka The Bookling) for emailing it to me. I'm not sure of its provenance, but thank you to anyone else if Peta wasn't the creator, and thank you to Peta if you were!

There is still plenty of time to enter the draw for a free Hesperus book of your choice, but Hesperus Week continues with a foray into Russian territory. It was one of my most shameful literary lackings that I hadn't read any of the Russian writers - it's possible I skimmed a Chekhov once, I don't recall, and I might have read a modern Russian (or perhaps Hungarian...) but I'd not read any of the Russian Master Novelists, and that was very remiss. So when Ellie from Hesperus sent me a little bundle a while ago, I was delighted to see she included The Eternal Husband by Fyodor Dostoevsky. How did you first enter the Russian world? Or are you a stranger to it too?

Oh yes, this is what I'd always thought the Russians would be. They leap out of their chairs, they leap back as quickly - everything is exclaimed and announced, and mood swings come quicker than a pregnant acrobat. And with names like Alexei Ivanovich Velchaninov and Pavel Pavlovich Trusotsky, for what more could I ask?

I jest. Beneath these flourishes, and indeed through them, lies a touching and well-told tale of intrigue and mistrust, love and malice, innocence and memory. Velchaninov keeps noticing a man in a crepe hat following him (or is it vice versa?) and the first few chapters create an increasingly taut and haunting tension as to what this mysterious figure could want. Don't read the next paragraph if you want to keep it all a secret.

He eventually reveals himself as the husband of Velchaninov's ex-lover, and brings with him a small child. The rest of this novel/la (short only by Russian standards) presents a wavering web of the emotions between these figures, and the absent lover Natalya Vasilyevna. (On a side note, someone asked the other day for the definition of 'novella' - good question! More or less a short novel - but without the strutural singularity and unity which characterises the short story. But it is a norotiously difficult term to place.)

Occasionally frenetic, The Eternal Husband is also a thoroughly psychological.work. The blurb puts it best - Dostoevsky is 'engaging with his favoured themes of tortured minds and neurosis, and treating them in a captivating and highly revelaing way.' I didn't always find this an easy book to read, by any means, but I think it's a good 'way in' if, like me, the Russians are foreign territory for you.

What I Don't Want

Below is a list of subjects that I don't want to see nonfiction queries for, unless you're an internationally recognized expert/commentator on the subject:

• Presidential election
• Middle East
• Religion
• Business leadership
• Peace Corps

In regard to fiction, I don't want to see:

• short story collections
• novellas
• erotica
• Rapture or Religious books

Agency Website Submission Form

It seems there were problems with my agency website submission form last night and early this morning. I believe everything should be working now.

Hesperus Week : Hesperus Competition

FREE BOOK ALERT!

That ought to grab your attention, if you're anything like me. I'm delighted to tell you that, as part of Hesperus Week, the lovely people at Hesperus are offering one of you lot any one of their backlist, gratis. Hurray!

You probably know the drill - just put your name in the comments, or email me at simondavidthomas@yahoo.co.uk if the comments box is playing up, and I'll put your name in.

The list of books Hesperus print can be found at their website, just click on the 'titles' or 'authors' or 'subjects' in the left-hand column, and have a look through. You can even search by the Foreword Writers - and they have snared some wonderful writers for these. Doris Lessing, Margaret Drabble, A.S. Byatt, Germaine Greer, Victoria Glendinning, Umberto Eco, Hermione Lee, Simon Schama, Fay Weldon, Zadie Smith, Will Self... I absolutely defy anyone to leave their catalogue without wanting something. Personally, I want more or less the lot...

It might be nice if, with your name in the comments, you suggested the book you've got your eye on - though this is, of course, completely optional. A word of warning, though - some of the books listed aren't yet published, or aren't on the backlist. Have a look at the publication date - anything 2007 or earlier and we're cooking with gas, as they say.

Don't worry if this is your first time to Stuck-in-a-Book, or you've never commented before - the more the merrier.

I've littered this post with a few pictoral suggestions... but don't let me influence you... have a look for yourself! And don't forget to put your name in the comments. Good luck! I'll leave it open until Saturday.

Hear All About It

It isn't all reading and pitching. A big chunk of my day is spent keeping up on the news in the industry. Thankfully a number of magazines, websites and companies offer daily emails with news. Here are just a few:

Shelf Awareness
PW Daily
Publisher's Lunch
Publisher's Lunch Daily Deal Report
MedioBistro GalleyCat Daily Feed
MediaBistro Revolving Door Newsletter
Variety Daily News

*Some of the above require paid membership/subscriptions.