Here is the penultimate post in this series of twelve, each exploring a musical composition with particular personal significance. Each choice is connected in some way with its immediate predecessor. My final selection will connect with the first. I haven’t pre-planned the steps in this sequence, so they partly reflect my preferences and predilections when … Continue reading Ouroboros 11: Tres Impoli by Franco et le T.P.O.K Jazz
This is the second instalment of a two-part study examining the family history of four Dracup siblings who emigrated to the United States. It complements a parallel study exploring the family history of four more siblings who chose to stay in England. All eight were the children of George Dracup (1824-96) and his wife Jane, … Continue reading George Dracup (1824-1896) and his American descendants: Part Two
This extended family history post is a companion piece to George Dracup (1824-1896) and his English descendants (September 2024). The George Dracup in question and his wife, Jane, nee Bullock (1824-1886) may have had up to twelve children, but only eight definitely reached adulthood. Of those, four sons opted to remain in England, while four … Continue reading George Dracup (1824-1896) and his American Descendants: Part One
It’s high time for the tenth study in my Ouroboros cycle. This series will ultimately explore twelve pieces of music that are important to me, the twelfth and final choice linking back to the first. Indeed, each piece of music must link in some way with its immediate predecessor, but I haven’t planned the cycle … Continue reading Ouroboros 10: Cantique by Kanda Bongo Man
John Maxwell Coetzee was born in 1940 in Cape Town, South Africa. He attended a Catholic school and then the University of Cape Town. After three years working as a computer programmer in England, he completed a PhD on Samuel Beckett at the University of Texas, Austin, then spent a further three years teaching English … Continue reading J.M. Coetzee – Disgrace
Our choice of holiday in Autumn 2025 fell to me. I was seeking a happy medium, roughly midway between our full-on, energy-sapping experience in the Swiss Alps and last year’s ‘rest and relaxation’ experiment in Cefalu, Sicily. Eventually I decided on a Saga holiday, Walking in Gran Canaria, a week long, departing in early October. … Continue reading Walking in Gran Canaria: Saga Holidays, October 2025
William Trevor Cox (1928-2016) disposed of his surname for writing purposes. He was born in County Cork, Ireland, to James Cox, a bank manager, and Gertrude, nee Davison, originally from Ulster. They were a Protestant family. It was not a particularly happy childhood and, owing to his father's postings, Trevor spent it in several different … Continue reading The Old Boys – William Trevor
Harry Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) was born in rural Minnesota, the youngest child of a doctor. When he was six, his mother died and his father remarried. Lewis attended Yale, graduating in 1908, after which he worked as editor for a variety of newspapers and publishers. His first serious novel appeared in 1914 but success eluded … Continue reading It Can’t Happen Here – Sinclair Lewis
Ninth in my ‘not-planned-in-advance’ cycle, codenamed Ouroboros, in which I’m exploring twelve pieces of music that hold personal significance. This one is really a dark horse (no pun intended). It has never featured at the top of my playlists of personal favourites, and it has little in common with other selections in this sequence. Though, … Continue reading Ouroboros 9: Different Drum by the Stone Poneys
We returned to complete the Coast Path in September 2025, basing ourselves in Swanage. This nineteenth and final visit marked the end of a project begun in Minehead in October 2017, almost eight years earlier. Pre-Covid, we would travel down for up to five days at a time but, since our ninth visit (Port Isaac … Continue reading South West Coast Path: Osmington Mills to Poole Harbour, South Haven Point
Eighth in my Ouroboros series, about pieces of music I particularly value. This time round it's 'Black Diamond Bay', from Bob Dylan's 1975 album 'Desire'.
Louis Auchincloss (1917-2010) was born into a privileged family of businessmen, lawyers and stockbrokers. Though, according to him, the Auchincloss menfolk owed their wealth, not to inheritance, but to advantageous marriages and their personal acumen. He studied at Yale but, midway through his degree, transferred to read law at the University of Virginia, eventually graduating … Continue reading Portrait in Brownstone – Louis Auchincloss
We’ve reached the seventh in this sequence of twelve posts, each exploring a musical composition with particular personal significance. Each musical choice is linked in some fashion with its immediate predecessor. I hope to end in December (or thereabouts) with a piece of music that has some sort of connection with my first selection, back … Continue reading Ouroboros 7: Thinking of You by Sister Sledge
Penelope Fitzgerald (1916-2000) was born Penelope Knox, her parents being Edward Knox, a poet and later Editor of 'Punch' and Christina, nee Hicks, daughter of the Bishop of Lincoln. She graduated from Somerville College, Oxford in 1938, and in 1942 married Desmond Fitzgerald, a barrister. Ten years later he was caught forging signatures on cheques … Continue reading Offshore – Penelope Fitzgerald
Tracy chose this seven-night guided walking holiday with HF Holidays, a company we have used often. The holiday runs several times across the summer season. We had booked on to the first iteration of 2025, hoping to catch Alpine spring flowers in their prime. Arrival We woke at 05:00. Our taxi arrived promptly and, half … Continue reading Scenic Swiss Alps: HF Holidays, June-July 2025
Dame Penelope Lively was born Penelope Margaret Low in Cairo, Egypt, in 1933, to Roger Low, a bank manager, and Vera, nee Greer. When her parents divorced in 1945, her father sent her to an English boarding school, from which she proceeded to St Anne's College, Oxford, where she read modern history. Shortly after graduating … Continue reading Heat Wave – Penelope Lively
We returned to the South Downs Way in June 2025, having completed Cocking to Washington at the end of January. Once again we were anxiously monitoring weather forecasts, though this time we were keen to avoid heatwave conditions rather than persistent wind and rain. As it turned out, conditions on our first day were warm … Continue reading South Downs Way: Washington to Plumpton
Eudora Welty (1909-2001) was born in Jackson, Mississippi, at the south-eastern extremity of the Mississippi Delta. The Delta is an alluvial floodplain of some 7,000 square miles, spreading across north-west Mississippi, between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. Welty studied at the Mississippi State College for Women, the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University before returning … Continue reading Delta Wedding – Eudora Welty
It would have been Kate’s 64th birthday on 4 July 2025, had her life not ended in the Princess Alice Hospice on 13 July 2017, shortly after her 56th and final birthday. Every year we make two memorial pilgrimages to the place where we scattered her ashes, on her birthday and on Boxing Day. And … Continue reading #Kateday25
Heinrich Böll (1917-85) was born into a Roman Catholic, pacifist family in Cologne, Germany. He was conscripted in 1939, shortly after beginning a degree in German and Philology at the University of Cologne. He served for five years in several countries and was four times wounded. On leaving hospital in August 1944, he tried to … Continue reading Billiards at Half Past Nine -Heinrich Böll
This is the sixth in a sequence of twelve monthly posts, each about a piece of music that has personal significance. Each choice is linked, however tenuously, to its immediate predecessor. May’s selection was ‘Saturday Night’ by the Blue Nile (1989), while June’s is ‘Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye’ by Ella Fitzgerald (1956). The connection … Continue reading Ouroboros 6: Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye, by Ella Fitzgerald
We returned to the Thames Path in mid-May 2025, having completed the section from Pangbourne to Henley in August 2024. We travelled by train and tube to Paddington, from where we caught the 10:08 departure to Twyford, changing there on to a Henley service full of sulky teenagers. Day 1: Henley to Marlow Reaching Henley … Continue reading Thames Path: Henley to Maidenhead
A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was born Antonia Susan Drabble, the eldest child of a barrister (later a QC) and an academic. One of her younger siblings was the novelist Margaret Drabble (b. 1939). Byatt was born in Sheffield, but the family moved to York to avoid German bombing during WW2. Shortly after graduating from the University … Continue reading The Virgin in the Garden – A. S. Byatt
We’ve arrived at the fifth in this series of twelve monthly posts dedicated to exploring music of particular personal significance. Each post is connected, however tenuously, to its predecessor and I’m hoping to end in December where I began last January. The series began with Ya Jean by Madilu System, before moving on to Autorail … Continue reading Ouroboros 5: Saturday Night by The Blue Nile
William Keepers Maxwell (1908-2000) edited the New Yorker magazine from 1936 to 1975. He wrote six novels over roughly the same period, the penultimate being The Chateau (1961). Maxwell married a painter called Emily Gilman Noyes (1921-2000) in May 1945. In 1948, three years into their marriage, the couple took a trip to France. He … Continue reading The Chateau – William Maxwell
This is the fourth in a series of twelve monthly posts, each exploring a musical composition of profound personal significance. Each choice is connected in some way with its immediate predecessor, although these links may be tenuous because I am inventing them as I go along. I began with Ya Jean by Madilu System - … Continue reading Ouroboros 4: Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers Band
We returned to the Coast Path at the end of March 2025, some nine months after completing the section from Exmouth to Charmouth. We based ourselves in Weymouth for a week, from Saturday to Saturday, reserving 5 Park Mews via cottages.com. This first floor, one-bedroomed holiday let cost £345 plus a £75 refundable security deposit. … Continue reading South West Coast Path: Charmouth to Osmington Mills
An occasional scrapbook, wherein I shall collect and reflect on some of the more egregious abuses of this appalling United States Government. Exhibit 1: Exhibit 2: My Facebook post of 4 March 2025 Exhibit 3: Musk's X Rant of 5 June 2025 Surprise, surprise! These Musk tweets have now been deleted but screenshots of the … Continue reading Trumpery and Knavery
Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884-1969) wrote some twenty novels, 'The Present and the Past' (1953) coming relatively late in her career. Her parents were the medical author James Compton-Burnett and his second wife, Katharine. She was the seventh of twelve children: eight girls and four boys. Despite the hyphen, their origins were relatively humble. Home educated until … Continue reading The Present and the Past – Ivy Compton-Burnett
This is the third in a series of posts about music that is personally important to me. I intend to write twelve posts in all – one per month throughout 2025 – each post connected in some way with its predecessor; the final post somehow linked with the first. These connections are being forged as … Continue reading Ouroboros 3: Sweet Fanta Diallo by Alpha Blondy
Novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907) is best known for 'Au Rebours' (Against Nature) (1884), widely regarded as a seminal work in the French Decadent tradition. 'La-bas' (The Damned) was published seven years later in 1891. I read the 2001 translation for Penguin Classics by Terry Hale. Huysmans was employed as an administrative civil servant in the … Continue reading The Damned – J.-K. Huysmans
We spent the end of February 2025 in England’s Lake District, courtesy of HF Holidays. It was a four-night guided walking holiday. We stayed in the HF country house at Monk Coniston, which is at the northernmost tip of Coniston Water, roughly a mile north-east of the village of Coniston. This was our first HF … Continue reading Southern Lake District, HF Holidays, February 2025
This is the second in a sequence of posts about music that means a great deal to me. I’ve called the series Ouroboros – the snake with its tail in its mouth – because I’m hoping to finish exactly where I began, with Ya Jean by Madilu System (1993). I hope to write a new … Continue reading Ouroboros 2: Autorail by Orchestre Baobab
After a seven month hiatus, we returned to the South Downs Way at the end of January 2025, our trip timed to coincide with Tracy’s Birthday. We’d been scanning local weather forecasts for several days, fearing more high winds and driving rain, given the series of winter storms that had been battering Britain. All my … Continue reading South Downs Way: Cocking to Washington
This is John Meade Falkner (1858-1932), best known as the author of Moonfleet (1898), a riproaring tale of smuggling and derring-do. I remember it being read to us in primary school. Sometimes, when he was tired, Mr Smith, bespectacled and ginger-bearded, would ask me to take his place, reading aloud to the class. It was … Continue reading The Nebuly Coat – John Meade Falkner
It has become an annual tradition to attend the Christmas Carol Concert led by the choir of Princess Alice Hospice. I always enjoy my one, annual attempt to sing in the company of others. And, over the years, I've become far less bothered about praising aloud a god I don't believe in. I appreciate enormously … Continue reading ‘The First Noel’ – Improved?
This is the first in a series of experimental posts about pieces of music that are personally important to me. I’ve wanted to write about music for a long time. Not as a musician (because I’m not one) but as a discerning listener, endlessly fascinated by the evolving soundtrack of his life. I’m not up … Continue reading Ouroboros 1: Ya Jean (Remix) by Madilu System
Emily Hilda Young (1880-1949) enjoyed an unconventional life. She married a solicitor, John Arthur Daniell, settling in Clifton, Bristol. But she also began a lifelong affair with Ralph Bushill Henderson, a married teacher, theologian and fellow mountaineer. Henderson had married Beatrice Mansfield in 1901. Although well into his 40s, Daniell served as a Sergeant Instructor … Continue reading Miss Mole – E H Young
It's been a lively year here on Eponymous (aka timdracup.com) This is my 26th post: I've been writing the equivalent of a new post each fortnight. Exactly half have been book reviews. There were also ten travelogues, one Dracup family history blockbuster and one bereavement-related post in memory of my late wife, Kate. Starting with … Continue reading That was 2024
We thought it was time to take a ‘proper’ holiday – a week devoted primarily to rest and relaxation. We wanted to discover if we could still relax sufficiently to enjoy such an experience, or whether we would be ground down by monotony and boredom. We booked our week in Cefalu through First Choice Holidays. … Continue reading Cefalu, Sicily, October 2024
Paul Scott (1920-1978) won the Booker Prize shortly before his death and acquired posthumous fame when the 'Raj Quartet' - his tetralogy of novels about the final years of British rule in India - was televised in 1984. The first in the sequence is 'The Jewel in the Crown' (1966), which gave its name to … Continue reading The Jewel in the Crown – Paul Scott
Despite half a century's engagement with literature, Hermann Broch (1886-1951) was completely new to me. Between 1931 and 1932 he published a trilogy of self-contained novels, collectively called 'The Sleepwalkers'. Together they span a period of thirty years, set in 1888, 1903 and 1918 respectively. Each is intended to capture the zeitgeist: in 1888 this … Continue reading The Romantic – Hermann Broch
In September 2024 we returned to Kent to complete the North Downs Way, having reached Etchinghill the preceding April. This final leg is relatively demanding and feature-packed, some 12 miles in length. We decided to split it into two roughly equal sections, to reflect Jacqui’s fitness level and increase our collective enjoyment of this final … Continue reading North Downs Way: Etchinghill to Dover
Dorothy Canfield (1879-1958) published 'Her Son's Wife' in 1926. It is set in Gilmanville, a fictional place in small-town America, between 1908 and 1925. The 'her' in question is Mary Bascombe, a middle-aged widow. Though a determined, highly capable teacher and mother, she seems incapable of understanding or forgiving weakness in others. Her son, Ralph, … Continue reading Her Son’s Wife – Dorothy Canfield
This Dracup family history post, the 29th in the series, surveys three generations of Dracups. It deals with the lives and experiences of George Dracup (1824-1896) and his wife Jane, nee Bullock (1824-1886), their siblings, children and grandchildren. This will be the first of two linked posts. In this part, I look first at George … Continue reading George Dracup (1824-1896) and his English descendants
Jean Stafford (1915-1979), though better known as a short story writer, also published three novels. Her second, 'The Mountain Lion' appeared in 1947, not long before the collapse of her first, unhappily tempestuous marriage with the poet Robert Lowell (1917-1977). Stafford herself had been born in Covina, California, the youngest of four children, later moving … Continue reading The Mountain Lion – Jean Stafford
Well, this is a thoroughly nasty little novel, and no mistake! Elizabeth Goudge (1900-1984) published 'The Bird in the Tree' in 1940. It is the first part of a trilogy, the companion volumes written in 1948 and 1953 respectively. Goudge was born into a wealthy academic-religious family and never married, living with her mother after … Continue reading The Bird in the Tree – Elizabeth Goudge
During the dog days of August 2024, we decided spontaneously to walk another stretch of the Thames Path, having completed Wallingford to Pangbourne in June. This time we made a two-day trip with an overnight stop at Sonning. The total distance should have been some 15.6 miles, but an extensive 2.7 mile off-river diversion between … Continue reading Thames Path: Pangbourne to Henley
Fyodor Sologub was the pseudonym of F K Teternikov (1863-1927), a poet and novelist, part of the Russian Symbolist movement. Here he is, circa 1910, posing alongside his wife, Anna Chebotarevskaya. He began writing 'The Petty Demon' in the 1890s, but couldn't get it published until 1907. Sologub draws heavily on his own personal experience. … Continue reading The Petty Demon – Fyodor Sologub
Flora MacDonald Mayor (1872-1932) is best known for 'The Rector's Daughter' (1924), often cited as a neglected masterpiece. 'The Squire's Daughter' (1929) is not quite in that league - is perhaps more of a curate's egg. It deals with the 'generation gap', as it manifested a century ago, between two generations of the De Lacey … Continue reading The Squire’s Daughter – F. M. Mayor
Our latest adventures on the South West Coast Path, in June 2024, walking from Exmouth to Charmouth.
Pirandello (1867-1936) published 'Il Fu Mattia Pascal' in 1904, three decades before he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. I read the 1964 translation by William Weaver. The novel was written shortly after the Pirandello family were bankrupted, causing his wife's mental collapse. But it successfully established his literary reputation. As it begins, Mattia … Continue reading The Late Mattia Pascal – Luigi Pirandello
On 4 July 2024 there is a General Election here in the UK. It would also have been Kate’s 63rd birthday, had she not succumbed to breast cancer on 13 July 2017, shortly after completing her 56th year. As is now customary, we shall walk to the place where her ashes were scattered, celebrate her … Continue reading #Kateday24
E. Arnot Robertson was the pseudonym of Eileen Arbuthnot Robertson (1903-1961) and ‘Cullum’ was her first novel, published in 1928. As with many other debut novels, it draws heavily on the writer’s own life. Like her heroine, Esther Sieveking, Robertson spent her childhood at Holmwood in Surrey, moving to London in 1917. Two years later, … Continue reading Cullum – E. Arnot Robertson
This is something of a departure for me, because this novel, which was written within the last half century, remains extremely popular, and its author is still alive. Isabel Allende (b.1942) published ‘The House of the Spirits’, her first novel, in 1982. The English translation from the original Spanish appeared three years later. It takes … Continue reading The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende
In which we finally resume the Thames Path, walking from Wallingford to Pangbourne in June 2024.
Our adventures on the South West Coast Path in Devon, between Torcross and Starcross, in April 2024, illustrated by the best photographs we took along the way.
Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), seen here in 1936, was an Austrian Jew. He was a hugely popular writer in the 1920s and 1930s, but then went out of style. Now he is fashionable again. 'Impatience of the Heart' ('Ungeduld des Herzens' in the original German) was first published in 1939, the English translation called 'Beware of … Continue reading Impatience of the Heart – Stefan Zwieg
Some five months after completing Charing to Wye, we returned for our next leg of the NDW, from Wye to Etchinghill. With a total distance of 11.2 miles, including two or three steep ascents, this was too demanding for Jacqui to complete in a single day. So we stayed overnight in Braborne, at roughly half … Continue reading North Downs Way: Wye to Etchinghill
We made a rapid return to the South Downs Way, undertaking this second stage early in March 2024. We are walking in an Eastbourne direction, having started from Winchester. For the first leg, we experimented with walking over two days, on either side of an overnight stop. This obviously involves carrying fuller, heavier rucksacks than … Continue reading South Downs Way: East Meon to Cocking
This was my second trip to Madeira, but Tracy’s first. I spent a week here in November 2017, just a few months after Kate’s death. On that occasion I travelled alone, having booked with Saga (for the first time) on an all-inclusive package (also for the first time). I flew with British Airways and stayed … Continue reading Madeira, February 2024
Christina Stead (1902-83) was a native Australian who lived much of her life elsewhere. She wrote this novel – often regarded as one of her best – in 1946, after spending several years in New York. It is a ‘bildungsroman’, narrated by the precocious Letty, describing her development into womanhood. Her parents are separated. She … Continue reading Letty Fox: Her Luck – Christina Stead
We began the 100-mile South Downs Way at the end of January 2024, so adding a fourth national trail to the three already under way! The SDW stretches from Winchester to Eastbourne. Both the National Trails website and the South Downs Way website envisage it taken in this direction, from west to east. But, for … Continue reading South Downs Way: Winchester to East Meon
Cyril Connolly (1903-74) was primarily a literary critic, publishing this, his only novel, in 1936. It falls into the category of books about writing books, or researching them at least. Our anti-hero, Edgar Naylor, is partly an autobiographical study, and partly modelled on someone who later died in WW2 . He is employed as a … Continue reading The Rock Pool – Cyril Connolly
This family history post explores the life of Edmund Dracup (1858-1914), a lifelong inhabitant of Bedford, whose descendants spread the Dracup name into Kent and Gloucestershire. Edmund made a valiant effort to better himself, initially as a teacher and later by converting himself from a printer and compositor into a local journalist. He had a … Continue reading Edmund Dracup – Bedford printer, journalist, consumptive – and his descendants
Robert Cedric Sherriff, best known for the play 'Journey's End', published this novel in 1931. It describes a fortnight's family holiday in Bognor Regis, circa September 1930. Mr Stevens, a clerk, travels by train to the seaside, accompanied by his wife, teenage son and daughter and younger son. They stay with their usual landlady, Mrs … Continue reading The Fortnight in September – R C Sherriff
Almost five months had elapsed since we completed Hollingbourne to Charing in June 2023. We had canceled once, the preceding week, in the immediate aftermath of Storm Ciaran, so were hopeful of better weather. In the event, we were rained on more than the forecasts had led us to expect, but there were some dry … Continue reading North Downs Way: Charing to Wye
Winifred Holtby, best known for her posthumous novel 'South Riding', published 'The Land of Green Ginger' in 1927. The title is the name of a street which the heroine, Joanna, encounters as a child. In the novel, it is located in the town of Kingsport; in reality, it exists in Hull. Joanna, who was born … Continue reading The Land of Green Ginger – Winifred Holtby
We spent a week in Riva del Garda, at the northernmost point of Lake Garda, in late September 2023. We had booked a seven-night package with Inghams, staying in a hotel room at the Du Lac et Du Parc Grand Resort. It was branded as a walking holiday, but there was no set itinerary – … Continue reading Riva del Garda, Italy
'Novel on Yellow Paper' (1936) was the first of three written by Stevie Smith, now better remembered as a poet. The book is about writing a book - and is also the book that results. The author is nominally one Pompey Casmilus, a publisher's private secretary, who records her thoughts on yellow paper, to distinguish … Continue reading Novel on Yellow Paper – Stevie Smith
Marghanita Laski (1915-1988) published 'Little Boy Lost' in 1949. It concerns Hilary Wainwright, an English poet and intellectual, whose wife, Lisa, has been murdered by the Gestapo in Paris. Just before her capture, she managed to smuggle away their baby son. Now, after the War has ended, Hilary revisits France to find his son. He … Continue reading Little Boy Lost – Marghanita Laski
Clarice Lispector (1920-1977) was born in Ukraine to Jewish parents who emigrated to Brazil in 1922. She published her first novel in 1943, aged just 23. It is known in English as 'Near to the Wild Heart', from the book's epigraph, which is from Joyce's 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'. I … Continue reading Near to the Wild Heart – Clarice Lispector
Unusually, the principal events in the life of Christopher Long Dracup are already available online. This chronology is part of a website paying tribute to the 21st Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) - an infantry battalion formed in Kingston, Ontario - which fought in the First World War. Though briefly a member of … Continue reading Christopher Long Dracup: An Elusive Man
Céline was the nom de plume of Frenchman Louis Ferdinand Destouches (1894-1961). 'Voyage au bout de la nuit' was his first and most celebrated novel, published in 1932. I read the 1983 English translation by Ralph Manheim. Destouches was a medical doctor whose later anti-semitism and Nazi sympathies have undermined his literary reputation. Even so, … Continue reading Journey to the End of the Night – Céline
Muriel Spark published 'Memento Mori' in 1959, two years before 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'. The novel is about several old people whose earlier life paths have crossed in different ways. Now, as they approach their final years, they begin to receive anonymous telephone calls. The caller sounds different to each, but always relays … Continue reading Memento Mori – Muriel Spark
Journey by Moonlight (1937) is the English translation of a novel by Hungarian author and academic Antal Szerb.Mihaly is honeymooning in Italy with Erzsi. He is still haunted by his youthful relationship with brother and sister Tamas and Eva, and their friends Janos and Ervin. They form a death cult, holding that the end of … Continue reading Journey by Moonlight – Antal Szerb
In June 2023 we resumed our progress along the Coast Path, this time basing ourselves in Salcombe for the week. We were starting from the ferry crossing at Plymouth’s Mount Batten Point, having completed the stretch from Par in March, and were aiming to reach Torcross. This we achieved, with the following schedule: Day 1 … Continue reading South West Coast Path: Plymouth (Mount Batten Point) to Torcross
Six weeks on from our Sandling to Hollingbourne experience, we returned to Hollingbourne in June 2023. We’d opted to walk on Friday for a second trip in succession, departing from our normal Saturday excursions to benefit from better rail services. We travelled to London Victoria, connecting there with the 09:55 Southeastern service to Ashford International, … Continue reading North Downs Way: Hollingbourne to Charing
As the sixth anniversary of Kate's death approaches - only just preceded by her 62nd Birthday on 4 July - I find myself reflecting once more on how different life would be had she lived. Would we have retired together, Devonwards, as we had vaguely planned, and would our relationship have blossomed in that new … Continue reading #Kateday23
'Excellent Women' (1952) is probably the best-known novel by Barbara Pym (1913-1980). It deals with the humdrum middle class existence of one Mildred Lathbury, part-time charity worker and pillar of the local church. She mostly interacts with the vicar and his sister, two new neighbours and a spare anthropologist. These characters revolve around each other … Continue reading Excellent Women – Barbara Pym
In May 2023, we travelled to Croatia for a Dalmatian Island Explorer holiday, arranged by Titan Travel in conjunction with Saga, its parent company. Aside from our Channel Island Hopping experience of spring 2022, this was our first journey abroad since Covid restrictions were lifted. There were some problems initially. When we first booked the … Continue reading Dalmatian Island Cruise
William Dean Howells (1837-1920) published 'A Hazard of New Fortunes' in 1890. It deals with the lives of several inhabitants of New York, most of them connected in some way with the publication of a fortnightly review called Every Other Week. The owner, Dryfoos, was once a farmer but has made his fortune from natural … Continue reading A Hazard of New Fortunes – William Dean Howells
Elizabeth Jane Howard (1923-2014) published her second novel 'The Long View' in 1956. It tells the story of a middle class marriage in five episodes, arranged in reverse chronological order. We first encounter heroine Antonia Fleming in 1950, when her coercive husband Conrad has become almost completely detached. We trace their story back, through infidelities, … Continue reading The Long View – Elizabeth Jane Howard
Our progress along the North Downs Way continues, albeit slowly. We resumed towards the end of April 2023, some six months after completing the previous stretch, from Cuxton to Sandling. Sandling is some miles before the official end of the Cuxton to Detling leg, and we had needed a 101 Sapphire bus to connect us … Continue reading North Downs Way: Sandling to Hollingbourne
I intended my next book to be Maurice Baring's 'Cat's Cradle', but soon discovered that I'd read it already! So I switched to 'Marcella' by Mrs Humphry Ward, aka Mary Augusta Ward. This is her. Previously I'd read only her 'Robert Elsmere', which I very much enjoyed. 'Marcella' was written six years later, in 1894. … Continue reading Marcella – Mrs Humphrey Ward
As you can see from the cover, William Boyd (no less) rates 'The Polyglots' (1925) as: "The most influential English novel of the Twentieth Century." I would be inclined to award that prize to 'Ulysses', perhaps, or else 'To the Lighthouse'. Those are both great literary masterpieces, while this, emphatically, is not. The narrative, such … Continue reading The Polyglots – William Gerhardie
This is Mary Cholmondeley (1859-1925) whose novel 'Red Pottage' (1899) is, in my opinion, a neglected classic. It tells the story of two very different female friends, Rachel West and Hester Gresley. The main plot revolves around the consequences of adultery: at the husband's behest, he and his rival draw lots. The loser is honour … Continue reading Red Pottage – Mary Cholmondeley
Storm Jameson published these three novellas in the early 1930s - and they are heavily redolent of that period. Each examines the life of a woman who struggles to overcome her circumstances: First, a novelist, increasingly overshadowed by her less talented but more charismatic, beautiful (and promiscuous) childhood friend. Second, a wealthy heiress who, escaping … Continue reading Women Against Men – Storm Jameson
Here's my latest report from some of the less frequented avenues of literature. Boleslaw Prus was the pen name of Polish author Alexsander Glowacki (1847-1912). He first published 'Lalka' ('The Doll') in serialised form between 1887 and 1889. It is panoramic and ambitious, reflecting the development - and arguably the decay - of Polish society … Continue reading The Doll -Boleslaw Prus
This is Elizabeth Drew Stoddard (1823-1902). She published her first novel 'The Morgesons' in 1862. We follow the development of heroine, Cassandra Morgeson, and her unworldly sister Veronica. Cassandra develops a taste for the wrong kind of man, falling in love with her married cousin Charles. After he dies when their carriage overturns, she becomes … Continue reading The Morgesons – Elizabeth Stoddard
The final week of March saw our first visit to the Coast Path in 2023. We were returning to Par, our endpoint last time, hoping to see its better side. This was a wet week in a very wet month. While dodging the rain as much as possible, our minimum target was to reach the … Continue reading South West Coast Path: Par to Plymouth (Mount Batten Point)
timdracup.com 