The important bit!
Vintage Books group meets monthly on the third Tuesday of each month in the afternoon. We normally meet in Minehead cafés, and venues may vary. Please remember to check the Calendar in case of any late changes to schedule.
Our group is led by Pam Bartlett, and she may be contacted at 01643 703966, or by email at . Please note that this group has limited membership. If you are interested in adding your name to a waiting list, click here.
2022
February. We had our first meeting this week! We discussed in general the work of Rumer Godden, but in particular the two novels mentioned here, as well as two other novels by vintage authors. Mention was also made of a series of reprints published by Bloomsbury. More publishers – such as Persephone and Furrowed Middlebrow – now are rediscovering these forgotten authors. If anyone would like to know more about these authors please ask – or better still, join us!
Rumer Godden: Episode of sparrows
Rumer Godden: Five for sorrow, ten for joy
Henry Morton Robinson: Water of life
Emily Hilda Young: Miss Mole
Bloomsbury Group novels
E F Benson: Mrs Ames
Frank Baker: Miss Hargreaves
Joyce Dennys: Henrietta’s war. News from the Home Front 1939-1942
Joyce Dennys: Henrietta sees it through. More news from the Home Front 1942-1945
Rachel Ferguson: The Brontes went to Woolworths
Paul Gallico: Mrs Harris goes to Paris
Paul Gallico: Mrs Harris goes to New York
Ada Leverson: Love’s shadow
2021
December. We began with members sharing, by email, their reviews of vintage authors, which included the crime classic writer George Bellairs and the Irish author Maurice Walsh. We hope to meet in January and February with a ‘free-for-all’ choice of vintage books, and the plan is that we’ll read at least one Rumer Godden novel by the March meeting, when we’ll discuss her books.
This new group was set up to explore the work of writers from the 1920s to about the 1960s who have been largely forgotten and who are often out of print but deserve to be read. Some publishing companies, such as Furrowed Middle Brow and Persephone, are now reprinting many of these old books. In addition, the British Library is continually bringing out more in the ‘Crime Classics’ series of vintage detective stories.
We are a small group, so there is space for any new members who would like to find out more about these vintage authors.