Just arrived ...

Some lovely arrivals in the post this week. Both pairs of books below are published by independents but at either end of the publishing scale.

Faber are of course one of our most established independent houses, best known for poetry but with a cracking fiction list too. My goodies from them:

The Lacuna  by Barbara Kingsolver is recently published in hardback. It has the most gorgeous colours on the cover. I'm not sure I want them in my living room walls but on the sea blue background here they are stunning making this a very appealing reach-for-me tome.

The Lacuna is the story of Harrison Shepherd an American brought up Mexico who finds his way through mixing with left leaning revolutionary artists. World War II sees him in Carolina, "But political winds continue to push him between north and south, in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach - the lacuna - between truth and public presumption."

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk is due to published in hardback in a few weeks. Orhan Pamuk is not a novelist whose work I am familiar with apart from being aware that he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006 and has been involved with freedom of speech issues in Turkey. The description, "A stirring exploration of the nature of romantic attachment, and of the mysterious allure of collecting, The Museum of Innocence plumbs the depths of an Istanbul half western and half traditional - its rituals, its morality, its vast cultural history" is certainly intriguing and I look forward to getting to grips with it.

In complete contrast to Faber is the little and new publishing house of Victorian Secrets. VS was started earlier this year by PhD student Catherine Pope who some of you might know from her blog Victorian Geek. VS is republishing quality editions of out-of-print Victorian Classics reproducing then with scholarly introductions. My first two review copies from this new press are:

Twilight Stories by Rhoda Broughton and Weird Stories by Charlotte Riddell both introduced by Emma Liggins of the University of Manchester and author of George Gissing the Working Woman and Urban Culture. I love the fact that Weird Stories quotes from a contemporary review from The Times:

Weird Stories are sensational enough in all conscience, seeing that the main action is directed by supernatural agencies, and that disagreeably obtrusive ghosts haunt the scenes of their earthly troubles. But these mysteries are adroitly realized, and the stories are so probable as to be pleasantly thrilling; nervous people, indeed, might prefer to read the book on a railway journey by daylight rather than in a lonely apartment towards the small hours.

The Times 1882

In addition to these collections of short stories Victorian Secrets also publish The Dead Man’s Message and Her Father’s Name by Florence Marryat and edited by Dr Greta Depledge of Birkbeck College. There are a small number of free e-books available to download from their site including other works by Florence Marryat here. If you're noticing a Florence Marryat theme here it is because she is the subject of Catherine Pope's PhD! I wish Victorian Secrets all the best for 2010 and look forward to reading these story collections.

Comments

[Simon (Savidge Reads)]

Once I have given The Poisonwood Bible a go I am sure (as everyone has said I will love it) I will be desperate to read The Lacuna! I love the Victorian era so must get some of those books too.

[diane]

What gorgeous covers on the Lacuna and Museum of Innocence! enjoy

[Juxtabook]

Simon - I've not read The Poisonwood Bible either. looking forward to Kingsolver full stop.

Thanks Diane!

[JudyMac]

While I wouldn't give The Lacuna a 10, I would highly recommend it. It is very interesting how Ms. Kingsolver has woven such characters as Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky into the story. But what interested me even more was the locale of the second half of the book--Asheville, North Carolina--as I was born and raised in the immediate area, and could picture the places, people and events she mentioned. I have a friend who I hope will read the book as well, so we can compare notes.

On the other hand, I'm already on the wait list for The Museum of Innocence. Istanbul is on my wish list for travel.