Virago Reprints and Modern Classics
Virago Reprints and Modern Classics

Author: D-M Withers

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-05-20

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1108865224

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Reprinting, republishing and re-covering old books in new clothes is an established publishing practice. How are books that have fallen out of taste and favour resituated by publishers, and recognised by readers, as relevant and timely? This Element outlines three historical textures within British culture of the late 1970s and early 1980s – History, Remembrance and Heritage – that enabled Virago's reprint publishing to become a commercial and cultural success. With detailed archival case studies of the Virago Reprint Library, Testament of Youth and the Virago Modern Classics, it elaborates how reprints were profitable for the publisher and moved Virago's books - and the Virago brand name - from the periphery of culture to the centre. Throughout Virago's reprint publishing - and especially with the Modern Classics - the epistemic revelation that women writers were forgotten and could, therefore, be rediscovered, was repeated, again and again, and made culturally productive through the marketplace.

84, Charing Cross Road
84, Charing Cross Road

Author: Helene Hanff

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 1990-10-01

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13: 0140143505

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"Those who have read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a novel comprised of only letters between the characters, will see how much that best-seller owes 84, Charing Cross Road." -- Medium.com A heartwarming love story about people who love books for readers who love books This funny, poignant, classic love story unfolds through a series of letters between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York City, and a used-book dealer in London at 84, Charing Cross Road. Through the years, though never meeting and separated both geographically and culturally, they share a charming, sentimental friendship based on their common love for books. Discover the relationship that has touched the hearts of thousands of readers around the world, and was the basis for a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft.

The Echoing Grove
The Echoing Grove

Author: Rosamond Lehmann

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2015-07-21

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 1504003152

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Two sisters fall for the same man in this New York Times–bestselling novel of WWII-era England by an “immensely readable” author (Elizabeth Jane Howard). Rickie Masters is married to Madeleine, who is sitting out the war in the country with their children. Their domestic serenity is shattered when Rickie falls in love with Madeleine’s sister, Dinah, and they begin a clandestine, guilt-ridden affair. When Madeleine discovers their infidelity, accusations are hurled and hard choices are made. Then, a year before the war officially ends, tragedy strikes, and it is only after an estrangement of fifteen years that Madeleine and Dinah will begin to struggle toward some kind of reconciliation. Shifting between the three characters’ viewpoints, and shuttling seamlessly between past and present, The Echoing Grove is a story of life: messy, unpredictable, and unstoppable. It is about family, the things that hold us accountable, the events that lead to life-altering decisions, and the emotions that make us human. And above all it is about love: romantic love, married love, familial love, and illicit love. The heart wants what it wants, regardless of the cost.

Devoted Ladies
Devoted Ladies

Author: M. J. Farrell

Publisher: Penguin Group

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13:

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Jessica and Jane have been living together for six months. They are devoted friends--or are they? Jessica loves her friend with the cruelty of total possessiveness. Jane is rich, silly, and drinks rather too many brandy-and-sodas. Watching from the sidelines, Sylvester regrets that she should be loved and bullied and perhaps even murdered by that frightful Jessica, but decides it is none of his business. When the Irish gentleman George Playfair meets Jane, however, he thinks otherwise--he entices Jane to Ireland where the battle for her devotion begins. A studied satire of art deco decadence and louche behavior, "Devoted Ladies" is a sharp and glittering satire on female love.

Adam's Breed
Adam's Breed

Author: Radclyffe Hall

Publisher: Wylie Press

Published: 2013-08

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 9781473311916

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This early work by Radclyffe Hall was originally published in 1926 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'Adam's Breed' is a novel about a waiter that becomes disgusted with his job and goes to live in the forest as a hermit. Marguerite Radclyffe Hall was born on 12th August 1880, in Bournemouth, England. Hall's first novel The Unlit Lamp (1924) was a lengthy and grim tale that proved hard to sell. It was only published following the success of the much lighter social comedy The Forge (1924), which made the best-seller list of John O'London's Weekly. Hall is a key figure in lesbian literature for her novel The Well of Loneliness (1928). This is her only work with overt lesbian themes and tells the story of the life of a masculine lesbian named Stephen Gordon.

Frost In May
Frost In May

Author: Antonia White

Publisher: Virago

Published: 2011-02-17

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 0748127488

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'Frost in May is the unsurpassed novel of convent school life. This story of a clash between a determined young girl and an authoritarian regime is both perceptive and painfully emotional, convincing in every detail' - Hermione Lee, Observer With a new introduction by Tessa Hadley Nanda Gray, the daughter of a Catholic convert, is nine when she is sent to the Convent of Five Wounds. Quick-witted, resilient and eager to please, she accepts this closed world where, with all the enthusiasm of the outsider, her desires and passions become only those the school permits. Her only deviation from total obedience is the passionate friendships she makes. Convent life is perfectly captured - the smell of beeswax and incense; the petty cruelties of the nuns; the eccentricities of Nanda's school friends. Books in the VMC 40th anniversary series include: Frost in May by Antonia White; The Collected Stories of Grace Paley; Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault; The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter; The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann; Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith; The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West; Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; Heartburn by Nora Ephron; The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy; Memento Mori by Muriel Spark; A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor and Faces in the Water by Janet Frame

Brother Jacob
Brother Jacob

Author: George Eliot

Publisher: Modernista

Published: 2024-08-21

Total Pages: 57

ISBN-13: 9181081472

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»Brother Jacob« is a short story by George Eliot, originally published in in 1864. GEORGE ELIOT , pseudonym for MARY ANN EVANS [1819-1880], was an English novelist. Several of her works are considered among the most important in British literature within a realistic novel tradition. They often unfold in the English countryside and are characterized by a deeply empathetic psychological portrayal that was ahead of its time.

Good Behaviour
Good Behaviour

Author: Molly Keane

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2011-08-04

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 0748132856

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Discover this wickedly funny classic about the very bad behaviour of an aristocratic family - A BBC2 Between the Covers pick! *** 'Molly Keane is a mistress of wicked comedy' VOGUE 'Dark, complex, engaging . . . a wonderful tour de force' MARIAN KEYES I do know how to behave - believe me, because I know. I have always known . . . Behind the gates of Temple Alice, the aristocratic Anglo-Irish St Charles family sinks into a state of decaying grace. To Aroon St Charles, large and unlovely daughter of the house, the fierce forces of sex, money, jealousy and love seem locked out by the ritual patterns of good behaviour. But crumbling codes of conduct cannot hope to save the members of the St Charles family from their own unruly and inadmissible desires. . . 'I have read and re-read Molly Keane more, I think, than any other writer. Nobody else can touch her as a satirist, tragedian and dissector of human behaviour. I love all her books, but Good Behaviour and Loving and Giving are the ones I return to most' MAGGIE O'FARRELL

Temptresses
Temptresses

Author: Shahrukh Husain

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2013-09-19

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 0349004269

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Evil Women. Every culture has them. Religions have banned and branded them. Men find them terrifying and fascinating. Women secretly admire them. An eye cast over the impressive if frightening array of characters reveals baby-thief Lamia, a fertile deity from Greek mythology with a serpent's tail who seduced mortals and bred beautiful monster-children; Morgan le Fay, fairy sister to King Arthur, who according to Celtic legend tried to wrest the throne from him using her black magic powers; Medea who wreaked terrible revenge on Jason when he left her for a younger woman; Lilith, Eve, the Queen of Sheba, Delilah, Jezebel, Kali - all wicked women whose names have been with us for centuries as demons and sirens and troublemakers.

Writers as Readers
Writers as Readers

Author: Virago Press

Publisher: Virago Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780349008622

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The perfect anthology for book lovers Writers as Readers is a celebration of forty years of the Virago Modern Classics list. Started in 1978, Virago Modern Classics is dedicated to the rediscovery and championing of women writers, challenging the often narrow definition of 'classic'. In this collection, forty of the most significant writers of the past century tell us about one of their favourite writers by introducing books from the Virago Modern Classics collection, offering a glimpse at the treasures that have been published over the past four decades: they may be great works of literature; they may be wonderful period pieces; they may reveal particular aspects of women's lives; they may be classics of comedy, storytelling, diary-writing or autobiography. Writers include: Margaret Drabble | Beryl Bainbridge | Angela Carter | Maggie O'Farrell | Elizabeth Jane Howard | A. S. Byatt | Penelope Lively | Sarah Waters | Jonathan Coe | Diana Souhami | Jilly Cooper | Elizabeth Bowen | Mark Bostridge | Alexander McCall Smith | Sarah Dunant | Rachel Cooke | Zadie Smith | Anita Desai | Sophie Dahl | Clare Boylan | Paula McLain | Diana Athill | Marina Lewycka | Claire Messud | Michèle Roberts | Simon Russell Beale | Amanda Craig | Hilary Mantel | Elizabeth Taylor | Ali Smith | Linda Grant | Jane Gardam | Julie Burchill | Carmen Callil | Helen Oyeyemi | Marian Keyes | Nora Ephron | Sandi Toksvig | Kate Saunders