Radical Victorians, by James Hobson

Radical Victorians by James Hobson tells us about a group of Victorians (obvs!) who defied convention in various ways: espousing vegetarianism, teetotalism, cremation, women’s legal equality and many other views that were ahead of their time. The individuals are:

- Anna Kingsford

- Frances Power Cobbe

- Ann Jane Carlile

- Florence Cook

- Sir Henry Thompson

- Isabelle Holmes

- Elizabeth Wolstenholme-Elmy

- Richard Pankhurst

- George Drysdale

- Annie Besant

- Edward Truelove

- Charles Bradlaugh

- Josephine Butler

- W.T. Stead

- Stuart Headlam

- Keir Hardie

- Henry Hyndham

- Sir Charles Dilke

- Francis Dalton

To my shame, I had only heard of five of them and, as I read Hobson’s book, I realised I actually knew very little about those few. This is perhaps not surprising. Hobson has chosen people who change the future but (mostly) didn’t live to see their views accepted. Thus, the book excludes Florence Nightingale and Charles Darwin – their views were radical when first proposed but were fairly mainstream when Queen Victoria died. Francis Dalton was a great scientist but made one huge misjudgement: eugenics. Whilst the basic science may be correct - racehorses can be bred for stamina, potatoes can be bred to resist blight - the moral consequences are shudderingly deplorable. Modern cancel culture is writing him out of history, which is a shame, as he did achieve some great things: the first weather map in a newspaper; breakthroughs in fingerprint technology and statistical methods.

Hobson sets the context for each life, explaining the standard contemporary views and showing how unusual the above team seemed to other Victorians. Many of them had the luxury of wealthy parents and could afford to throw themselves whole-heartedly into fighting for good causes - as Hobson puts it, they were part of “the leisured intellectual elite.” Some, however, like Keir Hardie, the founder of the Independent Labour Party, were desperately poor.

That brings me onto my one cavil with the book. Many - most? All? - of the cast list were known to each other, and they pop up in each other’s chapters. The trouble is, I can’t remember whether, when we read about Elizabeth Wolstenholme-Elmy going to see the work of Josephine Butler, we have read about Butler yet or not! And there are thirty-five mentions of Charles Bradlaugh before we reach the chapter dedicated to him. It’s all good stuff, but the interconnectedness makes it confusing. I know E.M. Forster told us to “Only connect!” but I sometimes wonder if Hobson has taken the instruction to extremes!

The book is well-written and provides a lot of interesting information about each life. It’s not as dry as you might expect. I shall read it again, and I know I’ll get more out of it on a second or third reading.

- Colin

Hardback, £25. Publishing date: 30-05-22. Pre-order with us now!

5 Lessons I've Learned from Book Characters | Sian

Us bookworms think of the characters in the stories we read as friends. Don't deny it! They have an influence on us just as much as flesh and blood in the real world. And ever since I joined the book-thumping army in my childhood, I feel like I've been gathering pearls of wisdom from them, and carrying them around in my heart like the books in my bag. They have guided me, soothed me, and given me direction. Some of them for decades (I'm now old enough to say that - gross!) and some for a few months. But when I stop to think about it, these characters have given me such clarity at difficult and powerful times in my life. Here they are...

(Please note how tatty all of these books are from how many times I've read them!)

1. Noahandjude, I'll Give you the Sun, by Jandy Nelson. Aged 24.
"Dream! Create!"

They're twins, and they see themselves as one entity; one soul split apart. It's moving to see them grow and see themselves as individuals. But this isn't even their most powerful message. Noah and Jude are artists. And their art is their voice; their breath; their energy; their light. It moves them and teaches them and is them. And as a writer, it is so powerful to see two young, unencumbered artists just doing it. The way they see the world through their prismatic, artistic eyes is just incredible. It reminds me that the world is my muse and my canvas.

2. Amal, Does my Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah. Aged 12.
"Listen, and you'll understand."

Amal is a second generation Muslim living in Australia. She wears hijab full time, went to a culturally diverse middle school before her conservative grammar school, and all of her friends are from somewhere that isn't Australia. Being white and having a British family, this story offered me the most enlightening insight into the lives of those whose race, religion, and culture is used to oppress them. Amal has taken her whole life to understand the nuances of being classed as an "Other," and even she has her hang-ups in this world! But she just keeps listening. And learning to make allowances alongside her as a teenager truly changed my view of the world and the people around me.

3. Hazel Grace Lancaster, The Fault in our Stars, by John Green. Aged 20.
"Don't hold yourself back; keep moving."

This character is famously based on a real teenager, Esther Grace Earl, who sadly passed away of cancer in August 2010.  With Hazel's diagnosis of lung cancer, she has every reason in the world to give up. But she just... doesn't? She has passions, and connections, and hopes, and... a life. A good life, all things considered. And she doesn't deny it! And for an early 20-something who worried about the future so much, Hazel breezed through me as a reminder to stop sweating the small stuff. To put energy where it will count. I'll always be grateful for this one.

4. Liz, Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin. Aged 12.
"You're allowed to stop grieving."

Elsewhere is set in the afterlife; a very unique and bubbly take on where we go when we pass away. Liz finds herself there unexpectedly, when she's murdered in a hit-and-run. Having never turned 16, she is adamant that she has been wronged, and deserves better, and therefore can stop. I suppose, on reflection, she's the other side of Hazel's coin. Watching Liz grieve for her loss, come to terms with change, and begin to thrive to the best of her ability was less about a change of mindset, and more about letting go. Letting go of her vices, letting go of her argument with the world, and letting go of her grief. It's impressive, and I admire her to this day.

5. Molly Weasley, Harry Potter. Aged 18... I know! So late!
"To protect the ones you love, is an act of rebellion."

She has always been my favourite character, from the moment I met her in King's Cross Station. Because as soon as she shows up, Harry is safe. I mean, everyone in Molly's presence is safe, but it's Harry we worry for the most. Molly puts protective charms around her home; she always has food to be eaten, and beds to be slept in. She gives advice, and makes a fuss, and she only shouts because she loves you so very darn much! And when the world falls into a state of war? This doesn't change for a millisecond. She stands her ground, shares her morals, protects the ones on the front line. And she doesn't even blink. She is my hero, and no matter who wrote her, she belongs to ME now!

Don't Look Now, by Daphne Du Maurier - A Short Story!

About a week ago a regular customer recommend I watch the 1970’s film “Don’t Look Now”. After a little research I found it was based on a short story by one of my favourite authors, Daphne Du Maurier, and of course, I had to read it first! I had been warned that reading it would spoil the ending. But oh boy, it definitely did not ruin it. 

Daphne beautifully sets the scene and characters in an instant. A sceptical husband and his anxious, grieving wife on holiday in Venice. They are there to recover some semblance of a normal relationship after losing their daughter. There is subtle humour in the way Du Maurier describes the old familiar feel of the relationship, and later when she shows the husbands shortening of temper as the holiday is gradually ruined by a couple of clairvoyant Scots. Seemingly without effort Du Maurier creates tension and weaves important little details into this intriguing tale of 50 short pages. I was paying close attention to detail, having been sold the story on the promise of a whopper of a plot twist but I was still left stunned.

No, I’m not going to give it away! You have to read it for yourself.

- Anara

Hardback, £14.99. Find it in the short stories & poetry section!

Will, by Jeroen Olyslaegers

I’d been meaning to read Will since I first saw it in 2020 – I liked the idea of a book set in Antwerp, a city I really enjoyed spending time in a few years back. Translated from the original Flemish, it’s an international bestseller and was a Times Historical Fiction Book of the Year in 2019.

It must have been a thin year.

It is told from the perspective of an elderly Wilfried Wils, looking back at his experience of Nazi occupation, a period when he worked as a police officer, pushed and pulled between collaboration and resistance, while his dangerous alter-ego, Angelo the expressionistic poet, is also looking on, waiting to reveal himself.

I didn’t like it. I didn’t like Will, the narrator, and Angelo the poet just felt pretentious and a bit obvious. I didn’t like the narrator’s tone, the way that even though he was looking back he seemed to maintain an indifference towards the Nazis, more frustrated by their smashing up of a local pub than angered by the rounding up of Jewish families. Don’t get me wrong, there were sentences and maybe even paragraphs which described the horror, but there was no emotion, nothing which made me feel what a bystander must surely have been feeling. Perhaps that was the point. Maybe he didn’t feel anything, and a banal neutrality was the essence of his response, but that only makes me dislike him even more.

At the same time, he is angry about something. The way he describes his wife, Yvette, is not entirely pleasant. Frequent use of excreta as simile had me rolling my eyes, feeling puerile, lazy, and cheap. He frequently refers to his city as ‘a whore’ - in fact lots of things are referred to as ‘whores’ with ‘open legs’, and other than Hilde, his granddaughter, his attitude and use of language about women is pretty appalling. Even the people he helps, he doesn’t seem to care about – only Hilde seems to evoke an emotional response.

What most disturbed me is that the voice of this wannabe poet, written as a frankly unpoetic stream of consciousness, felt like the voice of an author with some things to get off his chest. We’re told in the blurb that the author’s grandfather was a collaborator, so perhaps this an investigation into the mind of his own bompa, an effort to understand what leads an ordinary man to casually participate in cruel acts while at the same time just trying to keep out of trouble. Unfortunately, it reads more like the words of a pub bore reminiscing about a war he was never in.

Maybe I missed something entirely, but I’m sad that it painted a very unpleasant portrait of a city I like. If anyone can recommend a good novel set in Antwerp, let me know – I need a palette cleanser.

- Paul

Paperback, £8.99. Find it in the Fiction section! 

... or don't! 

The Girls I've Been, by Tess Sharpe

Oooooh, I'm glad I impulse bought this one!

Ever since she was old enough to say her name, Nora has been given a new one by her mother. She created a new person for Nora to become five times throughout the first sixteen years of her life. First, there was Rebecca. Then Samantha. And then Haley. Katie. And finally Ashley.

Her mother took on new names too. Why? Because she was a con artist. She targeted dangerous men, forced her way into their hearts, made her child do her bidding, and when they just started to get comfortable, her mother stole their mark's fortune and ran off into the night, dragging along whichever daughter she had created that day... month... year...

But that's all in the past. Her mother is in prison, Nora chose this name herself, and she's safe with her sister. Well, almost. But what are the odds of being held at gun point at a bank robbery with your new girlfriend and ex-boyfriend?

Surely zero, right?

Wrong.

This is a gripping read. I love when a narrative plays with timelines, and we get multiples of stories progressing side-by-side, building just the right amount of tension and suspense. Each of Nora's past selves builds a deeper and more desperate picture of who she is, and to see her in so much danger in the present tense, even when she's away from a life of swindling and deception, feels tragic. I felt a distinct urge to protect her, and to hurt any person who threatened her safety.

Our narrator is a criminal, but a reluctant one. A manipulated one. But not naïve. Oh, no. Nora knows her way around a man with a gun. We get to see how Nora uses her dangerous past; her different identities to get through this harrowing experience. And it's dark to see someone who has experienced so much pain, utilise the skills that she never should have learned in the first place. 

Just a fabulous and innovative story. Incredible characters with nuanced and beautiful connections. A true testament to the strength that comes with trauma, and that you shouldn't mess with savvy teenagers!

- Sian

CW: abuse, violence, manipulation, CPTSD, anxiety

The Swimmers, by Julia Otsuka

This is the first novel of Julie Otsuka’s that I have read, and it won't be the last. It is a stunning masterpiece about ageing, memory, and the experiences that shape a life.

The story begins with a group of swimmers who all belong to the same community pool. Each member of the group has their own story to tell, but it's Alice who becomes obsessed with a mysterious crack that appears at the bottom of the swimming pool. Some of the group are curious; others start to panic, believing this could be the end of the swimming adventures they all so enjoy.

It's towards the end of this story that Julia Otsuka's writing takes on such beauty, tenderness, and heartbreak, as Alice struggles to hold onto her sense of self. She feels she is still here, but she's viewed differently by her husband, her daughter, her friends.

Dive in and read this wonderfully heartbreaking but life-affirming book. We can all learn about the importance and value of life, being who we are meant to be. Otsuka's writing is a delight to discover, and one should savour every poetic word. You will not be disappointed.

- Milly

Hardback, £12.99. Find it in the Fiction section!

Worn, by Sofi Thanhauser

This book confronts us with the awful realities of the textile industry, uncovering a world where the people who make our clothes now are seldom paid what they deserve and are often harmed by the industry. The book has sections on linen, cotton, silk, synthetics, and wool. As Sofi explains, “… the history and reportage [this book] contains is weighted towards understanding the U.S.’s role in building a global garment trade that touches every corner of the world.” Although it's definitely U.S.-centric, part of the section on wool describes the author’s visit to Woolfest in Cumbria one year.

This is not a light read. Although the narrative is mostly about Thanhauser’s visits to factories; people’s homes; and workplaces, it is very fact-heavy and depressing reading. Cotton uses 8,500 litres of water to make 1Kg but wheat only needs 900 litres. About 24 per cent of the world’s insecticide is used for cotton farming, polluting water supplies. A pair of jeans uses 20,000 litres of water – the amount that could be used to grow the wheat needed to bake a loaf of bread every week for a year.

It's unlikely that anyone looking for cheap clothing on the UK high streets has any idea of the human activity (and suffering and exploitation). It might also be unlikely that they care.

- Colin

Hardback, £20. Find it in the History section!