An excellent collection of the poet's letters, edited by biographer Robert Gittings
The best biography since Colvin's "Life". Like Colvin (whom he quotes lavishly) Gittings has produced a very readable and erudite biography. He has written several other biographies of and books about Keats, and has a deep knowledge and understanding of his subject. This book should really have been the last biography produced about Keats, for it seems to contain every bit of information one could ever need. Alas, there have been others... Plenty of quotes from poems and letters enliven the pages, and there is an extensive bibliography for those wishing to read more.
Colvin was one of the first biographers of John Keats (Amy Lowell was the other: it was a race between the two to see who could publish first). The resultant book is extraordinarily good. Colvin made full use of the somewhat limited material which was then available for reference, and has produced a very informative and eminently readable biography. He quotes extensively from Keats' writings,and examines his "life, poetry, friends, death and afterfame" with sympathy. There are some errors, not present in other, more modern biographies, as a result of some papers, etc., unavailable to Colvin now having become accessible. Despite this, Colvin remains my favourite of the many biographers of the poet.
Margaret finds herself condemned to enter an orphanage, where she befriends a family of two small boys and a girl. Unable to stan the cruel regime of the orphanage, they run away. A really absorbing read - very exciting.
Harriet, recovering from an illness, is advised by her doctor to learn to skate. At the rink, she meets Lalla, who is determined to become a skating star, and the two strike up an unlikely friendship. A really absorbing read.
Probably Noel Streatfeild's best-known book, this is the story of the three Fossil children and their lives at a stage school. Pauline wants to act, Posy wants to dance, and Petrova - well, she just wants to be left alone to read her car manuals. A real page-turner.
One of Streatfeild's best stories. Daughter of a film star,herself a famous child actor, Gemma Bow is sent to live with her aunt, uncle and cousins in the little town of Headstone while her mother is working in America. How will she react to being a nobody for the first time in her life?
The book {read in the Girls Gone By edition} seems to consist of two halves badly cemented together. It was one of the later books, and EBD was reaching the end of her life, so a little kindness is called for in reviewing what I felt to be a very disappointing entry in the Chalet series.
Very entertaining adventure tale about a school party travelling abroad. Ricky sees crooks around every corner...
A very good murder-mystery, with plenty of humour. A particularly gruesome method of murder is employed.
Susan and Midge arrive in Venice to discover that their rooms at the hotel have been double-booked. Various people are trying to find them - but where are they? Very funny tale.
Bill has to rind £10 for Oxfam by the end of the Christmas holidays; asking Susan to help him earn the money might not be such a brilliant idea....
Susan, Midge and Charlotte are on holiday in Brittany, and get mixed up with smugglers. The villain isn't difficult to spot, but the story is very readable.
Susan and the Carmichaels are on holiday in Switzerland, but so are the Gascoignes... They are asked to deliver a pound of English tea to Fraulein Amacher, but there seems to be some mystery about the package. A real page-turner.
Susan and the Carmichaels are on holiday, but the peace of the Scottish Highlands is shattered by the arrival of th ghastly Gascoignes. Charlotte finds herself with a couple of admirers - but are they what they seem?
Entertaining story has Susan helping out in a bookshop during the Christmas holidays.
First book to feature the ghastly Gascoignes, this entry in the "Susan" series has Susan finding an aunt for a visitor from South Africa, and helping an old lady to keep her home. Very entertaining.
Susan and the Carmichaels go to stay with a cousin in the country, and get mixed up with a local art thief. They also solve the mystery of three missing children. Very entertaining addition to the series.
The first book in the popular "Susan" series. A very good and very funny family/adventure story, involving puppets and smuggling.
The ghastly Gabrielle Gascoigne arrives at St. Ronan's School to blight the lives of Susan, Midge and Tessa. A very good addition to the "Susan" series.
My favourite of the Susan books, in which she joins her cousins at St. Ronan's School. Introduces the character Tessa as another new girl. Various sub-plots including the mysterious behaviour of Latin mistress Miss Johnson and the campaign to help an unsuspecting prefect are woven together with great humour. A very amusing light read.
Moving and, at the same time, laugh-out-loud account of the author's life as a novice monk in a Cistercian order.
The perfect Christmas read. Good plot, excellent characterisation; ingenious solution, not too far-fetched. Traditional country-house murder mystery.
Written at the same time as "Diary of a Nobody", this collection of articles ostensibly written by a clerk about his family life is extremely funny
The story of the early years of Doreen and Charles' marriage, a hilarious autobiography.