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1. These Books Will Shock You…
2. Josephine Hart on 'Damage' and 'Sin'
3. Some favourite quotes from Damage, our Virago Book Club choice

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Please see the two links below for obituaries from The Guardian and The New York Times

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/02/dorothea-tanning-obituary

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/arts/design/dorothea-tanning-surrealist-painter-dies-at-101.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

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3. Val McDermid on progress in lesbian fiction

Since then, the novel has received some rather rapturous reviews in the press, including high praise from the Guardian, the Metro, the Mail, the Telegraph, the Express and the FT. Now Gillian talks exclusively on the Kindle Blog about the inspirations behind the novel capturing the imaginations of critics across the board and we have an exclusive excerpt for you here.

Finding an Idea:
Virago’s Gillian Slovo on the irascible Victorian hero who inspired her latest novel.

Where do ideas come from? Well, to paraphrase both Arthur Miller and Leonard Cohen: if I knew that, I’d go there more often. Certainly, they don’t come easy to me. Try as I do to short-cut the process I always end up having to live inside the discomfort of not-knowing until an idea occurs and then sticks.

It’s not my favourite time in a novel’s genesis. I’m a writer and I am happiest (and unhappiest, but that’s a whole other story) writing. So while I struggle to drum up an idea, I rail against the unknowingness of it all. But I am a writer and therefore a voracious reader and so part of what I do in this phase is read – wildly, widely in the hope that instinct will eventually push me onto an interesting enough path.

To read the full article visit the Kindle Blog now.

If you haven’t got your copy already, you can still read or listen to an extract from An Honourable Man now.

We also announced the winners of last month’s giveaway on the website today, so if you haven't already, why not head on over to the winners announcement to find out if you are one of our lucky eight!

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To be in with a chance of winning them, we want your best review or comment on Damage by Josephine Hart, our Virago Book Club pick for this month (along with Sin although only Damage is part of this competition).

You can enter one of two ways, either tweet us at @ViragoBooks using the hashtag #vbc or comment below this post. But remember – it's one tweet, so you can only use up to 140 characters. A challenge, but one we think you're up to! Please also remember to read our full terms and conditions and privacy policy before entering.

Good luck! The entries will be judged by the Virago Book Club team, and announced on Friday.

Related posts:

1. Josephine Hart Poetry Hour continues at the British Library
2. Josephine Hart on 'Damage' and 'Sin'
3. Some favourite quotes from Damage, our Virago Book Club choice

Almost 3000 of you entered. Many congratulations to our eight winners:

1. John Sandoz
2. Christopher Millward
3. Jyoti Khalsa
4. Jane Callan
5. Maggie Lloyd
6. Anne Irwin
7. John Holroyd-Doveton
8. Marion Stephen

We hope you enjoy your prize!

If you weren't lucky enough to win this time An Honourable Man is available to buy in hardback, large paperback , ebook and audio download from bookshops and online retailers nationwide. You can also read or listen to an extract from An Honourable Man online now.

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3. Largest ever book giveaway is launched

This wonderful evening is set to continue with the next poetry reading taking place on Wednesday 29th February at the British Library Conference Centre with actors Dominic West and Rupert Evans reading the works of Oscar Wilde.

If you aren't able to make this one do look out for the June reading at the Library, entitled 'Poets in the Garden' – more details to follow closer to the time.

Josephine Hart is the author of the current Virago Book Club titles Damage and Sin. If you would like to read more, follow us on facebook, twitter and our forum.

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2. Josephine Hart on 'Damage' and 'Sin'
3. December Inspiration: Josephine Hart on Mary McCarthy

Josephine wrote an introduction for each of her novels. You can read what she had to say here:

Damage

Sin

If you would like to learn more about these brilliant books, follow our discussions on facebook, twitter and our forum.

Related posts:

1. Some favourite quotes from Damage, our Virago Book Club choice
2. Lennie Goodings, the Virago publisher, writes about Josephine Hart
3. These Books Will Shock You…

For more information visit their website, and to join in the discussion you can post on their forum.

Even more exciting is that Paula McLain will be joining the Mumsnet forum for a live webchat. She'll be there between 9pm and 10pm on Tuesday 28 February. Keep an eye on the Mumsnet website for more details.

  Author Paula McLain

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Damage tells the chilling story of a man who starts an affair with his son's fiancée.

‘I did not die in my fiftieth year. There are few who know me now who do not regard that as a tragedy.’

‘Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive.’

‘I remembered an old Chinese proverb, “Call no man happy until he’s dead.”’

‘I have sometimes looked at old photographs of the smiling faces of victims, and searched them desperately for some sign that they knew . . . Nothing. They look out serenely, a terrible warning to us all.’

‘A concealed truth, that’s all a lie is. Either by omission or commission we never do more than obscure. The truth stays in the undergrowth, waiting to be discovered.’

Have you read Damage and do you have a favourite quote, or something to say? We'd love to hear from you! Comment below or visit our Virago Book Club forum.

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2. Virago Book Club Live Event with Polly Samson
3. The Virago Book Club is Open

Damage – her first novel – remains one of the most chilling explorations of physical passion and dark obsessive love ever written. Memorably filmed in 1992 starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche, the Sunday Times described it as 'genuinely frightening in its ruthless intensity'.
 
Her second novel, Sin, is a no less devastating portrait of a woman posessed by an obsessive envy who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

We'll be discussing both books for the next three weeks on the Virago Forum, as well as on Facebook and Twitter, and we'll be putting up some extra related content to aid discussion as things progress.

To kick things off Lennie Goodings, who was Josephine Hart's editor, talks about her friendship with the author, and her thoughts about both books:

Lennie Goodings & Josephine Hart

We've also been earnestly talking about both novels. Find out what Virago's first reactions were by clicking here

And don't just take our word for it, read what some of our First Look reviewers have to say:

"The paucity of language is what makes this story (Sin), one of jealous obsession, and incredible, all consuming hatred, so persuasive and shocking. Each word is loaded with meaning."

 - Brenda Croskery

"(Sin) was a very small, but powerful book. I am glad I have discovered Josephine Hart. There are more of her books for me to explore."

- Marjorie Lacy

You can start right now and get a taster for both novels by reading the opening chapters for Sin and Damage.

Happy reading!

The Virago team

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3. The Virago Book Club is Open

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan which we publish in March is an absolutely gripping story about survival. The chair of the Waterstones  11, Janine Cook said ‘it makes you feel you are a fellow passenger, battling along with the central character Grace, in unthinkable circumstances’.

Shelter by Frances Greenslade is our other winner, which we publish in February.  Interestingly, this is also a novel about survival, this time set in Northern Canada.  It’s about two sisters who are searching for their mother.

Last year’s Waterstones 11 included The Tiger’s Wife which went on to win the Orange, and Stephen Kelman’s novel Pigeon English which made the Man Booker shortlist…

We’re the only publisher with two on the list so that’s kinda nice too…

Related posts:

1. Virago's Lennie Goodings wins Editor and Imprint of the Year award

Ella was in the office last week, and here gives you the low-down:

Like many third year students at university, I have suddenly found myself living in the shadow of looming graduation.  Faced with the all-too-soon prospect of casting off into the life of a real grown up, I have felt the rising panic about the question that I’m sure many other students are currently struggling with: What am I going to do with my life?? 

Feelers have been put out, emails have been sent, and I now find myself in the offices of Little, Brown Book Group – but more specifically Virago. Well, where better for an anticipated BA in English Literature and History? The open-plan floor hums with meetings, visiting authors, the tapping of keyboards and the excited exclamations of proud editors seeing the finished products.

What I have really enjoyed in my short time at Virago is how contented people seem working here.  I have heard no growls of frustration, no hushed angry tones.  But what has really caught my eye here . . . is the books. Shelf upon shelf of them! I must confess on more than one occasion I have found myself mesmerised, staring like one would at a fish-tank, their bright covers surrounding me.

Being a temporary fixture in the office, I did not expect to be given any jobs of my own, but to simply help by doing the menial and tedious jobs of others whilst they got on with important things. I was pleasantly surprised. I have been trusted with writing website pieces, researching stories and articles, and I even attended a Book Club meeting.  Watching their fevered discussion and debate, I felt like I was sitting in a seminar room back at university, with thoughts and observations tumbling out, annotating notes with notes, and creating a plan for their website companion to their chosen book.  (Obviously, being a trusted work-experience girl I could not possibly tell you the title, but I would definitely recommend it!)  I felt inspired with the thought that perhaps one day I will have a career in something that I am truly passionate about, much like those who work for Little, Brown Book Group.

And so now, halfway through my final year, the scary milestone that is graduation doesn’t seem half as scary anymore.  In fact, I am feeling surprisingly optimistic about my future, and I have those at Virago who allowed me to visit for a week to thank.

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2. The Virago Book Club is Open
3. Beta blockers, method acting and flaccid ham sandwiches – Polly Samson bares all at the Virago Book Club

Girl Reading got rave reviews when it was first published last year. Hilary Mantel, author of the Man Booker Winner Wolf Hall, said that Katie Ward was 'wise, poised, and utterly original. Her eye and her words are fresh, as if she is inventing the world'.

Associate Publisher Ursula Doyle shares her feelings on the book.

Katie Ward's Girl Reading is one of the most original and thought-provoking debut novels I have ever read. Each of her seven 'portraits' of girls and women reading takes you into a completely new and beautifully imagined world. Whether we are in Renaissance Italy, an English country house during the First World War or a Shoreditch bar in 2008, Katie Ward puts us right there in the room and tells us a new and utterly involving story. And then, in the final chapter, Katie tips the board with such sleight of hand that you barely notice the pieces of the jigsaw flying up in the air and rearranging themselves in an entirely new pattern. Girl Reading is a tour de force of storytelling, both playful and serious, and makes you look at words – and pictures – through fresh eyes.

 Author Katie Ward

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 Associate Publisher Ursula Doyle, shares her feelings on the book.

From the moment I read the first few pages of The Paris Wife in manuscript, I was a goner – I completely fell in love with Hadley's voice as she told the story of her all-consuming love affair with the young, charismatic and passionate Hemingway, who was so much more vulnerable and troubled than anyone except Hadley knew. Their marriage, their life amid the glamour and the squalor of 1920s Paris and the unspeakable sadness of the betrayal that led to their parting are vividly and sympathetically imagined by Paula McLain, who makes you feel as though you are there alongside them, reliving those exhilarating times when anything seemed possible.

 Author Paula McLain reading at an event in Bath

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Touching upon themes of war and empire, honour and responsibility, jihad, foreign policy and what happens to those war leaves behind, An Honourable Man is a powerful novel which is as relevant now as ever. To celebrate its release we have eight limited edition proof copies of the book to giveaway. To be in with a chance of winning one, simply fill in your details in the form below.

And, if you didn't get to see The Riots at The Tricycle Theatre in December, don’t miss your chance to see it now. The play will be performed at Tottenham's Bernie Grant Arts Centre from the 4th until the 14th of January 2012. Tickets are available to buy now.

An Honourable Man is available in hardback, large paperback , ebook and audio download today. You can also read or listen to an extract from the first chapter online now.

Entry Form

Please remember to read our full terms and conditions and privacy policy before entering.

Name:
Email address:

Related posts:

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The last word of 2011 from us comes from some of Virago’s much missed authors:

“Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history and you read it in your own terms.”
- Angela Carter

“No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She will not want new fashions nor regret the loss of expensive diversions or variety of company if she can be amused with an author in her closet.”
- Lady Montagu

“The greatest gift is a passion for reading.”
- Elizabeth Hardwick

AND, finally, some good advice from PJ O’Rourke:

“Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.”

Related posts:

1. Happy Virago Reading Week!

www.elisabethrusselltaylor.wordpress.com

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The play will be performed at Tottenham's Bernie Grant Arts Centre between 4 and 14 January 2012.

If you didn't get to see it in Kilburn, don't delay in getting your tickets. They can be bought from the website here.

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Margaret Atwood - poet, novelist, critic, inventor, environmental activist and now . . . Dancing Elf. That's right, you heard me properly.

Ever-game Margaret Atwood has let House of Anansi, her Canadian Publishers, turn her into a Dancing Elf for Christmas. This may well be the funniest thing you see all day – you have been warned.

Happy Christmas!

Margaret Atwood, the Dancing Elf

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Today we heard the great news that Hamleys Toy Shop has removed the signs dividing the blue section for boys  from the pink one for girls. This has happened after blogger Laura Nelson lauched a campaign outlining her concerns that the layout restricted choices and contributes to society's gender inequalities.

Natasha Walter talked about this problem in her book Living Dolls – here's what she had to say in light of today's news:

In my book Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism is a description of going through Hamleys toy store and being struck by the absolute division between the pink girls' world and the blue boys' world. It was a trip to Hamleys when my daughter was young that really woke me up to the way that we are currently so keen to see girls and boys as necessarily requiring different toys and different ways of playing. As I considered what was going on, I realised that these attitudes are very much tied up with the resurgence of biological determinism and the belief that any differences we see between men and women are produced by biological rather than cultural influences. When I was researching my book I heard from many people, from toy companies to scientists to parents, who said that this would never change, but I also heard from many people who were eager to see change happen. Since the book was published I've been really astounded by the passionate positive responses I've had, and I'm so glad that waves have been created that have encouraged Hamleys to make this recent shift. I do admire the activism of Laura Nelson and the way that she has made this toy company recognise that an awful lot of parents and girls aren't buying the narrative any more that says girls are just living dolls.

A good day for feminism!

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Starting by addressing the linked story style in Perfect Lives, Polly spoke about the origins of the collection. Initially she hadn’t intended to revisit any of her characters. It wasn't until one or two began to ‘jump’ into other stories that it became a theme.  We all spoke of our delight with that 'eureka' moment of realising a character we're reading about is someone we met – however briefly – earlier in the book.

Polly confessed that her reason to base the location of Perfect Lives in the seaside town of Brighton (although Brighton is never specifically refereed to) was due to her imminent move there.  She descibed the city as a “bad tempered thing” within her work – a character in its own right, though having lived there for a while she now finds it "heaven". She employed a kind of method acting approach to her work, walking constantly, finding the streets where her characters would live and thinking about what shops they might use, where they would walk, thus creating their lives from the place they live in. Food also was important in the book – taking on the personalities of the characters  - flaccid ham sandwiches for quiet, meek Richard; Ginger snaps for brittle Celia.

Many of the central themes of the collection were taken from moments in Polly’s own life.  Music weaves its way through the stories -  in real life Polly was becoming a self-confessed ‘piano swot’ (using the power of beta blockers to steady hands through exams).  Family life and relationships mirrored stories from people she knew or her own children’s experiences.  They were also an observation on the melancholy of life which “can be sad but has its bright moments too".

Polly’s love of the short story was obvious . Virago Book Club members were invited to talk about their favourite collections which included stories by Mavis Gallant, Alice Munroe Roald Dahl and Daphne du Maurier. Polly listed Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge among her favourites.

The Virago team will be following up with more on the short story as we look at Polly’s other work and some more from Virago authors. But in the meantime we would like to thank everyone for coming and for making it such a wonderful evening. And if you missed out this time – hopefully we'll see you at the next event!

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The foreword is provocative. What follows is a shocking delight. Mary McCarthy with this, her first book, achieved a succès de scandale. Almost 70 years later its power to disturb remains undiminished.

The Company She Keeps is a warning-bell of a novel. It teaches us that intelligence – however finely honed – is not the same as wisdom, and that the getting of wisdom is hard. It is a Jamesian lesson delivered in McCarthy’s justly celebrated spare and elegant prose in which she is, as one critic noted, ‘both psychologist and executioner.’ And therein lies much of the subversive pleasure of this novel.

Nothing is missed by the heroine Margaret Sargent, ‘whose multiple personalities bloomed on the single stalk of her ego,’ as she observes with wit and intelligence aspects of her multi-faceted self, and of others – mostly the men she entrances with the judicious arrogance which adds a form of intellectual spice to her beauty. Such a woman should be forearmed for the fray.

Alas, much that is important in life is lost by Margaret. It is lost in the moral laziness which, in the opening chapter, ‘Cruel and Barbarous Treatment,’ leads her to waste her time with The Young Man (we never know his name) for whom she leaves her husband, though ‘she couldn’t bear to hurt him’. It is lost during her humiliating and drunken seduction on a train to Reno by ‘The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt’ – the ageing, socially and intellectually inferior ‘travelling salesman,’ Mr Breen. In this chapter Miss McCarthy gives us a chilling masterclass in the dangers of female sexual contempt. Her later weary surrender in the chapter ‘Portrait of the Intellectual as a Yale Man’ to Jim Barnett – whose ‘inadequacy made him self-important’ ends in exasperated disillusionment – his – as he reflects that he would ‘hate her forever as Adam hates Eve.’

Finally, remarried unhappily to the controlling Frederick, we leave her talking to her psychiatrist. She is, the author warned us at the start, ‘fumbling in her spiritual pocket-book, for the ordinary, indispensable self that somehow got mislaid.’ But then again ‘perhaps she never took it with her in the first place.’

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It seemed natural to link three stories that became part of my first collection, Lying in Bed and after that I began to notice what a lovely hybrid the linked story collection is. 

In the best short stories the action takes place off the page or between the lines. When character and mood carry the narrative small details become more significant and the past and present can exist together in a way that would clog longer fiction.  Everything exists as some sort of clue to the person or the story and a good one lingers in the mind, deepening, darkening and revealing itself and its characters long after its ended.

What makes linked stories so pleasurable, I think, is that frisson of recognition when one character walks onto another character’s stage.

I didn’t set out to write a collection of linked stories but that’s the way the characters in Perfect Lives came out, emerging from the wings and insisting on their moment in the spotlight.  Here are some favourite linked story collections:

Daniel Kehlmann:  Fame

Elizabeth Strout:  Olive Kitteridge

Melissa Bank:  A Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing

Judith Hermann:  Alice

Alice Munroe: The Beggar Maid:  Stories of Rose and Flo

 If you would like to hear more, Polly will be discussing Perfect Lives at the Virago Book Club live event next week

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"It asks the right questions in a way that is clear, gripping and necessary," said the Guardian's Michael Billington. While in a four-star review for the Telegraph, Charles Spencer called the drama "admirably even-handed".

As 'The Riots' opened, Slovo told Radio 4's Front Row that the script had been compiled from "56 hours of taped material".

"Every single minute of it was fascinating, almost without exception. But it was clear to me from the beginning that we needed to hear from certain people, in particular a victim of the riots – but we also needed some rioters and we needed some police. Out of those central people, I built the story of the others."

For more information, or to buy tickets, visit the Tricycle's website and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Read below for a snapsnot of our responses:

Carleen Peters: “For me The Birthday Present typifies the qualities I like best in the collection as a whole, and the qualities I like most about Polly Samson’s writing. Deceptively simple, very corporeal and sexy, dryly funny, and at its heart a protagonist I’d quite like to bump into at a muggy beach front café in Brighton.”

Victoria Pepe chose Morganna because she “is a fabulous character, a hippy, 'jingling and jangling armfuls of bracelets', who falls into the grief of being left with as much drama as you would expect. Polly Samson writes the story with a tongue firmly in her cheek – all the classic overblown 'woman scorned' tropes are there, but brilliantly turned on their heads.”

Hollie Cruickshank: “In Leaving Hamburg Aurelia’s journey through the streets of Hamburg allows us such an insight into her memories, desires, hopes, dreams and regrets. Polly’s language is rich with imagery and you find yourself wrapped up within Aurelia’s thoughts. You feel a sense of nostalgia for the people no longer in her life and a sense of closure in time for a new beginning.”

Naomi Doerge: “My favourite is The Man Across the River. I think one of Polly's best attributes is her ability to have the reader feel/smell/touch/taste so clearly whatever her characters are feeling. I really liked the creepiness of it because it is something that everyone can relate to. Even better is that there are so many different veins to this story."

Stephen Dumughn: “In A Regular Cherub there are passages that almost make you gasp as well as laugh – Tilda describing her newborn baby as a 'christmas gammon, boiled and ready for studding' for example. The combination of the disillusionment Tilda feels about motherhood, contrasted with the raw emotion – almost sentimentality – of the ending, totally rings true for me. Like all the other stories it's clever without ever seeming contrived.”

Which is your favorite short story in Perfect Lives? Visit our forum and tell us!

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1. Perfect Lives – The Next Virago Book Club Selection
2. Royal Weddings and Perfect Lives
3. Perfect Reviews for 'Perfect Lives'

Polly will be coming in to the Virago offices on the evening of Tuesday 29th of November to talk about the book with an audience of Book Club members.

There will be wine, good conversation and maybe a slice of cake – what better way to spend an evening?

If you'd like to be part of the audience then sign up to the Virago Book Club for details of how to apply. Remember, if you are a Virago Book Club member, you can order your copy at a special discount of 10% off the online price from Foyles.

To join the discussion log onto our forum and let us know your thoughts.

Happy reading, we'll see you there!

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2. Come to the first Virago live event – only a few places left!
3. Virago Book Club event with Linda Grant

Having Perfect Lives as a Book at Bedtime is like having my best wish for the book granted.  I was invited to the recording of 'The Egg' and 'The Rose Before the Vine' which were read by Claire Skinner of Outnumbered fame (I think this is the only time that my children have asked me, nay begged me, to get an autograph).  The five selected stories have been masterfully abridged and produced by Christine Hall and I was amazed to hear them work so well despite being cut to under 2,000 words each (some of the stories are 5 or 6,000 words in the book).  Christine told me that Mark Meadows, the actor she employed to read 'Barcarolle', is also, completely by coincidence, a good pianist so she was able to get him to play some parts of Chopin’s Barcarolle to fade in and out of the story. It’s that sort of thing that makes me believe that Perfect Lives has been blessed in some way!

Below is the list of stories that will be featured: 

• Monday 21 November: 'The Egg'
• Tuesday 22: 'Barcarolle'
• Wednesday 23: 'The Birthday Present'
• Thursday 24: 'The Rose Before the Vine'
• Friday 25: 'Remote Control'

Don't miss it!

And beady-eyed regulars will have noticed that Perfect Lives is also the next Virago Book Club pick. Visit the website again or follow us on Twitter for more information – and the opportunity to come to an event with Polly at Virago!

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2. Perfect Lives – The Next Virago Book Club Selection
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Set in an English seaside town where lovers and children, men and women weave in and out of each other's lives and stories, this nuanced and witty collection has received rapturous acclaim since it was first published in hardback in late 2010.

To see a video of Polly Samson introducing and reading from Perfect Lives, click here

We're also delighted to announce that we have linked up with Foyles booksellers to offer Virago Book Club members an exclusive discount of 10% off the online price of the book.

To get your discounted copy, become a Virago Book Club member today by clicking here.

And once you've got your copy, don't forget to come and discuss the book on the forum with other book group members

We'll be posting content in the weeks to follow before the live event – details tbc – but in the meantime..

Happy Reading!

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I first read My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin when I was 16 years old, the same age as the book’s feisty central character, Sybylla Melvyn. Three quarters of a century separates us and yet from the first pages of the novel it felt like Sybylla was the more modern woman.

Powerful memories endure of Sybylla’s thoughts and ideas, especially the intensity of her joy for reading, ‘The pleasure, so exquisite as to be almost pain which I derive from books is beyond description…’

Thanks to the freshness and force of Miles Franklin’s writing and the many emotional and physical trials of her heroine, My Brilliant Career was the first book that truly surprised me. Our heroine, unconventional in looks and thoughts, by the high wattage of her spirit and humour attracts the hunky and big-hearted Harry Beecham. Will they? Won’t they? That’s the big marriage cliff-hanger of the book. Prototype runaway bride Sybylla rages, ‘The idea of marriage even with the best man in the world seems to me a lowering thing.’

It felt like there was a fresh breeze blowing through the room and turning the pages of the novel for me as I read, even though Ms Franklin’s story is set deep in the sun-baked Australian outback landscape.

Miles Franklin says of this, her first book, written when she was herself only sixteen, ‘It was conceived and tossed off in a matter of weeks.’ The writer in me, the one that waited 30 years to be published, yearns for a sliver of that audacious, youthful talent.

After a long and protracted courtship – one as rocky as the outback terrain they struggle to survive in – Harry begs Sybylla to marry him again and again. He dismisses her assertions that she is too plain, or too young or too bad tempered to make a good partner. He tells her, ‘As for beauty, it is nothing’ and ‘I want someone to be true.’ That was my Kleenex moment. The one that made me want to stand up and cheer for the intuitive celebration of femininity that brightens every page of My Brilliant Career.

Anna May Mangan has contributed articles to newspapers and magazines including The Times, Independent and Mail on Sunday. She has been shortlisted for the London Fringe Short Fiction Award, the RTE Radio/Frank MacManus Short Story Competition and was placed second in the 2008 Sean O’Faolain Prize. Me and Mine by Anna May Mangan is available now.

Related posts:

1. Anna May Mangan – Me and Mine
2. January inspiration – Sarah Dunant on JAMAICA INN by Daphne du Maurier
3. May's Inspiration: Stella Duffy Recommends Janet Frame

The aim of World Book Night is to share a love of books and of reading. Next April 23rd – UNESCO's International Day of the Book – twenty thousand people will give out twenty-four copies of one of the chosen books into their local communities. Books will also be given out in prisons, hospitals and libraries, so that, in total, one million books will be shared. To become a volunteer giver, register with WBN.

Related posts:

1. World Book Night – Call for Volunteer Book Givers
2. Largest ever book giveaway is launched
3. World Book Night follow up

The project is to raise funds for a memorial to Mary Wollstonecraft, the founder of the campaign for the freedom and equality of women, on Newington Green, London, N16.

 Mary Wollstonecraft moved to Newington Green in 1782 where she lived and set up a girls’ school. After publishing books on girls’ education and civil rights, she went on to write A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), demanding 'JUSTICE for one half of the human race'. The book would become a foundation in the history of women’s rights and Mary Wollstonecraft is now regarded by many as the mother of feminism. She was also an innovative educator, a political philosopher, a war correspondent and an early anti-slavery commentator, whose works are still quoted today. Read Lyndall Gordon's biography of Mary Wollstonecraft.

Despite her contributions, there is no significant memorial to her anywhere in the world. 

Since the launch the campaign has gained the support of over 70 MPs and peers & the TUC and has featured on BBC Women’s Hour.

 You can vote for the project at: http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/2478

Votes must be cast before 23rd October

 You can find out more and donate on our website: www.maryonthegreen.org

Donations can also be made by sending a cheque, made out to ‘M W Memorial’, to Mary on the Green, Newington Green Action Group, 73b Leconfield Road, London, N5 2RZ, UK.

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1. 'One of the best reads I can remember' Richard Madeley loves The Return of Captain John Emmett

Rumer Godden wrote over sixty books in her lifetime (1907-1998) for both adults and children. Her most acclaimed novel is Black Narcissus, adapted into an Oscar-winning film by Powell and Pressburger in 1947. She won the Whitbread Award for Children's Literature in 1972 and was awarded the OBE in 1993. Four of the titles Virago has acquired are for younger readers and will launch Virago Modern Classics Young Adult list in 2013.

It is a real privilege to have the opportunity to publish Rumer Godden, a true classic, on the Virago Modern Classics list. She is an incredible writer, and what is really special about her, particularly when one considers the era she was writing in, is what a contemporary sensibility she had; in her novels set in India especially, wherever her characters are from and whatever culture they belong to, their points of view are portrayed  with sympathy and understanding. The customs, colours, sights and sounds of India are brought vividly to life, and the characters are unforgettable.  That Godden is able to write as effectively for a child as for an adult attests to the quality of her work, and I believe there is a whole new audience ready to discover her books.

Virago has acquired fifteen titles including Black Narcissus, as well as The River and The Battle of the Villa Fiorita. The titles for younger readers are: Listen to the Nightingale and Thursday’s Children, both ballet-themed books, The Dark Horse and An Episode of Sparrows.

Virago will begin publishing in 2013.

Related posts:

1. Virago Modern Classics – Designer Collection
2. Literary Sleuthing – the Job of a Classics Editor
3. The Virago Book Club is Open

Here Lauren tells us what inspired her to write this new book:

The West Rand Jive Cats’ Boxing Club is my quarry of Africa’s boiler-room; Johannesburg. The city, in all its greedy, gold-encrusted glory, is fertile soil for any writer, but as it’s my city, I found myself drawn to root around in its ugly past – from the almost gothic horror of the mines, to the heaving slum-yards, septic with pimps and shebeen-queens, tsotsi gangsters, street musicians, and the Prophets of Zion. I let the sheer rudeness of the city foment my jive cats and then juiced them up with the pop cult of the fifties.

The birth of rock ’n’ roll jumped out and slapped me across the face; I couldn’t resist infusing the story with the grinding pulse and sweaty, feral sound of the new music that first defined and set apart the great swell of baby-boomers. And I was seduced by the sordid theatre of the ring. My jive cats are mostly forged from borrowed memories and I was struck by how often those I interviewed reminisced about boxing. Something as primal as the fight game is ripe for poetic metaphors for fear, cowardice, courage and redemption – classic elements of a coming-of-age novel, and I shamelessly exploited the grip that this oldest and most visceral of sports has on us as I sought to recapture the angst and bravado of youth.

This is somewhat ironic for someone who has always found pugilism repugnant, and who has long reviled this dirty, grasping city where someone wants something from you everywhere you go. But perhaps that is point of writing, and of reading too – to shift perspective.

Having quit my ‘real job’ in banking, all the ego-bruising rejection I endured trying to get out of the ‘slush pile’; the editorial purgatory; to the sting of bad reviews (which is like accidentally eavesdropping on a conversation about you in the smoke room where everyone agrees that you suck), has all been worth it, because as a writer, I get to live a secret double life. For over a year, in my head, I was also a twelve-year-old boy in 1958, a place that to all intents and purposes no longer exists. My duet of dance and the fight game allowed me to thrum once more with the raw energy, the reckless swagger and the hopefulness of youth. It is the ultimate escapism.

Related posts:

1. Find out in today's guest post how Stella Duffy discovered the heroine of her new novel, THEODORA
2. Living Dolls – the Book Club verdict
3. Virago Book Club event with Linda Grant

Related posts:

1. Listen to Amanda Coe on Radio 4's 'Woman's Hour'
2. Virago Book Club welcomes Stella Duffy on 13th September
3. Stella Duffy's Theodora wins the Stonewall Writer of the Year Award

117 Days is the account by my mother, Ruth First, of her imprisonment in South Africa under apartheid’s notorious 90-day law. It is a searingly honest book that stands as testament to the crippling effects of solitary and to the courage of one woman.

Ruth was arrested in 1963 in the period immediately following the arrest of the ANC leaders who, along with the already incarcerated Nelson Mandela, were eventually to stand trial for their lives. Ruth, having been privy to many of the resistance’s secrets, risked being charged alongside them. No reason was given for her arrest: the 90-day law did not require one. It allowed for detention, in solitary and without trial, for a period that could stretch, as the then Justice Minister BJ Vorster put it, to ‘this side of eternity.’

Ruth’s account of her time in jail is shot through with crisp passion. She writes with clarity, and also humour, about the effects of solitary and the barbarity of the political system that undercut it. And she, a fiercely private person, also writes unsparingly about herself.

From the first, when a police search of her home uncovers a banned newspaper, she convicts herself of carelessness. As the days of her detention stretch into weeks and then months, she is unblinkingly honest in her descriptions of her loss of confidence and of self. Coming from a political culture that did not tolerate much weakness, she does not pull back from owning her pride and her fear of other’s judgments that led her almost to the brink of death. A woman who cared greatly about her appearance, her determination to inhabit this experience, has left an enduring account whose power lies in its lack of unnecessary ornamentation.

 At the book’s end Ruth is convinced that, despite her release, they would come again. She was to be proved right. In 1982 she was killed by a letter bomb sent to her by apartheid South Africa’s security police. Yet through this most personal of her many books, her voice lives on.

Related posts:

1. Gillian Slovo speaks about her mother Ruth First on Woman's Hour
2. Virago's December publications
3. Gillian Slovo is elected 25th President of English PEN

We'll be discussing our Book Club selection, Stella's latest novel Theodora, over a glass of wine or two – and Stella will be speaking about how the book came about and the writing process that brought us the story of Theodora of Constantinople, and how she rose from nothing to become the most powerful woman in the history of Byzantine Rome.

If you live in London or can make the trip easily and would like to attend, then make sure you sign up to join the Virago Book Club and then send us an email confirming you can make it. We will be starting the discussion at 6:30pm. And in the meantime, you can watch this video of Stella introducing Theodora to whet your appetite!

Related posts:

1. Actress, Empress, Whore – Theodora by Stella Duffy
2. Find out in today's guest post how Stella Duffy discovered the heroine of her new novel, THEODORA
3. Stella Duffy on video talking about Theodora

I like novels that seem to create a complete world of their own that barely relies on the real one. A novel can reveal unknown regions and customs and riches and in A Game of Hide and Seek I think Elizabeth Taylor achieves this new-worldiness, despite the setting being unfailingly English and provincial and even familiar. How does she do it!

The subject of this novel is unremarkable: Harriet Claridge falls in love as a teenager with her unpromising childhood friend Vesey, but nothing quite comes of it. Years later she marries another man and has a child, but one day Vesey reappears and Harriet finds herself still powerfully drawn to him.

What makes this tale so compelling and original are the layers of thriving communities almost livelier than life that fill the novel. When Harriet leaves school and finds work in a high-class gown shop her colleagues are a tour de force of comedy and camaraderie. Their lunch-hour life is ambitiously undertaken: Taylor has them grilling chops, discussing their love affairs and waxing the down on their faces, while expressing their very best wishes for Harriet’s virginity. Warm-hearted and splendid, ‘We are not shop girls but sales ladies,’ Miss Lazenby proclaims.

Later the dynamic between Harriet, her mother-in-law Julia – ‘a woman whose white hair was patchily gilded as if it had been brushed over with yolk of egg’ – and her staunch housekeeper Mrs Curzon, creates another winning sphere. Mrs Curzon looks ‘certainly more handsome now that her moustache is grey,’ Julia casually remarks. A remote and unfathomable Dutch au pair completes the household and is wittily described by Harriet’s teenage daughter Betsy as being ‘like Ruth amid the alien cornflakes.’

We are shown the mistresses at Betsy’s school arguing about the pupils who have crushes on them, saying, ‘Let us not use words like “love”…’ We glimpse an invalid’s sense of exhilaration that his death-bed visitors may soon be lovers. Even fossilised, terrible-looking cakes in a teashop window, that somehow fail to convince as cakes, seem to draw us into another way of experiencing things. All this bright life is underwritten by Harriet’s shadowy fidelity to a sensation first experienced in childhood, for the novel knows well that these loyalties can be amongst the strongest that humans forge.

The 2011 Mslexia Writer's Diary contains a series of monthly inspirations from current Virago authors who each discuss a Virago Modern Classic.

Related posts:

1. March inspiration – Paula McLain Recommends MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather
2. April's Inspiration: Sarah Waters Recommends Barbara Comyns
3. August Inspiration: Polly Samson Recommends THE MAGIC TOYSHOP

Sally Jay Gorce, the clever, funny, good-looking and mildly disorganised heroine of Elaine Dundy's first and best novel, is most often compared to Truman Capote's Holly Golightly, a character who is her exact contemporary in publication terms (The Dud Avocado and Breakfast at Tiffany's appeared, to rave reviews, in 1958). Only a fool could fail to see why. Both girls are witty, tenacious, ardent, wide-eyed and strangely perceptive. But tell me this: which one would you want to be your pal? Answer: Gorce, of course!  She's a complicated hoot … The novel is the real deal: a comfort read for sure, because we have all been young, and made mistakes, and woken up in the bed of the wrong man with panda eyes and only inappropriate shoes in which to travel home. But also a trail blazer. Sally Jay Gorce precedes Anne Welles and Jennifer North (Valley of the Dolls), Isadora Wing (Fear of Flying) and Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City) by many years and is funnier than all four of them put together. Read the whole article 

The Dud Avocado was reissued this month in hardback in the Virago Modern Classics, featuring a cover by Lucienne Day.

Related posts:

1. The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister – new acquisition for Virago
2. Think Pink?

Feast your eyes on these beauties! The second VMC designer hardback collection, available in all good bookshops, £12.99 each.

Titles include:
Good Behaviour by Molly Keane                          Cover design by Eley Kishimoto
The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy                     Cover design by Lucienne Day
The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins      Cover design by Florence Broadhurst
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim       Cover design by Angie Lewin for Liberty
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier        Cover design by Neisha Crosland

From today's Guardian: 'There's no question, of course, that the words are the thing – but when the medium and the message combine as attractively as they do here, what's not to celebrate?'

The collection has also featured in Vogue: 'Beautifully rendered in patterned textiles by contemporary designers including Eley Kishimoto and Angie Lewin, as well as vintage designs by Lucienne Day, the charmingly retro graphics are so delicious we want to own them all.'

And in the Observer's 'Lust List'.

Related posts:

1. Virago Modern Classics – Designer Collection
2. Read (or Listen to) the Title Story of Daphne du Maurier's Controversial Early Collection
3. New Collection of Short Stories by DAPHNE DU MAURIER

It could be almost any Angela Carter, I love every word, but this was my first. It opens the summer that Melanie is fifteen, in her bourgeois bedroom, as narcissistic as any young lovely, parading naked in front of a mirror, pulling classical poses for an imaginary series of great masters and feeling 'pregnant with herself, bearing the slowly ripening embryo of Melanie-grown-up inside . . . '

As Melanie cavorts on the treacherous brink between child and woman, so the writing teeters in a strange space between waking and dreaming. 'Teeter' is entirely the wrong word, of course, this being Angela Carter: it sizzles and sparks and burns, both hallucinatory and profound.

After a night dressing up in her mother's wedding dress when, under the gaze of the moon, she gets blood on its hem, Melanie and her siblings are plucked from their antiseptic world of freshly laundered handkerchiefs and thrust into the exotic filth and tyranny of her Uncle Philip's lair. And what a twisted, festering, nightmarish place the magic toysop proves to be. There's Auth Margaret, frail as a pressed flower and struck dumb by her husband's cruelty, forced every Sunday to wear his wedding gift of an eldritch collar of hinged silver and moonstones that squeezes her throat so she can manage only crumbs; there are the Irish brothers Finn and Francie who reek of animal maleness, and then there is grotesque Uncle Philip himself, who seems to have been hewn out of thunder, pulling all the strings as he launches Melanie into a nightmare world of puppetry and desire that is as wildly erotic as it is macabre.

Angela Carter was 'the Godmother' of Virago, there from the beginning, advising, contributing, 'omnipresent' as Carmen Callil says, so this allegorical tale of a young girl coming of age in a patriarchal society (where she is forced literally to become a puppet) seems like a good one to celebrate here.

The 2011 Mslexia Writer's Diary contains a series of monthly inspirations from current Virago authors who each discuss a Virago Modern Classic.

Related posts:

1. April's Inspiration: Sarah Waters Recommends Barbara Comyns
2. Angela Carter, writer and … poet!
3. Easter Weekend Reading: The Egg by Polly Samson

No related posts.

This reminded me of a part of Natasha Walter's Living Dolls which really struck me, and that I found sad - when she talks about how few female role models there in children's entertainment and gives startling statistics:

Many parents might note these sexy heroines [Disney's skintily clad princesses, Bratz etc] but assume that alongside them will still be a wealth of other female characters for our daughters to identify with, and indeed there are alternatives available if one seeks them out. But the clever, brave, physically unselfconscious heroines often require some effort to be found and celebrated, while the narrowness of much popular culture is increasingly obvious. For instance, take a look at these statistics, which I found frankly shocking. In the 101 top-grossing family films (films rated G in the US, where the research was carried out, the equivalent to our U certificate) from 1990 to 2004, of the over 4000 characters in these films 75 per cent overall were male, 83 per cent of characters in crowds were male, 83 per cent of narrators were male, and 72 per cent of speaking characters were male. In addition, there was little change from 1990 to 2004. When the American Psychological Association commented on this research, they said, 'This gross under-representation of women or girls in films with family-friendly content reflects a missed opportunity to present a broad spectrum of girls and women in roles that are non-sexualised.' In this context, in which there is such a narrow range of female characters to identify with, the visibility of sexy female heroines – such as the Bratz or the W.I.T.C.H. girls – has a disproportionate impact.

 But, as the Telegraph points out, happily there are lots and lots of feisty, independent, adventurous heroines in children's literature. Who is your favourite?

Related posts:

1. Review the reviews
2. Think Pink?
3. The Rector's Daughter is This Week's Radio 4 Book at Bedtime

Screenwriter Amanda Coe joins Radio 4 to talk about her first novel, What They Do In the Dark. It’s a disturbing story of two girls from very different backgrounds growing up in a small Yorkshire town in the 70s. With more in common than they imagine their unlikely alliance has tragic consequences. Amanda Coe's television credits include writing for Channel 4 series Shameless and Margot for BBC4 – she talks about the creative freedom of writing her own novel.

Listen on BBC iplayer

Related posts:

1. Gillian Slovo speaks about her mother Ruth First on Woman's Hour
2. Read (or Listen to) the Title Story of Daphne du Maurier's Controversial Early Collection
3. DUSTY ANSWER This Week's Radio 4 Drama

On Tuesday 12th July, the long awaited TV adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel The Night Watch was broadcast across the country. 

With only 90 minutes of screen time to portray a stunning 480 page book, it was always going to be a tough job. But with an incredible cast, spectacular cinematography and an adapted screenplay by Paula Milne , the result was mesmerising. The BBC adaptation starred Anna Maxwell Martin, Jodie Whittaker and Claire Foy.

Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked out streets, illicit liaisons, sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941, The Night Watch delivered us with tantalising glimpses of clandestine worlds. And clearly, we weren’t the only ones that were impressed. The Night Watch received an array of incredible responses – some of our favourites are these:

"Insanely tender… Maxwell Martin plays [Kay] brilliantly. Every performance was perfectly weighted – and it looked ravishing” The Times

“Fans of Sarah Waters’ novel will not be disappointed by this beautifully shot adaptation by Paula Milne” Observer

“An intriguing, atmospheric tale of forbidden love” Daily Mail

 “Absorbing” The Telegraph

“Gorgeous adaptation of the Sarah Waters novel… the performances are involving and beautifully understated against the backdrop of the London blitz and its horrors” Guardian

“The cast is strong and its portrayal of 1940s sexual nonconformists as spy-like is vividly intact” Sunday Times, Pick of the Week

Related posts:

1. THE NIGHT WATCH Dramatisation – Date Confirmed!
2. The Night Watch: film announced for BBC Two, summer 2011
3. SOUTH RIDING: the latest on the BBC drama

To begin, Natasha explained how the book came about. Her previous book The New Feminism, (published in 1998) had ended positively, suggesting that whilst the task for women and feminists was not complete, there was definite improvement both politically and economically. Revisiting it years later, Natasha was struck by how improvements had stalled and instead of a reduction in sexism, there was now a vast increase.  Natasha felt like a lone voice at the start of her investigation and was spurred on to write by people she spoke to. It was the desperate voice of one teenage girl in particular who exclaimed to Natasha “I thought I was the only woman who didn’t like pornography.”

Natasha went on to explain the structure of the two parts to Living Dolls as the two main factors she believes that are holding women back.

The first is the rise of the ‘hyper sexual culture.’ Natasha explained she wanted to unpack the way in which the issue of choice continually silenced any protest about the objectification and hyper sexualisation of women.

The second part of the book focuses on biological determinism triggered by Natasha having a daughter of her own.

Lennie Goodings then opened up the questions to the group, starting off by asking if people were shocked by the realisations of biological determinism. Many felt frustrated that we can’t seem to change stereotypes in our society, one even said at times she had been guilty of relaxing back into a stereotype. Natasha agreed, sharing a story of how she told a friend of hers that she took her daughter to an art gallery to which her friend replied "I wish I had a girl (she had a son) then I could take her to the art gallery" immediately putting girls and boys into their stereotyped boxes.

One member asked if this hyper sexualised culture arose from one section of society, namely the lower classes. While Natasha agreed that it could be applied to women who have fewer options, she was keen to emphasise that we would have our heads in the sand if we think that all girls are not affected. Natasha used examples of women in public life, who got there through their intelligence and talents, being subjected to criticism in terms of their looks and sexuality. This idea of misrepresentation was also discussed in response to the recent Slut Walk protests. The media chose to focus on the image of these women dressed as 'sluts' parading through the city streets rather than what they were protesting against: that sex crime victims should not be blamed for being provocative by what they're wearing. In response to the class question Natasha  also used examples of girls from prominent public schools and top universities who had chosen to be glamour models, strippers and pole dancers. Despite talk of empowerment, Natasha thought that this wasn’t the view she had in mind of a liberated woman.

Another interesting subject that was frequently returned to was the role of the internet.  Natasha said she had to admit that the internet has played a large role in the sexualisation of culture. A member of the group discussed the rise of ‘display personality’ by social networking sites like Facebook making it acceptable and commonplace for young girls to post nude and ‘sexy’ pictures of themselves − in order for them to be viewed and judged by other people. The increase and availability of pornography across all media platforms, most prominently the internet, was also a cause for concern among many of the members of the audience. People felt it was damaging to young adults and added to this acceptance of a hyper sexualised culture.

A member of the audience brought up the issue of the sexualisation of children that has become prominent in the media. Natasha responded by identifying that whilst children and young girls have always been sexual, advertising can objectify women. She was careful to mention, however, that her intention was not to revert to a puritan mentality in which chastity was the answer. Natasha stressed that we need to prevent young women being brought up with the idea of presenting themselves as the perfect sexual object.

Earlier in the day we asked readers to tweet in their questions to Natasha. We put a few of these to Natasha during the event and her answers are below.

How can we engage younger women with the new feminist issues without them feeling like they are moaning for no good reason? Sally Page / sjpagey

Women have been beaten down in the past by this kind of criticism, for example by feminists being called humourless. But its important to engage a wider audience and help young women fight back, and I can definitely see that happening at the moment.

What do you think of Caitlin Moran’s new book, is it really a new feminist bible? Zeljka Marosevik, Zmarosevik

I found it a very funny and engaging read that made me laugh out loud. I hope it will encourage more women to say they are feminists. If I have any criticism it is that this very personal focus doesn't allow for much discussion of how we create change and how we act politically.

Ethical porn, porn for the female gaze, and such, are more available online, are these supporting porn culture, or part of it? Mora, somanybees

From what I've seen so far, I'm not convinced that porn made for women or by women is any different from male orientated pornography. What I've seen isn't about women exploring their sexuality but still about women being objectified.

Isn’t new feminism a western-limited approach? Shouldn’t we care first about women in Somalia and Arghanistan? Georgia Panteli, georgiamagpie

Is sexism only limited to materialistic, established, competitive societies? Do we see as much evidence in developing worlds? Nicolab03

We certainly see sexism in developing countries; anyone who has visited, say, Afghanistan or the Congo or met women from those countries will have been struck – maybe even overwhelmed – by the immense struggles women face in non-Western countries. Although I wrote my books about women in the West, I can see that some of the most pressing problems faced by women in the world today are in non-Western societies. I set up the charity Women for Refugee Women which works specifically with women who are fleeing persecution from other countries (very often the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan), and I've learned a lot from them about the experiences of women elsewhere.  So I'm certainly very aware of the international context to women's struggles for human rights and what I see of women's experiences in other countries makes me absolutely certain that feminism is internationally relevant. If I haven't yet written a book about feminism in an international context, it's partly because I'm still learning so much….

Do you think that women are perpetrators of supposed gender crimes committed against them and therefore responsible for the current state of affairs? Stephanella Walsh, Stephanellaw

I don't think women are responsible for the current state of affairs, no. On the whole, women are not raping other women, paying other women to strip for them, buying pornography which shows women being abused, and so on. I'm not saying that all men are perpetrators or that all women are victims; most men are decent and some women are complicit in sexism. But we do still live in an unequal society in which women have less power and less of a voice than men do – let's not lose sight of this underlying inequality.

Natasha finished by addressing our current situation and the next steps forward. She feels that there is an illusion of equality −  that we have got pretty far and that this illusion has allowed us to become complacent. We are not educating the next generation and we are not challenging this hyper sexual culture enough. Natasha was keen to stress that she was not interested in the personal criticism of people; she is not there to tell people that they are wrong in the choices they have made.  Instead, her intentions reside in unpacking what causes them to make that choice.

Undoubtedly, the conversation could have gone on much longer, but sadly we had to finish there. Thanks once again for those that came and made it such a success. And if you'd like to come to the next event, then why not join the our book group – we'd love to hear from you.

Related posts:

1. Living Dolls – the Book Club verdict
2. Virago Book Club event with Linda Grant
3. June's Inspiration: Natasha Walter Recommends Rosamond Lehmann

The Virago Modern Classics have again teamed with textile designers to bring you our second designer collection, published next month. So whether you're a book-lover, a fashionista or an interiors nut, you are certain to love these gorgeous hardbacks. The books are so in Vogue (literally).

Titles include:
Good Behaviour by Molly Keane                          Cover design by Eley Kishimoto
The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy                     Cover design by Lucienne Day
The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins      Cover design by Florence Broadhurst
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim       Cover design by Angie Lewin for Liberty
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier        Cover design by Neisha Crosland

Related posts:

1. Virago celebrates the life of Elizabeth Jenkins
2. Read (or Listen to) the Title Story of Daphne du Maurier's Controversial Early Collection
3. New Collection of Short Stories by DAPHNE DU MAURIER

Starring Anna Maxwell Martin, Jodie Whittaker and Claire Foy, the drama is already generating a huge amount of coverage, with interviews with the cast confirmed in Time Out, The Daily Mail, Express on Saturday, The Observer, Independent on Saturday, The Sun, The Mirror and almost all weekly TV listings magazines. Sarah herself will be interviewed by The Telegraph as well as writing a piece for the Radio Times.

See the BBC press pack, including interviews with actors including Anna Maxwell Martin.

Related posts:

1. The Night Watch: film announced for BBC Two, summer 2011
2. SOUTH RIDING: the latest on the BBC drama
3. New BBC Drama: South Riding by Winifred Holtby

Testament of Youth mattered to me very much when I was growing up. It was published in the year I was born, so by my teenage ears it was still enjoying its huge wave of popularity. In the late 1940s the Second World War was still fresh and raw in our minds and as a young girl I was very susceptible to the tenderness of Vera Brittain’s feelings and appalled by the loss of so many of the young men she loved. My own latent feminism was nurtured by her struggle against the conventions of her day. She grew up in Buxton, not far from my own home, and I recognised the stifling limits that society put on the lives of its girls. Testament of Youth – the title itself fired my ambition. And the story of Brittain’s resolve, her determination to get to Oxford, her insistence on contributing to the war effort, all inspired me with pride in my sex, and the will to make something of my own life.

 Years later, rereading it, I was aware of the youthful eagerness of the prose, the spontaneous passion so directly and unselfconsciously expressed. It remains a highly charged and inspiring account of women in war. But it told me more than that: it told me about friendship between women. Her friendship with Winifred Holtby seemed a fine thing and one to be envied. Later in the book, with the war behind her, she comes to terms with the loss of her first love and moves into a mature and considered marriage. I decided then she must be a remarkable woman and I still think so.

The 2011 Mslexia Writer's Diary contains a series of monthly inspirations from current Virago authors who each discuss a Virago Modern Classic.

Related posts:

1. March inspiration – Paula McLain Recommends MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather
2. 4 June-17 July: Women, Politics and Power Season at the Tricycle Theatre
3. April's Inspiration: Sarah Waters Recommends Barbara Comyns

David Cameron has backed calls

The report, written by Chief Executive of the Mothers' Union Reg Bailey, was commissioned in light of many ministers’ view that children were being sexualised by irresponsible marketing within the media. It also attacks retailers for selling inappropriate clothing to young girls. 

This is the on-going debate that Natasha Walter highlights in her book Living Dolls. Walter argues that there is a new sexism where young women are exposed to a highly sexualised vision of femininity and are increasingly portrayed as the dolls they once used to play with.

The report entitled ‘Let Children be Children’ has sparked off lively discussion within the media.  Read what journalists Ruth Mortimer and Barbara Ellen have to say on the matter.

If you would like to join the discussion sign up to the Virago Book Club and come along to our live event next week when we discuss Living Dolls with Natasha Walter.

Related posts:

1. Living Dolls – the Book Club verdict
2. Living Dolls and real girls
3. Think Pink?