Read in June of 2020

Definitely one of my favorite nonfiction books of all time. This is a marvelous piece of work, expertly researched and written. The subject matter meant a lot to me personally. In reading these biographical portraits of women navigating the interwar years, I gleaned an idea or two about how I might navigate our own current difficult days. I cannot gush enough about this book with its lively style and absolutely fascinating subject matter. I was riveted from start to finish!

(After reading this one, I went on to read Mutual Admiration Society by Mo Moulton due to its similarities to this book.)

Sending in a box of books. The usual disclaimer applies: no pressure to read the books unless you'd like to! I thought the Dorothy Sayers connection here might be enough to make this one tempting to you. Also, Virginia Woolf! :)

The box of RABCKs arrived safely on this blustery, cold day; many thanks! And yes, this one, subtitled "five writers in London between the wars," sounds right up my alley; I'd heard other good things about it and am so glad to have this copy to add to my TBR shelves!

Later: this is an intriguing biography centered on a particular location - London’s Mecklenburgh Square, which housed many people of interest over the years. This book focuses on five women who lived there at various times between the world wars: modernist poet H. D. (Hilda Doolittle); classical scholar, playwright, and - most famously - detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers; classicist Jane Harrison; economic historian Eileen Power; and author and publisher Virginia Woolf. Some lived there for many years, some for only one, but the location seems to have had influences on each, and I've enjoyed the book very much indeed. [Sayers is a favorite author of mine so her section was of special interest, but I was pleased to learn more about them all - and the often surprising connections between them.]

The book includes a sense of place, of course, but also brings in the social, political, and cultural changes in London over the course of time in which one or more of the five women lived in the Square. And there are fun little tidbits, too; the epigram on the Sayers section is: "I should try the garden in Mecklenburgh Square. A thing might lie quite a long time under those bushes." It's from her "Lord Peter" novel Strong Poison, and while I've read the novel many times, I had no idea that Sayers lived in Mecklenburgh Square!

Of the other women featured here, I think Jane Harrison interested me most - possibly because I knew the least about her going in. But the book as a whole was quite a delicious experience - and now I want more books that choose a house or a neighborhood and then trace the histories of the folk who lived there...

(I also enjoyed Mutual Admiration Society, which centers on Sayers and her friends.)

I left this book in the Little Free Library at the town square; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

** Released for these challenges:

2023 Spook-Tacular

2023 Keep Them Moving challenge