Welcome to Litsy!

The September Raising the Middlebrow Book Club selection on Goodreads. My second Whipple and I rather enjoyed it! I couldn‘t stop myself from some comparison to the play/movie “The Women”. I kept picturing the main character Ellen as Norma Shearer. It‘s a look at a happy family and marriage where infidelity takes place. The ending was unsatisfactory but I might say the same for “The Women” depending where your sympathies lie.

A couple drama, how Avery and Ellen marriage will be affected after a third person arrived to their lives. It is about infidelity, betrayals but also about second chances to yourself, about friends support. I love that ending, a new perspective, a new start. My first novel by this author and I loved the writing style. I was focused in the story, in the dynamic of all these characters, expecting what would be their decisions. Couldn‘t put it down.

This is a book about a kind, decent person. Usually, I find kind and decent protagonists boring (I‘ll take Emma Woodhouse over Fanny Price every time!) but somehow Whipple managed to keep me fully invested in a character with no sharp edges. It has been a long time since a book brought me to tears and had me yelling out loud at the characters. Thank goodness Persephone saved this gem from obscurity.

My recent book mail has a decided fall look. 🍁🍂

Ive found a villain to match the greats in Louise Lanier. This 26 yr old French woman answers an ad for a companion to elderly Mrs North in Eng. Avery (the son) +Ellen North have a happy 20yr marriage with 2 children and idyllic house in the countryside albeit Mrs North is a handful. The introduction of Louise into this causes untold repercussions which Dorothy Whipple explores with wonderful prose and skill. I couldn't put it down.

It‘s a terrific day! Another #bookmail and this I believe is from @LeahBergen . And what a gorgeous book! I heard it‘s a wonderful read and @Cathythoughts loves this book. My second #Persephone 😍 and I‘m so thrilled! Thank you very much, Leah. Very kind of you. Sending my ❤️ and heartiest New Year Wishes to you and your family (and Johnny)! 🥰😘

#Booked2020 #Summer

13. #RedWhiteorBluetypeoncover... tagged & favourite book of this summer section
14. #EccentricMC , French Exit
15. #YAnovelbyaPoC The Poet X
16. #WineorWhine .. Death at the Chateau Bremont
17. #BannedBook , Expiation
18. #ArmchairTravel , The Enchanted April

Summer completed. 👍🏻😁 Thankyou Ladies 😘😘😘

The story of the North family , and what happens when old Mrs. North takes on Louise, a French woman, as a companion...A serious, heartbreaking story. The writing is 👌🏻. Every single page was a pleasure to read ... My favorite book in years , more D. Whipple for me very soon.

A picture of our plant Love-Lies-Bleeding

I‘m on a go slow with reading , as we are having work done in the house .... But I‘m captivated with this book 👌🏻. About half-way now & as for Louise 😡😡😡 I could kill her ..... I better wait and see what happens first

And now for a change of pace ..... my first one by this author & I like the tone , the steadiness of the writing 👌🏻

Currently reading!

I picked this one up finally, because A). @emilyhaldi shamed me into it, and B). @saresmoore inspired me with her birthday Persephone shopping. 😄

First chapter down and it‘s WONDERFUL.

#PersephoneBooks

Great find today, a #persephone for 50p! It's one of the reissued 'classics' so not the lovely grey colour, and the spine is a bit creased, but still! @laurenbescoby

When you're #rightnexttotherightone but you leave her for a young, beautiful, French girl in the midst of your midlife crisis 💔
#septemberdanes

Love #lovemedo, you know I love you, I‘ll always be true....Until I fall in love with Mothers bewitching French companion, that is. #heyjune #persephone

This is the perfect book for he #englishhouse prompt. Ellen and her husband live in an old manor on the English countryside when she discovers he has been having an affair. As she deals with their divorce and the fallout, she must leave their home. She finds work in a small hotel (the equivalent of a bed and breakfast I would say), also in an English estate. The novel is very atmospheric. #aprella #persephone

And with my last read, I‘ve completed quarter one of #booked2018! Considering I started this month with four selection to go and feared I wouldn‘t finish in time, I‘m pretty happy to complete it with 10 days to go. 🎉🎉🎉 I‘m so happy with my selections and didn‘t really have any stinkers. My favorites would be a tie between The Boys in the Book and Someone at a Distance, both of which I gave five stars.

Ellen is blindsided when her husband of 20 years leaves her for his Mother‘s young French companion. #ifyouleavemecanIcometoo? #marchintooz #persephone

This was my #feministclassic read for #booked2018. It was phenomenal. I would currently count it as my favorite #Persephone. Whipple has a way of making the disintegration of a happy marriage totally understandable and believable and, if I‘m being frank, downright terrifying. The entire second half of the book I struggled with what I wanted for the characters. I was tormented by their plight. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

This is my Persephone Classics collection. I have one more to buy, but I love this collection. I've read Miss Pettigrew and Cheerful Weather; I'll eventually get to the others. Anyone else collect or have read a Persephone Book?

#cryinshame at the fact that I have so many Persephones and have maybe read 4-5 of them (reading the tagged book now). I really need to remedy that ASAP. #marchintooz #persephone

My kids have INSISTED that daddy put them to bed for the last few nights, so I shamefully admit that I‘ve taken more baths than is reasonable or necessary. And here I am with tonight‘s #bathandbook. I started this last night before bed and quickly sped through the first 100 pages. It is excellent. Another #Persephone that I wish I had gotten to sooner!

The characters are forced to learn many #hardlessons in this story of the slow destruction of a marriage and family. Avery & Ellen North have an idyllic life in a small English village with their 2 children until Louise arrives and slowly turns everything on its head. No one is unaffected by the devastation caused but the hardest lessons learned are by Louise and Avery and the misperception of lust for love💞 Highly recommend!
#awesomeautumnbooks

Having a hard time choosing my next read :| #persephonebooks

I discovered this #Persephone book on my shelves yesterday and have no idea when I received or where it came from? 🤔 Either way, I'm only 20 pages in and loving Whipple's style of writing. And old, rigid Mrs. North reminds me just a little bit of my Grandmother 😂❤️

"...Ellen couldn't have come into gentler company. There was no avid curiosity, no malicious speculation, no self-congratulation that such a thing couldn't happen to them, as there might have been among younger women. These women were old, time had softened them, they had learnt something from loss, helplessness, loneliness; they knew that almost anything can happen to anybody. They were kinder than when they were young."

I love Persephone books and today I received my biannual magazine and bookmark 😊 You can't beat independent publishers who are so welcoming when you visit!

£6.85 for all these! I love charity shops :-). I am so taken with this Persephone books edition of Dorothy Whipple - it looks & feels gorgeous! Must seek out more from this publisher. #persephonebooks

"These women were old, time had softened them, they had learned something from loss, helplessness, and loneliness; they knew almost anything can happen to anybody. They were kinder than when they were young." #greatquote #somethingforsept

Excellent! I love how Dorothy Whipple writes women. They are brave, flawed and real. #persephonebooks

Old Mrs. North's husband had spoilt her, but now he was dead and her three children married, no one spoilt her any more. She didn't come first with anybody and she didn't like that.