Thursday 15 July 2010

The TLS


In trying to find where I could buy a copy of the Times Literary Supplement I discovered that they actually have a very comprehensive web-site. Whilst I still prefer to read from paper, until I can find a hardcopy, it will do.

The very first article I read was 'Phyllis Bottome, protest novelist -The mortal storm surrounding a forgotten writer' by Caroline Moorehead

I had not heard of Phyllis Bottome before but the article certainly grabbed my attention. She was born in 1882 (100 years before me and the same year as Virginia Woolf) in Rochester, just down the road from where I live. She lived and travelled all over the world and wrote for most of her life. The article mentioned The Mortal Storm, which was the first of her books to be very successful, partly due to it being printed by Penguin as a "Penguin Special"

On the off chance that I would find a 1930's edition I headed over to e-bay and found this first edition copy for 99p!



The dust jacket (which in itself is unusual for Penguins) is a little torn but other than that it is in very good condition. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I think it will be very interesting, if only for the fact that it was written just as the Nazis were coming to power in Germany but before all of the atrocities of the second world war had happened.