Party Frock, Noel Streatfeild

Party Frock is the next of my childhood books to be read from the culling pile. First published in 1946, my version was printed in 1965 by the Collins 'Seagull Library', which means I was about ten when I read it. Illustrations are by Anna Zinkeisen. "Quintessentially English" is the phrase that sprang to mind …

A Little Rant

When I wrote yesterday's post on the Ivan Southall book Ash Road, I discovered a draft post that I had never published. It was written in March of this year, just as the tumult of our bushfires was ebbing - at least in the media's eyes. I must never have posted it as we were …

Ash Road by Ivan Southall

The time has come, the walrus said, for grown-up women to divest their childhood books (apologies to Lewis Carroll for such clumsy paraphrasing). Along with so many others in COVID lockdown,  occupying themselves by cleaning and clearing, I eventually took a hard look at those books I have held on to for more than fifty …