Blogs in January 1970

A Perfectly Good Man 1st January 1970

There’s a particular strain of English mildness that carries within it a finely wrought undercurrent of viciousness. It’s there in the title of Patrick Gale’s new novel, A Perfectly Good Man, which you could either take literally – that...

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The Act of Roger Murgatroyd 1st January 1970

Boxing Day circa 1935. A snowed-in manor on the very edge of Dartmoor. A Christmas house-party. And overhead, in the attic, the dead body of Raymond Gentry, gossip columnist and blackmailer, shot through the heart. But the attic door...

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Pride and Prejudice 1st January 1970

Considering Jane Austen was in her early 20s when she wrote, she has a gift for sumptuous story telling and insight of human relations and mores and manners in Hertfordshire.

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Tales of a Midwife 1st January 1970

Maria Anderson trained as an NHS nurse and went on to become a midwife, a job she has adored for over twenty years. After fainting whilst attending her first three births, Maria went from nervous trainee to assured midwife...

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England, England 1st January 1970

What constitutes England and Englishness? The plot revolves around a businessman’s attempt to create a legacy by creating a sort of mini-England on the Isle of Wight (The Island). A Utopia-cum-Dystopia what is “englishness” – Robin Hood? Fish and...

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