I’m seeing out the year in full cosy autumnal style, with two fantastic books about churches and a couple of seasonally appropriate reissues.
C.B. Newham’s Country Church Monuments is a beautiful work of true dedication: at 728 pages, it still only represents a ‘best of’ of Newham’s Quixotic attempt to catalogue all the funerary monuments of all the parish churches in England and Wales. At the leaner end of the scale (though no less beautiful), we finally have a sequel to our surprise hit of Christmas 2018, English Medieval Church Towers: The Northern Province, in English Medieval Church Towers: The Diocese of Oxford, which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
Two reissues to welcome in the colder months: Alexander Lernet-Holenia’s Baron Bagge (translated by Richard and Clara Winston) is a haunting, snow-bound lost classic recently unearthed by Penguin Classics; and Faber have put together Winter in the Air, a seasonal selection of short stories by the GOAT, Sylvia Townsend Warner.
From the publisher:
A landmark illustrated history of rural church monuments - the forgotten national treasures of England and WalesDeep in the countryside, away from metropolitan abbeys and cathedrals, thousands of funerary monuments are hidden in parish…
From the publisher:
In these beautiful watercolour illustrations, David Ryan, with the eye and training of an architect, has captured the rich variety of form, architectural styles, features and colours of 221 English medieval church towers across the Diocese…
From the publisher:
Translated by Richard and Clara Winston'A masterpiece' Stefan Zweig'Compelling ... intense ... blending military narratives, paranormal experiences and erotic obsessions' TLSBaron Bagge, a cavalry officer during the First World War,…
From the publisher:
This Christmas, bask in these ‘diminutive masterpieces’ (Guardian) by the English genius behind Lolly Willowes.‘One of our finest writers.’ Neil Gaiman‘One of the most shamefully under-read great…
From the publisher:
‘One of our finest living authors … propulsively entertaining’ New York Times'Sly, profound … Electrifying' Observer‘Wonderfully strange and alive’ Jon McGregorA propulsive, seductive new…
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From the publisher:
What if family were not the only place you might hope to feel safe, loved, cared for and accepted?What if we could do better than the family?We need to talk about the family. For those who are lucky, families can be filled with love and…
From the publisher:
Translated by Charlotte BarslundA cat and mouse game of surveillance and psychological torment develops between a middle aged artist and her aging mother, as Vigdis Hjorth returns to the themes of her controversial modern classic, Will…
From the publisher:
Without planning it, I wrote a diary of sorts. Lightly. A diary of fiction. Or is that not what this is?Essayistic inquiries come together into a sustained meditation on writers and their works, on the spaces of reading and writing fiction,…
From the publisher:
'Striking a perfect balance between myth and psychosocial realism, this is a beautifully written debut' Guardian'Recalls M. R. James at his nastiest' TelegraphEshwood Hall is a great English house surrounded by sprawling woods. In 1962,…
From the publisher:
In this uproariously funny memoir, Ludwig Bemelmans uncovers the fabulous world of the Hotel Splendide, the luxury New York hotel where he worked as a waiter. With equal parts affection and barbed wit, he records the everyday chaos that…
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