Persephone perchance?

It's been a bit of a Persephone week or two hasn't it? Very exciting for a Persephone lover such as myself. Even if I haven't yet ordered the new books (but I will do, just waiting for a more financially favourable moment). I am excited by both of the new books - Monica Dickens is one of my very favourite authors, and although I have read all of her oeuvre, I will be looking forward to rereading Winds of Heaven -I am always interested to try and read the books from the view of why they were chosen as Persephone titles and for what they have to say about domesticity and women's lives so it will be good to read it in that context. Mrs Oliphant is familiar to me from reading her titles published as Virago Modern Classics, and she can certainly tell a good tale so I am looking forward to this collection of her two novellas.

As I'm sure many of you will know, Persephone have also published a 2011 diary! I am very lucky in that my lovely and extremely kind friend Claire was given a copy to give as a gift having helped Nicola and the team with envelope stuffing of the Persephone BiAnnually's last week, and she decided to give it to me! I am very much looking forward to seeing it when I meet up with Claire at the start of December.

Talking of Claire, or Paperback Reader, as you may know her, I feel I should mention that she is hosting the Persephone Secret Santa this Christmas. I'm not sure whether my finances will favour my involvement but do pop over and think about joining in.

Anyway, I decided to get a Persephone book off the shelf at the start of this week - I have read my way through all of them (with the exception of the two just published), but some I have never read in Persephone editions. It has been a while since I read a Dorothy Whipple - encountering her early on in my Persephone experience, I quickly ordered all of the ones that I could from the store at my library headquarters and devoured them. They were sisters was my choice, and it has kept me enthralled, even on the second reading, throughout a week of lunchbreaks. It's a rather disheartening picture of marriage as the book tells the story of three sisters and their very different husbands, and how the husbands and marriages affect the three women. Whilst Lucy's husband is a wonderful companion, Vera is bored by hers and seeks entertainment elsewhere. Charlotte's husband is emotionally abusive and drives her to breakdown. It's fascinating seeing how events play out, and the effects of marriage on parenting and children. I am now very keen to reread High Wages, but as this is one of the very few Persephones I don't yet own, I will have to wait.