It’s time for this month’s chain of reading, set off by Kate’s Six Degrees of Separation, in which we are invited to build a chain of 6 books that bear some form of connection to the one before them – be it author, theme, style, location, title, era, language, ….. – all starting from a book suggested each month by Kate.
This month’s book to get our journey started is Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. With no disrespect to this great novel, my links are based more on the title than the contents.
© Google Maps
Frome might be Ethan’s surname, but it is also the name of a town in Somerset, a town that was one of the largest in the county until the Industrial Revolution, and was larger than Bath until 1650. So my six literary steps this month will take us on a journey around Somerset.
I thought we should start with a classic and who better to turn to for that than Jane Austen? Her early years were spent in Hampshire, but when her father retired the parents and their two unmarried daughters, Jane and Cassandra, moved to Bath. Whilst Jane seemed a less prolific writer in her years there, both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were inspired by the city.
“They arrived in Bath. Catherine was all eager delight; her eyes were here, there, everywhere, as they approached its fine and striking environs…” – Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey.
Royal Crescent, Bath, 2015
From Jane Austen’s classics, we’ll move to Miss Austen by Gill Hornby.
What a wonderful read – much of it is told in the fictional words of Jane in her letters and her readings to her family. It took me back in time to the days of the Austens, to the subjects of family life and the necessity of marriage for women, topics that were key to Jane’s works. But more than that, it addressed the mystery of why big sister Cassandra destroyed the letters that Jane wrote to her – what was she hiding? I won’t tell you more – just read it.
Next, it’s time for some crime, and to keep us in Somerset, I’ve got a body floating in a lake near Bath.
This story is also tightly linked to Miss Austen, with a couple of lost letters written by Austen playing an important part in the solving of the mystery. The book in question is The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey, the first in his Peter Diamond series and winner of the Anthony Award for Best Novel in 1992.
Whilst on the subject of crime fiction, I always find it hard to ignore Agatha Christie. Her short story, The Four Suspects, makes the perfect fourth step in this Somerset chain. It is an investigation into the death of Dr Rosen, a secret agent who helped bring about the downfall of a German criminal organisation, who now resides in a small village in Somerset.
The story was first published in the USA as ‘Four Suspects’ in both Pictorial Review and Storyteller in 1930. It then appeared in a short story collection, The Thirteen Problems in the UK and The Tuesday Club Murders in the US, in 1932 and 1933 respectively.
It’s a great Miss Marple story and if you just want the one story you can get it on Kindle.
Staying with some espionage, let’s now move to a John le Carré: Our Game. Here we meet Tim Cranmer, a retired secret servant, enjoying some relaxation in his Somerset home until another agent and Tim’s mistress vanish.
At this point we are whisked away from peaceful Somerset to the lawless wilds of Russia and the North Caucasus for a gripping story.
Time to bring us all back to Somerset, and we’ll close with another British classic – Lorna Doone: a romance of Exmoor. Written in 1869, this historical novel takes us back to the times of the Monmouth Rebellion in the seventeenth century. We find everything in this classic romance – outlaws, murder, poverty, wealth, mystery, and above all, love.
The book was praised by Robert Louis Stevenson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Thomas Hardy, has never been out of print, and is said to have been the favourite book of outlaw Ned Kelly. It was also voted favourite novel by students at Yale in 1906.
I hope my chain of six pieces of fiction prompts a good read for you in December. Maybe something to add to your Christmas list?
Next month we’ll be setting off from Rules of Civility, Amor Towles’ first novel. I wonder where that will take us.
Note: Most of my links this week are to Hive, an online bookseller that gives part of the income to local booksellers, and you get to choose the bookshop you’d like to receive the benefit. I’m delighted that my local bookshop, Books on the Hill, is on the list, and have been happily supporting them in this way.
Copyright Debbie Smyth, 7 December 2021
Posted as part of Six Degrees
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A lovely chain although I have only read Northanger Abbey and the Christie. Miss Austen sounds fun and I would have been skeptical without a recommendation. I have a used copy of Lorna Doone because I thought I would like to read it at some point (so far, my book group has said no) but I like the edition you imaged much better!
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Hopefully you’ll enjoy Miss Austen. I’m enjoyed the language and the life it brought to Jane Austen and her family.
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Oh, great chain…the le Carré and Hornby look good reads. Just perusing the comments and see that your Continental wanderings are on hold for the time being…
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Yes. Looks like there’ll be a lockdown in January, so then we’ll see what happens.
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Indeed
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I’ve not read a Christie, either, and it’s time I went back to some classics. I don’t believe I’ve read Lorna Doone. Surely I’d remember? Anyway, Miss Austen appeals and whichever of the others comes my way. Not so easy living here. Good job I’m a slow reader. Thanks for the recommends, Debs.
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Are you not a Kindle lady? Or an Audible lady? Although I prefer the real thing, I do use those when paper is not practical.
I think your other option is to give a reading list to anyone that comes to visit you 😉
And I think you’ll like Miss Austen – it’s a bit reading a classic in a modern way
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Just never got round to getting one, Debs, and these days they’re all singing and dancing and you know me and technology. And we spend enough hours with our noses glued to a screen. That’s a good practical option. Though visitors could be scarce for a little while. Current restrictions not affecting you too badly?
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I just do kindle on my phone. And I’ll be staying in UK for a while, until things relax again. I wouldn’t want to get stuck abroad isolating in a hotel! So glad I managed to fit in Lisbon and Porto before things tightened.
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I did wonder!
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oh very clever – I thought you were going to start in Frome though!!
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I’m so glad you’ve joined in again – and what a chain! There are several here I don’t know, and as I tend to feel we are interested in similar books, I ought to add them to my list. The Hornby and Lovesey look interesting, and can you believe I’ve never read an Agatha Christie? Le Carré of course is always good value. but I don’t know this one. Lots to do ….
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I read Christie as a youngster and started again when I went to Torquay, her birthplace. Easy reading but cleverer than I expected.
And yes I think we share a lot of likes but you get through more non-fiction / serious than I do.
The next chain should be good. I read Towles’ Moscow book a while ago intending to include it in another chain but ran out of time. I loved his writing. A wry sense of humour.
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Yes, still struggling to source this one – it’s not in our library.
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What a delightful literary journey. You linked some wonderful books together through your six degrees. I like the concept, and you handled it very well.
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