A Different Sound: Stories by Mid-Century Women Writers

(Paperback)

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Description

These remarkable short stories from the 1940s and 50s depict women and men caught between the pull of personal desires and profound social change. From a remote peninsula in Cornwall to the drawing rooms of the British Raj, domestic arrangements are rewritten, social customs are revoked and new freedoms are embraced. Selected and introduced by writer and critic Lucy Scholes, this collection places works from renowned women writers alongside recently rediscovered voices. Suffused with tension and longing, they form a window onto a remarkable era of writing.Contains: 'The Cut Finger' by Frances Bellerby, 'Summer Night' by Elizabeth Bowen, 'The Birds' by Daphne du Maurier, 'The Land Girl' by Diana Gardner, 'Listen to the Magnolias' by Stella Gibbons, 'Shocking Weather, Isn't It' by Inez Holden, 'The First Party' by Attia Hosain, 'Three Miles Up' by Elizabeth Jane Howard, 'The Skylight' by Penelope Mortimer, 'The Thames Spread Out' by Elizabeth Taylor and 'Scorched Earth Policy' by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Reviews

'As well as introducing some little-known writers, Lucy Scholes offers a way of seeing women's writing differently' - Times Literary Supplement

'A glorious collection - I've pressed this beautiful book into countless hands... old favourites and new gems combined' - Francesca Segal

Author Bio

Lucy Scholes is Senior Editor at McNally Editions, a series of paperbacks devoted to hidden gems. She hosts OurShelves, a podcast from the legendary feminist publishing house Virago, and wrote 'Re-Covered', a column for the Paris Review about out-of-print and forgotten books that shouldn't be.