This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could.
Victoria Glendinning is best known for her literary biographies of such luminaries as Rebecca West, Vita Sackville-West and Edith Sitwell but I remember her for Electricity, the only novel she wrote as far as I know. It neatly captures a world about to be transformed through the lens of one woman’s experience.
Charlotte is more than ready for change when a young lodger arrives at 49 Dunn Street fired with enthusiasm for the new technology of electricity. Brought up in stifling nineteenth-century suburbia, she’s entranced by Peter’s fervour if not by the technical details that fill his conversation. Shortly after they marry, the couple escapes Dunn Street when Peter is asked to install electric lighting into Lord Godwin’s home in Hertfordshire. Drawn into an illicit love affair, walking a path that many have trod before her, Charlotte finds herself beset by tragedy and disillusion. As she struggles to find her own way in the world, she learns that with progress something is always lost.
I have such fond memories of this book which has stayed with me despite reading it many years ago, far from the case with every book I read. Sadly, it no longer seems to be in print but you may be able to track a copy down online.
What about you, any blasts from the past you’d like to share?
You can find more posts like this here.
Happily, it seems to be widely (and cheaply) available from the likes of WOB, Awesome et al.
Good to hear!
This sounds lovely! One to keep an eye out for in the charity shops I think!
Hope you find a copy, Cathy!
This sounds right up my street. I’ll seek it out secondhand. (I’ve only read her biography of Vita Sackville-West.)
She’s well into her 80s now but when I was in bookselling she had quite a name for literary biography. Hope you enjoy this one if you find a copy.
Clan Of The Cave Bear series by Jean M. Auel was one that I enjoyed.
That takes me back to bookselling days. A very steady bestseller for us.
This sounds lovely. I had no idea she’d written a novel!
Her one and only, as far as I know. A shame she didn’t write more.
How funny – I was looking at this book just the other day. I’ve owned it since it came out but haven’t read it! Thank you for the push I needed to pick it up. I’m so glad you enjoyed it enough to feature it.
That IS a coincidence! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
When you are working up your Blasts, are you sometimes surprised by a “current” cover image? I was just writing about a 2015 novel (and renewedly surprised to find that’s 10 years ago LOL) and almost flinched from the screen to see how bright the “new” (i.e. current) cover is…
Sometimes, although I’m not sure how old this one is as it’s out of print, sadly. It’s certainly different from my own copy. I do know what you mean by the passage of time. That old cliché turns out to be true!
How interesting – I had no idea at all that she’d written a novel!
Not something she decided to pursue but, if this one’s anything to go by, she was very good at it.