Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the titles on the list, only to the one next to it in the chain.
This month we’re starting with Yael van der Wouden’s The Safekeep which I’ve yet to read but I know it’s set in the Netherlands fifteen years after the end of the Second World War.
The Safekeep won this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction. Only one title from my wish list made it on to the judges’ longlist: Lucy Steeds’s debut The Artist set in 1920s Provence
There’s a very satisfying scene in Steeds’s novel in which Peggy Guggenheim gives a few bumptious, egotistical men a piece of her mind reminding me of Rebecca Godfrey’s Peggy based on Guggenheim’s life.
Peggy was completed by her friend Leslie Jamison after Godfrey’s death. At the behest of her estate, the publishers of Virginia Andrews’s bestselling gothic horror Flowers in the Attic took things a step further, employing a ghostwriter to complete two unfinished books after she died.
I’m linking by name to Virginia Feito’s Mrs March which also has a touch of the gothic about it.
I was attracted to Feito’s novel by the cover with its cockroach standing out from Mrs March’s brightly coloured dress reminding me of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis in which Gregor Samsa wakes up to his horrible overnight transformation into an insect.
Penelope Lively’s short story collection Metamorphosis also shares the theme of change although not in such a disturbing form.
This month’s Six Degrees has taken me from a prize-winning novel set in 1960s Netherlands to a set of short stories by a much-loved writer. Part of the fun of this meme is comparing the very different routes other bloggers take from each month’s starting point. If you’re interested, you can follow it on Twitter with the hashtag #6Degrees, check out the links over at Kate’s blog or perhaps even join in.
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Yes, The Artist would certainly have had my vote. And annoyingly, I got Peggy from the library – on your recommendation I think – and had to give it back before I’d even started it because someone else had reserved it. Apart from the Kafka, I’ve yet to consider any of the rest. As ever, an interesting chain.
Peggy’s obviously in demand then! Thank you.
The 2 Peggy books are going straight to my wishlist, I didn’t realise the Steed book involved her. Nice to see Mrs March rhere..
I loved that hardback edition Mrs March cover. She only pops up up once in The Artist but the scene was so satisfying it stayed with me. I think you’d enjoy the book.
I loved Virginia Andrews when I was younger. I’m not sure what I would think of her books now! I still haven’t read The Safekeep either, but I’m hoping to get to it soon.
She was a bestselling author when I was a bookseller or rather her the person her estate appointed was. They wrote quite a few under her name which I found a bit uncomfortable.
Yet another very creative chain. I feel like mine was kind of… parochial. No matter.
Thank you, and not at all. You included one of my favourite authors!
A very interesting chain, Susan–enjoyed the art-y connections, especially. Will look up the Peggy Guggenheim books.
Thanks, Mallika. The Artist is in the bookish news here having just won Waterstones debut award.
I like your chain, with books I haven’t read, except for Mrs March, which I thought was a remarkable character study. I’d like to read Penelope Lively’s short story collection Metamorphosis because I’ve enjoyed some of her other books.
Thank you. It was that cover that first drew me to Mrs Marsh. Thoroughly recommend the short story collection which includes two quite lengthy ones.
The Flowers in the Attic ghostwriting story is interesting. I loved those books as a teenager, although I doubt my mother knew what I was reading!
Ha! I didn’t read them but I do remember thinking they were classic teenage read under the duvet books when I was a bookseller.
Interesting chain! I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve seen cockroaches appear as a link… ugh!
Sorry! That cockroach on Mrs March’s dress is very memorable. Quite brave of the publishers.
You certainly took a circuitous trip from book to book this time!
This meme does sometimes prompt some surprising results!
What an interesting chain! Great work!
Thank you!
We have The Artist in common in our chains
We do, but came at it in very different ways.
Great chain Susan — really enjoyed the Peggy links in particular, and then ending up with Penelope Lively. Well done.
Thank you! Always happy to give her a mention.
Great chain, at one point many years ago, the Flowers in the Attic series was a favourite, I have to admit to not reading all of the newer books.
Thank you. I suspect they appeal to a very young readership but I might be wrong.
Great chain. You are so imaginative Susan. The Safekeep is one of my books of the year. I have The Artist to a friend of mine for her birthday. I think Kafka’s book would terrify me, I hate cockroaches!
Thanks so much, Lucy! I much prefer Penelope Lively’s Metamorphosis.
Another really interesting chain from you this month! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! That’s very kind.
I love how you linked from the winner to the should-have-been-a-winner! hee hee Also, just HOW many books were written and published under V.C. Andrews’ name is amazing. There is an interview on the Toronto Public Library Crowdcast page with the author of her biography (who is also that sanctioned individual) and I found it very interesting, the broader situation quite fascinating.
It’s very odd, isn’t it. No idea how the proceeds are split but I’m sure her estate has strict control over the use of her name. I’m pleased to say The Artist won this year’s Waterstones Debut award, and I’m sure she’s delighted with that..