Somerset Maugham

 William Somerset Maugham (called Willie) was a well known and successful writer in the 20th century.  However he is not generally considered a great writer.  He was very prolific, churning out plays, novels and short stories...

He was born to a well to do family, his father being a lawyer who worked for the Diplomatic service.  Born in 1874,  his family were in France at the time and his father arranged for the birth to take place in the British Embassy in Paris, since that was considered British territory.  Maugham's mother was in poor health, with tuberculosis, and was advised to have babies.. She produced several children, but died when Willie was a child...  He was traumatised by this, and never forgot his mother... His father died soon afterwards and Willie was sent to England to be looked after by his uncle, the Vicar of Whitstable.

He was a clever child but he did not fit in to his new home in England nor his school.. He was shy, awkward and since his first language was French, he was teased at school.... He was not religous and his uncle was not an affectionate man, so he was lonely.  He developed  a weapon for fighting back.. that of making sharp and hurtful remarks.  He grew up to have a poor opinion of human nature, claiming that he knew people were faulty and far from lovable but that he tolerated it and did not mind it. However I think that his seeing the dark side of human nature weakened him as a novelist. 

His family wanted him to be a lawyer, which was the profession most of the Maughams had gone in for, but Willie hated the idea.  He considered the civil service but ended up studying medicine.  Medicine had become increasingly respectable as a profession over the Victorian era.. but it was not considered as "gentlemanly" as the Law.  However Maugham went on with his studies and found that working in a hospital for the poor gave him a wider experience of society and life than if he had stayed in a more genteel profession.  He got material for his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, from the people he met during his medical studies...  The book was a story of a working class girl, Liza, and her affair with a married man of her own class.  It was a tragic book, with Liza suffering for her behaviour and dying.  It portrayed dire poverty and ignorance and violence, particularly towards women.   However, it sold very well and Maugham found that he was able to give up medicine to concentrate on full time writing, which he had always wanted to do....

Rough Music Available on Amazon

 Rough Music eBook : Sutton, Nadine: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

This is one of my works set in the American music world.  Its not a romance;  its a story about two members of a country rock band, in the 1970s and 80s.. who are trying to move from the small time to the big time.  Its about the compromises that they make along the way.. their love of their music.. and their friendships.. and the strain that touring and working hard puts on their marriages....

Butch Cassidy

 Butch Cassidy was an American outlaw who was one of the iconic figures of the American Wild West.. in the years after the Civil war.  Outlaws were often considered folk heroes, who stole from the rich.. Bankers and cattle ranchers were considered unpopular by poorer people, and as a result people who stole from them in a flamboyant way and got away with it, were admired.   Some older outlaws, like the James brothers, had grown up in the Civil war and  their rebellion against society was fuelled by their family's Confederate beliefs....

Butch was born in 1866 in Utah territory and his real name was Robert Parker.  His family were Mormons who had moved from England and settled in Utah... and he was the eldest of a very large family.....  He grew up on a cattle ranch but soon found it boring and left.. He took various jobs in ranching but became friends with a cattle thief, Mike Cassidy.. He also briefly worked for a butcher, and then when he embarked on a criminal career, he used the nickname Butcher, and took Cassidy's surname.  

M/F

Valkyrie

 Today 20th July was the date of the July plot against Hitler by many of his army officers.  It was a failure, and the War lasted for another year... A bomb exploded in Hitler's briefing room, very close to him, but failed to kill him..... It resulted in the deaths of many who had taken part in it, and also others who had only had minimal participation. 

Bellona Club Part III

 Peter discovers that noone can give him much information on the General, no one seemed to see him arriving at the Club... He learns through Robert and the General's servant that he had spent the night away from home, staying with a friend called Oliver.. but noone knows Oliver or where he lives.  Peter talks to George - and his wife Sheila.  The couple are not well off and are in debt.. so the delays in proving the General's will are a worry to them... George is bitter and angry because his wife has to work and he feels emasculated by this but his own ill health makes it difficult for him to keep a job.

He is angry that Lady Dormer chose to leave her fortune to a distant relative, Ann Dorland.. whom he feels is a gold digger and (since she is interested in art) a Bohemian and unfeminine.  Peter tries to contact Ann Dorland but she refuses to speak to him. 

Bellona Club

 George goes into a hysterical fit when his grandfather's death is discovered and Peter calms him down.  He too has suffered shell shock and knows how the War affected many men who were not career soldiers... 

After the death, Peter is visited by his family's solicitor, Mr Murbles a rather Victorian old chap who also acts for the Fentiman family, and he hears something of the back story of the Fentimans.  The old general had had a sister, Felicity, who had been somewhat unhappy as a girl.  The family were not well off and most of the money was spent on the boy, Arthur, to start him in his military career.  Felicity received an offer of marriage from an elderly man and refused him.. then ran away with a middle class man, Henry Dormer, who had a successful business.  Her family were horrified at the mesalliance, but Felicity's marriage was happy.  She tried to make up with her relatives but the family snubbed her.. Many years later, she was an elderly and rich widow, who lived alone and had no contact with her brother, but who occasionally saw her grandsons George and Robert. 

She had acquired a young companion,  a relative of her husband's, Ann Dorland who came to live with her, but she had become rather frail.  Just before Armistice day she became ill and sent for her brother to try and see him before she died.   She had made a Will, and it turns out that the money would go to General Fentiman if he survived her, but if he died before her, it would be left to Miss Dorland... So it turns out that it is a matter of importance to find out exactly when Fentiman died....

Murbles asks Peter to do a discreet investigation as to when the old man died.  Peter is wary.  He likes the younger Fentimans and feels that digging into things sometimes makes matters worse.  He asks if the 3 people involved, Miss Dorland and the Fentimans could not agree to divide up the money... but Murbles persuades him to go ahead with the investigation.  

Peter starts asking questions and finds that it is not easy.  The general had visited his sister the previous day and knew what she intended.. and he had left his estate to his grandson George, who was out of work and in poor health.  But the addition of a large fortune to his own small property might make people greedy. 

Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

 This is one of my favourite Dorothy L Sayers' novels.... It is set in London, a few years after the war.  Sayers knew Bloomsbury well, and in this book, she gives us a picture of soldiers who have been traumatised by their War experiences, and the Bohemian artistic society of London at that time.  Women writers, painters and other artists lived there as it was central but inexpensive, and the new freedoms for women meant that they could leave home and lead more independent lives.  She lived in flats in the area for many years, keeping up a flat there even when she had bought a home in Essex.  

Living away from home also gave women a chance to be more sexually free, and there was fairly reliable contraception.. which also added to their liberties.  

However the book starts in the Bellona Club, a club largely patronised by military officers, on Armistice Night, when the country still had a 2 minute silence to remember the War dead.  Wimsey is there as he is meeting the father of one of his friends who was killed in the War.. and he meets another friend, George Fentiman, who was badly shell shocked and is now unable to hold down a job.  George's elderly grandfather goes to the Club most days, he is a General, very frail, and he lives alone... so he spends most of his time dozing and reading at the club.  George and Wimsey talk, and George reflects that the old man was in the Crimean war and has no idea of the horrors of modern warfare...and that his own older brother Robert, a career military man, is also unimaginative and "had a good War"...  Then, one of the members goes to speak to the General, and finds that he is dead....

Mac Davis RIP

 Scott Mac Davis, known as Mac Davis, was an American country singer and song writer, who was born in Lubbock Texas in 1942.  He also had some success as an actor.   His parents were divorced, and his childhood was not that happy.  He wanted to escape Lubbock… and moved to Atlanta, at the age of 16.  He formed a rock and roll group and started to work for Nancy Sinatra’s company, and played in her act…During the 1960s he had a lot of success as a song writer, and some of his songs were recorded by Elvis Presley…including “In the Ghetto”.

In the 1970s he performed country and pop songs, and in 1980 had a big hit with the novelty song “Oh Lord its Hard to be Humble”, a light funny song about good looks and fame. He also acted and in 2000, he appeared in a TV film of the Dukes of Hazzard, playing the narrator, which had been played in the TV series by Waylon Jennings. He played the father in law of Rodney Carrington (singer and comedian) in the sitcom Rodney…

He was married 3 times, his third marriage lasting till his death late in 2020.  He was something of a showman, capable of being funny and a good singer….

 

Rough Music By Nadine Sutton

 Rough Music eBook : Sutton, Nadine: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

This is not a romance as such;  its a story of a band, and its lead singer.. and its more about work than love.  Jeff Randles is a country rock musician, who enjoys his life as a singer in the US in the 1970s and early 80s.  But its taking its toll on his marriage and his friendships.  He and the band dont always get along..  He and his manager argue about what sort of music to play, and how commercial they should be.  He and his wife dont get along too well either.. as he's always off on the road, and seeing other girls.  Then he meets a girl who is a bit more special.. and things change... 

Will they have a happy ending? 

WS Gilbert

 I’ve always been a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan.. their comic operas are wonderful for cheering you up.  Although I am generally a purist about musicals, I’ve particularly enjoyed the Australian versions with Jon English..  They are full of razzmatazz, and bits of rock and roll but its impossible not to love the energetic crazy performance of English as the Pirate King…

Jon, who died a few years ago, clearly loved playing the part of the naughty but nice Pirate King, though its possible that Gilbert would have been horrified by the changes made in the lyrics and style.

He was noted for being very strict about how his shows were performed… and for losing his temper but he was a good heated and kindly man.  He and Sullivan were uneasy partners in their work.  Gilbert’s lyrics were what was called “topsy turvy” -full of jokes and patter, ridiculous situations and sly digs at the Establishment, whereas Sullivan wanted to write serious music…

William Gilbert was born in London in 1836.  His father had been a Naval Surgeon but became a writer - and the family travelled abroad during the early years of his life. He learned French and Italian.. His father was very strict and in due course, his parents’ marriage broke up, causing a lot of strain Gilbert’s relationship with both of them. 

Beds and Blue Jeans, a country music novella

 Beds and Blue Jeans is a romance novella set in present day America.  It is a realistic story about a young couple who live together, on a casual basis, then have a baby.. and find things are not working...  Their relationship is stormy and not very good, but Sam tries to stay with his partner for the sake of the baby.  Over time, however, Patti, his girlfriend and he grow to love each other....

http://www.amazon.com/Beds-Blue-Jeans-everyday-mayhem-ebook/dp/B01370SMFO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443265304&sr=8-2&keywords=nadine+sutton

Rebecca Finale

 The De Winters start their drive back to Cornwall.  Mrs De Winter is hoping that now that the mystery of Rebecca has been solved, she and Maxim can settle down there and have a family.. but both of them feel uneasy.  Maxim stops to call the house and finds that Mrs Danvers has been moving her things out of her room and that she's left... 

He hopes this is a good sign that she has given up on trying to make him and his wife miserable in her anger at Rebecca's death.  They decide to drive through the night until they reach Manderley... but as they approach the house, they realise that it is on fire.  Mrs Danvers' final act of revenge (or Rebeccas?) has been to destroy the house. 

 We learn that the De Winters are living abroad, in exile from England.. some time afterwards.  They travel, stay in small hotels and make no friends... Mrs De Winter misses England very much but she is happy in her devotion to her husband.   She loves him, she knows that he loves her and that she will be secure with him but they can never go back to Manderley.