F Tennyson Jesse

Fryniwyd Jesse was born in 1888, to a clergyman and his wife.  Her birth name was Winifred Margaret. She was related to the poet Tennyson. 

 Her family moved around a lot, abroad, and she was educated in different places. She went to a school of art in Cornwall, when she was 18 and she did some painting. She then became a journalist and had a special interest in criminology. She wrote several books about murder trials and she also wrote novels. One of her novels is A Pin to See the Peepshow.   It was based on the Edith Thompson case in the 1920s. Edith Thompson was a young London woman, from a lower middle class family, who was in a dull marriage. She fell in love with a younger man, and they had an affair. He was a sailor, and they wrote letters to each other. Frederick Bywaters, her lover, then killed Edith's husband. She was accused of inciting him to murder her husband and was tried and executed, though she was not the one who committed the murder. The trial was famous because of the letters written between the couple and the fact that Edith was hanged though she had not killed her husband nor had she even known that Frederick Bywaters was going to kill him. M/F

That Lady

This is a Kate O'Brien novel that I haven't read for years and I can't get it to re read. It is a historical novel set in the times of Philip II, about Ana De Mendoza, a noblewoman who opposed him. Philip kept her in confinement for many years. It is basically an anti Fascist novel, about fighting tyranny. O'Brien spent time in Spain as a governess in her young days, and she loved Spain, but was anti Franco. She visited the country, but was unhappy at the Falangist government, just as she disliked De Valera's narrow puritanical Ireland. I hope I'll come across a copy some day.. and I can read it and blod about it.

Peter Gilmore

Peter Gilmore is one of my favourite actors, and I was saddened some years ago when he died. While watching an old episode of the Bill, recently, I saw him again. I was, as usual when I see him a different role, surprised by how good an actor he was. He was playing a man who had had a head injury which caused a personality change, and he was excellent. He spent so long in one part that one tended to forget that he was a very good and versatile actor. Peter Gilmore was born in Germany, in 1931, but was brought up in Yorkshire. He wanted to be an actor and attended a stage school for a time, but was expelled. He could sing as well as act and appeared in several stage musicals in the 50s and 60s. He also appeared in small roles in many of the Carry On films. He achieved TV stardom in the 1970's when he was cast as James Onedin in the Onedin Line. He was tall and handsome and rugged looking and he carried the series for many years, appearing in all 91 episodes. However, he did prefer stage work to film, and TV, and liked a live audience. He was very popular as James Onedin, a hard selfish man who founded his own shipping line. Gilmore had two marriages in his younger days. He was married to Una Stubbs with whom he adopted a son, and then to Jan Waters. During the Onedin Line, he became involved with Anne Stallybrass who was playing his wife, Anne Onedin. They fell in love and lived together for some time. In the 1980s, they got married and lived in Devon. He felt that playing James had typecast him, and taken over his life.. so he finished with the show in 1980 and took on other roles. He was in an episode of Heartbeat with his wife. He also had a character role in a series about a Zoo vet, (One by One) and in a drama called The Manions of America, with a young Pierce Brosnan. He died aged 81, in 2013.

Sara Paretsky (1947- )

Sara Paretsky is an American detective novelist. She was born in Iowa, and her father was a microbiologist. She attended University and studied political science and did an MBA. Her family life was not very happy. She lived in Chicago and married a professor of physics at the university there. She was involved in social work, and then began to write detective fiction. She created a character Victoria (Vic) Warshawski. Like Paretsky, Vic lives in Chicago. She studied law but then became a private detective. She married a lawyer but she and he began to diverge on political matters and they divorced. Vic is left wing and her ex husband was much more conservative. She is partly Jewish and she was involved in many liberal causes in her youth, such as demonstrating against the Vietnam war, and running an underground abortion network. She is independent and has no interest in being married again or having children. She is very physically active and takes a lot of risks, in pursuing her cases. Paretsky was one of the first to create a woman detective who is tough and able to fight and get involved in rough stuff, and look after herself. She is a bit too much of a card carrying left winger for my tastes but the stories are entertaining and a good read.

E Arnot Robertson

Eileen Robertson was born in 1903, in Surrey. Her father was a doctor and her family life was not very happy. She went to a good school and then went abroad to study for a couple of years in France. At the age of 19, she became a magazine journalist. She wanted to write, and in 1927, she married Henry Turner, who was secretary of the Empire Press Union. They adopted a son. She wrote several novels, including one set in Malaysia, which she had never visited. Another successful novel was Ordinary Families, which was set in the countryside, with a heroine Lalage, who comes from a family that loves boating. Her later novels did not do so well. She went on writing journalism, and enjoyed boating with her husband. However when he died in a boating accident, she committed suicide. I've just picked up a copy of Ordinary Familes, which has rather disappointed me. The book does not seem to have much of a plot, and the characters are snobbish and sailing obsessed. Not sure if I will finish it. Usually when I re read books I used to like, I still enjoy them, but this is an exception.

Last of Summer

This is one of Kate O'Brien's novels that I have not been able to get a copy of. I did read it some years ago. It is set in rural Ireland, just before World War II breaks out. The Kernahan family live a quiet life in a country village. They are dominated by Hannah, mother of the family. Angele Maury turns up to visit them. She is their cousin. Her father left Ireland years ago and married a French girl. Angele is an actress. Hannah is clearly not pleased to see her and does not like the way that her two sons are both attracted to their cousin. She like a lot of Irish people at the time, does not want to think about the possibility of war. She wants Ireland to remain neutral and to keep out of world problems. Angele being French is ready to go to war with the Germans. She wants to go back to France as soon as possible, to take her part in the conflict. Hannah is annoyed when her sons quarrel over Angele, and when they want to join up and fight the Nazis. But they go ahead anyway. Angele leaves and goes back home.

As Music and Splendour By Kate O'Brien

This is one of Kate O'Brien's last novels. It was published in 1958 and afterwards she worked on another novel called Constancy, but only managed to write a few chapters. In her later years, she had poor health and also was a heavy drinker and it affected her work. She did not produce as much writing as some novelists. The book is set in Victorian times, and is about 2 young Irish women who both have beautiful voices. As young girls, Rose and Claire are offered a chance to train as opera singers. They are not from well off families, both are simple Irish country girls. But the chance of being successful singers is a great thing for both of them, as it means they will be able to earn a good living. As they grow up they begin to live abroad, mostly in Italy. They embark on love affairs. Rose has several male lovers and Clare discovers that she prefers women. She has a passionate affair with another singer Luisa. The book does not have much plot but it is readable. Both girls are Catholics but they make their own decisions about what sexual relationships they want to have. The book is more open about lesbianism than her other works.. many of which were banned in Ireland.