Monthly Archives: September 2015

Sharman Macdonald’s feminist tract is a slow burner about women having a bad time because men behave badly and it, too, is set during WW2. A Glaswegian wife (Abigail Lawrie), pregnant, discovers that her husband, a naval officer, (the charismatic … Continue reading →

All the great actors have wanted to play Hamlet ever since Burbage played him at the Globe in 1601: Garrick, Kean, Macready, Booth, Irving, Bernhardt, Gielgud, Olivier, to name but a few. The list is unending: Redgrave, Burton, Scofield, O’Toole, … Continue reading →

Anthony Trollope wrote Lady Anna whilst he was sailing to Australia. He said it was the best novel he had ever written. Neither the critics nor the public agreed. Victorian readers were shocked a well-brought-up young lady, faced with the … Continue reading →