We are returning to France for another great summer read by Gillian Harvey . The Village Cafe in the Loire was published by Boldwood on July 12th. High-flyer Becky Thorne cannot believe what she’s being told. She doesn’t need to be signed off for burnout! Life has been a bit chaotic lately, that’s all. As if dealing with her enviable job and permanent meddling from her mother aren’t enough, she’s also inherited a café in the Loire from an estranged great-aunt, complete with sitting tenant who refuses to budge. But nobody stands in Becky’s way! Ignoring her best friend Amber’s advice, she decides to storm over to France and sort the tenant out. Then she can finally get the café sold and jump back on the career ladder. What she doesn’t count on is the tenant being Pascale, who is six feet of tall, dark, handsome and extremely grumpy about her plans for change. Not to mention the village and the secrets it holds about her past. Becky’s path to succes...
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Stanley and Elsie by Nicola Upson #Review @Duckbooks @nicolaupsonbook
Today's featured book is a work of literary fiction which centres on real people and events during the life of painter, Sir Stanley Spencer. If you want to find out more about the painter, you can follow this link: Tate.
It’s 1928 and Stanley Spencer arrives in a quiet Hampshire
village ready to create the commission of a lifetime. Hired as his housekeeper,
Elsie quickly becomes so much more: a muse and a friend for whom he develops a
deep, lifelong affection. A joy in the ordinary things bonds them, a simple
love of life which is crucial to Spencer’s art but which his wartime
experiences and growing celebrity have all but destroyed.
Elsie becomes a vital part of the Spencer family, sharing in
the creation of Spencer’s masterpieces and the daily dramas of his life: his
marriage to the painter Hilda Carline and the artistic rivalry between husband
and wife; the continuing impact of the First World War on all their lives, and
the scandal over Spencer’s personal and artistic attitudes toward sex. As the
years pass, Elsie does her best to keep the family together even when love,
obsession and temptation seem set to tear them apart...
Spencer painted the women in his life with a combination of
ruthless honesty and nostalgic idealism, but their voices are tantalisingly
absent from history. Stanley and Elsie turns the tables and gives full lives to
the women who shaped Stanley Spencer’s life.
My Thoughts
I found that this novel was driven through with the atmosphere of the time and loved the relationship between Stanley and his Hilda and their maid, Elsie. The glimpses you got into Elsie's homelife were illuminating and I loved how she developed as she was put in to the artists' daily lives. You see her reaction to the art of both Stanley and Elsie, in contrast to some their middle class friends. Elsie is such a strongly imagined character that by the end, you feel you know her.
The effects of the First World War on Stanley, seen through his paintings resonates. Also striking are the references to real life people and events, such as Virginia Woolf. The unconventional relationships are seen through Elsie's eyes and you cannot help but contrast them to her own family and friends. Her reaction to the decision which Stanley and Hilda make concerning their elder child puts her firmly on the reader's wavelength and emphasises how on the edge and self-indulgent Hilda and Stanley's behaviour seems.
Nicola Upson's writing style is fluent and understated and completely strikes the right tone for the age she is depicting. This is a really classy read.
In short: evocative writing which delves beneath the surface of relationships.
About the Author
Nicola Upson was born in Suffolk and read English at Downing
College, Cambridge. She has worked in theatre and as a freelance journalist,
and is a regular arts
You can follow Nicola here: Twitter
Book link: Amazon UK
Thanks to Nicola Upson and Duckworth Books for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.
Catch the rest of the tour!
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Labels:
20th Century
Blog Tours
book review
historical fiction
literary fiction
Nicola Upson
Stanley and Elsie
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