20th-Century Book Club plans
Five women writers... and one man
What are your reading plans for 2025?
This week I’ve been compiling a list of 20th-century novels I’m hoping to read in 2025, and at the end of this post there’s a sneak preview of my current top six. But I also have a question for you. Which other mid-20th-century novels by UK and Irish women writers would you recommend? And what other reading resolutions, if any, have you made this year?
Mid-century novels
Last year I wrote about a classic mid-century novel, Judith Hearne (1955) by Brian Moore, as well as two brilliant 1920s novels: F.M. Mayor’s The Rector’s Daughter (1924) and Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Enchanted April (1922).
The eagle-eyed among you will notice that there is one male author in the 2025 preview list below. R.C. Sherriff is best known as the author of the 1928 play Journey’s End, based on his experiences in the First World War trenches. In 1931 he published his first novel which I’ve been wanting to read for ages: it’s about ‘an ordinary London family going on an ordinary summer holiday to the English seaside’ as Kazuo Ishiguro writes glowingly here.
Below is my suggested reading list… and I’d love to know what you think! You can post a comment here, or email me at akennedysmith@substack.com – looking forward to hearing your bookish thoughts and suggestions. If you’d like to take part in our 2025 book club, you will be able to read all my articles in full, and take part in discussions in the comments sections. See you there!
20th-Century Book Club 2025: a preview
Apart from Gaudy Night, all of these novels are pretty short yet each promises to provide lots to talk about. Our book club plan is to read one every two months or so, discussing it as we go along in the ‘Chat’ thread (for paying subscribers) and then I’ll write a longer post about it based on my research and our discussions.
Feb/March: Sylvia Townsend Warner, Lolly Willowes (1926)
April/May: R.C. Sheriff, The Fortnight in September (1931)
June/July: Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night (1935)
Later this year
Elizabeth Taylor, At Mrs Lippincote’s (1945)
Rose Macaulay, The World My Wilderness (1950)
Elizabeth Jenkins, The Tortoise and the Hare (1954)
If you enjoyed reading this, you might also like two of my most popular fiction posts below, featuring novels by Elizabeth Taylor and Elizabeth von Arnim, among other mid-twentieth-century writers.
What exactly is a middlebrow novel, anyway?
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Reading 20th-century women writers
Hello and welcome to all my new subscribers, I’m so glad you’re here. Today’s piece is the story of how, back in the 1970s, the UK publisher Virago started re-issuing novels by international women authors from the 19th and 20th centuries. Today there are lots of publishing imprints (eg Daunt Books and Persephone in UK; McNally Editions in USA) as well as magazines and literary podcasts that focus on recovering ‘lost’ literature, including
First of all, I'm pleased to tell you that I found a copy of 'The Enchanted April' in my local secondhand bookshop (I probably would have passed it over if not for your post). Secondly, I've had 'The Tortoise and the Hare' sitting on my bedside table waiting to be read for months. And I'm definitely keen to read Sayers. Somehow I never have. All very good stuff, Ann. Look forward to following along (as best I can - I am, as always, bookishly over-committed!).
Barbara Comyns - Sisters by a River. Or any Comyns really.
Elizabeth Jenkins -Harriet.
Any Barbara Pym.
Josephine Tey - The Franchise Affair.
Muriel Spark - The Girls of Slender Means.
EM Delafield - The Diary of a Provincial Lady. Thank Heaven Fasting.
Vita Sackville West- All Passion Spent.
Celia Fremlin - Uncle Paul.
Oh, so many, so many! I’ve read or reread all of these recently and heartily recommend every one.
Lolly is in my TBR pile, as is The Enchanted April.