It’s day five of Jessie’s Persephone Readathon and the suggested topic for the day is to recommend books based on Persephone titles. Readers, there is nothing I enjoy more than making book lists. So I decided to make three. Humour me.
Greenery Street by Denis Mackail
One of my first Persephone reads and probably still among my favourites, Greenery Street tells the story of the first year of a marriage. Ian and Felicity are young, optimistic, and, rare in novels (including many published by Persephone), happy. Mackail tells their story affectionately and humorously and the end result is so delightful that P.G. Wodehouse described it as “simply terrific” and “the sort of book one wishes would go on for ever.”
So where to go from there? The sequels – Tales from Greenery Street and Ian and Felicity – would seem the obvious choice but they are damnably difficult to track down. Mackail’s light comedy Another Part of the Wood is easier to track down (at least in e-book form) but isn’t quite as delightful as the goings on of the Greenery Street crew.
Here are some less obvious ideas of what to read next from authors who share Mackail’s gift for humour, generally cheerful opinion of marriage, and fondness for a strong narrative voice:
- A.A. Milne: my favourite humourist of the 1910s and 1920s, Milne was very comfortable with the domestic humour and marital conversations that make Greenery Street so delightful. He wrote charming pieces for Punch on the topic (try Once a Week and The Day’s Play) and many of his best plays are also focused on marriages and what makes them work – or not (The Dover Road, Michael and Mary, and Mr Pim Passes By).
- P.G. Wodehouse: Wodehouse was a good friend of Mackail’s – and a much better writer. They shared a similar sense of humour and whimsey in their writing though Wodehouse’s plots are significantly more madcap than Mackail’s domestic misadventures. Still, it’s hard to imagine anyone who smiled through Greenery Street not enjoying Wodehouse classics like Joy in the Morning, Uncle Fred in the Springtime, or Psmith in the City.
- Angela Thirkell: here’s a contentious choice! Mackail was not fond of Thirkell, his elder sister, and particularly of her much greater success as a writer. Poor Denis. However, I think her humour, although more caustic than her brother’s, would appeal to lovers of Greenery Street and her clear-sighted observations definitely echo the amused narrator’s view of Ian and Felicity’s goings on. Wild Strawberries would be a particularly good place to start.
- Dear Octopus by Dodie Smith: for a loving depiction of a lengthy and happy marriage you need look no further than Charles and Dora, around whose 50th wedding anniversary this excellent play unfolds.
On the Other Side by Mathilde Wolff-Mönckeberg
There are a handful of Persephones that I consider really important and this, a collection of letters written by a German mother to her adult children living abroad during World War Two, is one of them. The social history of Germany (and the territories it occupied) during the war is one of the topics I’m most passionate about in my reading so, no surprise, I have lots of recommendations:
- The Past is Myself by Christabel Bielenberg: like Wolff-Mönckeberg, Bielenberg was for years a resident of free-thinking Hamburg but with a difference: she was Anglo-Irish and had only become a German citizen upon her marriage in 1934. In this fascinating memoir she tells of her wartime experiences in Germany – experiences made particularly fraught by her husband’s friendship with those involved in the July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. An intriguing look at wartime Germany from a not-quite-outsider’s perspective with a thriller-like climax.
- A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous: one of the most moving documents of the war, this diary of life in Berlin as the Russians invaded is a powerful account of life in a hellish place. Starvation, rape, and the final breakdown of all remaining order are calmly and chillingly chronicled.
- Frauen by Alison Owings: a fascinatingly varied collection of interviews with twenty-nine women about their experiences of life during the Third Reich.
- The English Air by D.E. Stevenson: Moving on to fiction, this story (one of Stevenson’s best) deals with a young German man coming to visit distant family in England in 1938, forming deep bonds with them, and reassessing his own homeland from a distance. For a book published in 1940, it is extraordinarily sympathetic towards its German protagonist and rather refreshing.
- I Was a Stranger by John Hackett: rescued by the Dutch resistance after being badly wounded during the Battle of Arnhem, Hackett’s memoir of his time recovering in the home of three elderly Dutch sisters is beautifully told. His affection and admiration for the resistance members is extreme, understanding the great danger they placed themselves in every day as they did their work surrounded by their German occupiers.
Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vere Hodgson
I’m currently reading this diary of life in wartime London and, no surprise, I’m enjoying it very much. It’s not brilliant but it’s very good. Here are some similar reads that are even better:
- London War Notes by Mollie Panter-Downes: another Persephone and, like On the Other Side, one that I class as one of their “important” publications. Chronicling the war for the American readers of the New Yorker in her bi-weekly letters from London, Panter-Downes captures the ups, the downs, and the essential uncertainly of life in wartime Britain. Her wartime short stories (Good Evening, Mrs Craven) should also not be missed.
- The Headmistress by Angela Thirkell: Elizabeth Bowen praised Thirkell’s attention to contemporary detail by saying “If the social historian of the future does not refer to this writer’s novels, he will not know his business” and it is particularly true of this, the best of her wartime novels.
- Wartime and The Blitz by Juliet Gardiner: Gardiner’s detailed and highly entertaining social histories cannot be beat.
- The Siren Years by Charles Ritchie: my favourite of all wartime diaries. Ritchie, a Canadian diplomat posted in London during the war, was a stylish writer, brilliant observer, and energetic socializer. Come for the anecdotes about lunch with Nancy Mitford and deposed European royalty, stay for the clear-sighted and decidedly unjingoistic commentary on the diplomats and politicians running the war.
- These Wonderful Rumours! by May Smith: happy wartime diaries are always a nice change! A schoolteacher with an active romantic life and a worklife deeply inconvenienced by evacuees, Smith’s diaries are funny and remind us that life goes on.
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I love this sort of post! And wholeheartedly endorse all your recommendations that I’ve read – and have reminded me of my keenness to read These Wonderful Rumours!
It was such a fun post to put together – though i did have to restrain myself in the number of books I recommended. I could have gone on for ages!
Great list! I’ll have to start racking my brains to come up with other recommendations — I’d made a list of my Top Ten Persephones but this is so much more challenging.
And I wish Persephone would republish Tales From Greenery Street. They’ve done other sequels and this one is so hard to find, it’s right up their alley.
Yes, it would make so much sense to publish Tales from Greenery Street and Ian and Felicity! Hopefully one day…
Thank you so much for this list!
You’re very welcome!
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What a wonderful collection of recommendations. I own a large number of wartime diaries and somehow have never heard of The Siren Years. I will definitely be looking for a copy.
I adore The Siren Years so am always excited when I can interest another reader in it! Do let me know what you think if you get a chance to read it.
Few Eggs and No Oranges is one of my favorites. I didn’t know Greenery Street had a sequel!
Thank you for all the wonderful reccs! My own growing stack of TBR Persephones are stacked primly by the window, silently judging me because I haven’t started on any of them yet.
I sit in my office with my back to my (largely unread) Persephone collection – the judgement feels somewhat muted since I’m not looking directly at them 😉
fabulous post! will start searching out some of your recommendations as I need guidance!
Thanks!
These are wonderful recommendations, Claire!! I will be adding quite a few to my TBR list. Greenery Street is at the top of my Persephone wish list, but I’ve never understood why they haven’t published its sequels.
Wild Strawberries is one of my favorite Thirkell’s, and I will have to pick up The Headmistress soon. A Woman in Berlin sounds like a must-read as well. Gardiner’s Wartime and These Wonderful Rumours! are both waiting patiently on my shelf.
Sounds like you have a lot of great books close at hand, Jessie, which is always the best position to be in!
Thanks for taking the time to do 3 sets of recommendations, especially 3 with so different moods. I’m leaning more towards trying the first one, mostly because I’ve read most of the authors on that list – Greenery Street is still just in the wish-list.
I wish I’d know sooner about the Persephone Week! Have The Shuttle in the TBR for ageas!
Greenery Street is fun and knowing you’ve enjoyed some of the authors I recommend alongside it a good sign that you’ll probably enjoy it too. Happy reading!
This is such a great list & I’ve seen loads that I want to add to my TBR list! I also agree that A Woman in Berlin is amazing, I read it last year and it’s definitely unforgettable.
Glad you enjoyed the list and delighted to hear you have already read A Woman in Berlin. It’s such an important book.
I also would like to see the sequel to Greenery Street republished. Not only do I like posts of book lists but I especially like “if you liked this, read this” recommendations. I’ve ordered the May Smith and Ritchie titles and am thinking about the Hodgson and Dodie Smith.
So happy you enjoyed the list and that it’s inspired your future reading! I am particularly tickled that it encouraged you to purchase The Siren Years. Introducing other readers to Charles Ritchie is one of my most passionate missions as a blogger. Happy reading!
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