Language, imagery, the impact on everyday life by a particular choice of words, has been especially on our minds this week with the upsetting reference to an ‘island of strangers’ by Keir Starmer. We can only hope he sacks his speechwriter. And that he or she is made to read the letters from appalled Guardian readers, as well as this superb new Michael Rosen poem which ends: 'If ever you’re in need as I was / may you have an island of strangers/ like I had.' 

Combined with the continuing agony of Gaza it is difficult to look at pictures of, for example, unspoilt European beaches or ‘summer recipes’ with the appropriate interest. Yes, ordinary life must go on. But why some of us should enjoy an asparagus glut and others not have enough to eat is one of those mysteries that even a Persephone book cannot solve. Crooked Cross (which has now sold a magnificent 10,000 copies and will soon be out of print, although only until June 20th when the second reprint arrives) asks all the questions about tyranny, irrationality and unfairness that any observer of Hitler’s Germany would have wanted to ask. One of our favourite lines in the book is Moritz’s: ‘“I mustn’t forget I’m a Jew now"’ (he has been a Catholic all his life but has a Jewish name). This is a brilliant and poignant sentence, even EM Forster would have been proud of it, its weary humour summing up as it does the pointlessness and cruelty of the Nazis. And for those of you who are maybe thinking, why does she aways harp on about Forster, we are in good company: note this from Virginia Woolf's diary for 17th May 1925, just after the publication of Mrs Dalloway. 'The only judgment on Mrs D I await with trepidation (but that's too strong) is Morgan's. He will say something enlightening.' He did, for a few days later: 'Well, Morgan admires. This is a weight off my mind.'  (In fact last week the Guardian reprinted its original review of Mrs Dalloway, in which the reviewer said that the opening pages were ‘delightfully reminiscent of Mrs Mansfield’s best work’. It's possible – and to be hoped – that Virginia never saw this as she does not mention it in her diary and it would have infuriated her. Katherine Mansfield is also 'our' author but these kind of comparisons are odious.)

Tyranny of a different sort was on display in our first floor room last week when we hosted Charlie Lee-Potter’s marvellous installations Out of the Scriptorium (pictures on Instagram here) eg. the fourth installation, ‘A Week’s Supply’, displayed the 42 pints of milk that Virginia Woolf was made to drink in a week. The Brontës (and, sadly, by implication their domineering father) are the subject of the  sixth and seventh Scriptorium. Their birthplace in Bradford has opened to the public and from July will be available for overnight stays eg. in ‘Charlotte’s Room’ (although in fact this was the bedroom in which all six Brontë children slept, not Charlotte on her own).  

There is going to be a statue to the UK’s first professional female landscape designer, Fanny Wilkinson. Astonishingly, she laid out  seventy-five small public gardens in London. Although honoured with a blue plaque recently, until now she has been 'fairly little recognised' and yet 'over the course of her career, Fanny changed the face of London,' more details here.

Do Bath residents know that our Fire Station, designed by a woman, Molly Taylor, in 1938, is under threat? Its demolition would be upsetting, and the sooner the building is Listed, and thereby protected from destruction, the better. The always admirable C20th Society alerted us to this.

Which makes us think of Uppark, so tragically destroyed by fire but painstakingly rebuilt by the National Trust. The first photo below is of some of the 3860 dustbins which allowed every surviving fragment to be saved and used in the restoration of the house, second photo below. 

Sadly the death has been announced of Julian Prideaux, the genius behind the restoration, obituary here.

Do pay a visit to the revamped National Portrait Gallery where, at the moment, the two Persephone authors on display are Noel Streatfeild and Mollie Panter-Downes (a 1926 painting by Lewis Baumer of Noel below).

Our friend Simon Thomas of Stuck in a Book wrote about A Woman’s Place 1910-1975 a few months ago. This is how he started his piece: ‘I have well over a hundred Persephone Books, and the hit rate of successes is astonishingly high. There’s a reason that they have the devotion and respect of legions of readers. And so why had I left A Woman’s Place by Ruth Adam neglected since I bought it 2008(!)? … More fool me! Because A Woman’s Place is a remarkable, and incredibly readable, achievement.’ He then goes on to explain why he thinks it’s so good. Delighted as we are that he liked it, we can’t of course approve of someone owning one of our books for over fifteen years before actually reading it!

And the charity we are donating to this month is Centrepoint.

We had three marvellous Shared Reading Sessions at Persephone a couple of weeks ago. The ‘Reader Leader’ selects three or four pages from a book for the group to read and discuss and it is a fascinating new way to look at a book, akin to the discipline learnt by undergraduates reading English known as 'practical criticism'. It certainly made us feel that we normally read a book far too fast and that we should read an entire novel with the meticulous  attention we gave to the few pages from The Homemaker, Someone at a Distance or Little Boy Lost. We are about to start more (free) Shared Reading sessions at the shop, at 10.30am on June 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th, please do try and come along, it's very interesting (and companionable). Just ring up or email us to book in.

There was an article about having a canal boat holiday here. The family end their rather idyllic week by, of course, buying a cinnamon bun at Bath's Landrace. And in fact canal life has been rather on our mind because Liss Llewellyn have this delightful 1944 painting 'Canal Girls' for sale.

If anyone ever reprints our author Emma Smith's Maidens' Trip, about her life on a canal boat during the war, this would be the perfect cover illustration. It was painted by Evan Charlton in 1944 and here is what Liss Llewelyn writes about it: 'During WWII, “canal girls” were young women who took on the tough and physically demanding job of operating canal boats to transport essential goods like coal and steel across Britain’s waterways. With many men away at war, these women played a vital yet often overlooked role in the war effort, proving their resilience and adaptability in a traditionally male-dominated industry.'

Finally, readers of this Letter will know how much everyone at Persephone Books loved Chloe Dalton's Raising Hare. Please do sign this petition to stop hares being shot at any time of year: 'We call on the Government to stop the shooting of hares during their peak breeding season, by establishing a legally enforceable close season for hares in England and Wales, from 1st February to 30th September.'

Nicola Beauman

8 Edgar Buildings

Bath.