Reading (c1946, Wolverhampton Art Gallery) by Ethel Gabain (1883-1950) captures the absorption of a reader who is oblivious to chores and any need to tidy up the pile of objects behind her armchair. She could be reading To Bed with Grand Music or Miss Ranskill Comes Home, both first published in 1946, and both page-turners set in the then very recent past.