Two Upcoming Persephone Books Releases (October 2018)

Good news for Persephone Book lovers everywhere: there will soon be two new dove grey gems to add to our collections!!

On October 18th, Persephone Books will release The Call by Edith Ayrton Zangwill and National Provincial by Lettice Cooper.

Keep reading to learn a bit more about each…

 

 

The Call by Edith Ayrton Zangwill (1924)

 

 

Goodreads Synopsis:

Edith Ayrton Zangwill’s 1924 novel The Call is widely regarded as one of the most important suffrage novels of the early 20th century. Including authoritative notes and commentary throughout, this is the first comprehensive scholarly edition of the novel.

The Call tells the story of a young chemist, Ursula Winfield, who comes of age in the years before the start of the First World War. Confronted by the gross injustices faced by women and the working class in early 20th-century Britain, she is drawn inexorably and with increasing militancy into the suffragette movement. The story charts the conflict between her political commitments and her personal life as the Great War approaches.

 

 

Edith Ayrton Zangwill

 

 

From the Persephone Post 14.6.17:

Edith Zangwill, about whom Persephone readers will be hearing a great deal more: we publish her novel The Call in October 2018, to coincide with the anniversary of the (very partial) granting of the vote to women in 1918. Reading The Call is both fascinating and horrifying (and oddly gripping). And it is extraordinary to read about the suffragettes being routinely kicked, abused, having stones thrown at them – by men, normal, or seemingly normal, Englishmen. And why? For what? Often The Call reminds one very much of our present struggle – for kindness, sanity, tolerance, calmness and rationality; which alas in 2017 is symbolised by the struggle to remain in Europe, whereas a hundred years ago it was symbolised by the struggle to get votes for women. Come to think of it, the suffragettes had SO many things in common with remainers. Plus ca change…

Blogger Reviews:

• Christine at A Little Piece of British 
• Steven of Science’s Less Accurate Grandmother 

National Provincial by Lettice Cooper (1938)

Goodreads Synopsis:

When she steps off the London train at Leeds (known in the novel as Aire) Mary Welburn is returning to the world of her childhood. But while she attempts to settle back into her family, Mary strikes up new relationships and learns how the North, in 1938, is reacting to a confused and threatening world.

 

Lettice Cooper

Persephone Books’ Entry on Lettice Cooper:

Lettice Cooper (1897-1994) grew up in Leeds, where her father ran an engineering firm. After reading classics at Oxford she was for some years sales manager in the family business, while writing her first book The Lighted Room (1925). The New House (1936) is perhaps the best of her twenty novels, although National Provincial (1938) is the most well-known; like all her books they convey both her deep socialist convictions and her loyalty to her Yorkshire roots. After a brief period at the feminist weekly Time and Tide she worked at the Ministry of Food during the war. Lettice Cooper was devoted to Italy, especially Tuscany, and used it as the setting for several novels. She lived contentedly with her staunchly Tory sister in a London flat, was a great encourager of young writers, and helped to establish Public Lending Right. Her nephew, Leo Cooper, is married to Jilly Cooper, the author of the preface to this Persephone book.

Blogger Reviews:

• Karen of Books and Chocolate
• George at Reading 1900-1950
• Christine of A Little Piece of British

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I think both of these sound fantastic, and I can’t wait to see their endpapers.

Are you looking forward to these new releases? 

 

Header Photo Source: Londonist.com