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  Shut Out - From their pens to...

  F Anstey

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  F. Anstey was the pseudonym of Thomas Anstey Guthrie who was born in Kensington, London on August 8th, 1856, to Augusta Amherst Austen, an organist and composer, and Thomas Anstey Guthrie., a prosperous military tailor.  Anstey was educated at King's College School and then at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Although his education was first rate Anstey could only manage a third-class degree; A Gentlemen’s degree as it was euphemistically known.  In 1880 he was called to the bar. However this career path rapidly fell away in his desire to become an author.  The successful publication of Vice Versa, in 1882, with the premise of a substitution of a father for his schoolboy son, made his name and reputation as a refreshing and original humorist.  The following year he published a rather more serious work, The Giant's Robe.  Interestingly the story is about a plagiarist and Anstey was, ironically, accused of plagiarism in writing the work.  Despite good reviews both he and his public knew that his writing career was to be that of a humorist.  In the following years he published prolifically beginning with; The Black Poodle (1884), The Tinted Venus (1885), A Fallen Idol (1886), and Baboo Jabberjee B.A. (1897).   Anstey worked not only as a novelist and short story writer but was also a valued member of the staff at the humorous Punch magazine, in which his voces populi and his parodies of a reciter's stock-piece (Burglar Bill) represent perhaps his best work.  In 1901, his successful farce, The Man from Blankleys, based on a story that originally appeared in Punch, was first produced on stage at the Prince of Wales Theatre, in London.  Anstey had become a writer, and a successful one at that, of many talents.  Many more of his stories were made into plays and films over the years. Others were simply taken for the premise alone, usually with no credit to the original author.  By the end of the First World War Anstey’s original publications had slowed to a crawl and he seemed rather more interested in translating and publishing some works of Moliere.  Thomas Anstey Guthrie died of pneumonia on March 10th, 1934 in London.  His self-deprecating autobiography, A Long Retrospect, was published in 1936.

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  The Improvised Life of Polycarp...

  Victor Canning

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  An exuberant, life-affirming novel of taking your chances 
   
  After a spur-of-the-moment day out with his boss’ daughter in celebration of his 21st birthday, Polycarp Jarvis decides to quit his Bristol-based junior government worker job. Newly emboldened, he embarks on an erratic, engaging and not always strictly legal course through life. 
   
  Going from bus driver for the Red Dragon Motor Company to co-owner of a flying company, to seller of quack medicines, and eventually to media tycoon, Polycarp makes much of his luck along the way. Through ups and downs, his exuberance and charm carry him through. 
   
  But what kind of person will he be by the end? 
   
  This gentle coming-of-age story was hugely popular on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. 
  Praise for Victor Canning: 
   
  ‘Quite delightful … with an atmosphere of quiet contentment and humour that cannot fail to charm.’ Daily Telegraph 
   
  ‘There is such a gentle humour in the book.’ Daily Sketch 
   
  ‘A paean to the beauties of the English countryside and the lovable oddities of the English character.’ New York Times 
   
  ‘His delight at the beauties of the countryside and his mild astonishment at the strange ways of men are infectious.’ Daily Telegraph 
   
  ‘A swift-moving novel, joyous, happy and incurably optimistic.’ Evening Standard 
    
   ‘His gift of story-telling is obviously innate. Rarely does one come on so satisfying an amalgam of plot, characterisation and good writing.’ Punch

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  True Stories of Wonderful Deeds

  Anonymous

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  37 short pieces perfect for newer recorders. These one page Stories of (mostly) Wonderful Deeds were written for Little Folk to teach them about famous incidents in their history. Bonnie Prince Charlie, Nelson and Hardy, Bruce and the Spider, David Livingston, Canute, Sir Philip Sydney, and Elizabeth and Raleigh are just some of the well known people and incidents covered in short stories. (Summary by phil chenevert)

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  Ariel's Triumph - From their...

  Booth Tarkington

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  The bookshelves of American literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From this continent their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is Booth Tarkington.

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  The Wedding Eve - From their...

  Morley Roberts

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  The bookshelves of British literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From these Isles their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is Morley Roberts.

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  In Bayswater - One family is...

  Mary Butts

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  Mary Frances Butts was born on 13th December 1890 in Poole, Dorset. 
   
  Her early years were spent at Salterns, an 18th-century house overlooking Poole Harbour.  Sadly in 1905 her father died, and she was sent for boarding at St Leonard's school for girls in St Andrews. 
   
  Her mother remarried and, from 1909, Mary studied at Westfield College in London, and here, first became aware of her bisexual feelings.  She was sent down for organising a trip to Epsom races and only completed her degree in 1914 when she graduated from the London School of Economics.  By then Mary had become an admirer of the occultist Aleister Crowley and she was given a co-authorship credit on his ‘Magick (Book 4)’. 
   
  In 1916, she began the diary which would now detail her future life and be a constant reference point for her observations and her absorbing experiences. 
   
  During World War I, she was doing social work for the London County Council in Hackney Wick, and involved in a lesbian relationship.  Life changed after meeting the modernist poet, John Rodker and they married in 1918. 
   
  In 1921 she spent 3 months at Aleister Crowley's Abbey of Thelema in Sicily; she found the practices dreadful and also acquired a drug habit.  Mary now spent time writing in Dorset, including her celebrated book of short stories ‘Speed the Plough’ which saw fully develop her unique Modernist prose style. 
   
  Europe now beckoned and several years were spent in Paris befriending many artists and writing further extraordinary stories.   
   
  She was continually sought after by literary magazines and also published several short story collections as books. Although a Modernist writer she worked in other genres but is essentially only known for her short stories.  Mary was deeply committed to nature conservation and wrote several pamphlets attacking the growing pollution of the countryside. 
   
  In 1927, she divorced and the following year her novel ‘Armed with Madness’ was published.  A further marriage followed in 1930 and time was spent attempting to settle in London and Newcastle before setting up home on the western tip of Cornwall.  By 1934 the marriage had failed. 
   
  Mary Butts died on 5th March 1937, at the West Cornwall Hospital, Penzance, after an operation for a perforated gastric ulcer. She was 46. 
   
  Her story ‘In Bayswater’ grippingly describes a man’s friendship with a dysfunctional family he rents a room from.  As each facet reveals itself his opinion and decisions change, back and forth, this way and that….

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