Letter

Yesterday we had a lunch in the office at which Valerie Grove talked about Penelope Mortimer and Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting.  She said that while she was researching her book, A Voyage round John Mortimer, she began to realise that, although John Mortimer is a hugely popular and successful novelist and playwright, his first wife Penelope is actually the better writer.  Valerie told us something about John and Penelope’s turbulent married life and also pointed out how extraordinary it was that Penelope managed to write at all when so much was going on in her life.  The story in the current Persephone Biannually, for example, is completely autobiographical; but it takes a great writer to sit with her family all around her (Valerie described the Mortimer household as being one of continual coming-and-going, every piece of furniture covered with the children’s things, Penelope never able to have ‘a room of her own’) and yet produce great literature. (Do look up Penelope’s entry in the DNB by the way; this is free for British readers – you can access it very simply by typing in your fourteen digit library card number on this page).

Twenty-five people came to the lunch, listened to Valerie talk, watched a short early 1960s video of Penelope talking, ate salads from Tutti’s and cheese and fruit from Waitrose and bought copies of Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting before going out into the rain; leaving us to put the folding chairs back in the basement and try and get that day’s orders out before the postman came at 3.30.

I particularly enjoyed the lunch because I had been in America (LA, DC and NYC) and although it was a great trip it was nice to be home. (Highlights: for a short while being part of the Hollywood experience as lived by my daughter, granddaughter and film-director (The Flight of the Conchords)son-in-law; going to Tamerlano in DC, here is a review from the Financial Times; and seeing friends in NYC, especially Megan Wilson, who designs the covers for the Persephone Classics, and the painter Duncan Hannah.)

Little Boy Lost - Persephone Classics cover

Another reason for going to New York was a sales conference – the Persephone Classics edition of Miss Pettigrew is doing well in American bookshops and more of the Classics will be launched in the autumn.  In the UK the first three Classics can now be bought as ‘three for the price of two’ in selected bookshops – we were very pleased to see them in Hatchards because the dark green stickers almost enhance the covers, and we were delighted when Hatchards rang us (this is quite rare, usually it is publishers ringing them!) to ask if there were going to be more.  Here is the first sighting of the Classics cover for Little Boy Lost - we hope you approve.

There are three exhibitions I am going to try and get to over the summer: Grayson Perry has curated Unpopular Culture at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea (here are some examples of what is showing and an article in the New Statesman by Blake Morrison about the exhibition).  At the Walker Gallery in Liverpool there is the wonderful-sounding Art in the Age of Steam.  And at the National Portrait Gallery there is Brilliant Women: 18th century Bluestockings; here is an article from The Times about them.

Nicola Beauman
Lamb’s Conduit Street
15th May 2008