From The Persephone Quarterly Spring 2005 No. 25

‘I was lent Good Evening, Mrs Craven and must say how thrilled I was to read such excellent writing. Mollie Panter-Downes must have been such a meticulous observer of human nature! I loved the humour about the ladies who are making pyjamas for the Greeks; and the pathos of the lonely lady who had enjoyed the Blitz because everyone slept in the corridors of the flats that she lived in and now that it was over
she had nobody to talk to, moved me almost to tears.'  V de B, Musgrave, South Africa

'I just loved The Wise Virgins.  I thought it was beautifully written with such intelligence and humour and I related to it much more than I ever have to anything by his wife. In the most thwarted way it was incredibly romantic.' AR, London NW3

'A Woman's Place is a riveting read, inspiring and informative and in such an easy style.' CY, Beaconsfield

'We discussed Manja at our book group meeting and it was a very lively and lengthy meeting. We ranged from the history of the period, the various attitudes of our parents' generation, the excellence of the writing, the aftermath of the war and the awful possibility that this sort of thing could happen anywhere again. I would have been very sorry to have missed this book, but might have dodged it if my book
group hadn't chosen it.' CC, Edinburgh

'I thought some of the stories in the The Casino were the best I've ever read -but then most of your books are a source of great enjoyment.' HT, Leatherhead

'The three titles by Marghanita Laski have been my favourite so far: it seems incredible to me that her books have remained so long undiscovered since their initial publication. While The Victorian Chaise-longue remains the work of hers that most impresses me (it's like a much subtler and more chilling version of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's famous rediscovered short story 'The Yellow Wallpaper', which Laski of course would not have known), I think The Village has been the book that moved me the most.  Margaret's angry outburst towards her parents is one of the most satisfying speeches I've ever read in C20th fiction, and Laski's very open and nuanced analysis of class is superbly handled. Fidelity is also a brilliant book. Glaspell gets what so few other writers of the region understood, and Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis never rightly realised: that even people living  in provincial towns have complex inner lives, and do not see themselves as naive or backward.'  JD, Portland, USA

'I found Julian Grenfell a most compelling and extraordinarily thought-provoking book.' SR, Cambridge

'All your cookery books have pleased and They Can't Ration These is a delight. I found Poto Pie and Gascony Game Pie delicious.  And the Persephone mug is just right: it demands, and gets, quarter of an hour each mid-morning to enjoy its fine rim and ingenious construction.' DB, Le Touquet

'I loved Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary's mixture of fairy tale and romanticism without sentimentality -  an enchanting novel.' V W-H, London NW3

'I think Someone at a Distance is a brilliant book: clever in its construction and plot, and so subtle in its style and description of emotions.  All the characters are depicted so clearly, and are utterly convincing.'  DT, London

'Manja is an extraordinary book; she is unforgettable, and represents something very important, which is the immense strength of goodness and how powerful and penetrating that is. It's a book that could change you a bit if you let it.' SH, Hay-on-Wye