From The Persephone Quarterly Spring 2006 No. 29

‘Doreen is the first book for a long time that has kept me reading into the small hours. I’ve read many children’s books about evacuees in the Second World War in which the endings are usually happy. It was interesting to read a novel that presents so clearly the viewpoint of the child, the parents and the host family and where the ending is ambivalent.‘ SR, Powys

‘I wanted to drop you a line to say ‘thank you’ to all at Persephone, a million million times, for resurrecting Lettice Cooper’s The New House. I cannot understand why it was ever out of print and think that it comes as close as can be to such novels as Mrs Dalloway, except that I think it has more heart than Virginia Woolf ever showed. I read the scene with the children in the sand-pit over and over again.’ CG, Winchester

‘I had always intended to read A London Child but never got round to it. One thing that Adam Gopnik does not mention in his Preface (perhaps because he is a man) is the feeling of making the best out of the fact that she was a girl, and not allowed to go out on all the trips with the boys.’ DM, Dover

‘I found The Hopkins Manuscript riveting mainly because of the character of the narrator which was the perfect foil for the melodrama (scientifically totally unbelievable, I adore the idea of the moon glancing off Cornwall for example) but also (and this is the richness of Persephone’s selection so often) giving you a glimpse of another social world. Your choice of books is so varied yet unerringly on the pulse.’ CS, Rye

‘How lovely to be sent Norah Hoult’s There Were No Windows – I sat down straight away & read it & loved it. It is so funny, even when it is sad, & so witty, even when it is cruel. It caught exactly that all-too-brief stage between a mind being perfectly sharp & then disintegrating – horrible when, like Mrs Temple, the person senses what is happening, later, the sensing goes, & it isn’t so terrible, but the torture of being aware is so beautifully conveyed here.’ Margaret Forster, Cumbria

‘Thank you for sending me There Were No Windows, it is fantastic and I stayed up very late last night reading it.’ Jonathan Self, Cork

‘I loved the shop and have come home with a pile of books to read in Cape Town. I have so far read They Were Sisters which I loved although I hated that man so much. It was, however, a wonderful insight into the lives of the sisters and I could not put it down. I felt as if I was eaves-dropping on their lives. Each character was so finely drawn and so soundly portrayed.’ EL, Cape Town

‘The Far Cry is another great read! Emma Smith’s evocative descriptions of that complex & beautiful country transported me with a great sense of immediacy. Her insights into her characters are revealing and honest and their different responses to their environment added depth and richness to the story.’
JW, Western Australia

‘Someone at a Distance is the first book I have read in a year, as my life is just too busy! I loved it, I luxuriated in it. Particularly, the side observations were so poignant. Thank you for reprinting it. Now I have to choose what book will follow.’ DL, Cambridge

‘I enjoyed How to Run Your Home Without Help very much, although maybe enjoyment isn’t quite the right word – exhaustion expresses my feelings much better! When did these women ever find time to read? A fascinating piece of social history.’