Library staff members Lesley Conway and Pia Butcher run a radio show each Wednesday 12:05pm-12:45pm on Eastern FM 98.1 called The Eastern Regional Library Show. Tune in tomorrow for a great show
On last Wednesday's show
Lyn Baines reviewed three informative and readable new histories today. The great silence by Juliet Nicolson deals with the years immediately after World War I in Britain, when the impact of the loss of millions of young men, of the huge economic costs of war, and the changing roles of women led to major social upheavel. It is in many ways a grim period, little reflected on, as the swift development of the dazzling Roaring Twenties have overshadowed it in people's recollections. It is a fascinating time though, seeing social changes which still resonate today. The author has also taken the stories of individuals whom she wrote about in The perfect summer : dancing into shadow, England in 1911 and revisited them in this period.
Conquest : the English kingdom of France 1417-1450 by Juliet Barker is about another historic period which is comparatively unknown. Lyn decided this was a gap she neede to fill, and found the personalities and intrigues of the French and English courts to be fascinating. This is the period which saw Joan of Arc rally the irresolute French monarchy to try and oust the English from France for good, only for all her efforts to be wasted and lost. Essentially it was the lack of ambition of the English monarch which eventually saw the end of England in France. A history which tells the story from the perspective of all levels of society, and makes engrossing reading.
Finally, Elizabeth's women by Tracy Borman brings us the life of Elizabeth I through the women who were important to her in her life, from her half-sister Mary and various step-mothers, to the cousins who plotted (or were pawns in plots) to oust her, and her many loyal maids-in-waiting. Not the political story as such, but a much more intimate and human view of the woman.
---- Lesley
No comments:
Post a Comment