Tag: Nonfiction November

#BlogTour #BookReview There’s Something About Darcy by Gabrielle Malcolm @EndeavourQuill

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Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for There’s Something About Darcy by Gabrielle Malcolm. Thanks to Hannah at Endeavour Media for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.

9781911445562About the Book

For some, Colin Firth emerging from a lake in that clinging wet shirt is one of the most iconic moments in television. What is it about the two-hundred-year-old hero that we so ardently admire and love?

Dr Malcolm examines Jane Austen’s influences in creating Darcy’s potent mix of brooding Gothic hero, aristocratic elitist and romantic Regency man of action. She investigates how he paved the way for later characters like Heathcliff, Rochester and even Dracula, and what his impact has been on popular culture over the past two centuries. For twenty-first century readers the world over have their idea of the ‘perfect’ Darcy in mind when they read the novel and will defend their choice passionately.

In this insightful and entertaining study, every variety of Darcy jostles for attention: vampire Darcy, digital Darcy, Mormon Darcy and gay Darcy. Who does it best and how did a clergyman’s daughter from Hampshire create such an enduring character?

Format: Paperback, ebook                        Publisher: Endeavour Quill
Publication date: 11th November 2019 Genre: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find There’s Something About Darcy on Goodreads

My Review

There were many elements I enjoyed in this exploration of the continuing literary and cultural influence of the hero of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. For instance, Gabrielle Malcolm traces the influence of earlier authors – Samuel Richardson, Ann Radcliffe and others – on the creation of the character of Darcy. I also liked the way the author examined the growth of Darcy’s character throughout the novel. I wouldn’t have minded more of this type of close reading and textual analysis, although perhaps that’s the former Open University MA English student coming out in me!

The sections where the author explores contemporary reaction to Pride and Prejudice were fascinating. Charlotte Bronte had mixed feelings apparently although Dr. Malcolm argues Edward Rochester, the hero of Jane Eyre, and Darcy have much in common.  However, she also goes on to point out key differences between them.

I confess I found some of the detours into figures like Beau Brummell and Sir Henry Irving less interesting and the plot summaries of novels such as The Scarlet Pimpernel and the works of Georgette Heyer a little too detailed. However, I enjoyed the author’s analysis of Pride and Prejudice sequels such as the highly-regarded Longbourn by Jo Baker, the definitely less well-regarded (by Austen fans at least) Pemberley by Emma Tennant, and of the various TV/film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, including of course the one with ‘that scene’.

In support of the numerous sequels, spin-offs and retellings of Pride and Prejudice, many of which the author explores in some detail, Gabrielle Malcolm makes the persuasive argument that Austen’s own letters reveal she imagined a future for Darcy and Elizabeth. I think we can safely assume that had she written her own sequel it would not have involved zombies…

Along the way, Gabrielle Malcolm addresses what she terms ‘the Darcy problem’, namely why would a young woman as intelligent as Elizabeth be attracted to such a proud, arrogant man? She concludes that Darcy symbolises ‘an ideal of authority, honesty and protection’ and argues he will endure for years to come because readers are drawn to the idea of a hero who shows ‘his inner sensitivity beneath the tough, proud, awkward, sometimes cruel, exterior’.

The publishers describe There’s Something About Darcy as ‘a must-read for every Darcy and Jane Austen fan’. The final chapters of the book in which the author explores the rise of fan fiction and its various manifestations are likely to appeal to those looking for recommendations to satisfy their appetite for new twists on Pride and Prejudice and Darcy in particular.

Although for me there were a few too many detours from the main subject, There’s Something About Darcy is an interesting, in-depth look at the appeal and afterlife of Austen’s most well-known fictional hero.

In three words: Detailed, informative, insightful

Try something simgailar: The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things
by Paula Byrne

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Gaby Malcolm 3About the Author

Dr. Gabrielle Malcolm lectures and writes about Jane Austen in popular culture and the global fan phenomena surrounding Austen’s work.

She is the author of Fan Phenomena: Jane Austen and is a regular speaker at the annual Jane Austen Festival in Bath, and the Jane Austen Regency Week in Chawton. She lives in Bath.

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#BookReview Chanel’s Riviera by Anne de Courcy #NonficNov

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Chanels RivieraAbout the Book

Far from worrying about the onset of war, the burning question on the French Riviera in 1938 was whether one should curtsey to the Duchess of Windsor.

Featuring a sparkling cast of historical figures, writers and artists including Winston Churchill, Daisy Fellowes, Salvador Dalí, the Windsors, Aldous Huxley and Edith Wharton – and the enigmatic Coco Chanel at its heart – Chanel’s Riviera is a sparkling account of a period where such deep extremes of luxury and terror had never before been experienced.

From the glamour of the pre-war parties and casinos, to Robert Streitz’s secret wireless transmitter in the basement of La Pausa – Chanel’s villa that he created – while Chanel had her German lover to stay during the war, Chanel’s Riviera explores the fascinating world of the Cote d’Azur elite in the 1930s and 1940s, enriched with original research that brings the lives of both rich and poor, protected and persecuted, to vivid life.

Format: Audiobook                            Publisher: Orion
Publication date: 13th June 2019  Genre: History, Nonfiction

Find Chanel’s Riviera:  Peace and War on The Côte d’Azur, 1930 – 1944 on Goodreads

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

My Review

When I heard Anne de Courcy talk about her book at Henley Literary Festival last month (read my full review of the event here) she described Chanel’s Riviera as a ‘biography of the Riviera’. I think that’s a fair description because readers expecting the majority of the book to be about Chanel may be disappointed. Yes, Chanel does feature a lot but in sections of the book she is either on the periphery or absent entirely. For example, she spent periods during the war in Paris rather than on the Riviera.

What the book does well is conjure up the glamour and hedonism of life on the Riviera for the rich and famous before the war. The author describes how it became a haven for writers and artists like Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Somerset Maugham, H G Wells and Jean Cocteau, as well as society figures such as Winston Churchill and, later, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

The mood changes suddenly following the outbreak of war. The book depicts the arrival of refugees from Northern Europe, including Jews fleeing persecution, and the food shortages that followed the fall of France in 1940 as supplies were diverted to Germany. Life for many living on the Cote d’Azur became really tough and the author uses material from diaries and contemporary sources to tell the harrowing stories of individuals.

Other than her reputation as a designer, I knew very little about Chanel’s life before reading this book. It was interesting to learn of her rise from humble beginnings to doyenne of the fashion world. However, I can’t say everything I learned made me warm to Chanel as a person. For instance, I was shocked to learn of her anti-Semitic views.

In the book the author addresses claims that Chanel collaborated with the Nazis. For example, she suggests Chanel’s taking of a senior German officer as a lover was principally aimed at trying to gain the release of her nephew who was being held as a prisoner of war by the Germans. However I found myself wondering if ‘the will to survive’ was sufficient justification for some of Chanel’s actions.

As the author recounts, partly what kept Chanel free from the retaliation meted out to others accused of collaboration was the reopening of her Paris store following its liberation in 1944 and the offer of a free bottle of her iconic perfume for every US soldier to take home to their wife or sweetheart. That and being able to produce papers demonstrating her friendship with Winston Churchill.

Chanel’s Riviera is clearly the product of extensive research. For me, the most interesting element of the book was seeing the impact of the Second World War on an area of France which had hitherto been the playground of the rich and famous.

I listened to the audio book version narrated by Sophie Roberts. Chanel’s Riviera is also available in hardcover and as an ebook.

contributor-anne-de-courcyAbout the Author

Anne de Courcy is the author of thirteen widely acclaimed works of social history and biography, including The Husband Hunters, The Fishing Fleet, The Viceroy’s Daughters and Debs At War.

In the 1970s she was Woman’s Editor on the London Evening News and in the 1980s she was a regular feature-writer for the Evening Standard. She is also a former features writer and reviewer for the Daily Mail.  She lives in London SW3. (Photo credit: Publisher author page)

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