Each Little World

Anne Perry's WWI novels

"Dedicated to my grandfather,

Captain Joseph Reavley,

who served as chaplain

in the trenches during the Great War."

So begins the initial novel in Anne Perry's five volume series set during the First World War. Four of the five mystery novels begin with similar dedications to family members who served in the military: Perry's stepfather was one of the last officers to leave the beaches of Dunkirk in June, 1940; her father was a scientific advisor to the admiralty during WWII; and her brother's an army surgeon.

Canadian stretcher bearers carry wounded through the mud at Passchendaele (aka Third Battle of Ypres, 31 July-10 November 1917). Copyright permission: This item is from The First World War Poetry Digital Archive or the Great War Archive, University of Oxford (www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa).

 

Family background alone would qualify Perry as knowledgeable about the sacrifices members of the military — and their families — make. Add that to a long and successful career as a mystery novelist and you've got the makings of a superb series of wartime stories. In fact, Perry makes her grandfather, Joseph Reavley, the protagonist in the opening book of the series, "No Graves As Yet." The title, like the titles of all the books in the series, are taken from poems of the era and are quoted at the opening of earch volume.

VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) fitters at work on a car at Etaples. Copyright permission: This item is from The First World War Poetry Digital Archive or the Great War Archive, University of Oxford (www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa).

 

"No Graves As Yet" opens with that quintessential English scene: a game of cricket on a summer afternoon. But the golden moment is shattered with the announcement of the death of Joseph Reavley's parents in an automobile accident. But when Joseph gathers with his siblings to mourn their parents, his brother Matthew — who works in British intelligence — suggests their deaths may not have been an accident. A cryptic phone message to Matthew from their father the day before his death suggests he had found an incendiary document that could bring down the British government and even destroy the nation's honor and reputation. 

The story follows the two brothers as they search for the document their father referenced, try to determine who's behind it, who can be trusted and what should they do with this information. 

German factory workers in 1917. The original caption says that the munitions are made with 'heart and hand for the Fatherland'. Copyright permission: This item is from The First World War Poetry Digital Archive or the Great War Archive, University of Oxford (www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa).

 

The five books move among the four fictional Reavley siblings, who also include Judith, an ambulance dirver on the Western Front, and Hannah, living with her young children in the family home; Hannah's husband who's in the British navy also appears. There's a cast of recurring characters, mostly townspeople and soldiers in the ranks, who are as well-drawn and real as the main figures, and who allow us to follow people at all levels of society at the front and at home. 

The books scan a wide range of subjects and locations, ranging from family relationships, university and small town life, to the struggle for Irish independence; from Ypres to Gallipoli to the Battle of Jutland. They are totally satisfying stories that never seem false. Though Perry always catches you up on the characters and the prior action in each book, there is a richness of detail and association that accumulates by reading them in order: "No Graves as Yet," "Angels in the Gloom, "Shoulder the Sky," "At Some Disputed Barricade," and "We Shall Not Sleep." 

Andre Kertesz: Latrine. Poland, 1915. (When I was trying to find this Kertesz image, I discovered this poem based on the photo). Click on the photo to enlarge it which will give you a graphic idea of a soldier's life in the Great War.

. . .

Since Perry's books all began with a quote from WWI-era poetry, I visited the Great War Archive, an amazing on-line resource which includes photos and The First World War Digital Poetry Archive, among its categories. Many of the items in the archive were submitted digitally by individuals who had retained family items from WWI, thus providing much more material to scholars. According to the archive: 

"Over four months in 2008 the public were invited to submit digital images of items originating from the First World War. This proved a powerful means of building the archive and making use of the Internet’s ability to tap into amateur digitisation and bring together unknown collections. Because of the chronological proximity of the First World War, many people hold personal items to do with the war that they have been happy to share via a straightforward licence. All submissions required basic metadata, copyright clearance, limited in file size, and have been vetted before release. In total over 6,500 items were submitted to the archive, all of which are now freely available online in the Great War Archive."

These items came from people from different countries and different sides of the conflict, like the German factory photo (2nd from the bottom).

20 Ways to transform your garden . . .

That's the phrase that caught my eye on the cover of Gardens Illustrated magazine the other day at Barnes & Noble. The magazine's editors consider this topic the garden equivalant of New Year's resolutions. Certainly in cold climates like mine, this is the time of year when we are mentally adding, subtracting and redesigning the garden; always a much easier task when you can't actually get out into it and do any work.

Here are a few of the items on their list of suggestions (along with a bit of explanation, my commentary and my photos. Their pix are lovely but very British).

• GROW TOPIARY. They mean hedges as a foil to mixed borders. We've addred yew, boxwood and barberry balls to our driveway flower border as there's no room for a hedge. Someday these shrubs will meet in a long wave and we'll remove most of the surrounding flowers. It's our pre-emptive prep for old age gardening.
• ADD LATE-SEASON FLOWERS. I've got toadlilies and asters and just added Caryopteris. Got something you love for fall?
• LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE. Light the garden at night for safety and to get more use out of it, they suggest. We still prefer to wait for a full moon. 
• KEEP A RECORD. Take pictures and notes; something I manage on a fairly regular basis — for the blog if nothing else. Though, to be honest, Mark is usually behind the camera and I'm wielding the pen for the blog. But this year I'd like to try to improve my own photo-taking abilities. (And I still keep paper garden records and journals).

• MOVE YOUR FURNITURE .... so you sit facing the garden and not the house. We only have one seating area in the garden but it faces the best view.
• USE POTS. They note that pots take a lot of work but are worth it. I am trying to add some planted pots to the garden, but frankly, a beautiful empty pot can make a statement, too.
• SHADOW PLAY. Purely by accident we created a couple of features that look great with early and late low raking light. Now we look for occasions to do more of the same. The east and west sides of a garden are particularly well-suited to this idea.

This image illustrates "shadow play" and "use pots". Again, the light effect was an accident but it taught us where to place plants and garden objects to catch light and shadows. And the group of pots shows they can be as effective empy as when they're planted. 

Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History

It is an article of faith with me that a place consists of everything that has happened there; it is a reservoir of memories, and understanding those memories is not a trap but a liberation, a menu of possibilities. The richer the knowledge, the wider the options. Multiplicity is all. The only enemy is narrow, singular definition. And Sissinghurst, perhaps like any place that people have loved, is layered with these multiplicities. 

— Adam Nicolson

Is there a gardener anywhere, no matter the size, style or location of their garden, who does not know of Sissinghurst? Who cannot mentally envison the white garden or the view from the Tower? If you can do that, imagine what it would be like to spend your childhood roaming the landscape at Sissinghurst and then wake up one morning and know it's yours. And yet it's not.

That's the predicament of Adam Nicolson whose grandparents — Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson — restored the Elizabethan buildings to create a home at Sissinghurst and designed and built the famed gardens surrounding it. Nicolson inherited it from his father who assured its continuity by giving it to Britain's National Trust. Sissinghurst is one of the few Trust properties that has been a successful tourist attraction from the get-go.

But to Adam it is missing its heart: the working farm that existed as part of Sissinghurst for hundreds of years. Nicolson wants Sissinghurst to have that working center again. To put it in simple terms, he wants to "grow lunch," believeing "a good lunch would make a good landscape." How he tries to go about making changes at Sissinghurst — and whether he can or should do so — is an engrossing story no matter what way you look at it.

"Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History" is a must-read for anyone who loves Sissinghurst in order to understand not only its long and complex story but the larger implications of becoming a Trust propery. But Nicolson gives us so much more than that; it's  a story about family, history, ecology, change, tradition, consensus, individuality, and, of course, creating a garden. All of it so beautifully and thoughtfully written that I found myself reading phrases and paragraphs a second time, and though you can't tell it from this review, I compiled five pages of notes by the time I finished the book! 

Nicolson in the Rose Garden at Sissinghurst. NTPL/Penny Tweedie 

Reading Downton Abbey

Viewers who are watching the PBS drama Downton Abbey are apparently likely candidates for books dealing with the subjects of the series, according to a recent story in the New York Times. So publishers are working to provide them with titles that look at the upstairs/downstairs relationships in great houses and at World War I (which pretty much put an end to many of England's great houses). So I thought I would offer a few suggestions as I like those topics as well — and have a whole shelf of books devoted to WWI.

I've written about some of my favorite books, especially those that look at women, their roles in WWI and the aftermath here and here and here. 

I'm currently reading Peter Englund's "The Beauty and The Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First Wold War," translated by Peter Graves. This book looks at the war through the eyes, words and actions of twenty people who were there. Men and women of all ages, from all branches of the services and a variety of countries on both sides of the conflict are represented. Though the book looks at the Western Front, much of the action takes place in different theaters of the war than we often see covered in such books; both Africa and the Eastern Front (including Russia before and after the Revolution) get a lot of ink. This is war on the ground, on the front lines and in soup kitchens and hospitals, in deserts and on mountaintops told in the words of the people who were following orders, rather than making them.

 

The cover photo from "The Beauty and The Sorrow" is from the Minnesota Historical Society.

I read this fascinating tidbit in "The Beauty and the Sorrow" after watching the first episode of Downton Abby/Season Two; the scene where Mary gives Matthew her good luck stuffed toy animal. This is about Alfred Pollard, a British infantryman, age 21, on the Wesern Front in December, 1917:

"He is carrying a new mascot in his pocket — a small china doll with a lilac ribbon round its waist and an angelic expression painted on its face. It is a gift from the sister of Mary, the woman who turned down his marriage proposal so firmly. Pollard has christened the doll Billiken and he always carries it with him from now on."

"The Beauty and The Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First Wold War" is available from the South Central Library System in Wisconsin. 

Clare Leighton

When I first became interested in gardening in the mid-1970s, there were few books on the subject being published in the U.S. Thus most of my early garden book were all purchases from second-hand bookshops. My favorite local source was Paul's Books on State St. here in Madison, a model of everything one wants in such a shop: tons of titles, knowledgeable staff, wood floors and shelves, and a window filled with plants, art and alluring titles.

One of my favorite finds from Paul's is "Four Hedges: A Gardener's Chronicle," written and illustrated with wood engraving by Clare Leighton. I'm fortunate that I happened upon a 1935 first edition for only $8.95. The reasonable price reflects the fact that there is a hand-written inscription inside the front cover: Carrie Ashton Johnson from Bertha / August 24th, 1936. (Any readers recognize those names? An aunt or grandmother from Wisconsin, perhaps?)

 

 

I mention "Four Hedges" — the opening chapter is pictured above — because the book has just been re-issued by Little Toller Books, an imprint of Dovecote Press which re-publishes classic titles about nature and rural life. You can find used copies on Amazon or buy it new (free shipping) from the UK Book Depository for only $15.26. 

 

When Leighton wrote "Four Hedges" she was a novice gardener but a highly skilled artist. I admit that I have only ever read bits and pieces of the text over the years. Though it's delightful, it was Leighton's wood engravings that spurred me to purchase the book. For much of his art career my husband has done wood cuts and wood engravings, so the book seemed like a must for our garden library — and the perfect gift for him.

The Jan./Feb. issue of the magazine "Antiques" featured an excellent article about the illustrations Leighton did for the Wedgwood china company in the late 1940s. The firm commissioned a set of 12 engravings depicting New England industries to be reproduced on a series of Wedgwood plates. The project took three years of research and execution. 

The scenes Leighton chose could be considered farewell messages as they depict American life on the cusp of major changes. The images on the plates resonate strongly with me because they show industries that were also once critical to Wisconsin: ice cutting, cranberrying and logging. We are still a major producer of cranberries and lumber. 

This is the back of the plate pictured above. Anyone who has seen white pines of almost any size or age can understand Leighton's description and just imagine those ancient forests that went sailing around the world. 

The View from Great Dixter

For a lucky few, Great Dixter and its resident genius, Christopher Lloyd, were more than linked names in a steady stream of gardening publications. They were the embodiment of home and hospitality; doors and arms thrown wide to welcome artists and writers, cooks and gardeners, neighbors and friends who piqued the interest of Christo, as he was known to this extended family. Though gardeners from around the globe have visited Dixter over the years, few have had the kind of intimate experiences this particular group recounts in words and pictures in "The View from Great Dixter: Christopher Lloyd's Garden Legacy."

So much of what we generally read about Christo and Dixter is limited to the garden and the plants. While that is certainly a wonderful part of this new book from Timber Press, what makes the book such a delightful read are all the other parts of Christo's life that are included here: music, poetry, food, needlework, the Lloyd family, and the marvelous structure that housed it all: Great Dixter. Parts of the house date back to 1220 and it is Dixter's tiled roof, wide floorboards, mullioned windows and great room with the ceiling soaring upward to beams 31 feet overhead that add a sense of history and mystery to the stories.

 

 

Though many of the stories come from the well-known in the garden world, I most enjoyed those from the potters, artists and furniture makers who knew Christo through his appreciation of their work. Lloyd and his mother, Daisy, were both amazing needleworkers and so the great embroiderer Thomasina Beck was naturally a friend and talks here about textiles. She also describes Christo sitting almost in the fireplace as it was the only spot warm enough to cream the butter and sugar for the evening's pudding! 

No matter how much you think you may know about Christopher Lloyd and Great Dixter, this book will open your eyes in the most entertaining way. All royalties from the sale of the book will go to the Great Dixter Charitable Trust to "maintain the site as an innovative center for horticulture." 

To order the book, click on the book's title or the Timber Press links in the text above.

Reading the Great War

Every time I walk into my local branch of the public library I seem to notice another new group of books about WWI, and I always find myself taking them home. Because America entered the war so near the end, most Americans — unlike me — seem to know little and care less about WWI than earlier or later wars that involved the U.S. But WWI is still the war in Europe; it changed everyone and everything. The death totals stagger one's ability to comprehend: 

An estimated 1,300,000 Frenchmen died in WWI compared to 567,000 in WWII. The British Empire suffered approximately 908,000 deaths in World War I, more than twice the number of World War II. July 1, 1916  — the first Battle of The Somme — is still the bloodiest single day in the history of the British Army, with 60,000 killed. This resonates so much because most of these soldiers were volunteers who had joined up with friends, family and neighbors. Whole towns in England were decimated of male residents in this one battle. 

Two of the more interesting titles I brought home from the library are:

"The World War I Reader: Primary and Secondary Sources," edited by Michael S. Neiberg, who is Professor of History and Codirector of the Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Southern Mississippi. The book includes maps, timelines, brief bios of the major players and texts ranging from Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points to excerpts from the letters of Vera Brittain to Roland Leighton in the section of on the Home Front. (You can't read WWI literature without meeting Vera Brittain and reading her letters and books is a life-changing experience). The primary sources give you the immediacy of the war while the secondary sources try to put it all into context; thus readers get both historical and contemporary views on the war. 

The Cheshire Regiment in the trenches on the Somme, 1916. It is not entirely clear if the soldier on the left (whose boots are visible) and the one in the right foreground are dead or sleeping. But given the stance of the soldier looking out of the trench, it suggests the others are dead. (Wikipedia photo).

 

"The Greatest Day in History: How, on the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month, the First World War Finally Came to an End," by Nicholas Best, looks at the ending days of the war from Monday, Nov. 4, 1918 through the entire day of Nov. 11, 1918. In fact, 11,000 casualties were sustained on the morning the war ended. The last American to die — one minute before peace was declared — was a German-American solider from Baltimore who was drafted against his will. Best looks at these last days through the words of eyewitnesses, including Hitler, de Gaulle, Truman, Hemingway — and future WWII generals Patton, MacArthur, and Montgomery. There are as many stories, players, and quirky details as in Juliet Nicolson's book, "The Great Silence," and as many evocative photographs; though Best focuses more on the battles and politics of the last week of the war than Nicholson's broader approach.

Another post about WWI lit can be found here.

The Great Silence

"Slowly, slowly the wound to the soul begins to make itself felt, like a bruise which only slowly deepens in its terrible ache, till it fills all the psyche. And when we think we have recovered and forgotten, it is then that the terrible after-effects have to be encountered at their worst."

— D.H. Lawrence

. . .

 

Juliet Nicolson's last book looked at "The Perfect Summer:" England in 1911 just before WWI. Her latest work, "The Great Silence," looks at life in Britain in the first years immediately after the war when most of the country seemed to be coping with life by not talking about the war or mentioning those who didn't come home. 

The war officially ended at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. She focuses on the moment of silence that has been observed annually since 11/11/1919 (noting only Americans were too busy to stop and remember) and the unveiling of the Cenotaph memorial along with the interment of the Unknown Solider on 11/11/1920. It's the period between the "falling silent of the guns and the roaring of the 1920." 

But what makes this such a fascinating read is that Nicolson weaves together hundreds of stories and statistics into a complex tapestry whose strands never become tangled. The cast includes everyone from the Royal family to Vera Brittain, from the doctor who virtually invented plastic surgery to Nellie Melba, from T.E. Lawrence  to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. 

What is noteworthy is that there are so many women in NIcolson's tale — war widows, the first woman MP, university graduates, war workers and domestics — all make numerous appearances. Nicolson is one of the few writing about the war who recognizes that it affected and involved women as deeply as men. Women, as a whole, were one of the few groups for whom the war actually changed things for the better — ultimately bringing them the vote and wide job opportunities. 

Soldiers at Roehampton Hospital in London, which was a center for prosthetic limbs. Over 41,000 men lost at least one limb during the war. The amount of compensation by the British government depended on which limb was lost. Nicolson includes a significant amount of information about post-war medicine in the book. Photo from "The Great Silence."

Selvedge: American special

I bought my first issue of Selvedge magazine (No. 3) in 2004. I was helpless from the moment I spied it on the rack at Borders. I recognized it for what it was and still is: porn for textiles fanatics. Finally it wasn't just the foodies who had a magazine filled with history, trivia, creativity, inspiration and luscious photos about their favorite subject. The only problem was the cover price: $20. Published in the UK, the American edition cost as much as a book. I just bit the bullet and kept buying it — until the price crept up to $30! 

So you can imagine my surprise and pleasure when I saw the July/Aug. issue with a banner saying "American Issue / Special Price $14.95." Of course I bought a copy; the price being even cheaper than when I began purchasing selvedge. And it had an attractive graphic (as always) about cotton, a story on the history of the fiber and one on how the American Civil War affected Britain's textile industry. I had suggested the topic of cotton and the Civil War to the textile study group I belong to as an apt study subject since we are approaching the Sesquicentennial of the War. They agreed, put it on our November agenda and I've been compiling bits and pieces of information ever since — so the selvedge articles are providential. 

But the real happy ending to this story is that the special American price on selvedge was not just for this issue. Rumor has it that they now have the ability to print the magazine here for American readers, thus the price is now more in line with what it costs in Europe. USA subscriptions will cost $40 for 6 months or $75 for a year (making it $12.50 per copy according to the subscription form). Read more about the magazine and how to subscribe here.

Helen Dillon and Anna Pavord

Some books are best borrowed from the public library: Like garden books with lots of pictures on subjects of interest by well-known authors. They're usually interesting but expensive which translates into nothing I absolutely need to add to my personal library. 

I'd been on the Madison library waiting list for Anna Pavord's book, "Bulbs," for months. When it finally arrived, I discovered it's huge, gorgeous and has lots of information on bulbs I can't grow (anything whose name begins with an X or Z). I did make a few notes on species I'm currently growing or want to try. But it is a definitive tome if the subject is dear to your heart, having untold numbers of bulbs listed alphabetically from Acis to Zigadenus. And multiple listings under almost every letter. The plant portraits are absolutely stunning and there are also images of assorted bulbs growing in place so you get a sense of scale and use. 

But my favorite things in Pavord's book were all the bits of history and the sweetly satisfying people photographs. There's a wonderful one of E A Bowles relaxing on a garden bench, and a portrait of Mrs. R. O. Backhouse (Sarah) of daffodil and martagon lily fame. Gardeners may know the names of these pioneers but few of us have ever seen a likeness. Almost worth the price of admission: $39.99. 

Here are Pavord's top ten bulbs from an article in the UK Telegraph newspaper.

 

I own Helen Dillon's "Garden Artistry" and have always loved her Dublin garden. Dillon is an author and public speaker who's also a true gardener with lots of advice and opinions. While her latest book, "Down to Earth," is literally about Dillon's own garden, her lessons have much broader application no matter where you live or how you garden. I enjoyed everything I read and came away with some very specific ideas for my own garden — like turning some of my boxwood balls into box bowls.

Dillon — like the late Christopher Lloyd — had no qualms about pulling out the central feature of her well-known garden. About ten years ago Dillon replaced her lawn with a water canal surrounded by hardscaping rather than green. It sent shock waves into the garden world, but looking at it now it was clearly the right decision by Dillon. 

She writes seriously — as well as amusingly — about wrong decisions, making changes and moving on. Dillon's tone is forthright and friendly if sometimes her concerns are a bit repetitive. She's had continuing problems with garden visitors who help themselves to her plants; something I think only happens when you and your garden are both famous!

I think this latest book is ideally suited to gardeners who've been at it a while and need someone with more experience to help them revisit and revise their own gardens. At $29.99, it's cheaper than flying to Dublin.

 

Note: I got both of these books from the public library and did not receive compensation of any kind for these reviews.