Sunday, January 27, 2013

Melanie Benjamin

Alice I Have Been is Melanie Benjamin's first historical novel; The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb is her second.

Her latest book, The Aviator's Wife, is a novel about Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

Recently I asked the author what she was reading.  Benjamin's reply:
I’ve long been a fan of quintessentially British novels, particularly those written between the wars, such as The Provincial Lady series, and the Mapp and Lucia novels. There’s something so dry and witty and comforting about those novels, to me; I just lose myself in them, perhaps because they’re so different than the novels I write. And when I’m writing, I do tend to read novels that are completely different and restful; “comfort food,” in a way. So imagine my delight when I recently discovered a charming series of these British novels, reissued under the umbrella of The Bloomsbury Group, all with matching, colorful covers. I’ve bought them all, and am in the midst of devouring them: Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, Miss Hargreaves, Love's Shadow, A Kid for Two Farthings, Mrs. Ames, Let's Kill Uncle, The Brontes Went to Woolworths, Henrietta's War, and Henrietta Sees It Through … all very much in the vein of the novels I first mentioned; gentle comedies of manners, generally set in small English villages between the wars. I can’t recommend them enough.
The Page 69 Test: The Aviator's Wife.

--Marshal Zeringue