Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s comic masterpiece 'The School for Scandal' premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in May 1777. The play was an immediate success earning Drury Lane, which Sheridan owned and managed an enormous amount of money. 'The School for Scandal' explores a fashionable society at once addicted to gossip and yet fearful of exposure. Jokes are had at the expense of aging husbands, the socially inexpert, and, most of all, the falsely sentimental.
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This autumn I was invited to the Havant LitFest, Hampshire, to run a workshop for teenagers and to give a talk about my Y.A. novels, Hidden and Illegal, which are set on Hayling Island, near the festival venue and opposite the Isle of Wight. Once I had agreed the organisers then asked if I would like to be on a panel the night before where I would have to champion the best book ever written.
So – what to choose? The Bible? – a bit obvious. Crime and Punishment? Yes, but even Dostoyevsky muttered to his wife that he had rushed it and should have done a good edit. Ultimately I had to choose a book and it had to be one I could talk about enthusiastically. I chose A Town Like Alice, by Neville Shute.
Here are my reasons :-
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| Langstone Mill - Neville Shute wrote here during the war. |
- Neville Shute wrote for a period of time in the Old Mill, at the top of Hayling Island, five minutes from the venue for the LitFest. One of the books he completed there was Pied Piper, a very unusual war story. Shute is a much loved local literary figure so I had a local connection.
- Shute wrote 23 novels but Alice is the only book based on a true story.
- The true story is the remarkable account told to Shute by a young woman who had been a prisoner of the Japanese along with a group of around 80 Dutch women and children during the occupation of Sumatra. Their story is particularly unusual because the Japanese never settled them into a camp. They simply made them walk round the island for two and a half years until less than 30 were left alive.
- The main character, a young woman called Jean, says in the novel, “People who spent the war in prison camps have written a lot of books about what a bad time they had. They don’t know what it was like not being in a camp.” The entire novel pivots around this heart-breaking statement.
- I don’t want to spoil the book for you so I won’t say any more about this part of the story.
- However, if Shute’s great novel had only dealt with the war story then it would not be my choice for the greatest novel ever. But the war story is only the first half of the book. The second half of the book is set in the remotest part of the Australian Outback. This is a wonderful and fascinating contrast. The book was written in the late 1940s and Shute knew the country very well. At that time Australia was a very different country to the modern high tech place it is today. Shute gives us a wonderful picture of life in the Outback and shows how the Australians established their towns – a town like Alice. He really makes the reader want to leap on a plane and go there.
- By bringing alive two such contrasting settings and placing at the heart of his novel a wonderful love story, Shute has written a classic and a book which I have enjoyed re-reading again and again.
It was therefore easy for me to stand up and champion my book but I have to say, all the other books were brilliant and so well presented that it made for a marvellous, stimulating booky evening.
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| From left to right : Sarah Butterfield, me, David Willetts, Lynn Pick, Mark Waldron, Naomi Foyle |
Here are the other books :
The Sea Around Us by Rachel Larson – presented by Sarah Butterfield, professional artist.
A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume – presented by David Willetts, MP for Havant and husband of Sara Butterfield.
The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giona – presented by Lynne Pick, local resident and artist.
Biggles Takes it Rough, by W.E. Johns – presented by Mark Waldron, Editor of The News, Portsmouth. Mark stated that his first Biggles book started him on the road to becoming a serious and committed reader but without his local library he wouldn't have had access to books at all. For the Dickens centenary celebrations in Portsmouth this year he read the entire works in 14 months – so he has come a long way from good old Biggles and all because of the library.
Queen of Heaven and Earth by Wolkstein and Kramer – presented by Naomi Foyle, poet and author.
Sarah Butterfield won – which was wonderful ( although we all thought Biggles was looking like the front runner)
The audience loved the whole process, which included questions and comments to the panel and a voting system – marbles in jars. ( The better half reckons I came second...but who knows!)
It was an inspiring way to spend an evening on books – many of which were lovingly falling to pieces and a reminder that if we had all stood there with our Kindles it just wouldn't have smelt and looked and felt the same.
What would you have chosen as the best book ever written?
Saturday was beautiful. We had a deck roof to put on, grass to cut, a huge to do list. Blue sky, light breeze, no humidity. Perfect weather for projects!
"Let's go to the sea!" I said. So we did.
Much better than slaving away hammering and staining. We had all day Sunday to do that (which we did).
Playing hookie we scooted Down East to Schoodic Point, a beautiful, wild nature reserve about 1.5hrs drive. The backdrop view from this finger of Maine granite is Acadia National Park. The colours were breath taking. Bright cadmium reds in berrys and hips and haws thrown against viridian green leaves and the ultramarine and prussian of the sea. Surf bubbled and foamed throwing up spits of azure creaminess against grey granite and sparkling malachite rocks. Superb.
Sometimes you just have to obey your desires and GO.
All this beauty was, ofcourse, followed by a cracking fish and chip lunch. OK, not quite up to Yorkshire standards (what is?) but good enough.
This 'call of the sea' seems to be a pervading theme in y life this week. A sketch here from my sketch blog ...
The biggest 'call of the sea' is that we've made the decision (been coming on a long time) to begin the search for a place to live nearer the Maine coast. My hubby works in Belfast, Maine and has a daily commute of about 45mins one way over some beautiful, but very hilly, roads. In winter it can be treacherous and means over 2 hours or more travelling. We have lived in our current house (which we built ourselves) for seven years. It's longer than we imagined we'd stay here. Do I have the seven year itch? Undoubtedly. The 'Call' is strong.
Before I moved to America (2000) I always lived by the sea. I grew up in Scarborough, England, a beautiful fishing town. Then spent 6 years in the Royal Navy and 10 years after that in Portsmouth, England. Coming to America (first to SC) I felt extremely land locked. Although we are only 45 minutes drive from the sea right now ... it's just not the same. Heavens above, if I ever had to live in the Mid West!
That's what's on my mind a lot right now. This move. I am not looking forward to it. The disruption of work and routine. I will be sad to leave our little house, just when we have finished it - it took a while . But the restlessness I am feeling won't be satisfied and gets worse with each passing season, birthday and new year. Better to get the pain over with.! So ... realtors are alerted, their nostrils flared and twitching. Meantime, if you know anyone who would like to buy a sweet logsided house in a country area of Maine, send 'em along.
1 Comments on The Call of the Sea, last added: 9/13/2011
As per usual I’ve returned from holiday travelling with a lot of cool links to share and the admission that I’m behind on my blog reading — and this is me who is never behind, this is all deeply distressing to me — and I bet you are too. Anyhow, some things I’ve enjoyed reading over the past few days. I’m putting a Computers in Libraries column to bed today and it’s talking about widgets. I like talking about widgets.
- Phone box becomes mini-library – small community in Somerset turns old phone box into a lending library/free box for books.
- Portsmouth (NH) public library is having a documentary showing of DIY Nation + artist get together this weekend which looks like fun and a nifty type of program to boot. Plus I sort of stupidly like that they can link right to the book in their catalog. It’s 2009, how many of us can do that yet?
- One line update/coda to the Des Moines photography situation from the DMPL marketing manager “At this month’s meeting, our board voted to remove the requirement that permission be granted for photos to be taken in our library.” Woo!
- Curious to know what’s going to happen at the Hayward (CA) libraries when they go to a Netflix model for lending [pay up front, then no overdue fees]. Looking forward to seeing the crunched numbers at the end of this.
- In another neat model, ArchivesNext reports on the Amsterdam City Archives’ “you ask we scan” approach to digitization. There are some linked slideshows and further data. Interesting model.
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Where the Wild Things Are.
Interesting mix of titles. I've never read A Town Like Alice - on reflection, because of a long-ago cover image - so I am now feeling intrigued.
Best book ever written? Very sorry but I think there are so many good books that It's impossible to choose. What mood? What moment? What kind of language and vocabulary does one feel like reading at the moment? Does a strong plot win over an enticing voice and descriptions you could drop into? Mrs Indecision here so I'm opting out of that question, Miriam.
Good choice Heather! And yes, Penny, it was a bit of a tough call but really a lot of fun on the night.
I've read and enjoyed A Town Like Alice several times, and it's a fascinating read, for all the reasons you describe.
I have to admit I haven't read any of the other titles so you would probably have won my vote!
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Ah - thanks Emma - but I have to say everyone was so completely passionate about their books and gave such wonderful talks it would have been a very hard choice.
What a hard thing to do - champion just one book. A Town Like Alice is not a title I've ever read but from your it is one I'll add to my list.
I can't answer that question either, Miriam. But I read A Town Like Alice several times during my teens and twenties and absolutely loved it. It fascinates me that it ought not to 'work', because of the way it falls into two halves, and yet it succeeds brilliantly.
What an impossible question! What a dilemma!
No doubt in it to say that "The Best Book Ever Written.......... Miriam Halahmy" .The entire novel pivots around this heart-breaking statement.Good one.
A dilemma yes - but also such a fun challenge - in the end we were all just completely passionate about our books. Its a great way to get people fired up about reading - maybe it should become a schools challenge. I bet the kids would love it!