Despite their wide popularity and broad distribution, and their importance in the history of British caricature, the color-plate books and albums of Mary Darly are now quite rare. Who was Mary Darly? "Although most well-known cartoonists have been men, one of the most influential early figures in the field was a woman, Mary Darly. Though often overlooked in histories of the subject, women have p...

Genoa Bay is a quiet sort of book. It's the kind of slowly unfolding novel you might enjoy reading a few chapters at a time on a lazy afternoon. Genoa Bay is the story of Brandy who is still grieving the death of her Navy pilot husband and facing severe financial hardships due to poor record keeping in the military when her surrogate mother dies. Maggie, her surrogate mother, leaves her house...

genre: children's literature Ah, the Gray-Eyed Goddess, Athena. Bless her heart, taking Odysseus in her hands and finally giving him a leg up. While this story is still about Odysseus, we are often in the shoes of his son at home, Telemachus. Telemachus has had it with the suitors harassing his mother, Penelope, and he gets some help of his own from Athena as he decides what to do about his m...

"'You shouldn't talk so loud,'he said. 'As I came up the stairs, I heard every word.' He left them, blankly standing. Mrs Lindsay looked foolish; but Joan was really frightned. She had, for the first time in her life, seen hatred on her brother's face." The idea is a simple one in terms of a son wanting to get away from his mother, from the expectations that surround ...

Todd, Charles.  A Duty to the Dead. A new series for the mother and son team that write as Charles Todd, features Bess Crawford, a WWI nurse.  After the sinking of the hospital ship on which she served, Bess returns to England for recuperation. While in England, Bess feels required to carry out a promise to a wounded soldier with whom she had become very close.  Arthur Graham, short...

I love when another blogger recognizes my blog for an award, but I am sad to say I am really bad sometimes about posting my thank yous (my mother would be appalled!). Here’s what came my way lately in the form of blogger awards: The Happy Award came to me from Home Girl’s Book Blog who

Marmalade consumption is on the decline, apparently, but not here where we have some of my mother's latest batch to keep us going. The Marmalade Festival looks to be in fine fettle too, even offering a prize for the best...

Norwegians are said to be born with skis on their feet—ready from birth for a life in harmony with the inhospitable Nordic nature. Maybe my mother was lacking some important vitamin during the pregnancy. No skis accompanied me into this world. Instead of seeking the woods and mountains like a true Norwegian—“There is no bad weather, only poor clothing!” as we say—I ca...

Selection from 15,000 condolence letters sent to JFK's widow and stored at library published for first time in book A young mother, writing shortly after the assassination of John F Kennedy on 22 November 1963, encapsulated the mood of millions. "Surely this generation," she wrote, "has a deep scar on our hearts which we will carry to our graves." The comment was buried for almost a half cent...

by Laura Geringer illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline Atheneum 2010 "A most unusual bedtime story" the cover touts, and I have to agree: the book does everything in its power to keep kids awake and shouting at their parents to go away and leave them alone. A little gnome sits banging away at his drum. His mother tells him it's time for bed. His response? "Hush! / Don't spoil the rhythm