Review: Between the sheets : the literary liaisons of nine 20th-century women writers by Lesley McDowell

Shut eyes to dirty hair, ragged nails. He is a genius. I his wife.
- Sylvia Plath, 1958

Review submitted by: Rachel
Title: Between the sheets : the literary liaisons of nine 20th-century women writers
Author: Lesley McDowell
ISBN: 9781590202388
Publisher: Overlook Press
Published: 2010
Genre: Non-fiction
Age group: Adult
Rating: 4 out of 5

Synopsis: Why did a gifted writer like Sylvia Plath stumble into a marriage that drove her to suicide? Why did Hilda Doolittle want to marry Ezra Pound when she was attracted to women? Why did Simone DeBeauvoir pimp for Jean-Paul Sartre? The author examines the extent to which each woman was prepared to put artistic ambition before personal happiness, and how dependent on their male writing partners these women felt themselves to be. She probes the consequences of the women's codependence and reveals how in many instances, their partnerships liberated unspoken desires, encouraged artistic innovations, and even shored up literary reputations. Fascinating and innovative, this book is an invaluable addition to libraries of literary criticism and feminism.

Review: Private and Confidential by Marion Ripley

"Laura got out the photo of Malcolm. He looked so fit and happy in the picture, it was hard to imagine him being ill in hospital. The she had an idea. She would send him a Get Well card, and she would do it in braille!"
- Private and confidential by Marion Ripley

Review submitted by: Sonja
Title: Private and confidential
Author: Marion Ripley
ISBN: 0711220972
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Published: 2003
Genre: Picture books
Age group: Children
Rating: 4 out of 5

Synopsis: When Laura's Australian penfriend goes blind she decides to learn braille so that she can send him a get-well-soon card. They are soon corresponding in Braille, making their letters private and confidential.

How do you write to a friend who can't see?

Review: The Poet's Cottage by Josephine Pennicott

You are invited to a murder. The diabolical event will take place at Poet's Cottage on Saturday 17 August...
- Poet's Cottage by Josephine Pennicott

Review submitted by: Rachel
Title: Poet's cottage
Author: Josephine Pennicott
ISBN: 9781742610894
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2012
Genre: General fiction
Age group: Adult
Rating: 4 out of 5

Synopsis: When Sadie inherits Poet's Cottage in the Tasmanian fishing town of Pencubitt, she sets out to discover all about her notorious grandmother, Pearl Tatlow. Pearl was a children's writer who scandalised 1930s Tasmania with her behaviour.

Haunting...murder-mystery/narrator's path of self-discovery yarn