Clemence Dane
Description
Clemence Dane's real name was Winifred Ashton. She was born in London in 1888. At the age of 16 she went to Geneva to teach French. Later she studied art at the Slade School and in Dresden, taught again in Ireland, and then went on the stage, where for five years she acted under the name "Diana Curtis." She borrowed her nom de plume from the church of St. Clement Danes. Her first book, published in 1917, was the famous Regiment of Women. She followed it with Legend, which became a very successful play. Her later novels include Wandering Star, He Brings Great News and The Flower Girls. She collaborated with Helen de Guerry Simpson on three books, all detective stories (a genre which neither had explored before) and all extremely successful: Enter Sir John, Printer's Devil and Re-Enter Sir John. She was made a C.B.E. in 1953, and died in 1965.
Books
The Scoop / Behind the Screen
"The Scoop" first appeared as a serial in the Listener in 1931. "Behind the Screen" first appeared as a serial in the Listener in 1930. The two serials were first published in book form in the UK by Victor Gollancz Ltd in 1983 and in the US by Harper & Row in 1984. It was another foggy night in London when the members of the world-renowned Detection Club gathered to repeat the success of their jointly authored book, The Floating Admiral. Each writer worked on the mysteries without knowing the solutions the others had planned. When the creators of Miss Marple, Lord Peter Wimsey and other sleuths get together, you can be sure the mysteries will be monumental, the detection delightful, and the results exciting!
Broome Stages
A review quoted in the blog, Clothes in Books: "It’s a very long book indeed, (700 pages), and in a very general way it’s a family saga, but it’s like no family saga I’ve ever read, before or since. It spans 1715 to 1930, and covers seven generations of a theatrical family. The story begins with travelling players in tavern courtyards, and traces the family’s fortunes – through the Victorian actor managers, those lovely fruity characters who re-wrote Shakespeare to suit themselves – and on into the opening years of the 20th century, with the onset of the early movies. It’s about the changing world of the theatre, but it’s also about the Broomes themselves – their loves and hates, and feuds and plots. It’s about their fortunes in the theatre world – the buying of theatres, the building of a theatrical dynasty. Woven into it all, is the famous ‘Broome charm’ – the gift bestowed on the first Broome of them all by a notorious witch of the time. As a result – “All the Broomes have charm,” explains the opening line. “It is their epithet.” The writing is exquisite – polished and graceful – and the characters and their backgrounds are so vivid that the present-day dissolves as you read." Sarah Rayne
Regiment of Women
A bizarre sex role reversal novel in the world of the future where feminism has run completely amuck. Boys are raised to be passive and girls are raised to be tough, mean, and aggressive. The women of this world have taken on the superficial characteristics of men. They are parodies of men as the men are of women. They must use dildos on their boy-slaves in order to luxuriate in their absolute domination of them. Sex is presented as power. The main character of the novel is the completely feminized male secretary Goergie Cornell, who dresses and acts like a woman, and has major psychological problems. The book serves as a warning for those who wish to defy nature and try to "masculinize" women.
Enter Sir John
When Sir John Saumerez, the famous actor-manager, told an aspiring young actress, called Martella Baring, to go and get a couple of years' experience in provincial rep., he couldn't have known that this cliché-advice would bring her into the shadow of the gallows. Whether or not she had committed the murder of which she now stood accused, she was certainly no responsibility of his. And, as his aunt observed, it wasn't as though he were in love with her. But, when a man in the club talked unpleasantly about Miss Baring, Sir John, who never made scenes except between eight-thirty and eleven, stalked angrily out of the room. He scarcely understood his own interest in the case. It was a fact, however: and Sir John Saumerez was a man of action, fond of making large gestures. So he determined to save Martella Baring if he could.
Wild Decembers
" ... charts the quick but sure demise of relations between 'the warring sons of warring sons' ... in the countryside of western Ireland."--Back cover.
Legend
As teenagers, Raine Beaumont and Joseph Colorado tasted the joys of first love, until her father’s lies destroyed their fragile bond. Now, twelve years later, Raine receives news that will take her back to her hometown of Oracle, Arizona, where she will face her lost love again.Haunted by the memory of the boy she once adored, Raine was not prepared for the mysterious, seductive man before her. For deep in Joseph’s eyes lies a power that binds him to his Apache heritage, a power that promises to heal all wounds and restore long lost dreams…and love.