Book of the Week
L E L by Lucasta Miller
On 15 October 1838, the body of a thirty-six-year-old woman was found in Cape Coast Castle, West Africa, a bottle of Prussic acid in her hand. She was one of the most famous English poets of her day: Letitia Elizabeth Landon, known by her initials `L.E.L.' What was she doing in Africa? Was her death an accident, as the inquest claimed? Or had she committed suicide, or even been murdered? To her contemporaries, she was an icon, hailed as the `female Byron', admired by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Heinrich Heine, the young Bronte sisters and Edgar Allan Poe. However, she was also a woman with secrets, the mother of three illegitimate children whose existence was subsequently wiped from the record. After her death, she became the subject of a cover-up which is only now unravelling. Too scandalous for her reputation to survive, Letitia Landon was a brilliant woman who made a Faustian pact in a ruthless world. She embodied the post-Byronic era, the `strange pause' between the Romantics and the Victorians. This new investigation into the mystery of her life, work and death excavates a whole lost literary culture.
Book at Bedtime
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal is the intoxicating story of a young woman who aspires to be an artist, and the man whose obsession may destroy her world for ever. London. 1850. The greatest spectacle the city has ever seen is being built in Hyde Park, and among the crowd watching two people meet. For Iris, an aspiring artist, it is the encounter of a moment - forgotten seconds later, but for Silas, a collector entranced by the strange and beautiful, that meeting marks a new beginning. When Iris is asked to model for pre-Raphaelite artist Louis Frost, she agrees on the condition that he will also teach her to paint. Suddenly her world begins to expand, to become a place of art and love. But Silas has only thought of one thing since their meeting, and his obsession is darkening . .
Pitzhanger Manor
The story of this remarkable house and of its creator, whose influence is as strong today as ever. Sir John Soane was one of Britain's most influential architects when he designed and built Pitzhanger Manor between 1800 and 1804.
He intended this country estate to reflect his new-found social status and to showcase both his skills as an architect and his eclectic collection of art and antiquities.
Newly conserved and returned to his original design, Pitzhanger is a rare London example of a spectacular Soane building.
This guide tells the story of this remarkable house and of its creator, whose influence is as strong today as ever.
These are the books that were most popular with our customers last week......
1. BBC Proms Guide 2019
2 So Much Life Left Over by Louis de Bernieres
3. Love is Blind by William Boyd
4. Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
5. Circe by Madeline Miller
6. Pitzhanger Manor: John Soane's Country Home
7. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
8. Underland by Robert Macfarlane
9. Normal People by Sally Rooney
10. Transcription by Kate Atkinson
If you would like to read any of these books, please send us a message from our contacts page, and we will reserve a copy for you.
The Favourite
This film starring Olivia Coleman is about Queen Anne and her close relationship with Sarah Churchill, all of which is covered in this excellent book by Joanne Limburg.
Every time I see the King and the Queen, I am reminded of what it is I have done, and then I am afraid, I am beyond all expression afraid. The wicked, bawdy Restoration court is no place for a child princess. Ten-year-old Anne cuts an odd figure: a sickly child, she is drawn towards improper pursuits. Cards, sweetmeats, scandal and gossip with her Ladies of the Bedchamber figure large in her life. But as King Charles's niece, Anne is also a political pawn, who will be forced to play her part in the troubled Stuart dynasty. As Anne grows to maturity, she is transformed from overlooked Princess to the heiress of England. Forced to overcome grief for her lost children, the political manoeuvrings of her sister and her closest friends and her own betrayal of her father, she becomes one of the most complex and fascinating figures of English history.
Pitshanger Bookshop has been a feature on Pitshanger Lane for nearly 20 years. My name is Fiona Kennedy and I've owned the shop since August 2011.
