For the Love of a Milk Bar October 30, 2023 From the 1930s milk bars provided a rare insight into Australia’s social history. Beloved by Australians, they are often feted in its literature. More The Lost Carving, David Esterly, St James’s Church Piccadilly, London August 20, 2023 An encounter with an altarpiece changed the course of David Esterly’s life. He dropped academia to follow in the footsteps of Britains greatest woodcarver. More Finding the Words and the Bards June 12, 2023 A Story about the revival of the Cornish language (Kernewek) and Cornwall’s Bardic Tradition More Gilded Age, Edith Wharton, New York April 3, 2023 Edith's debut was an ordeal: she felt both an outsider in a society that was hers by birth and grievously misunderstood by her mother. More A Sweet Madness, Dylan and Caitlin Thomas, The Wheatsheaf, London January 23, 2023 Fitzrovia’s iconic pub, the Wheatsheaf, can boast many literary connections but it is best known as the place where Dylan Thomas met his wife, Caitlin. More The Society Failures, Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf, London December 17, 2022 The Stephen sisters had an awkward debut in society: 'we can't shine...We ain't popular', was Virginia's verdict. More The Fitzrovians, Fitzroy Tavern, London March 28, 2022 Between the wars, London’s Fitzroy Tavern was one of the most feted pubs in the world, attracting a colourful clientele from the arts and other walks of life. More Bright Star, John Keats, Thomas Hardy February 12, 2022 A stretch of coastline on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast connects two of England’s greatest poets. More Going to the Chapel, Daphne du Maurier, Fowey, Cornwall November 28, 2021 Daphne’s meeting with Tommy Browning and their wedding in a hauntingly beautiful setting has the ring of a du Maurier novel. More Atmosphere is a Human Thing, The French House, Soho October 1, 2021 Stories from one of the last bastions of louche old Soho, a magnet for writers, artists, actors, and the Free French forces during the Second World War. More Hemingway’s Island, Paris October 1, 2021 At twenty-two, newly married, and freshly arrived in Paris, the then capital of literature, art and music, everything seemed possible to Hemingway. More Parties and Debuts, Jane Austen, Bath October 1, 2021 Forced to move to Bath at twenty-five, Jane Austen loathed its pretension, and ‘stupid’ parties. The first of a series that explores the impact of social traditions on literary lives. More
