Angela Hicken / Hampshire Reading Detectives

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Virginia Smith remembered

30 October 2009 Local writer Daniel Clay asked me whether I had been aware of Virginia Smith (aka Virginia Warbey) who was a Chandlers Ford based writer and a part-time librarian in Winchester. She had two novels published - 'The Ropemakers Daughter' and... Read more or Comment (1 comments)

New Milton's new Milton Find!

30 October 2009 I've just been contacted by Dr A J Risdon, reminding me about the poet John Heath-Stubbs. He grew up in New Milton, Hampshire, and was blind. Even though he settled in London John never forgot Hampshire. He was partially sighted... Read more or Comment (1 comments)

Nicola Slade's Victorian Mysteries Find!

22 October 2009 Nicola Slade is a writer from Winchester. Her first book for adults was 'Scuba Dancing' and was followed by a departure in style with 'Murder Most Welcome', described as a cosy mystery. Her next book is due in December, published by... Read more or Comment (1 comments)

England's Lost Eden Find!

21 October 2009 A superb book from our local 'Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction' Winner Philip Hoare. "This is a terrific idiosyncratic piece of popular history" Sunday Times 'England's Lost Eden: Adventures in Victorian Utopia' is about the history of the Girlingites, a bizarre... Read more or Comment

June Tate Find!

21 October 2009 This afternoon I attended a packed house at Hythe Library to listen to a writer who was born and raised in Southampton and uses the area as a setting in her popular saga novels. June Tate is currently writng her... Read more or Comment

Bullington Find!

20 October 2009 Bullington is a parish about 9 miles south east of Andover, in the Test Valley. In the 2001 census its population was 101. Bullington by Cicely Fox Smith, 1917 It was in the high midsummer, and the sun was shining... Read more or Comment

Speed The Plough: A Country Song Find!

20 October 2009 This poem was passed to me by an archivist at Hampshire Records Office Speed The Plough: A Country Song by Cicely Fox Smith, 1916 As I was a-walking on Chilbolton Down,I saw an old farmer there driving to town,A-jogging... Read more or Comment

Queens Arms Find!

15 October 2009 I've lifted this from Rob Illingworth's fantastic pub literary link - thanks for guiding us to a great site fellow Detective... Josephine Tozier, the American travel writer made visit a in 1904 to the Queen's Arms, Selborne. Arriving at Alton station after telegraphing... Read more or Comment

Haslar Hospital Memories Find!

15 October 2009 Yesterday I had the pleasure of listening to Lilian Harry talk to a group of eager and loyal readers about her writing, research and the roots of her stories in local places. She spoke about how researching often took her... Read more or Comment

The Play Room Find!

30 September 2009 Olivia Manning (1908-1980) is best known for her Balkan Trilogy and Levant Trilogy, produced for the BBC some years ago under its collective title The Fortunes of War, starring the young Branagh and Thompson. Olivia was born in Portsmouth where her father... Read more or Comment

Kipling's dislikes Find!

30 September 2009 The great Victorian writer, born in India, was sent back to England in 1874. He stayed with guardians who resided in Campbell Road, Southsea. Rudyard's time was unhappy, often cruelly punished for his behaviour. Later he was sent to a Devon school... Read more or Comment

Deadman's Plack Find!

30 September 2009 No it's not the dentistry dilemmas of the deceased (sorry, pitiful humour) it is a monument erected in the early nineteenth century by the then owner of land in Harewood Forest, west Hampshire. It commemorates the murder in 963 of... Read more or Comment

Netley Abbey Ruins Find!

30 September 2009 These atmospheric ruins have inspired much writing and imaginative musings, including sightings of ghosts and romantic verse. The appeal of Gothic ruins was written about by Horace Walpole and poet Thomas Gray. Both visited Netley in 1755 and Walpole wrote:... Read more or Comment

Portsea Sagas Find!

30 September 2009 Julia O' Sullivan was born in Portsmouth and was the wife of a submariner - both facts inform her writing. At the Winchester Writers Conference a decade ago Julia had a one-to-one session with a publisher, bringing along a synopsis and opening... Read more or Comment

Lilian Harry's Family Connections Find!

30 September 2009 Lilian Harry is the pen name of romance writer Donna Baker - inspired by the first names of her grandparents. Under that name she has delighted readers of Portsmouth and further afield with her family sagas. Beginning in 1994 'Goodbye Sweetheart'... Read more or Comment

Forgotten Favourite? Find!

25 September 2009 When I've been speaking to people about the 'Reading Detectives' and our search a number have mentioned 'Children of the New Forest' by Frederick Marryat. It is one of those cases where if you live in a particular area you may... Read more or Comment (1 comments)

Daniel Clay's 'Broken' Find!

25 September 2009 I've just started reading this gritty novel set in Hedge Edge, just outside Southampton. In his acknowledgements Daniel thanks members of the Chandlers Ford Writers for their support and also staff of the Southampton Library Service for feeding back on... Read more or Comment

Pell and Tess Find!

23 September 2009 'Nomansland' seems the perfect setting for the fiction writer, an imaginary location evoking isolation, even desolation. But it's not fictional, it is the real setting of Meg Rosoff's new title 'The Bride's Farewell'. The hamlet is situated at the northerly... Read more or Comment

Rebecca Smith Find!

17 September 2009 Rebecca Smith is a Southampton based novelist who has used the city as a key location in her three Bloomsbury published books: 'The Bluebird Café', 'Happy Birthday and all That' and 'Bit of Earth'. Her books are engaging, witty... Read more or Comment

Right of Access Find!

15 September 2009 Alison Orlowska was appointed the Hampshire Poet for the National Year of Reading, winning a competition to be county laureate for 2008. Such was the success of the project that Alison continues to work alongside many council departments, showing... Read more or Comment

Words & Walks Find!

11 September 2009 Earlier this year Arts, Libraries and Countryside launched a writing competition, encouraging the public to gain inspiration from the Royal Victoria Country Park, its history and location, then put pen to paper to produce either a short story or poem. ... Read more or Comment

England, Their England Find!

10 September 2009 I was telephoned by Bishop John Dennis who after reading about the project was keen to tell me about A.G. Macdonell's satirical comic novel from the 1920s. The book examines the changing nature of this interwar era with a style... Read more or Comment

Crime Connections to the City Find!

4 September 2009 Portsmouth was famously the one time home of Arthur Conan Doyle, the place where he created Sherlock Holmes. He also penned historical novels, his favourite 'The White Company' set in part of the New Forest, an area he loved, and... Read more or Comment (1 comments)

Bags of Books and Enthusiasm

17 August 2009 The Hampshire team of detectives met again last Thursday in Winchester with copies of books we've been reading during our research and more names to share. The project has really gripped us - some confessed that it's become somewhat obsessional, even... Read more or Comment

Flora Thompson: published poet Find!

3 August 2009 Flora Thompson View image is the author of 'Lark Rise to Candleford', recently popularised through a major television series. She worked in the post office in Grayshott, east Hampshire just before 1900, alias the fictional 'Heatherley', aptly named for the... Read more or Comment

Hampshire Gets Going

24 July 2009 The Hampshire 'detectives' met for the first time last night in the Winchester Discovery Centre. A really enthusiastic group of individuals with membership ranging from a librarian to an archivist to former booksellers - but importantly all keen readers. It was inspiring to share knowledge... Read more or Comment

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