I have been fortunate to receive a couple more of Dean Street Press Furrowed Middlebrow imprint books from the publisher to review. These two lovely books were published on 7 June, and I greatly enjoyed my first read, “Mrs Lorimer’s Quiet Summer“.
Ruby Ferguson – “Apricot Sky”
(06 April 2021)
Nobody talked about their feelings at Kilchro House, it was considered one stage worse than talking about your inside.
This is a slightly odd book in that it’s almost two books in one: a children’s adventure story and a light love story, all set in beautiful countryside that Candia McWilliam in her Introduction describes as a liminal, thin place where magic can seep through – the mainland and islands of the West of Scotland.
So we have a family just post-Second World War, we have a family that’s been battered by war but not broken. Mrs MacAlvey has ended up looking after three of her grandchildren after losing two sons in the war – she has one son and his difficult, faddy wife living nearby, one daughter living with her but engaged and about to move and one daughter on her way back from a few years in America. In addition, she has visitors – she loves visitors – in the form of two more grandchildren who are a bit stuffy and stuck up, and an old friend who has had An Operation she loves to tell people about. Oh, and said friend’s daughter pops in, too.
It’s a full house, and in the middle of this, Cleo, home from America, pines for the local laird, whose brother her sister is marrying, but is tongue-tied and clumsy in front of him and losing hope – especially when she’s asked to settle at home for a while to support her mother, realising this will probably mean she will be there forever. Meanwhile, the children and their great, shabby friend Gull, had planned a summer of sailing but now have to take two drearies, Elinore and Cecil around with them. They ache to visit a mysterious island, but what will happen when they do?
Thrown in a local glamour-puss who everyone but Cleo seems to love (and an oh-so-awkward encounter between the two), and a party or two and you’ve got a lovely mix of acute observation –
“Was the tea all right?” asked Mrs MacAlvey anxiously. “I mean, the cakes just tasted like dust and ashes to me, but it’s always like that, when it’s your own party.”
– different modes of love and marriage, and all about it, wonderful descriptions of the local scenery and, just as wonderful, and I’m sure greatly enjoyed in the early 50s when this was first published, descriptions of picnics and high teas with plenty of strawberries and scones.
Thank you to Rupert from Dean Street Press for sending me a review copy of this book in e-book format in exchange for an honest review.
Wendy
Jun 14, 2021 @ 11:06:52
So this is a republish of an old book? Sounds like you think it held up well. Sometimes it’s fun to read old books!
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Liz Dexter
Jun 14, 2021 @ 11:27:50
Oh, you know what, I have NOT been making this clear in my reviews and assuming people would know (but how??!). All of the Dean Street Press, British Library Women Writers, Persephone and Virago books I read are republished older lost books by mainly women. So yes, this was originally published in 1953, and that is a good point! And yes, it holds up beautifully.
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Laura
Jun 14, 2021 @ 14:36:58
Is this the same Ruby Ferguson who wrote the Jill pony books?
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Liz Dexter
Jun 14, 2021 @ 18:29:14
It is, she did a couple of adult novels, one republished by Persephone!
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heavenali
Jun 14, 2021 @ 16:09:39
I have both these two – among many other Dean Street Press books to read too. It’s lovely to find a new author. Apricot Sky sounds charming.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 14, 2021 @ 18:29:48
Yes, I know her pony books well and I think I’ve read her Persephone. You’ll love these two.
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kaggsysbookishramblings
Jun 14, 2021 @ 18:10:09
Sounds lovely – I could do with escaping to the Scottish isles!
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Liz Dexter
Jun 14, 2021 @ 18:30:12
You would enjoy both of these, and there are more by the other author in this batch similarly set!
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hopewellslibraryoflife
Jun 15, 2021 @ 01:04:31
I am LOVING their books! Your reviews make them even more enticing!
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Liz Dexter
Jun 15, 2021 @ 08:07:47
That’s great, they are such a lovely imprint!
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Black Knight
Jun 15, 2021 @ 18:54:31
Interesting book. When I will come back to Scotland (I hope next year) I’ll try to imagine the countryside described in the book.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 16, 2021 @ 08:11:51
I haven’t been to Scotland for a while, but the landscape hasn’t changed that much since this book was originally published! I hope you get to go there next year.
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JacquiWine
Jun 18, 2021 @ 09:01:34
Every time you write about one of these DSP books, you remind me of just how delightful the whole imprint sounds. I do love a post-WW2 setting (a time of huge social change), so I’ve made a note of this one in particular. If only I could clone myself as a way of doubling my reading time, I’d be blazing through the DSP list based on your excellent recommendations!
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Liz Dexter
Jun 18, 2021 @ 09:42:47
If it helps, there are absolutely loads of them I want to read and haven’t got round to yet – I tend to put them on a wishlist to my best friend at Christmas/birthday and then they are seeping into my collection two by two! The 1950s is such a fascinating period, isn’t it, with all the changes and post-war adjustments.
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buriedinprint
Jun 21, 2021 @ 14:58:52
This should be a book-tag: Picnics and High Teas. 🙂
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Liz Dexter
Jun 21, 2021 @ 15:10:49
Yes!
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