I’d loved the books so much when I’d read them as a green girl wouldn’t I risk spoiling memories, courting disillusionment by having another look through eyes more clear-sighted but far more jaded? All the same, when I once again encountered Norah Lofts’ superb Suffolk House trilogy leading us from the late 14th century to the 1950s by tracking those who develop, inhabit and are connected with a single dwelling – the House at Old Vine – I hesitated. But sometimes, just sometimes, it doesn’t apply. It’s said you should never go back, never return to old haunts. Plus they offer free next day delivery across the UK (and to Ireland, France and Germany).Ruins of St Saviour’s Hospital (12th cent), Bury St Edmunds by Robert Edwards They are the UK's top rated flower delivery company - they send fresh, seasonal flowers through the letterbox and they’re sent in bud which means they last 7 days or more. Thanks to Bloom & Wild for sponsoring this episode. The Witches (DVD) - a Hammer horror based on the Norah Lofts thriller (written under the name Peter Curtis), The Little Wax Doll T he Head That Launched a Thousand Books blog J ames Woods' review of The Kingdom in the New Yorker.Ī lison Weir:' the most outstanding historical novel that I have ever read.' John's review of Bookworm on Monocle Radio (starts at 15:26 in) W hite Wilderness & the myth of lemming suicides W omen on Nature by Katharine Norbury - get free postage by using the code LOFTS at checkout Sylvia Townsend Warner - The Corner That Held Them Joan Aiken - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase Lovecraft: Against theWorld, Against Life Norah Lofts - The House at Old Vine The House at Sunset Bless This House Ann Boleyn Nethergate A Wayside TavernĮmmanuel Carrere - Limonov The Adversary: A True Story of a Monstrous Deception She's chosen the now very under-read historical novel by Norah Lofts - The Town House and the discussion covers historical fiction (and how its marketed), the depth and quality of Lofts research and the brilliant idea of writing a trilogy that covers 600 years in one Suffolk house. Before that Andy is enchanted by Lee Stuart Evans novel Words Best Sung ( Faber) and John allows the swagger of Emmanuel Carrère's The Kingdom (a histrico-philosophical memoir-cum-novel about the Gospels) carry him away (Penguin). This episode's guest on the Backlisted podcast is the writer and columnist Lucy Mangan, author of a new memoir about her childhood reading, Bookworm ( Penguin).

The House at Old Vine by Norah Lofts