The Song of Bernadette. A tale so steeped in piety, suffering, and miraculous visions that one might think Franz Werfel and Henry King teamed up to make us all feel like we’ve been woefully underachieving in our spiritual lives. Between the novel’s lofty prose and the film’s reverent close-ups of Jennifer Jones looking like she’s … Continue reading Holy Hype and Heavenly Hardships: A Witty Take on The Song of Bernadette
Tag: book-reviews
Ghosts, God, and Gobbledygook: A Ramble Through All Hallows’ Eve
Typical me - forgetful as ever, I meant to post this on Halloween, but here we are, fashionably late as always. Honestly, it’s a miracle I manage to remember my own name most days, let alone co-ordinate something on time. Let’s just call it delayed spooky season vibes and pretend I’m making a bold statement … Continue reading Ghosts, God, and Gobbledygook: A Ramble Through All Hallows’ Eve
A Rather Over-the-Top Love Letter to Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White
Let me start by saying this: if The Woman in White were a person, I’d be hopelessly smitten. Truly, I’d marry it on the spot - or, at the very least, I’d buy it a drink, slide closer, and hope for the kind of long, dramatic romance that novels like this are made of. From the very … Continue reading A Rather Over-the-Top Love Letter to Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White
A Whistle of Innocence: A Detailed and Wry Look at Whistle Down the Wind
Two new posts today - I've been stacking them while I've been poorly. I'm on the mend now, I think, so I have a lot more to share. When Mary Hayley Bell’s novel Whistle Down the Wind was published in 1958, it came wrapped in an intriguing premise: what happens when a group of naïve children stumble … Continue reading A Whistle of Innocence: A Detailed and Wry Look at Whistle Down the Wind
The Painted Veil: A Saucy Dissection of W. Somerset Maugham’s Sublime Slap in the Face
W. Somerset Maugham’s The Painted Veil is a bit like finding a deceptively lovely flower in a poisoned Chinese river. Ostensibly a story of love, betrayal, and redemption, it teases the reader with a delicate veneer of romance, only to plunge us headfirst into a cynical, uncomfortably reflective look at the human soul. If you thought you … Continue reading The Painted Veil: A Saucy Dissection of W. Somerset Maugham’s Sublime Slap in the Face
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