Rosamond Lehmann, an appreciation

by Gillian Tindall

Rosamond Lehmann An Appreciation

201 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1985

About the author

Gillian Tindall began her career as a prize-winning novelist. She has continued to publish fiction but has also staked out an impressive territory in idiosyncratic non-fiction that is brilliantly evocative of place.

Her The Fields Beneath: The History of One London Village which first appeared thirty years ago, has rarely been out of print; nor has Celestine: Voices from a French Village, published in the mid 1990s and translated into several languages, for which she was decorated by the French government.

Well known for the quality of her writing and the meticulous nature of her research, Gillian is a master of miniaturist history. She lives with her husband in London.

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have only read one of Rosamond's book and I didn't care all that much for it. I read this because I thought it would be more of a standard biography and I'd be able to learn something about Beatrix. But mostly it was just a discussion about how Rosamond's life was reflected in her work and what Gillian's interpretations of the books was. I have to say she majorly missed the point on several occasions. She wrote several times about how she disagreed with the "modern" interpretation of lesbianism in the Dusty Answer. Which seemed to imply that in the 20s people weren't gay which was just totally ridiculous as Rosamond had TWO gay siblings. Who were definitely gay in the 20s and didn't miraculously discover their sexuality in the 70s when it seems that Gillian thought "lesbianism" was invented. She even quoted Rosamond saying that she thought the character was a lesbian and then said Gillian wrote "who knew" if she was or not. Um the author just told you she did and you don't agree. That doesn't make you right! Reading this did make me want to read two more of Rosamond's novels though, The weather in our streets and The Echoing Grove (I think thought I need to double check the title of the 2nd one).