A House of Air

by Penelope Fitzgerald

The previously uncollected occasional prose of a great English writer -- full of wit, feeling and illumination. 'Twice in your life you know that you are approved of by when you learn to walk and when you learn to read.' Surprising, wonderfully funny, definitive, this is a major collection of Penelope Fitzgerald's reviews, essays and autobiographical writings. Includes pieces on contemporary novelists Giles Foden, Anne Enright, Carol Shields, Rose Tremain, Roddy Doyle; on classic writers Muriel Spark, A.E. Housman, Rose Macaulay, M.R. James, Stevie Smith, Dorothy L. Sayers; on remembering her grandfather E.H. Shepard; on her love of Devon and Spain and William Morris; on writers in their old age; and witty and poignant recollections of her schooldays, her life on a Thames barge, her childhood in Hampstead and the ghost who lived next door but one. Includes an introduction by Hermione Lee

336 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2003

About the author

Penelope Mary Fitzgerald was a Booker Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and biographer from Lincoln, England. In 2008 The Times listed her among "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945". The Observer in 2012 placed her final novel, The Blue Flower, among "the ten best historical novels". A.S. Byatt called her, "Jane Austen’s nearest heir for precision and invention."

Reviews

[Sarah Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a bit difficult to rate 'A House of Air' as it is a collection of writings about various topics. Penelope Fitzgerald writes incredibly well. I really recommend it as a book you can pick up and put down.. I am now missing my daily dose having taken it back to the library. It is a book I would like to own.