16 Comments
User's avatar
Liz Milner's avatar

I heard an autumnal robin song in the garden this morning too! First of the season and odd to hear it with the "squeaky toy" calls of the still hyperactive house martins in the summery sky above! It certainly makes it feel like the approach of a turning point in the year.

Expand full comment
June Girvin's avatar

Yes, it does. It’s such an obvious change isn’t it?

Expand full comment
Lady Metroland's avatar

Loved your description of Pym and everything she writes about.

Expand full comment
June Girvin's avatar

Thank you! She is an absolute favourite, but I am fast learning to love Elizabeth Taylor!

Expand full comment
Lady Metroland's avatar

Me too. Also about to embark on my first Elizabeth Taylor (In a Summer Season).

Expand full comment
Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Ah, the song of the robin! One of the sounds of England that I miss. I guess the average lifespan of about a year allows for some longer-living individuals and it's tempting to think of the one that we see each year as really being the same bird. But it's also moving to imagine a chain of birds, the individuals changing each year, stretching back in time with that lovely song. Perhaps the closest we can get to eternity.

Expand full comment
June Girvin's avatar

I love the idea of ‘a chain of birds’ , it’s a lovely way of looking at the fleeting robin.

Expand full comment
Deborah Vass's avatar

I am glad you managed to upload the video as it is lovely to see the festival. When I visited a few weeks ago, there were dancers in Lyme Regis and was told about the forthcoming festival. I find it so cheering that such events are still going strong.

My first Elizabeth Taylor was Angel, my first Virago too, and a very fortunate choice as it led me to so many others. A Wreath of Roses is my most recent of hers and it is brilliant writing.

Expand full comment
June Girvin's avatar

I am so looking forward to reading more!

Expand full comment
Deborah Vass's avatar

You have such treats ahead of you.

Expand full comment
Jacky's avatar

In A Summer Season is another good one.

Expand full comment
laura thompson's avatar

I'm so glad you enjoyed ET. That was my first of hers too and I was instantly enraptured. Lily in the pub, oh God. For me A Wreath of Roses and A Game of Hide and Seek are 2 of the best novels I've ever read but whatever, joys ahead!

Expand full comment
June Girvin's avatar

Oh Lily, Lily. Such loneliness. I loved the whole thing. And Tory, so brittle she might snap. I kept imagining Margaret Leighton as Tory and Celia Johnson as Beth - like The Holly and The Ivy.

Expand full comment
laura thompson's avatar

That's so perfect I can hardly bear that it didn't happen. I loved your critique btw, should have said that the first time!

Expand full comment
June Girvin's avatar

Thank you!

Expand full comment
Rosy Gee's avatar

I must confess to never having come across Elizabeth Taylor the author, but will definitely check her out. I have been compared with Barbara Pym’s writing. An honour, indeed, which I must remember when submitting my manuscript to agents because they love comps.

Expand full comment