BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE JANUARY - HILL AND UNSWORTH

Susan Hill was born in the Yorkshire coastal town of Scarborough which also housed the Sitwells for many years. She studied english at King's College London and had her debut novel published (the racy The Enclosure) whilst still a student there.

Major works & Four Suggestions:



I'm the King of the Castle



The Woman in Black



The Various Haunts of Men



Howard's End is on the Landing

From the beautiful North Eastern county of Durham, Unsworth's concerns included the Slave Trade, the wars between Greece and Troy, The Near-East and the World Wars and he wrote well on all these subjects. He sadly passed away in 2012 having won the Booker Prize for Sacred Hunger.

Here are four recommendations:



Sacred Hunger



Morality Play



The Songs of the Kings



Land of Marvels

WHAT I'LL READ

SUSAN HILL



BARRY UNSWORTH

I am planning to read Sacred Hunger. I kind of wanted to read Howard's End is on the Landing; but I don't know that I will get time.

Yay! I finished reading Susan Hill's The Mist in the Mirror this morning. While it does not appear to be a favorite based on current LT ratings, I felt that Hill did a fantastic job creating the overall Gothic feel for this "enticing-for-me" ghost/suspense story. The story has a wonderful slow-building quality to it that probably would not appeal to readers who like their action and want their story to unfold at a quicker pace. The "reveal" has its elements of creepiness and horror, without being overwhelming.

Overall, a solid piece of Gothic writing and one that I believe would appeal to readers who enjoy stories like Sarah Waters The Little Stranger.

I wanted to read Howard's End Is on the Landing which is on my wishlist, but it's not available locally. Lori (lkernagh) got me with a book bullet on The Mist in the Mirror which is available so I'll probably go with that one.

I am currently reading Land of Marvels, which is great so far, and I've downloaded The Various Haunts of Men to listen to after I finish my current audiobook.

Finished Pascali's Island today, which took me a while to get into, and then turned into a kind of crime novel. This was very different from the other Unsworth I've read.

Pascali, an informer for the Turkish state in 1908 is writing a report on his observances, on a small Greek island. Is anyone reading his reports? He's not sure, so they are revealing rather more than might be expected. And who is the English man who has turned up claiming to be a researcher into ancient buildings? And what do the Germans want with the same plot of land? The descriptions of the island are beautiful (I want to be on a beach as I'm writing this) and there are also some interesting descriptions of Greek customs (religious festivals) that make the island come alive for the reader.



This book was made into a film with Charles Dance, Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley. I've not seen it!

I just finished Barry Unsworth's Sacred Hunger which totally deserved the Booker Prize it won in 1992. I kind of feel sorry for the next book I read, though, because I was blown away by SH, both the historical significance of it and the lovely writing.

Sadly not as happy with The Woman in Black as I had hoped - and I additionally got the audio book for some extra atmosphere AND I listened to it at night before sleeping. But didn't find it scary and too predictable, including the ending.

Now that I know he was a Booker winner I might try to also read Sacred Hunger later in the month when I'm done with the other challenges.

Finished The Pure in Heart, second in Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler series. Though I liked her first installment, The Various Haunts of Men, slightly better, this was a worthy follow-up, with the characters still developing and true to their selves.

>11 Donna828: Donna - Sacred Hunger is a very good novel but I think his Morality Play is even better. You could of course read the sequel to SH - The Quality of Mercy.

Yesterday, I've finished The Vows of Silence by Susan Hill. I liked it very much. My thoughts can be found here.

Currently I'm reading Land of Marvels.

I am reading a more obscure work by Barry Unsworth - Crete is part of the National Geographic Directions series and was published in 2004. This is part of a series of travel books commissioned by National Geographic. National Geographic asked well known authors to write about places they live or have some connection with and so know fairly well. I have read several in the series and find them interesting to read. For instance, last fall I read Oaxaca Journal by Oliver Sacks and enjoyed it. While reading that book I discovered that Unsworth had written a book on Crete for the series. Our library had the books, so I got it and will read it for this month. At 200 pages it will be just perfect for this read and still allow me time to read my other commitments. I also have Land of Marvels pulled off my shelves, and have Ruby in Her Navel wandering around my shelves someplace. If I get time I will read one of the other titles, but I think that I am booked for this month so won't count on reading one of the other novels by Unsworth.

>16 benitastrnad: I'll be really interested to read what you think of Unsworth's travel book Benita as Pascali's Island certainly read as though he knew Greece and Turkey well and loved it.

I like so many of the authors in this challenge that I have a great deal of them on my shelves. It would be great if my reading coincided with the reading you all are doing. I have several books by Unsworth and have already read several by Susan Hill.

I'm hoping to read The Mist in the Mirror sometime this month.

I read Unsworth's Morality Play several years ago, and thought it was wonderful.

eta to add I thought I had The Mist in the Mirror, but apparently I was mistaken. I do have The Small Hand by Susan Hill, so I plan to read that.

I ran across this passage in Unsworth's Crete last night and thought I would share it with you. Keep in mind that Crete was published in 2004 and I am not sure which of his novels was published either immediately before or immediately after this travel book. Since this is the month for Unsworth I thought that perhaps it might be enlightening about his writing.

"The first book - the first real book- that I can remember possessing was called 'Tales from Olympus,' a collection of Greek myths with beautiful color plates, or so I thought then, to illustrate them. I think I was about four at the time and better equipped to admire the pictures than read the text. And, of course, the stories were toned down and poeticized in a way that was thought then to be suitable for children - perhaps the toddlers are tougher now. The treachery and murder so prevalent in Greek myth had been softened. But the characters of the gods and goddesses, and their dealings with humans, came through in all its drama and has been with me ever since.

On this visit I was particularly aware of the mythological associations. I know I kept exclaiming at the names and launching into long explanations. This must have seemed a bit excessive to Aira, though she didn't say so. Not much before leaving I had written the final paragraphs of a novel set in Greece on the eve of the Trojan War, and in an effort to understand the world-view of the people of that remote time I had done a lot of background reading: Homer, Greek tragedy, works on prehistoric religion and mythology. So my mind was still full of it. Now, three months later, it's fading already, as I contemplate a new novel set in a totally different period. It's similar in a way to studying intensively for an exam. For a while you know everything, you are a walking encyclopedia, you bore friends and strangers alike with unasked-for information. Then, mercifully, it start to get vaguer. In my time I have been a temporary expert on eighteenth-century sailing ships, medieval drama, the career of Horatio Nelson. To mention but a few." page 49 -50 of Crete by Barry Unsworth.

I finished Land of Marvels this evening. I was impressed with the history, and I loved the information about the archaeological excavations and the artifacts uncovered. I didn't like the characterizations so much, or the absence of dialogue. The majority of the dialogue was internal, and the perspective kept shifting.

He he, I've only just caught up with reading William Golding! So behind the times ;)

May well read Land of Marvels and the most recent Susan Hill mystery, both on my TBR mountain of shame, this month...

It's been cold and rainy here for the past few days, so I've stayed in and curled up with few Susan Hill books.

The Small Hand, The Mist in the Mirror, and The Woman in Black were all good, old-fashioned ghost stories. Not the best books ever, but well-written and enjoyable.

The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read was a book of boring and instantly forgettable short stories.

I should be getting a few of Barry Unsworth's books in at the library on Thursday, so I'll start on him soon.

I LOVED Howard's End Is on the Landing but I will be reading The Pure in Heart.

>24 amanda4242: Wow Amanda so you've read four books in the challenge already!

I read The Woman in Black yesterday and did like it.



The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

So gothic you can almost see the Kohl rimmed eyes. Chilling and masterful this is a ghost story set amid the salt-spray Fenland marshes of Eastern England. An old lady dies and a young ambitious lawyer is sent to go through her papers. What he finds there marks him for the rest of his life.

I read this between Manchester and Abu Dhabi and enjoyed it very much indeed.

I just finished The Woman in Black, which was a nice enough gothic ghost story. I wasn't blown away, or appalled. Now I'm just waiting for my copy of Sacred Hunger to turn up on inter-library loan *taps foot impatiently*

I'm reading The Bird of Night by Susan Hill. She has drawn me right in, as she always does. I enjoyed The Woman in Black when I read it a couple years ago. It certainly was well-crafted, but I could see some of the strings and wires, so didn't quite get taken in. Still, she always entertains me.

I picked up Howards End is on the Landing from the library yesterday and stayed up all night reading it. I found it a wonderful book about books and reading. I definitely need to get my own copy so I can peruse it again when the mood strikes.

Got The Man in the Picture from the library yesterday and started it late in the afternoon. Am really liking it. Can't wait to return to it today, but I don't want to rush through it. Really want to savor it. Am afraid that this another library book that I want to own. Do you think they'd notice if I didn't return it? It's awfully small.

I just picked up Strange Meeting the Susan Hill I had ordered for the BAC this month. I must admit to being a bit hesitant about her - I think I raad a book many years ago that I categorised as 'odd' and decided that she was not for me. (My great aunt was a voracious reader and left my mum lots of her books, so as a teenager there were all sorts of oddities around the house if you poked through enough). Anyway, I was a bit nervous about Strange Meeting, which I suspect I ordered because it looked like it might come quickly (Simon Serailler is in High Demand in Lancashire, you will all be pleased to hear). I say that because this is a WW1 trenches novel, and after reading Pat Barker's trilogy, Simon Faulks and even further back studying WW1 poets for GCSE (although not much beyond 'rapid rifle'= alliteration) I'd had Enough and was Not going to read anymore set then. Hill's book was published back in the 70s but is a new edition (perhaps for the 1914 centenary). It's just a small book, less than 200 pages but manages to be quite heartbreaking.

Hilliard is lost, going back to the war after a leave where he couldn't talk to his family, and doesn't really have any friends. Then he meets David Barton, and despite the man's inexperience, is able to unload some of his horror. And then they get sent back to the line. Hill does the Terror and randomness of the trenches very well. Not a cheery book, but a very well done one. In the afterword she says that she turns down any request to comment on anything linked to WW1, as she's had enough of the subject. I still empathise despite thinking the book a good read.

Today's read was a reread of Unsworth's Morality Play. It's a little dry at times, but it is a compelling read.

>20 benitastrnad: : Benita, I found your post about Unsworth very interesting. I had decided to read only one BA author per month, but from all the Unsworth love here, I may need to pick him up, too.

I did finish Susan Hill's The Risk of Darkness, hoping it would tie up some loose ends from The Pure in Heart, which I read last week (and it did).

Good to know. I'm planning to read The Risk of Darkness as soon as I can put my hands on a copy. What a great series this is.

The Quality of Mercy by Barry Unsworth

There was a reason that I chose Barry Unsworth to kick off the year for the BAC. That reason is that when he was good he was bloody good.

This story picks up the trail from the award winning (Booker) novel Sacred Hunger. Erasmus Kemp has avenged his ruined father and apprehended the crew of the Liverpool Merchant from Florida and brought their tattered remnant back to Blighty to stand trial for piracy. Sullivan the fiddler by a stroke of fortune escapes and starts to wend his way to Thorpe in Durham to apprise the family of his late friend of his fate. Kemp is claiming insurance on the jettisoning of the cargo (the slaves) and is in conflict with abolitionists which include Ashton and his lovely sister of who he is enamoured. Kemp is wrestling with a growing distaste for his situation and is looking for alternative investments and he hits on another type of slavery - the industrial coal mines - and has the opportunity to lease and exploit a mine in - yes - Thorpe in Durham.

That's not really a spoiler because that is the state of the play as introduced in the opening chapters of the book but its unfolding is realised wonderfully. Perhaps it lacks the epic sweep of its forerunner but as a tale well told it is difficult to fault.

>35 PaulCranswick: Your touchstone for The Quality of Mercy is going to the Faye Kellerman book instead of Unsworth's.

>36 amanda4242: Thanks Amanda, I have corrected that.

Just finished Howards End Is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home

This was a interesting account of Susan Hill's effort to spend a year reading from books in her extensive collection. It was interesting to see the "writer as reader" perspective as well as the "publisher as reader" viewpoint. I borrowed this book from the library, but may add it to my own collection in the future.

>35 PaulCranswick: I've also just finished The Quality of Mercy and enjoyed it a lot. I was a little worried that, as I read Sacred Hunger many years ago, I wouldn't remember enough of the plot for this book to work, but it was fine. I'll be doing a review shortly, and a reread of Sacred Hunger might be on the cards as well. I've enjoyed everything I've read by Barry Unsworth: Sacred Hunger, Morality Play, After Hannibal and now The Quality of Mercy.

My SantaThing Santa was psychic this past Christmas - she sent me The Small Hand & Dolly by Susan Hill, which I unwrapped and read this past week! I quite enjoyed the two stories, though I'm not sure Hill will end up being an enduring favorite for me.

Having finished a loved Sacred Hunger a couple of days ago, I'm definitely looking forward to The Quality of Mercy, all the more so now I've read your review, Paul. So far, I've read three of his novels, and my admiration for Unsworth just keeps growing.

I finished Morality Play with mixed feelings. I found it somewhat interesting, but it's not a period of history that I am interested in. Rated it 3 stars anyway. I may try another Unsworth in the future.

I've got Howard's End Is On The Landing on deck first for Hill, though I also have copies of The Woman in Black and Mrs. DeWinter by her as well. For Unsworth, I've checked out The Ruby in Her Navel, as it's been on my TBR for a few years and this is the perfect excuse to get to it!

For my January read in the BAC I chose to read one of Susan Hill’s Serrailler series, A Risk of Darkness. It was another puzzling mystery with all that lovely convoluted evolving personal story for Simon Serrailer in the background.

I didn’t realize that Hill has written stand alone novels as well. I will have to search them out. >35 PaulCranswick: Your review of The Quality of Mercy also caught my eye. Maybe Unsworth is in my future as well. Hmm, maybe this challenge thing is just another BB minefield!

I finished reading Crete by Barry Unsworth. This long travel essay is part of the National Geographic Society Directions series. This series is travel books written by well known authors who either live or have done extensive research in various places around the world. Unsworth has written several novels set in the ancient and modern Hellenistic world and spoke Greek well enough to get around in the area. He was a logical person to write about Crete.

This book is a long essay at 170 pages and, unlike others in this series, did not inspire me to want to travel to Crete. In fact, it did the opposite, as Unsworth wrote extensively in it about the overcrowded and over-built tourist spots and the poor state of the rest of the country. He did love all of the walking and hiking opportunities that the island presented and wrote about the role that the various conquerors of the island had in its history, but overall it did not seem to me to be an inspiring kind of writing.

I also noticed that Unsworth uses a unique sentence structure in this book. He writes, in what I call Yoda speak. He puts what most people would consider the ending clause of the sentence at the beginning. This results in a unique style but it also interrupts the flow of the prose. At first it was jarring and I thought that it was the result of poor editing, but since it was a pattern that repeated throughout the book it became apparent that it was not an editing problem. It is the way he writes.

Did anybody else notice this writing style in his other works?

Finished Sacred Hunger on Saturday, the 16th. Afraid I am not an Unsworth fan. It was okay. Too long by about 200 pages and, in spots, tedious.

I finished The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill last night. Here are my comments:

This is an engaging and well-crafted second installment in the Simon Serrailler series. Simon is starting to develop as a character with lovable aspects and foibles aplenty. In this episode, a 9-year-old boy goes missing. At the same time, Simon's 25-year-old sister Martha, who was born with a profound level of disability, is fighting pneumonia. Both of these circumstances provide the backdrop for the family's tensions to bubble up and potentially boil over. This is not an edge-of-your-seat thriller, nor is it a tender cozy in which the murderer is tidily brought to justice. Rather, in the vein of P.D. James and Ruth Rendell, it's a solid mystery with complex characters and interesting community dynamics.

I finished Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth. The story didn't catch my interest. My thoughts can be found here.

I finished Sacred Hunger last night. I thought it was a great book!

I finished The Small Hand last night. Very atmospheric. I really like Susan Hill -- over the years I have read all the Serrailler series books published so far, as well as The Woman in Black and The Man in the Picture.

I finished Hill's Strange Meeting last night and heartily recommend it. It is poignant, beautiful, and damn-near perfect.

I finished Susan Hill's Howards End is on the Landing. This book was uneven for me. I loved the chapters where she analyzes books and authors; she spends time on both Anita Brookner and Thomas Hardy, who I think should have more attention. But the chatty bits, about famous authors she met, didn't do anything for me. Perhaps if one of these was one of your favorite authors, it would be interesting, but I just found it name-dropping, (which she denies).

>522 I agree, Kathy, about the name dropping aspect in Hill's Howards End is on the Landing and found it off-putting. I ended up giving it 3 stars and will take another look at her final 40 even though it is, sadly, not a very worldly representation of authors.

I enjoyed Sacred Hunger by Unsworth and may follow up with The Quality of Mercy. My favorite passages of SH were those about Paris, the crew and their journey. I would have loved to know more about their Florida settlement and was, of course, saddened by Paris' death. Following the selfish Erasmus is not as appealing but Paul's >35 PaulCranswick: review above makes me reconsider.

>51 amanda4242: I also just finished the audio of Susan Hill's Strange Meeting and agree, it's a very good novel.

I started reading Unsworth's The songs of the kings, have switched to the audio, narrated by Andrew Sachs and am highly entertained.

I have just finished The Quality of Mercy and loved it. I need to go and buy Sacred Hunger now.
So first book for this challenge.

I read After Hannibal by Barry Unsworth because it was the one available from my library in ebook form. As it turns out, it's set in Italy (where he apparently lived out the end of his life). It's a story about neighbors in the Umbrian countryside, most of whom are foreigners living the dream of having a house in Italy. It's not so dreamy, as it turns out. I enjoyed it, although I'm not sure how successful the structure was. I have more thoughts about the book, but I'm still in the process of writing them out. They'll show up on my thread soon.

Thanks to all the Barry Unsworth praise here, I decided to add an Unsworth to my two Susan Hill reads for this month's challenge, and so glad I did.

The Ruby in Her Navel, Barry Unsworth, 4.5 stars

Palermo, Italy, a city where many races and creeds live harmoniously side by side in the 12th century. But. The humiliation of the Franks in the second crusade left bad feelings for many, some of whom try to avenge themselves on Moslems in this peaceful city, ruled by a Norman King. Palace intrigue and power struggles between the pope and the king, between Christendom and Islam, threaten to disrupt the peace.

The story is told through the character of Thurstan Beauchamp, a young Norman who works under a highly respected Moslem Lord in one of the palace departments. Through Thurstan, we see what life was like in the mid-twelfth century. Very good historical fiction.

>57 countrylife: I'm thrilled you enjoyed The Ruby in Her Navel so much. It was among my first books by Unsworth, and secured him the pantheon of my favourite authors.

I decided to accompany Kerry/avatiakh and listen to The Songs of the Kings. I too love Andrew Sachs narrating. This is yet another book (after The Song of Achilles, a few years back) that makes me want to go back to The Illiad, since it's a treatment on the Trojan War. I read it in student days, close to 30 years ago now, so it's barely a blur in my memory. Perhaps I'll pick it up very soon.

I just finished The Ruby in her Navel. Started this one already last year and lost interest. However, picked it up again a few days ago in combination with the audiobook narrated by Andrew Sachs and this time I got hooked and really enjoyed the story line.
The story is set in the 13th century and captures the live, culture and politics of that time really well.
Definitely will try something else by Barry Unsworth.

I've started reading Sacred Hunger for this challenge and listening to The Various Haunts of Men. So far so good. Both are new authors for me.

Finished The Songs of the Kings yesterday, and so far my admiration for Unsworth is undiminished. I aim to read everything he's published over time. This latest book being set during the Trojan war made me want to revisit The Iliad, which I'll try to make room for soon. No Greek authors challenge on the horizon?

I've also just finished The songs of kings, the audio was incredibly good. And like ilana, my admiration for Unsworth continues to grow, I'll have to tackle Sacred Hunger next.

After reading and loving Sacred Hunger, I found myself reserving The Quality of Mercy at the library. It is in my eager hands, and I will soon be turning those pages. Thanks, Paul, for mentioning the sequel. One good book leads to another...

Well I managed to get to one of the two authors. I just finished The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill, and I'm still not entirely certain what I think of it......

I also managed to squeeze in a novel by Susan Hill The Pure in Heart. A sinister atmosphere during a child abduction case, and excellent side stories plus interesting characters made for an absorbing read.

I'm behind but would like to read something by Barry Unsworth so I have The Ruby in Her Navel as my next BAC novel. Christie & Dalrymple you will just have to wait.

I just finished Sacred Hunger and adding my voice in praise of it.

I started Sacred Hunger last night and while I will be a month late in completing it, I'm so glad the BAC nudged me to read it!

Still working on Howards End Is On The Landing and liking it so far. Will keep chugging along (and will hopefully have a chance to read The Ruby In Her Navel before it's due at the library).

I just finished Sacred Hunger too, and sadly fall on the non-Unsworth-fan end of the spectrum. For the last half of the book I was just desperately wishing for it to be over. Interesting moments, but overall tedious.

A little late but I finally finished a book by Barry Unsworth Morality Play. A very good book set in medieval times where a group of players use a play to uncover the truth of a murder. Religion, death and theater are all entwined.

I am looking forward to reading Sacred Hunger.

I can't seem to find my way back to the British Author Challenge page to link to February. Can someone post the link please to the BAC home page?

>71 HelenBaker: Here's the main thread:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/210671

And here's February:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/218471

or you can always go to the 75ers wiki:

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Groups:75Booksin2016

Thank you >72 souloftherose: and >73 kac522:.