The Brontës Went to Woolworths

I first ran across this in Lucasta Miller s The Bronte Myth Virago reprinted it a few years back, but it s currently out of print again I was pleased when Powell s emailed me that they had a copy The three Carne girls live with their mother and the youngest girl s governess, in a London house inhabited by the people of their imagination, real people whom the family have made up stories about and turned into imaginary friends When Deirdre, the eldest, meets one of these imaginary friends in real [...]

This was an extraordinary book But first the bad news The language is archaic, the context dated, and the modern reader even one well versed in the mode and general attitudes of England in the 1920s will find that the text often verges on the unintelligible Take this passage We have missed keeping Hallowe en for years, since we left Hampton Wick, where we had parties on every imaginable anniversary, and having no proper garden now has made a difference, especially in the matter of guys on the fi [...]

Reason for Reading I ve heard much praising of this book over the years And lamenting as it seems it was a Virago Classic at one time but went out of print I ve always wanted to read it since I enjoy early 20th century literature.Summary The Carnes, three daughters and a mother since the father died, are not a well to do family but they get by and do employ a governess for the youngest, while the two elder are both in their early twenties Katrine is an aspiring actress attending Dramatic School [...]

The Carne family lives a blurry line between reality and fantasy It s blurry to the beginning reader, anyway To the family members, it s often delicious, sometimes obsessive, and occasionally frightening My enjoyment and appreciation for the book snuck up on me and what I thought would be a quirky little read, turned into much Ferguson gave me lots to think about re imagination and what makes something real I got this from the library, but I think I m going to need my own copy so that I can re [...]

This is quite simply one of the strangest books I ve ever read One of those books you finish and then head back to the beginning to check out all those things you missed the first time through And while I didn t actually dislike the book and I certainly applaud Bloomsbury for bringing back these early 20th century works , finishing it was a struggle at times.The story is, in part, narrated by Deirdre Carne, one of three sisters living with their widowed mother in 1930s London Deirdre is a journa [...]

Wowis is a weird book For the first half I had difficulty even figuring out which characters were real, imaginary, real but personally unknown to the other real characters, or ghosts Yes ghosts By the second half of the book I had that figured outr the most park But honestlyese people are just NUTS This story doesn t have much of a plot, but the little it as revolves around 3 sisters and their mother who amuse themselves by imagining ELABORATE interactions with other characters that they have ne [...]

This novel I found enjoyable and confusing in equal measure I read this in an old Virago VMC edition the jacket of which does not contain such a fulsome synopsis like that which is available on In this way the reader is allowed to be confused at the beginning sorting out what is real and what is not and seeing as some of the characters have trouble with this it does get puzzling This I am sure was the original intention of the author and it does make it fun This mix of fantasy and reality is utt [...]

What fertile imaginations the characters in this little novel display as they create elaborate lives for people they see in a play or in court or spot on the street Three sisters and their widowed mother and their succession of stuffy governesses entertain themselves by learning all they can about, for example, the judge presiding over the trial on which the mother is a reserve juror.Judge Toddington and his wife, in the imaginations of the girls, come to tea and invite them to dinner Toddy, as [...]

In short chatty, lunatic, disorienting, and near genius.Ferguson tells the story of three sisters who have constructed an elaborate fantasy life, conferring both their obsession and a weird celebrity status on such characters as an ugly and long lost doll, the family dog, and several people living and dead whom they have never met During the course of the novel fact collides, of course, with fiction, and even the supernatural world seems to come into play In some ways, I would compare this to Mu [...]

This my second time through reading the book I ve always loved the first half which introduces us to the Carne sisters with Deidre Carne, the middle daughter, as our narrator Deidre is a journalist and this leaves her with plenty time on her hands We find out the two older sisters, Katrine and Deidre, have a deep abiding love for the theater with the Katrine trying to make her way into that world The youngest, Sheil, is too small to go theater but is already an avid fan So the family loves theat [...]

If it weren t for Chris of Book a Rama, I might not have known about this book for a while, anyway So thanks again, Chris, because I think I just found my new favourite book.It is 1930s England and the Carne sisters Deirdre, a journalist and hopeful author Katrine, a drama student and Sheil, their much younger sister are deep in a make believe world of their own creation There is Ironface, a doll with tin arms and head who developed an intolerably overbearing manner, married a French Count calle [...]

I loved the beginning but it started to get a bit like a cryptic crossword.

A few months ago, I read Let s Kill Uncle from the Bloomsbury Group I loved it, when I get round to writing my Top Ten Books of 2015 so far, it will most certainly feature This one, also published by the Bloomsbury Group, will not Based purely on components, it ought to have been a sure fire winner It had a strong female cast There were frolics and high japes It had a strong vintage aesthetic But it just felt silly And weird Like a bizarre Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf meets The Magic Roundabou [...]

This book is not suited to an audio format over, the narration makes the situation worse.We re dropped in media res as it were, and expected to keep track of all the many names bandied about the closest I could manage was to distinguish new ones, from those previously introduced Core family consists of a widow and her three daughters, along with a some people who are adopted as close family friends by the kids, even though they ve never met them, with stories of their doings sounding as though t [...]

In this charming book, albeit inconsequential in the way that fun novels about the upper class usually are, the Carne family draws us in and confuses us with their vivid imaginary world in which they know celebrities they ve never actually metuntil they do I can t say that this story was fantastic in any way, but it worked its way into my daily life all the same.Mostly, I adored the spunky and spot on commentary of the protag, Deirdre Carne, and especially her perspectives on a Romance Three yea [...]

Did I mention in previous reviews that I like the covers of the Bloomsbury Group novels of which this is one Well, I do They have lovely soft pastel colors with stylized silhouetted figures on them Covers matter, y all.I m finding it somewhat difficult to summarize this one, I confess The Carne sisters, Deirdre the narrator , Katrine, and little Sheil, have a lighthearted habit of pretending to close friendships with people they have met only briefly or perhaps not at all they tell each other st [...]

I don t know what I was expecting, but I m sure it wasn t this For a classic book it had fun elements of the paranormal I know weird huh I just didn t see that s what it was until over half way through the book It was a little confusing for me especially at the beginning which led to it being harder for me to get into This book took much longer for me to read than anticipated, a majority of that being because it didn t grab my attention The characters were fun but had their own brand of reality [...]

I picked this up in the library because I vaguely remembered seeing people talking about it somewhere, possibly on Girlsown It turned out to beodd The main character and her family have what I believe is technically described as a rich imaginative life , which makes the first portion of the book extremely bewildering as it s impossible to tell which characters are real and which imaginary That improves a bit after a while, and they all go on holiday to an exceptionally dreary part of Yorkshire, [...]

One of the weirdest books I have ever read For the first 60 pages or so, I thought I wasn t going to make it It was so slippery, and so private, that I couldn t follow it Starting it last night, D said it was like reading Clockwork Orange And then it just locked into place and I got it, and it was wonderful And tragic And weird Weird, weird, weird It s not really about the Brontes, only metaphorical Brontes, except, of course, when they actually show up And there s all the other bits, about the [...]

I was intrigued by this book on page 1 by page 2 I was totally smitten Since I ve been immersing myself in the world of Barbara Pym this last year, I ve also been reading things she liked This book is an extreme version of the behaviour she delighted in though it could be considered a bit stalkerish now , where a random person takes your fancy and you invent an imaginary world around them Often a bit of sleuthing is involved First published in 1931, it is way before people could do this by proxy [...]

What a terrifying little novel, despite the whimsy and banter Confusing at first, the method to the madness of the Carnes family comes clear eventually The characters are complex, multi layered, not necessarily very nice people Your own loyalty, as a reader, might shift at the end as Ferguson tosses you first one way and then another.Mixed POV, nearly impenetrable British slang, references to popular culture that are obscure to a modern American reader these things make it tough going But I read [...]

This tale of three sisters who create a rich fantasy life, involving real people, seemed like something I would really like British, written in 1931, quirky these are all usually pluses But in this case the minuses weighed heavily In the first half of the book, I couldn t tell who was real and who wasn t and occasionally I wondered if the book would end with a child staring into a snow globe In the second half of the book, I became increasingly bothered by the mean spirited, snobbish nature of t [...]

I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn t get past my dislike of the Carne family The three sisters and their mother are almost incapable of distinguishing fantasy from reality, are terrible snobs, and their treatment of the youngest daughter s governesses borders on the cruel.On the positive side, the Toddingtons are utterly charming, if slightly eccentric, characters and the book has than a few wonderful lines My personal favorite The Bronte family has been, like Switzerland, too [...]

Wow It seems like a standard cozy English between the wars women s novel and it turns out to be so much intriguing and quirky than that Initially the quirks annoyed me, and I was afraid I would hate this book It s always awkward to hate a book someone gave you for your birthday BECAUSE YOU ASKED FOR IT And I have to admit I m glad I read reader reviews and spoilers, or I would have had no idea what was going on for most of the first half By the end, though, I was enjoying it very much and becam [...]

Creepy family with rather selfish and unpleasant habit of make believe about real people The worst is that they treat the habit seriously And it drove their poor suffering governess mad When Deirdre tells that governess she is crazy, I felt like screaming you and your stupid family drove her to it Have you thought for a minute of anyone else s feelings except your own, you selfish cows The ghost scenes spooked me out no end and only because the book had a strong though negative effect on me, do [...]

This is a perplexing book It has this wonderfully inventive and intriguing title, so I had to find out what it was about But my affection for it followed a trajectory like a sine curve there were times when I loved it, and times when I when I felt less enthusiastic And then it ends on a disquieting note I came away with a feeling of intense distaste for the main characters.Read

The story centers on three sisters and their widowed mother in 1920s London They are an intensely close knit family so close, in fact, that their shared imaginary friends and in jokes are nearly impenetrable to outsiders I loved the characters and felt as though I knew them, or had been them It s an interesting, literate, occasionally surreal tale about a quartet of fascinating women I liked the review here.

A whimsical, fey novel about a family whose games of imagination make dear friends out of complete strangers and bring characters and the dead to life The Carnes ability to create memories and histories out of thin air echo the precocious Brontes own inventiveness But the Brontes are not impervious from being summoned as wellThis is about to be reissued by Bloomsbury and is a sharp, intelligent and fantastic novel.

I really enjoyed this book, but it s not going to be for everyone It hit home as soon as I read the bit where the narrator says how she can t respond when someone asks Oh, do you like to read because it s too much like asking do you like to breath.Anyway, it s bizarre and sometimes confusing, but overall I found it a much entertaining version of Little Women.

No rating, since I didn t finish It was just too bizarre These sisters, mostly grown up, mind you and their mother live so much in their imagination with their imaginary friends that it is really hard for the reader to tell what s going on at all I have other things to read and just couldn t get myself to want to spend my time puzzling it out, it didn t seem worth the effort.