Unbelievable. I write this review opening with tears in my eyes, brought on by the final chapter of Writing in the Dark. Having been drawn into the intimate and emotional lives of these writers, pulled through chapters in their private rooms and homes during World War 2, to then leave them at the death bed of George Orwell cuts you quick.
If you are a writer, please read this book.
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I wish that I had had this book during my English Lit degree. It would have brought alive the writers and poets that fell into boring corners of lectures and notes. Stephen Spender, Cyril Connolly, the Woolfs and Orwell are among the stars of this piece – you become close companions with them all, skirting past the falling bombs of London to keep up with their wit and dry humour.
I truly fell in love with this book. Out of all the books/shows I have watched based in WW2 or on the London Blitz, this by far exceeds all my past praise. Writing in the Dark is as rich in narrative and warmth as a Christmas story. The gift of Loxley’s book is being able to get you close to these big names in writing at the time. It both charms you and informs you on the publishing trends in Bloomsbury – the dipping popularity in novels and rising place for poetry (short pieces to pick up and read in Horizon when you aren’t at the window, looking up at the sky for German planes).
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Who is this book for?
FANS OF: wartime non-fiction, eyewitness accounts of The Blitz, publishing history, 1930s/40s big writers, anyone wanting to get closer to their favourite writer.
I would trust Will Loxley as my navigator through literary history; I will definitely be reading all of his future works. Watch out for future posts where I may very well use a quote or two from Writing in the Dark.
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