Read of the month was definitely The Pillars of the House by Charlotte M Yonge. I’ve only finished volume one so have hours more gripping reading ahead. C M Yonge is a comparatively recent discovery of mine. I picked up a copy of The Daisy Chain in a charity shop, read the first page and fell instantly in love. Since then I have read Heartsease, The Trial (sequel to TDC), The Clever Woman of the Family and Dynevor Terrace. These are all family stories; I am not attracted to the historical ones. It’s really wonderful that she can make someone in the 21st century care about whether or not a fictional character in the mid-19th century is sound on some aspect of church doctrine. Yet the characters are good without being pious or preachy and there are plenty of laughs as well as many tragedies.
I also read a few unmemorable school stories and Music and Silence by Rose Tremain, which I found pretty hard going.
