By Taylor Jasmine | On February 19, 2015 | Updated May 17, 2025 | Comments (1)
Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers was this esteemed American author’s final novel, published in 1961. McCullers was known for writing in the Southern Gothic genre, with elements of the grotesque in some of her storytelling.
When her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, was published in 1940 she became the toast of the literary scene. The novel was wildly successful, more so than her next three works, which were all published before her thirtieth birthday.
Clock Without Hands received mixed- to favorable reviews; by the time of its publication, her greatest successes were behind her. Following is a review from the year of its publication, which gives a mixed view of the novel. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On February 19, 2015 | Updated March 15, 2026 | Comments (0)
From the 1941 John Day Company edition of Dragon Seed (1941) by Pearl S. Buck: In Dragon Seed, Pearl Buck writes once more in the mood and vein of The Good Earth and The Mother.
Like those two classic novels this new one tells of plain people dwelling close to the Chinese soil, but a soil now sodden by the invader.
The story is of the farmer Ling Tan, and his wife and sons and daughters. The scene is outside and inside the walls of Nanking, the capital city where the author lived for seventeen years. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On February 19, 2015 | Updated September 21, 2022 | Comments (0)
From the original review in The Corpus Christi Caller, July 1965 by Maurice Dolbier: Dodie Smith was born near Manchester, went to London stagestruck, was unsuccessful as an actress, went into business and then wrote plays and novels.
She now has a novel in which the heroine is a stagestruck Manchester girl who goes to London, is unsuccessful as an actress, goes into business, and does some writing.
Authenticity of background, therefore, can be comfortably assumed. The rest is fiction, charming, entertaining, and at times, mildly rueful — cool refreshment in a hot summer, a champagne cocktail from Miss Smith. Read More→
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