By Marcie McCauley | On July 2, 2020 | Updated February 7, 2026 | Comments (5)
English author (not the actress) Elizabeth Taylor (1912 – 1975) published seventeen books: four collections of stories, one children’s book, and twelve novels. If you’re just discovering this under-appreciated author and wondering where to begin or considering a reread, here is a glimpse of Elizabeth Taylor’s novels.
She’s “not like most novelists,” Elizabeth Jane Howard observes; she’s “one in a thousand: how deeply I envy any reader coming to her for the first time.”
In Contemporary Novelists, Elizabeth explained her process: “I write in scenes, rather than in narrative, which I find boring. I am pleased if the look of a page is interesting, broken by paragraphs or dialogue, not just one dense slab of print.”
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By Nava Atlas | On June 15, 2020 | Updated March 24, 2026 | Comments (6)
Honoring their rich tradition, here are a dozen classic novels and memoirs by Black women writers. While there’s much more to explore in Black literature of the distant and more recent past, classics like those in this roundup are a good place to start.
Historically, it was challenge enough for women to become published authors; this was especially true for Black women facing the dual struggle of race and gender bias.
From what were once referred to as slave narratives of the 19th century, to the identity-seeking stories of the Harlem Renaissance, to the unique voices of more recently departed authors like Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange, and Audre Lorde, these foundational classics have stood the test of time, and will always be incredibly good reads. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On May 8, 2020 | Updated August 30, 2022 | Comments (0)
It is a truth universally acknowledged that there are Jane Austen fans so devoted that they read Pride and Prejudice (and/or her other novels) every year or two.
Contemporary Austen-flavored retellings only add fuel to the literary fire. In that vein, the witty pen of Sonali Dev has produced Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors (2019) and Recipe for Persuasion (2020).
For fervent devotees, for whom there can never be Too Much Jane, Ms. Dev’s novels will be a delicious treat. They transpose Austen-esque complicated relationships to the modern world, and season them with culinary themes. Here’s a look at these entertaining reads by Sonali Dev. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On May 1, 2020 | Updated May 21, 2024 | Comments (0)
Johanna Spyri (1827 – 1901), the author of Heidi, has been called the “Swiss Louisa May Alcott.” Tens of millions of copies of this classic children’s novel (first published in 1881) have sold worldwide in translations of more than forty languages.
Originally written in German, Heidi was Spyri’s first published novel. None of her subsequent books — and there were many — achieved the level of success as did Heidi. It’s not only the bestselling Swiss book ever published, but one of the bestselling books in the world.
Heidi has also been adapted numerous times to the stage, including an opera, plus several movies and television series. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On April 23, 2020 | Updated August 29, 2022 | Comments (0)
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933) is actually Gertrude Stein‘s own memoir. Gertrude Stein Has Arrived by Roy Morris, Jr. chronicles the return of the delightfully perplexing literary figure to her American homeland in 1934.
With Alice in tow, Stein conducted an epic lecture tour to promote what would be her most commercially successful book.
Gertrude appropriated the supposed persona of her longtime companion, Alice B. Toklas, to tell her own tale. Famously, Alice is quoted as saying:
“About six weeks ago Gertrude Stein said, ‘It does not look to me as if you were ever going to write that autobiography. You know what I am going to do? I am going to write it for you. I am going to write it as simply as Defoe did the autobiography of Robinson Crusoe.’ And she has, and this is it.” Read More→
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