This is part of an ongoing series where I write about a different author for each letter of the alphabet. You can see them all here.
I wasn’t immediately sure where to go with F – Rachel Ferguson, maybe – but then I remembered my addiction to getting matching Fitzgeralds, and it had to be she.
How many books do I have by Penelope Fitzgerald?
Thirteen – nine novels, two biographies, one collection of essays and one collection of letters. Which is almost everything by her, I think – I’m missing a biography, but that’s about it. And you can tell by this pile that I’m pretty keen on getting matching editions. I need to replace my The Gate of Angels at some point. These Flamingo paperbacks aren’t particularly rare, but I like their design and have snapped them up when I’ve stumbled across them. Confusingly, half of them are labelled Flamingo and half are Harper Perennial, so who knows what’s going on there.
How many of these have I read?
Six: Human Voices, The Bookshop, At Freddie’s, The Blue Flower, Offshore, and Charlotte Mew. I did dip into A House of Air, the essays, at one point, but I don’t think I got super far.
How did I start reading Fitzgerald?
My first was Human Voices, about working in BBC radio, and I can’t remember how or why I picked it up. I do remember that I didn’t much like it – something in the prose didn’t quite connect. But then somebody gave me The Bookshop and I gave her another go, because it was so short. Something clicked that time, and her spare, ironic writing delights me. She writes a little like she hasn’t ever read another writer, and I mean that as a compliment. And more power to her for publishing her first novel when she was over 60!
General impressions…
I am still a bit hit and miss with Fitzgerald. I didn’t particularly get on with Offshore, which felt like a lot of moments not tying together – but At Freddie’s is a hoot, and she is a wonderful biographer. I only dimly knew who Charlotte Mew as before I read Fitzgerald’s biography, but it is totally captivating. I think I might go The Knox Brothers next.
Oh, and my well-documented distaste for historical fiction could be an obstacle to some of these – but I really enjoyed The Blue Flower, set in 18th-century Germany and about the philosopher Novalis, of whom I had never heard. Perhaps because she maintains her eccentric style, rather than bowing to any contemporary restrictions. I’ve heard people call The Blue Flower her masterpiece – my favourite is probably The Bookshop. Expect the unexpected with Fitzgerald, and enjoy the journey.