#Rosamunde Pilcher

[perfectfeelings]

It was good, and nothing good is truly lost. It stays part of a person, becomes part of their character. So part of you goes everywhere with me. And part of me is yours, forever.

Rosamunde Pilcher

[thoughtkick]

It was good, and nothing good is truly lost. It stays part of a person, becomes part of their character. So part of you goes everywhere with me. And part of me is yours, forever.

Rosamunde Pilcher

[stay-close]

It was good, and nothing good is truly lost. It stays part of a person, becomes part of their character. So part of you goes everywhere with me. And part of me is yours, forever.

Rosamunde Pilcher

[perfectquote]

It was good, and nothing good is truly lost. It stays part of a person, becomes part of their character. So part of you goes everywhere with me. And part of me is yours, forever.

Rosamunde Pilcher

[qvotable]

It was good, and nothing good is ever lost. It stays part of a person, becomes part of their character. So part of you goes everywhere with me. And part of me is yours forever.

Rosamunde Pilcher // The Shell Seeker

[tuportamiviareturn]

Amare non significa trovare la perfezione, bensì perdonare terribili difetti.

Rosamunde Pilcher, nata Rosamunde Scott (Lelant, 22 settembre 1924 – Dundee, 6 febbraio 2019)

[mercerislandbooks]

Book Chats: The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club

As it starts to warm up and the sunlight lingers later each day, my genre reading shifts. No more dense fantasy novels; instead, I want books that have summery vibes. Seaside settings and joyful moments. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson is one such book. Lori read it months ago and has been mentioning it consistently since then—and while I don't often pick up historical fiction unprompted, I do enjoy it—so we decided to have a virtual chat about it to compare notes.

Constance Haverhill finds herself out of a job now that the Great War is over and the position she fell into as an estate bookkeeper for an old family friend is being returned to a man. She gets her severance in the form of a summer spent as companion to the recovering Mrs. Fog at a seaside village. Unsure how to occupy herself, she stumbles into a friendship with the lively Poppy Wirall and her gang of motorcycle girls who worked as delivery riders during the war. In their attempts to keep riding and stay employed, hijinks ensue, races are won, and a plane destined for parts is salvaged. But the shadow of the Great War looms over them all as some try to forget and everyone attempts to move on. In this time of change and recovery, Constance has to decide what she wants to make of her life now that women are expected to go back to the way things were before.

Becca: What is it that drew you to this book when you first picked it up? Lori: I think it had been compared to Downton Abbey, which I love and I am generally a fan of historical fiction. World War I and the period between the world wars has not been overdone as much at World War II fiction at this point, in my opinion, and I found the change in time period and setting at the seaside refreshing. Thanks for letting me talk you into trying it! Becca: I really enjoyed it, and our tastes overlap quite a bit, so it wasn't a hard sell. The seaside setting was just what I needed to carry me over into the warmer months. I've just started Downton Abbey for the first time (currently on season 2), and obviously there's a lot of overlap in themes and setting. Did you find this setting and premise to be unique, or is this a topic you read about fairly often in the historical fiction sphere? And how did you feel about the multiple points of view? Were they beneficial to the story, or did they get in the way? Lori: I have read several books this year so far that feature the suffrage movement and women's rights, and not on purpose but they just seem to follow after one another. The Gentleman's Gambit, A Suffragist's Guide to the Antarctic, recently The Stranger I Wed. So I wouldn't say I seek them out, but it's been interesting to keep reading about it. I like multiple POV if it serves the story, and I think it does for this book. It heightened the emotional impact and tension to have an interior view of Constance, Klaus, and Harris. What did you think? Becca: I always enjoy seeing similar things or the same events through multiple points of view. Harris and Constance provide us with a dual-POV romance, while Klaus gives us insight into the life a naturalized British citizen from Germany during that time. And all three of them exist in different, if overlapping, social classes, which added depth. I really loved the emphasis that Simonson placed on the part women played in the war, and how they were then displaced by the men who came home and needed their jobs back. It was a difficult thing to navigate, since there have always been women who have had to support themselves and their families. Lori: I know! I thought she did a great job highlighting that huge oversight when the party line is that all men must be employed at the expense of often more qualified women. Constance needs to work to support herself; she doesn't have anyone else or anything else to fall back on, and it was interesting how uncomfortable those conversations made the "upper class" people she was thrown amongst. Becca: This book definitely gives nods of acknowledgement to several of the British Empire's former colonies. There's a certain Indian government official that I love as a character, not to mention the old friends that Mrs. Fog reunites with in their time at Hazelbourne-on-the-Sea. Lori: Yes! I appreciated that (and I loved him too!). I wanted to visit Mrs. Fog's friends; their home made me think of a Rosamunde Pilcher novel. I think even though, overtly, this book is about women between the wars trying to find a way to forge their own destinies, there's also a current of confronting prejudice or intolerance that plays out in multiple situations and with varying results.  Becca: Agreed. While a large portion of this novel was light and fun (e.g. - the motorcycle races, the flying lessons, and the sheer joy of both), Simonson did an excellent job with some very difficult topics.

If you need a good, atmospheric lead-in to summer, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club will be up on our staff picks shelves for the foreseeable future. Let us know if you read it; as always, we'd love to continue our book chat with you!

—Becca & Lori

[lost-generation-lights]

"Because the carols and the darkness and the presents were all part of a time when life took flight, and the whole world soared to the stars." - Winter Solstice, Rosamunde Pilcher

[thequotefairy]

Other people's houses were always fascinating. As soon as you went through the door for the first time, you got the feel of the atmosphere, and so discovered something about the personalities of the people who lived there.

Rosamunde Pilcher, Coming Home

[asfaltics]

putterings, 250-248

  rivening, ’riv arriv; arrov   without the slightest idea   “Just that.” a good listener though

—

puutterings     |     their index     |     these derivations     |     20230124  

[rosaurasaurio]

(nunca he leído una novela de esta persona, pero esta cita me parece extremadamente cierta)

[thesarahfiles]

“Rosamunde Pilcher: Zeit der Erkenntnis” premiered on German ZDF On April 23, 2000. Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen produced a series of made-for-tv films based on the works of Rosamunde Pilcher. Sarah guest-starred on episode 34 of season 1, “Zeit der Erkenntnis”. She sang “Scarborough Fair” in a scene shot at the open-air Minack Theatre in  Cornwall, England. 

[masticadoresdeletras]

Ideas fuerza: El miedo al desamor by j re crivello

Dedico este texto a Rosamunde Pilcher (la reina de los corazones) Es tan severo como una gota que cae del canto ondulado del grifo. Le sentimos como una pena que se va metiendo en nuestros huesos. Al comienzo son desencuentros. Luego la espina se transforma en una asfixia de convivencia. Poco a poco los malentendidos van en aumento. Hasta que un día uno se ve solo, aterido en la inmensa planicie…

[juuanre]

Ideas fuerza: El miedo al desamor by j re crivello

Dedico este texto a Rosamunde Pilcher (la reina de los corazones) Es tan severo como una gota que cae del canto ondulado del grifo. Le sentimos como una pena que se va metiendo en nuestros huesos. Al comienzo son desencuentros. Luego la espina se transforma en una asfixia de convivencia. Poco a poco los malentendidos van en aumento. Hasta que un día uno se ve solo, aterido en la inmensa planicie…

[devonellington]

Tues. Dec. 19, 2023: It's the Details

image courtesy of  Ilo via pixabay.com Tuesday, December 19, 2023 Waxing moon Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde Cloudy and cold I hope you had a good weekend. My last few days have been all over the place. Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain: Episode 147: The Order’s Security Breached The threat has entered the building. Legerdemain Serial Link Legerdemain Website Friday…

[simplicius-simplicissimus]

Devon and Cornwall - A „Rosamunde Pilcher“ Trip

Falmouth (Cornwall)

While visiting a flea market in the 90s, I bought a few short stories by Rosamunde Pilcher: trivial literature - usually between 200-300 pages for entertainment on the train or plane. For a while it was also very popular to show movie adaptations of her stories on German television. This made people familiar with the Cornish landscape, where many of her stories are set.

I've always wanted to get to know rural England, so my wife and I booked a "Rosamunde Pilcher“ trip (that's actually how the travel provider advertised it) through southern England with the following route: London - Salisbury (Cathedral of Salisbury) - Stonehenge - Bath - Dartmoor - Torquay - Falmouth - St Ives - Land’s End - Plymouth (Mount Edgecumbe) - Portsmouth.

In addition to beautiful St. Ives and Mount Edgecumbe, another highlight of the trip was two nights in an old manor house in Devon that a couple had lovingly renovated and converted into a bed & breakfast. The couple had lived in Kenya for years and had only returned to England a few years ago.

On the journey home it was essential to make a quick detour to Portsmouth to see HMS Victory - Nelson's flagship at the decisive naval battle of Tragalfar over a Franco-Spanish fleet in 1805.

London - Horse Guard

Beim Besuch eines Flohmarkts erstand ich in den 90igern ein paar Kurzgeschichten von Rosamunde Pilcher: Trivialliteratur - meist zwischen 200-300 Seiten für Kurzweil im Zug oder Flugzeug. Es war auch eine Zeit lang sehr beliebt, im deutschen Fernsehen Verfilmungen ihrer Geschichten zu zeigen. Man wurde dadurch mit der Landschaft Cornwalls vertraut , wo viele ihrer Geschichten angesiedelt sind.

Ich wollte schon immer das ländliche England kennenlernen, deshalb buchten meine Frau und ich einen „Rosamunde-Pilcher“-Trip (so preiste ihn der Reiseveranstalter tatsächlich an) durch Süd-England mit folgender Route: London - Salisbury (Cathedral of Salisbury) - Stonehenge - Bath - Dartmoor - Torquay - Falmouth - St Ives - Land’s End - Plymouth (Mount Edgecumbe) - Portsmouth.

Neben dem schönen St. Ives und Mount Edgecumbe war ein weiteres Highlight der Reise zwei Übernachtungen in einem alten Herrenhaus in Devon, das ein Paar liebevoll renoviert und in ein Bed & Breakfast umgebaut hatte. Das Paar hatte jahrelang in Kenia gelebt und war erst vor wenigen Jahren nach England zurückgekehrt.

Auf der Heimreise musste es unbedingt ein kurzer Abstecher nach Portsmouth sein, um die HMS Victory zu besichtigen - das Flagschiff von Nelson bei der entscheidenden Seeschlacht von Tragalfar über eine französisch-spanische Flotte in 1805.

Torquay (British Riviera - Devon)

-Simplicius Simplicissimus