Posted by Peter Ceresole on September 18, 2006 at 18:10:13 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Girls who dare (was Hot Water) posted by Jenny Berki on September 18, 2006 at 16:18:34:
I don't know who Rosamund was (or is?), or when she wrote that, but it's horrifying!
She was a big-deal serious novelist in the '30s and '40s. Her women protagonists are modern, have complicated relationships with men who are often other women's husbands. She had a long term relationship with Cecil Day Lewis, which might have been relevant. The title of hers that I remember best is 'The Weather in the Streets'.
She writes well. But I prefer Ransome, both for his stories, which are frankly more fun, and his gloriously direct style.
I think that that quote may have dated back to the days when sailing stories and detective stories were conventionally reckoned to be boys' stories. So there is such a thing as progress.