ThereseTaylor

The ever-lively Scandal Mongers Podcast has taken on the Cleveland Street Affair of 1889 - a fin de siecle drama which involved the exploitation of teenage boys, prostitution, the hidden lives of upper-class men, and even the Royal Family.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsobFdQVCDE Neil McKenna, author of The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde  is interviewed and he is preparing to publish a new book on the Cleveland St Scandal. One must hear the complete podcast in order to take in so many fascinating threads, half-known stories, and hints at buried scandals.  There is also a hint, from Neil McKenna, that he will be bringing out a novel - perhaps a work of historical fiction.  I first read of the Cleveland Street Scandal in Michael Harrison's early (1972) book, Clarence. This work of popular history went into theories about the Jack the Ripper murders. This is an eccentric topic, but Harrison gave a thorough review of what was known (then) about the Cleveland Street Affa...

I have been wishing to read more memoirs by Australian women.  The Years that the Locust Hath Eaten, by Marjorie Quinn. And also, Angels, Incense and Revolution: Catholic Schooldays of the 1960s, by Wanda Skowronska. https://www.connorcourtpublishing.com.au/Angels-Incense-and-Revolution-Catholic-Schooldays-of-the-1960s--Wanda-Skowronska_p_257.html

I am reading Tami Hoag's crime novel, Dust to Dust. Published in 2000, it reflects the world of the 1990s. I have not finished it yet, so I cannot assess it, but so far it has an effective noir atmosphere. That world of the past, with telephones that dialled and newspapers all in print, was for me the real world for most of my life - all gone now. A novel set in that era almost seems like a historical novel.