Publisher and bookshop Persephone Books has a strict remit; female writers – mostly neglected ones – from the early Twentieth Century.

In 1983 Persephone founder Nicola Beauman wrote A Very Great Profession: The Woman’s Novel 1914-39. Sixteen years later, many of the writers she had discussed were still out of print, so she decided to do something about it. In 1999 Persephone was born and thirteen years on and Beauman hasn’t wavered in her mission to retell old stories to new audiences.

With 96 books to choose from, Twin asks Persephone for their recommendations…

A book for Spring…
We think our upcoming titles Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins, and Virginia Woolf’s posthumously edited A Writer’s Diary will make great Spring reads – both out on the 19 April.

A book to make you laugh…
Without doubt Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – No. 21 -. This is a hilarious fairy-tale account of a dowdy governess’ accidental encounter with a glamorous night club singer. Although those with a dryer sense of humour might prefer Julia Strachey’s short novel, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding.

A book to make you cry…
You’d have to have heart of stone not to cry at Still Missing – a book you wont be able to put down. William: An Englishman – No. 1 – is also extremely emotional, as it brings home the terrible human cost of the First World War through the fate of one very ordinary English couple.

A book that will shock you…
Margarita Laski’s To Bed With Grand Music – No. 86 – follows the protagonist, Deborah, as she sleeps her way round London, completely debunking the cosy myth of women patiently keeping the home fires burning while their husbands were fighting on the front line.

A book about style…
High Wages by Dorothy Whipple – No. 85 – is about a young woman who sets up her own dress shop in a northern town around the time of the First World War.

It includes some really interesting details about fashion and style in the period, and explores different women’s responses to the opening up of different opportunities both in terms of how they can dress and how they can make their mark on the world.

A book for living in the city…
Farewell Leicester Square by Betty Miller – No. 14 – or Helen Ashton’s Bricks and Mortar – No. 49 – are great books about London in the first half of the twentieth century.

A book to expand your mind…
Round About a Pound a Week – No. 79 – and the suffragette novel No Surrender – No.94 -both explore different but equally important aspects of women’s lives before the First World War.

A book you won’t be able to put down…
Still Missing  – No. 88 – by Beth Gutcheon is literally impossible to put down. It is a beautifully written and extremely tense novel about a little boy who goes missing from his Boston home. We both cried when we read it. A lot.

persephonebooks.co.uk

Tags: A Very Great Profession: The Woman's Novel 1914-39, book recommendations, female writers, literature, Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books