Bookshelf Traveling with the Aiken Sisters - December 12

Time for another round of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which was created by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness and is currently hosted by Katrina at Pining for the West.  Last time I displayed a shelf that holds my juvenile hardcover Joan Aikens, so today we are going downstairs to a shelf that is shared by Joan and her sister Jane Aiken Hodge, another favorite. 

Six Degrees of Separation - From The Turn of the Screw to The Return of the Twelves

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where it ends up.   This month’s starting point is The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1843-1916), a gothic novella about a governess sent to the desolate countryside to care for two orphans, with blood-curdling results. 

I have recently felt that Henry James is everywhere (not to mention his brother William - I had a class in college that met in the building named for him).   My first book is The Summer Before the War (2016), a historical novel by Helen Simonson set before WWI that I liked so much I persuaded my book group to read it.  The story includes a character based on Henry James although it took my mother to point this out to me.   A few years ago she and I visited Rye together, where the book is set and where James spent his last years.   In fact, he wrote The Turn of the Screw while living in Rye. 

England 2018, Day 5

On Tuesday we walked to St. Pancras Station to meet Nicky Smith for a day trip to Rye, a small town in East Sussex  about 90 minutes from London with many historic and literary associations.

Looking toward St. Mary's

It is two miles from the sea and has long been mentioned in the same breath with smugglers. Jane Aiken Hodge lived in nearby Lewes and is probably responsible for some of my historical reading about smugglers.