Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Margaret Forster

I was sorry to read about the death of Margaret Forster last week. I've always enjoyed her books, several of which I enjoyed listening to in the audio books read by Susan Jameson. I particularly loved her memoirs, Hidden Lives & Precious Lives, about her family. She was passionate about the importance of ordinary lives & her books explore the secrets that every family keeps. Although a very private person, Forster put a lot of her own experiences into her novels. I had no idea that she had suffered from breast cancer in the 1970s when I read her novel, Is There Anything You Want?, set in a cancer clinic & interweaving the stories of the women who go there. It was only in her last memoir, A Life in Houses, published last year, that she described her experiences, especially the haven that her home became as she recovered from treatment.

After reading about Forster's death, I remembered that I'd bought Kathleen Jones's short biography of Forster some time ago & hadn't got around to reading it. It was originally written as an Arts Council commission & subsequently updated a few years ago. It's an excellent introduction to Forster's work, discussing all her books up to The Unknown Bridesmaid in 2013 as well as a biography. It also includes the covers of all the books & I loved seeing the very trendy 1960s cover art for her first novels, Dames' Delight & The Bogeyman. Kathleen Jones has paid tribute to Forster on her blog here. I was also fascinated to read how she decided to write biography, especially her biography of Bonnie Prince Charlie, The Rash Adventurer, which I haven't read, & her biographies of Elizabeth Barrett Browning & Daphne Du Maurier, which I loved & would love to reread.

There were many obituaries but here's the one in The Guardian & an interview from Cumbria Life in 1999. I also listened to her appearance on Desert Island Discs in 1994 which can be heard here or downloaded as a podcast. She disliked music & preferred silence so her musical choices were surprising & quite moving as they were all pieces that reminded her of family or special times in her life. Forster's husband, Hunter Davies, is a writer & journalist, famously writing several books about the Beatles. She chose Blackbird because it reminded her of that time in their lives & Send in the Clowns because her daughter used to play it on the clarinet on summer evenings.

There's one more Margaret Forster novel to look forward to. How to Measure A Cow will be published next month.

12 comments:

  1. I've read about her but nothing by her yet...the more I hear about her (sadly), the more I want to read.

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    1. I think you'd especially enjoy her family memoirs, Audrey & if you're a Daphne Du Maurier fan, her biography of DDM is terrific.

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  2. I'm not familiar with her work at all and will go to Amazon to read some synopses.

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    1. I hope you find something that interests you. Quite a lot of her books are available as eBooks as well as paper. A lot of them were available at one time on audio read by Susan Jameson but Audible only lists a couple of titles now.

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  3. Thank you for introducing me to a writer about whom I have been ignorant; because of your laudatory posting, I now look forward to correcting that oversight and expanding my reading adventures. Best wishes from Beyond Walden Pond, the new home of Transcendental American literature studies.
    http://beyondwaldenpond.blogspot.com/

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    1. I hope you enjoy MF's books. I think she's less well-known in the US but hopefully her work will be available.

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  4. That was a wonderful post Lyn to Margaret, I also love her books , she is up there with the best of them,although you have read more of them than me! Would loveb to read "Her life in books , didn't know it existed, thanks to you now I know , must listen to desert island discs , you made it sound so heart warming. Thanx once again Lyn xxxx

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    1. Thanks Leonie, I thought you might be a fan!

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  5. Margaret Forster is not an author I'm familiar with, but after reading this post, I wish I were. I'll be keeping an eye out for her books. Thanks! :)

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    1. I hope you enjoy her books if you decide to investigate further, Lark.

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  6. Great post ...love the links ..The Desert Island discs really works ..often I don't enjoy Sue Lawley as interviewer but this time it really clicked ...isn't MF's laugh great on the recording . The interview pdf was interesting too ..he wasn't so great at being self effacing (which I think is a quality of great interviewers) but it was an entertaining piece. So much pleasure gained from your post ...Many Thanks! I think I'll look out for her memoirs they sound like they'll be quite my cup of tea.

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    1. I'm glad you liked it, Val. The DID episode was especially good, I thought.

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