Remembering Mary Hocking

May 13, 2014

Mary Hocking was a Virago author (though her books were also published by other firms) and unfortunately passed away earlier this year. Blogger Heaven-Ali is a huge fan, and has been flying the flag for Mary’s work for some time now. So it was nice to hear that she is dedicating the month of June to #rememberMary and is inviting other readers/bloggers to join in.

Hocking is often compared to Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Pym, both of whom I’ve read and enjoyed, so I’m happy to join in. Plus, of course, it gave me the excuse for a little book shopping and I have chosen her Virago novel “A Particular Place” – the random way my reading is nowadays, it’s unlikely I’ll read more than one!

There is a nice obituary of Mary here and it seems such a shame that her work is neglected; one of the large band of writers from the last century who wrote quality books which aren’t the all-bells-and-whistles big gimmicky sellers but nevertheless deserve to be read.

So please join us in remembering Mary Hocking in June!

heavenali
May 13, 2014 @ 11:08:43

I’m so glad you will be joining us looking forward to hearing how you like A Particular Place I really enjoyed it.

kaggsysbookishramblings
May 13, 2014 @ 11:11:52

I’m looking forward to discovering a new-for-me Virago author!

Caroline
May 13, 2014 @ 14:34:49

I’ve never heard of her before but I’m a huge fan of both Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Pym. I’ll have to investigate the event and maybe join as well.

kaggsysbookishramblings
May 13, 2014 @ 15:16:33

Me too! I’ve read and loved both Taylor and Pym, and it sounds like Hocking will be a similar author!

Kat
May 15, 2014 @ 18:30:34

I very much enjoyed A Particular Place and I do have some other Mary Hockings. Perhaps I’ll get them out this summer. (I’m a ghost from the past, having gotten behind in reading blogs, but I assure you I like what I see here.)

kaggsysbookishramblings
May 15, 2014 @ 19:36:47

🙂 Thank you! I haven’t read any Virago for a little while so I’m looking forward to it.Hope you can join in!

rainpebble
May 19, 2014 @ 23:51:00

I am also looking forward to reading Mary Hocking in June. I read her “Good Daughters” trilogy with some others in the Virago group on L.T. and enjoyed them. Last winter I read her “The Very Dead of Winter” which was a tad quirky but I really liked it. I think I will be reading “A Particular Place”, “Letters from Constance” and “An Irrelevant Woman”. See you ladies (& hopefully a few gents) there in June.