Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 9:13PM How many books, I wonder, are recommended almost simultaneously in Shots Magazine and the Church Times? The answer this month would be The Oaken Heart. Both Mike Ripley and Ronald Blythe advise their readers to look out for the new edition. The Essex Book Festival event is on March 24th and publication date is March 3rd. CLICK HERE for the advance information sheet.
Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 11:51AM Just the briefest of announcements - and I will write more - to say what fun it is to be embarking on another edition of The Oaken Heart. In 1987 it was the book that brought me to an appreciation of Margery Allingham the Essex village dweller, filling out the Margery Allingham wonderful novelist who I'd been reading in a collection of green Penguins. I met Joyce, got permission to republish (previous editions were in 1941 and 1959) and then bished the whole thing by deciding to re-type the book myself to save on setting costs.
I am NOT a good typist and had no in-house proof reader so, while I loved the text I felt that I had let it down. All was not loss - Joan Hickson read it on Woman's Hour and quite a number of copies were sold. But it's not an attractive book. Ironically I was trying to produce something in larger type that would be easier for older eyes. Good try - failed.
This time is going to be different. Working together with the Margery Allingham Society and Tolleshunt D'Arcy Primary School (via the 2011 Essex Book Festival). There'll be some illustrations, explanatory notes and my friend Heidi is busy typing out Margery's 1940 and 1941 diaries for inclusion in the new volume. I even hope we may get a Foreword from Ronald Blythe - Mr Akenfield himself!