Listen back to Dublin: One City, One Book 2018, when we celebrated The Long Gaze Back, and the female voice in Irish literature. This anthology of 30 short stories is edited by Sinead Gleeson.
In this episode novelist and journalist Martina Devlin discusses the fascinating letters from Somerville and Ross n the early 1900s.
Edith Somerville and her second cousin Violet Martin may have been Victorian women, but their flair, business expertise and ambition were ultra-modern. From their light-hearted Irish R.M. series of stories to darker novels including the classic The Real Charlotte, their skills as the Somerville and Ross writing duo were wide-ranging.
Their talents extended to their correspondence, and the voices of these irrepressible, talented Women of Letters emerges in their dispatches to Lady Gregory, their literary agent, James Pinker – and to each other.
Recorded at the National Library of Ireland on 30 April 2018.
Our theme tune is Dream of the forest (jazzy mix) by articom (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/articom/61177
Featured image is from page 159 of 'Through Connemara in a Governess Cart. By the authors of “An Irish Cousin” [i.e. Edith Œ. Somerville and “Martin Ross,” i.e. Violet Martin]. Illustrated by W. W. Russell, from sketches by Edith Œ. Somerville. Image courtesy of British Library https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11303649384
