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Persephone Books

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Persephone Books

Publisher of neglected fiction and nonfiction by mid-twentieth century (mostly) women writers, all in elegant grey matching editions. Also a bookshop.
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17/08/2026

Journalist Charlotte Higgins chose PB no. 148 OUT OF THE WINDOW by Madeline Linford for her Summer Reading over the weekend.

Charlotte wrote in her The Guardian newsletter that ‘I turned to a novel by my Guardian ancestress Madeline Linford, who began as an advertising assistant, reported on the humanitarian crisis in post-first world war Poland, started the women’s page and pioneered film criticism (or “kinema” criticism, as editor CP Scott insisted it be spelled). What I hadn’t realised was that she was a fine novelist as a young woman – a pursuit that, alas, she gave up to concentrate on journalism. I’m thoroughly enjoying her 1930 Manchester-set novel of love across class barriers, OUT OF THE WINDOW.’

OUT OF THE WINDOW begins when Ursula, the indulged daughter of an affluent middle-class doctor living in a village in Cheshire, attends a neighbour’s party. There she meets Kenneth, an engineer from Manchester, who is raising money for the wives and children of local miners striking for better working conditions; he is ‘absurdly good looking… the other men in the room seemed limp and colourless beside him.’ The two of them marry against their parents’ wishes but, when they return from honeymoon, they soon realise that marriage does not only involve love, but also housework.

OUT OF THE WINDOW is a fascinating love story full of revealing detail about Manchester in the 1920s, not least social inequality and the role of the trade unions; it is about women’s lives not long before the watershed of World War Two; and it is also steeped in what we at Persephone Books call ‘Domestic Feminism’.

The endpaper for OUT OF THE WINDOW, pictured above, is a roller printed cretonne designed by Constance Irving for William Foxton Ltd in the late 1920s.

To purchase PB no. 148 OUT OF THE WINDOW, head to https://persephonebooks.co.uk/products/out-of-the-window.

14/08/2026

Apparently August is Women in Translation Month, so pictured here are a few we are so proud to publish: Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar, Irène Némirovsky, Mathilde Wolff-Mönckeberg, Eugenia Ginzburg, Lydia Chukovskaya, Etty Hillesum and Anna Gmeyner

To find out more about their writing, head to https://persephonebooks.co.uk/collections/grey-books-translations, which will take you directly to the ’Translation’ category on our website (it comes after ’Thrillers’ and before ‘Victoriana’).

Which of them have you read? Who would you like to read next?

13/08/2026

Yesterday the Dutch publisher of PB no. 152 CROOKED CROSS by Sally Carson braved the heat to bring us a copy of the Dutch edition in person. We were interested to chat to her about the choice of cover and title and to hear about her plans for the book. It has now been translated into eight languages and counting; we are particularly looking forward to the German translation, which is being meticulously worked on by the writer and literary critic Ante Rávik Strubel. Meanwhile our own paperback edition comes out in a couple of months and there is an Ebook and audiobook available as well, the latter narrated beautifully by Stephanie Racine. This extraordinary novel from 1934 about a young woman’s political and emotional awakening in N**i Germany continues to move and fascinate readers all over the world. Have you read it yet? And how about the sequel, PB no. 154 THE PRISONER?

12/08/2026

The dahlias in the Persephone bookshop haven’t yet wilted in the heat entirely, but they are certainly not happy.

04/08/2026

This week, how about diving into PB no. 38 CHEERFUL WEATHER FOR THE WEDDING by Julia Strachey, a stylish, witty 1932 novella that’s like an eccentric mix-up of Katherine Mansfield, ‘Cold Comfort Farm’ and EM Forster?

‘A very cute, clever, indeed rather remarkable acidulated story... I think it is astonishingly good – complete and sharp and individual.’ (Virginia Woolf)

Dolly is getting ready to marry the Honourable Owen Bigham. Waylaid by the sulking admirer who lost his chance with her, an astonishingly oblivious mother, and her own sinking dread, the bride-to-be struggles to reach the altar with the help of a bottle of rum.

First published by the Hogarth Press in 1932, at only 192 pages long CHEERFUL WEATHER FOR THE WEDDING is also the perfect size to slip into the pocket of your sun dress in case dinner is dull.

‘A brilliant, bittersweet upstairs-downstairs comedy’ (The Guardian)

https://persephonebooks.co.uk/products/cheerful-weather-for-the-wedding

Also available as a Persephone Classic and a Persephone Audiobook read by Miriam Margolyes.

23/07/2026

Persephone Books is beginning to have the air of summer holidays: some of us are about to head off for a few days away and the bookshop is packed with tourists having a jolly day out in Bath. One customer told us she loved Virginia Woolf so we recommended PB no. 38 CHEERFUL WEATHER FOR THE WEDDING or PB no. 140 THE RECTOR’S DAUGHTER, which she championed at the Hogarth Press; alternatively, her husband’s novel PB no. 43 THE WISE VIRGINS offers some insight and of course we publish three books by her too, PB no. 55 FLUSH, PB no. 98 A WRITER’S DIARY and PB no. 134 A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN. Another customer asked for a surreal book, so we offered PB no. 6 THE VICTORIAN CHAISE-LONGUE then discussed that surrealism was officially invented in the 1920s but perhaps it always existed and just wasn’t give a name i.e. like psychoanalysis existed before Freud, cf Shakespeare. There has also been some chat about the fact that in Andy Burnham Britain has its first Prime Minister with an English Literature degree and also which of our titles have, like him, a Greater Manchester connection, to which the answer is PB no. 148 OUT OF THE WINDOW and PB no. 143 A WELL FULL OF LEAVES, amongst others. The Persephone newsletter was emailed out this week, in case any of you are not already signed up; the daily Persephone Post was also on the subject of Manchester; and we were delighted to welcome a couple of groups of A-Level students to tell them about the work that we do, exhorting them to have the confidence to challenge the literary canon at every turn. Other than that we have now sent our October book, PB no. 155 HER SON’S WIFE, to the printer; the forthcoming issue of the Pamphlet is being written; the proof reading has begun for the April 2027 books (‘A Week Like Any Other’ by Natalya Baranskaya and the third in the Sally Carson trilogy, ‘A Traveller Came By’); the October 2027 book has gone to be typed up (that sounds old-fashioned but OCR creates such a huge number of errors that we have reverted to the old system); and today in the office we discussed two books that we have just read and whether we could/should publish them in 2028. And on we go.

17/07/2026

At yesterday’s Persephone book group we discussed PB no. 42 THE BLANK WALL by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. By coincidence, that same morning we had arrived at the office to find an email from a well-known production company enquiring about the film rights, so it was an auspicious start.

First, we talked about the historical context of this 1947 thriller: it is fascinating about rationing in the U.S. during World War Two, for example when Lucia heads to the market and can’t find any margarine or sugar and only a weird brand of ci******es and old, soft, sprouting potatoes. We also laughed about how normal it was in those days to have a Martini with lunch (“She sipped the cocktail, feeling an odd strength in herself, a sense of power she had not known before. I can manage him all right, she thought.”) The portrayal of 1940s New York generally is very vivid; we warmed to the character of the maid, Sibyl, who repeatedly saves the day; and discussed whether or not the plot hangs together amidst the moments of melodrama and how the style compares to the likes of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett, for example the level of psychological insight.

Another central theme of the novel is the generational clash between pre-war women like Lucia and post-war women like her daughter, Bee. Lucia is desperate to show her love and devotion to her family by protecting the idyllic bubble that they inhabit, but in doing so she builds her own kind of domestic prison. (There is an essay in the latest edition of the Persephone Pamphlet that has more on this).

Most importantly though, the book group found it to be a terrific, quick read, gripping and unusual, and we could easily see how it would make a great film (well, a third great film: it was shot once as ’The Reckless Moment’ in 1949 with James Mason and again as ’The Deep End’ in 2001 with Tilda Swinton - both worth tracking down).

To purchase THE BLANK WALL, head to our website: the Grey original edition costs £15 plus shipping (https://persephonebooks.co.uk/products/the-blank-wall) and the Classic paperback edition, pictured here, costs £12 plus shipping (https://persephonebooks.co.uk/collections/persephone-classics/products/the-blank-wall-classic-edition).

16/07/2026

Both the Ebook and the audiobook of PB no. 154 THE PRISONER by Sally Carson are now available as well as the print edition.

The much-anticipated sequel to PB no. 152 CROOKED CROSS, the T.L.S. described this rediscovered 1936 novel as “Absorbing, frightening... THE PRISONER continues the written-in-real-time theme of ordinary Germans during the early N**i era.” The Radio Times called it “one of the publishing triumphs of recent years” while on Goodreads, Melody commented that it is “A really challenging and powerful read, much like CROOKED CROSS but showing the even more insidious reach of N**ism into young men and families. Carson is such a good writer, and had she lived longer I’m sure she’d be considered one of the greatest political novelists of the twentieth century”.

Did you know that Persephone Books publishes some Ebooks and audiobooks in addition to our print editions? Purchase them from the usual platforms.

09/07/2026

Twenty enormous cardboard boxes have arrived by seamail from southern India: our grey canvas bags, pictured here, are now back in stock, hurrah.

We immediately took one on a day trip to Cambridge and received so many compliments about it on the train, whilst also admiring how sturdy and upright it is and therefore ideal for using e.g. at the beach because it does not flop about.

The Persephone Bag has a small inside pocket, is extremely comfortable to carry and from our experience lasts for ages and ages. The interior is lined with a grey version of the fabric used for PB no. 90 THE WINDS OF HEAVEN.

£15 plus shipping.

Also on the Merch page of the Persephone Books website: fabric book envelopes, tea towels, napkins, neck scarves, aprons and more. Why not have a browse? https://persephonebooks.co.uk/collections/persephone-merch.

04/07/2026

On the 250th anniversary of the founding of America, we celebrate our American authors, pictured here: Helen Hull, Susan Glaspell, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Dorothy B Hughes, Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, Judith Viorst, Beth Gutcheon and Judith Rossner. All of them wrote on the theme of domestic feminism in their own different, often quiet ways, but then fell out of print for many years; Persephone Books now couldn’t be prouder to publish them. To find out more about their novels and poetry, head to https://persephonebooks.co.uk/collections/grey-books-america, which will take you directly to the ‘America’ category on our website (it comes after ‘Adultery’ but before “Architecture’….)

Address

8 Edgar Buildings
Bath
BA12EE

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 6pm
Tuesday	10am - 6pm
Wednesday	10am - 6pm
Thursday	10am - 6pm
Friday	10am - 6pm
Saturday	11am - 5pm

Website

http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/

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