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Maybe someday
32
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
26/100Critics
37/100Scholars
Author:
Lennie Goodings
Publisher:
Oxford University Press, USA
Date:
October 1, 2020
A Bite of the Apple is part-memoir, part history of Virago, and part thoughts on over forty years of feminist publishing. This is the story of how the authors and staff who, driven by passion, conviction and excitement, have made Virago Press one of the most important and influential English-language publishers in the world. Lennie Goodings has been with the iconic press founded by Carmen Callil almost since the start. First a publicist and then for over twenty years, publisher and editor, she has worked with extraordinary authors: Margaret Atwood, Marilynne Robinson, Sarah Waters, Linda Grant, Natasha Walter, Naomi Wolf and Maya Angelou among many others.
What The Reviewers Say
For the historical lead-in, Goodings maintains a careful, stately tone, like the voiceover in a prestigious BBC period drama about ladies: The House of Elliot, but for books. The story is one of artistry, ambition, activism and a fierce desire to marry the three.
... Goodings would become the Publisher at Virago, one of the most influential and renowned presses of the 20th century. A Bite of the Apple tells the history of over 40 years of the publishing house, through its books, its characters, its finances, and its drama. It is part memoir, part history, and part an exploration of feminism, publishing, and the place of literature in affecting social progress.
Lennie Goodings, one of Virago’s earliest employees, draws on memories of her 42-year career at the press as well as the testimonies of fellow 'Viragos' and authors, from Angela Carter to Angelou, to capture the 'hot flame' that fuelled their fast-growing project.
... pensive and surprisingly poignant.
