#phil benson

[spokenrealms]

Oscar Wilde, the Story of an Unhappy Friendship

Oscar Wilde, the Story of an Unhappy Friendship

In 1895 the Irish playwright, novelist, and poet Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years of hard labour for the crime of “gross indecency with men”. Robert Sherard met Wilde a decade earlier in Paris and their friendship, though often troubled, was maintained until the end of Wilde’s life. Written for private publication, Sherard’s account of their friendship aimed to restore Wilde’s good name…

View On WordPress

[spokenrealms]

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Presented by The Online Stage Frances Hodgson Burnet’s 1911 novel is about Mary Lennox, an unloved orphan who journeys from India to Yorkshire to live at Misselthwaite Manor, the home of her uncle Archibald Craven. Under the influence of the beautiful countryside and its kind inhabitants, Mary begins to blossom. She soon discovers there are secrets…

View On WordPress

[spokenrealms]

The English & Australian Cookery Book

The English & Australian Cookery Book

In the 19th century, when books were comparatively rare and expensive, encyclopedic compendiums about managing households became very popular. The most notable example in this genre is Isabella Beeton’s Book of Household Management, first published in 1861. Three years later, Edward Abbott, who described himself as an “Australian Aristologist”, published The English and Australian Cookery Book,…

View On WordPress

[spokenrealms]

Australian Ballads

In the introduction, anthologist Douglas Sladen stated that the purpose of this collection was “to lay before the English public a selection of poems inspired by life and scenery in Australia”. He further comments, “This volume is essentially the work of people who have meditated in the open air and not under the lamp; and if its contents oftentimes want the polish that comes only with much…

View On WordPress

[qwillmode-blog]

Interviewed the lead singer of Terry Malts, read it here.