Are You Ready for Mary Hocking Week?

#Remember Mary Hocking

I discovered Mary Hocking last year, thanks to Heavenali‘s Mary Hocking Week. So, of course, I was keen on joining when I saw she was going to do another week this year.

Last year I read the wonderful The Very Dead of Winter. This year I will read Letters From Constance, which I first discovered a while back on Danielle’s blog here.

Letters From Constance

Here’s the synopsis should anyone be interested in reading along:

In 1939, as they leave school, Constance and Sheila vow to keep in touch. Posted to Ireland in the WRNS, Constance marries Fergus, a gregarious Irishman. Before long, stifled by domesticity and motherhood, she envies Sheila, writing poetry and married to the fiercely creative Miles. Gradually, however, a different reality emerges, for Constance has unacknowledged talents of her own, while Sheila’s public success is bought at great personal cost. From the war to the 1980s, Constance writes to Sheila of her everyday hopes and sorrows, and through her we learn much of Sheila’s gallantry and courage. We learn, too, of the social and political developments that challenge and shape her values, until finally outside events come too close and the fragile balance of Constance’s own world is threatened.

There are many Mary Hocking novels that sound amazing but they are not easy to get. Many are out of print. I managed to get a used copy of Letters From Constance.

Mary Hocking Week starts next Monday, so if you want to join, you have to hurry up a bit. Here are the details.

Will you join as well? What are you going to read?

24 thoughts on “Are You Ready for Mary Hocking Week?

  1. Thank you for highlighting this. I really enjoyed Letters from Constance. I will be reading a 1968 novel A Time of War and may then move on to its sequel The Hopeful traveller. Look out for a giveaway of second hand Mary Hocking books next week. 😊

    • My pleasure. I can’t wait to start. Ij’m ust finishing Molly Panter-Downes’ One Fine Day and the on to Mary Hocking. Oh lovely. A giveaway. That would be such a treat.
      I’m looking forward to your reviews.

  2. I’m trying to continue to read from my TBR for the next few months, but I’ll be following your reviews with interest. Ali has done a great job in raising her profile as I must admit I’d never heard of her until last year.

    • She did a great thing. I Danielle reviewed her before but it didn’t sink in. The book did but not the author.
      I should follow your example and stick to my stacks.

  3. I’ve never heard of her, so thank you. This sounds like something I would really enjoy, but I’m unable to join right now. Looking forward to your review!

  4. I had never heard of Mary Hocking but your commentary and a Google search leads me to believe that I would like her work.

    I am uncertain if I would be able to read a book and have a review ready on time for the week however.

    I am looking forward to your commentary.

  5. I’ve got The Very Dead of Winter on my wish list – I’d love to read a Mary Hocking, though I won’t be able to do it in time for the reading week. Ah well, I shall look forward to the reviews, and especially to Letters from Constance.

  6. I remember reading your review of Mary Hocking’s novel last year and loving it. I am in a reading slump right now and so am not sure whether I will be able to join. But I will look forward to reading your review of ‘Letters from Constance’. It sounds like a wonderful book from your description. Happy reading!

    • Thanks, Vishy. I was in a bit of slump as well. Or rather I picked one dud after the other. I’m not even going to review them. 😦
      Letters from Constance should be very good. I’m not sure if you’re reading Novel Without a Name. This month’s Literature and War readalong title. It’s pretty amazing.

      • I started ‘Novel without a Name’, Caroline. The style is very nice and it flows smoothly. But I am not able to read at my regular pace and so am reading it slowly. I am not sure whether I will be able to finish it on time – I will definitely try. Glad to know that you are loving it. I think I will end up falling in love with it too.

  7. This sounds good but I think I may have to curb my book buying for a while. As always, looking forward to your review.
    Not sure what happened this year but I am reading at a much slower pace than before.

  8. I loved Letters from Constance and hope you like it too–I will look forward to hearing what you think! I wonder if I can possibly manage one of her books–this is what happens when you fall behind in blog reading! 😉 Maybe I can at least *start* one of her books…. So glad you mentioned this as she is someone I really would like to read more of!

    • You have to visit Heavenali’s blog – she’s review so many of her books and they all sound amazing. I rememebered your review and so far I really enjoy it. She makes the most of the epistolary form.

      • I will check out her blog for ideas anyway–I went so far as to pull the few books by her from my shelf last night and then thought better of it. I am in the midst of too many other books and know it is not realistic…..I have such a hard time saying no, but when I *just* indulged by starting a new one before reading your post, I need to learn self-control! 🙂 I will happily watch from the sidelines, though, and look forward to hearing what you think of this book!

  9. Somewhere i read about Mary Hocking a month or so ago. I always like to begin at the beginning, so am now reading Good Daughters. Oh, my! What a wonderful read, hard to put down once i pick it up. Looking forward to the next. What treasure! Yes, in good company with Barbara Pym, and also, Elizabeth Goudge, her Torminster Saga. Will look for more good recommendations.

    • I’m so glad to hear you like her as well. I like to start at beginning too but her books are so hard to get.
      I’ll have to look into the Torminster Saga then. Thanks for mentioning it.

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