Recommended!
The influencers who changed how we read
Published on 26. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
300 pages
978-1-7391047-5-7 (ISBN)
Description
Before
Reese Witherspoon and Zoella's Book Clubs, there was Oprah Winfrey and Richard
and Judy. And before them, there was Hugh Walpole and the Book Society. This is
the story of Britain's first celebrity book club and the judges who changed how
we read. For forty years between
1929-1969, the Book Society chose from the best of world literature to mail out
one book a month - fiction, history, travel, or biography - to subscribers in over
thirty countries. The judges established what a good 'book club book' looked
like: well-written, entertaining, informative; worth investing your time and
money in, not too highbrow nor obscure. Making book-buying easier, they started
a revolution. And the legacy of their taste is still with us on bookshelves
today.
Hugh
Walpole, J. B. Priestley, Sylvia Lynd, Cecil Day-Lewis, and Edmund Blunden were
the literary influencers of their day; household names whose personal lives,
affairs, and politics informed their recommendations, mixing the personal and
professional; social history with the domestic; love, disappointment, and war.
They made global bestsellers with books that saw readers through Empire and the
growth of fascism and antisemitism, the Great Depression, Spanish Civil War,
and World War Two.
Recommended!
explores
how a group of writers shook up the interwar book world, changing forever how
we buy and think about books.
Reese Witherspoon and Zoella's Book Clubs, there was Oprah Winfrey and Richard
and Judy. And before them, there was Hugh Walpole and the Book Society. This is
the story of Britain's first celebrity book club and the judges who changed how
we read. For forty years between
1929-1969, the Book Society chose from the best of world literature to mail out
one book a month - fiction, history, travel, or biography - to subscribers in over
thirty countries. The judges established what a good 'book club book' looked
like: well-written, entertaining, informative; worth investing your time and
money in, not too highbrow nor obscure. Making book-buying easier, they started
a revolution. And the legacy of their taste is still with us on bookshelves
today.
Hugh
Walpole, J. B. Priestley, Sylvia Lynd, Cecil Day-Lewis, and Edmund Blunden were
the literary influencers of their day; household names whose personal lives,
affairs, and politics informed their recommendations, mixing the personal and
professional; social history with the domestic; love, disappointment, and war.
They made global bestsellers with books that saw readers through Empire and the
growth of fascism and antisemitism, the Great Depression, Spanish Civil War,
and World War Two.
Recommended!
explores
how a group of writers shook up the interwar book world, changing forever how
we buy and think about books.
Reviews / Votes
'unexpectedlymoving... a tribute to the healing power of reading...' Times Literary Supplement
'...enormously
engaging history ... a fascinating,
gossipy and well-researched slice of publishing history.' The Observer
'A
fascinating guide to bygone concepts of "taste"... Recommended! is an engaging piece
of publishing history.' The Spectator
'A deeply
researched, stylishly written piece of narrative history, full of detail and
telling vignettes. An enormous pleasure to read.' Dennis Duncan, author of
Index, A History of the
'In this
dynamically narrated and archivally-rich study, Nicola Wilson brings book
history to life. A must-read for today's "busy reader," this book is a triumph
of imagination, historical research, and storytelling.' Claire
Battershill, author of Circus
'A captivating book that garlands
its incredible research with an approachable chattiness.' Stuck in a Book
'More meat
than the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' Helen Meller,
Lumb Bank and Arvon at Home
A deeply researched, stylishly written piece of
narrative history, full of detail and telling vignettes. The organisation -
around the five characters at the heart of the Book Society - works
wonderfully, giving an emotional richness to the story. An enormous pleasure to
read, while also deepening immeasurably my understanding of the literary
business of the interwar period out beyond the well-walked squares of
Bloomsbury.
Dennis
Duncan, UCL, author of Index, A History of the
In this dynamically narrated and archivally-rich
study, Nicola Wilson brings book history to life as she takes us behind the
scenes to show how Britain's first book club made its choices. Wilson argues
for the importance of the Book Society as an under-acknowledged powerhouse in
the shaping of 20th-century literary tastes. Those tastes belonged of course to
specific individuals, each with their own personal story, and Wilson shows us
the intimate friendships; networks and connections; and at times bitter disagreements
behind the book choices. The story of the Book Society is one that also
addresses some of the most pressing issues of our own literary moment - in this
era of influencers and algorithmic recommendations, whose stories are told?
Whose are chosen for splashy promotions and wide distributions? What does it
mean to be an 'outsider' in a cliquey literary marketplace? A must-read for
today's 'busy reader,' this book is a triumph of imagination, historical
research, and storytelling.
Claire Battershill, University of Toronto, author of Circus
This is
essential reading for all those who love books and literature. The story of the
Book Society, the club that in the 1930s opened up reading and book buying to
the man in the street, is of course the main focus, and how good to see Hugh
Walpole's pivotal role in it fully recognised. But as Nicola Wilson takes us
through the Book Society's 40 year history, setting the story against a
backdrop of unfolding national and world events, she displays in the process
her truly astonishing depth of knowledge of 20th century literature. This is no
dry academic tome but a tremendously readable and insightful account of a
fascinating story. It is filled with engaging anecdotes and numerous
quotations, many of which have not been published before, all gleaned from her
wide-ranging research. This book is a very impressive achievement indeed.
Nicholas
Redman, Chairman, Hugh Walpole Society
'This original and revealing work describes not only
how books were promoted to reach a wider public long before the computer age,
but also explores the relationships of those people involved in the
enterprise. A highly engaging read. '
Margi
Blunden, daughter of Edmund Blunden
'It's been a huge pleasure to read this, and
fascinating to learn more about the workings of the Book Society and my
great-grandmother Sylvia Lynd's role in that. Nicola Wilson weaves the
biographical elements in and out of the Book Society story so well'
Lydia
Syson, author of Mr Peacock's Possessions
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Newbury
United Kingdom
Illustrations
68 black and white illustrations 24 colour illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
472 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-7391047-5-7 (9781739104757)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Dr
Nicola Wilson is Associate Professor of Book and
Publishing Studies at the University of Reading, co-director
of the Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing,
and a founding director of the Modernist Archives
Publishing Project.
Her
research is in the history of reading, book history, and working-class writing.
Her first book was Home in British Working-Class Fiction (Routledge,
2015) - reviewed in the TLS as an important contribution to the study of
working-class writing - and she is co-author of Scholarly Adventures in the
Digital Humanities (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).
She has edited three academic books including The Edinburgh
Companion to Women in Publishing, 1900-2020 (2024), edits an Elements
strand for Cambridge University Press on 'Women, Publishing, and Book
Cultures', and over many years has worked to get the writings of Ethel Carnie
Holdsworth back into print.
Nicola grew up in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. She now lives in Pershore,
Worcestershire with her partner and two children.
Nicola Wilson is Associate Professor of Book and
Publishing Studies at the University of Reading, co-director
of the Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing,
and a founding director of the Modernist Archives
Publishing Project.
Her
research is in the history of reading, book history, and working-class writing.
Her first book was Home in British Working-Class Fiction (Routledge,
2015) - reviewed in the TLS as an important contribution to the study of
working-class writing - and she is co-author of Scholarly Adventures in the
Digital Humanities (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).
She has edited three academic books including The Edinburgh
Companion to Women in Publishing, 1900-2020 (2024), edits an Elements
strand for Cambridge University Press on 'Women, Publishing, and Book
Cultures', and over many years has worked to get the writings of Ethel Carnie
Holdsworth back into print.
Nicola grew up in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. She now lives in Pershore,
Worcestershire with her partner and two children.