Maureen Hughes - The pocket guide to classic books

For my Mother with all my love

First published in Great Britain in 2010 by
REMEMBER WHEN
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Maureen Hughes, 2010

ISBN 978 1 84468 061 0

ISBN 9781844687282 (epub)
ISBN 9781844687299 (prc)

The right of Maureen Hughes to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Typeset by S L Menzies-Earl

Printed and bound by CPI UK

Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the Imprints of Pen & Sword Aviation, Pen & Sword Maritime, Pen & Sword Military, Wharncliffe Local History, Pen & Sword Select, Pen & Sword Military Classics, Leo Cooper, Remember When, Seaforth Publishing and Frontline Publishing

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact
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I WOULD FIND it difficult to work if I didn't have the support of those I love and often wonder how they cope trying to get my attention when I am lost under a mound of books in fact, how do they find me? So again in this, my latest book, I would like to say thanks to my family; to my husband Gwyn, thank goodness he is the family chef because I would never find the time and so no one would eat if it was left up tome; to my daughter, Vicky, the voice of reason when things go wrong; to my son Kieran who, living miles away, has been patiently content with just sporadic sightings of his mother. Thank you to my four gorgeous grandchildren, Kristian, Aaron, Ellis and Harry, who grow ever more adorable by the day and to Paula and Aisha who play such a special role in my family. More thanks too, to my in-laws, Marian and Tom, my cousin Michael, my lifelong school-friend Jo and my friend Carol, who have to be so patient when I just don't have the time! Then last, but certainly not least, there is my agent Hilary, of Straight Line Management, who stands on the firing line fielding off all problems so that I can just get on with it! Over the years she has become not just a good agent but a good friend too, so, Thanks Hilary! Indeed, thanks to you all for making it possible for me to do the job I love so much writing because without your support I wouldn't even want to write, for although it means a lot to me, it does actually only come a poor second to those I love.

I would also like to express my thanks too to various people who have helped me out of the kindness of their hearts! Many professionals in their field have given me their knowledge, expertise and help, but more importantly they have given me a complete stranger in some cases their precious time, all without which my job would have been far more difficult, so a huge thank you to those individuals. Some, however, as is the way of man, went that extra mile; so Fraser Elgin, Christine De Poortere (from Great Ormond St Hospital Children's Charity), Sr Christina Kenworthy Brown, Lars Bo Jensen, Ian Collier, Dr Lynn Forest-Hill (Education Officer, Tolkien Society), Andrew Gasson (Chairman of the Wilkie Collins Society and author of Wilkie Collins an Illustrated Guide), Chris Willy Wilson (Brendan Behan), David Perdue (David Perdue's Charles Dickens page), Susan Hubbard (creator of www.seekingjaneausten.com web site), Dr Michael Ward (author: Planet Narnia) an extra special Thank you goes to all of you for whom nothing was too much trouble; I stand in awe at your knowledge and dedication to your own particular subject area and am grateful that you were so willing to share that knowledge with me. And finally to Fiona Shoop, my editor at Remember When We have made it this far; and after three books are still talking to each other; here's to many more! Thank you, Fiona.

Photograph Credits

THOSE OF you who have read my first two books The Pocket Guide to Musicals and The Pocket Guide to Plays and Playwrights will, I am sure, have picked up the enormous influence my wonderful mother had upon every aspect of my life. However, due to the era in which she was born (the 1920s), a childhood plagued with ill health, and the premature death of her own mother when she was just 11 years old, my mother's education was very limited and was brought to an abrupt end when she was just 13 years old. As a consequence she always considered herself uneducated. I know better for she was actually a very intelligent lady with a thirst for knowledge and a respect for the arts, both of which she thankfully passed on to me. I owe her so much and often wonder what (had she been born at a different time and when opportunities were more readily available) she would have achieved. Maybe she would have been a brain surgeon or a great scientist for she had that level of intelligence but it is something I will sadly never know. However, something she did achieve, and to which I aspire, was to treat everyone as equal: she saw neither social nor cultural divide, nor did she consider academics as the intelligent elite. Knowledge is for everyone, she would say, there isn't an exclusivity clause attached to it, all that requires attention is the accessibility to that knowledge. And so I believe that she would have been delighted to know that I was attempting to open up the world of the Classics to everyone, everywhere. So Mum, this is for you.

This woman, I am proud to call my mother, wanted me to have all the opportunities denied to her and so exposed me to both the theatre and classical literature at a very early age. Each Christmas my stocking always had a least one classic book and a copy of