Lost Ladies Letter No. 2 — Keats & Our Holiday Gift Guide

Dear Friends & Subscribers, 

“In drear nighted December, 

   Too happy, happy tree, 

Thy branches ne’er remember 

   Their green felicity—

The north cannot undo them 

With a sleety whistle through them 

Nor frozen thawings glue them 

   From budding at the prime.” 

Okay, so we’re typically more into prose than poetry, but we’ve been reading Keats while prepping for our upcoming episode on Stella Gibbons’s charming and hilarious novel Nightingale Wood. The stanza above is from “In Drear-Nighted December,” Keats’s poem reminiscing about jollier and warmer times on a cold December night. That got us thinking about creature comforts — of the literary sort — that might help us all weather this year’s unusual (to say the least) holiday season. 

So, without further ado, we submit the Lost Ladies of Lit Holiday Gift Guide: 

Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters by our first Lost Ladies special guest, Anne Boyd Rioux (see the upcoming Episode 11 on Constance Fenimore Woolson). 

Persephone Books “A Book a Month” Subscription for six or twelve months of “neglected” titles by primarily mid-twentieth century women writers, including Monica Dickens (Episode 1).

A custom print of your favorite books from Ideal Bookshelf (you can choose the books from their extensive list of titles, which includes Lost Ladies of Lit upcoming authors Stella Gibbons and Louise Fitzhugh, and Episode 3 author, E.M. Delafield. 

Pride and Prejudice: The Complete Novel, with Nineteen Letters from the Characters' Correspondence, Written and Folded by Hand, by Jane Austen and Barbara Heller, is a beautiful deluxe edition of P&P that we mention in Episode 8. It includes removable replicas of nineteen letters from the novel, including Lydia’s dramatic announcement of her elopement! 

Looking for a great gift for a young reader? The New York Review of Books offers several different Children’s Collections featuring lost classics, including Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther Averill, which Kim’s niece loved. 

The Black Women Writers tote bag, from a black-owned Etsy business, celebrates black authors. You can even have your tote bag customized with photographs of your personal favorites, such as Lost Lady Simone Schwarz-Bart (Episode 5). 

And one last special gift for us: Please consider reviewing our podcast if you haven’t already done so. It truly helps us find more listeners. Our deepest thanks! 

Happy Holidays,

Amy & Kim