Sleuthing in the Stacks

  Here's a new display of books from the stacks in Exeter Library, beneath the stairs. It was suggested by Laura, who noted the large number of books on pets and domestic and farm animals which we have down in the stack. I'm not sure that every breed of dog is covered, but there are certainly a good number, from tiny bag-peeking lapdogs to huge loping hounds. Plenty of cats too. I have tried to keep a balance, but as more of a cat person my natural bias may have crept to the surface.  Anyway, here you'll find pampered pooches and worshipped cats, heavy workhorses and helpful companions, axolotls and zebra finches, furry friends and scaly shimmering swimmers, cocks of the yard and grazers of the meadows, faithful guard dogs and fickle felines, playful puppies and capricious kittens, high-bred best in show and back street scrappers, haughty horses and hauling donkeys, vivarium exotics and goldfishbowl circlers. So enjoy leafing through a selection of books on domesticated ani...

Back in the early days of spring, I received notice that the university were to put on an evening celebrating the life and work of Jean Rhys in the village which was her home in her latter years, Cheriton Fitzpaine. I knew something of her peripatetic life, but nothing beyond a few generalities. Clearly it was time to go sleuthing in the stacks once more. The writer later to be known as Jean Rhys was born Ella Gwendolin Rees Williams in 1890 on the island of Dominica. Dominica was one of the Windward Isles, which bracketed the Caribbean on its Eastern edge. Rhys was a member of a decaying aristocratic class, her ancestors plantation owners and therefore also slave owners. She lived in Dominca for the first 16 years of her life before moving to England in 1907. Her pronounced accent and financial insecurity, along with a strong independent spirit, made it difficult for her to fit in. This sense of marginality would be with her throughout her life. Attempts at becoming an actor at an...