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Great Granny Webster (Revised)
Great Granny Webster (Revised) | Caroline Blackwood
8 posts | 5 read | 22 to read
Great Granny Webster is Caroline Blackwood's masterpiece. Heiress to the Guinness fortune, Blackwood was celebrated as a great beauty and dazzling raconteur long before she made her name as a strikingly original writer. This macabre, mordantly funny, partly auto-biographical novel reveals the gothic craziness behind the scenes in the great houses of the aristocracy, as witnessed through the unsparing eyes of an orphaned teenage girl. Great Granny Webster herself is a fabulous monster, the chilliest of matriarchs, presiding with steely self-regard over a landscape of ruined lives.
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LeahBergen
Great Granny Webster (Revised) | Caroline Blackwood
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I‘m loving this book!

It‘s weird and dark but so funny at times … like a gothic Nancy Mitford. 😆

MaureenMc Well, that description is intriguing. 🧐 8mo
Aimeesue I liked this one too. Glad you enjoyed it! 8mo
rubyslippersreads I‘ve been curious about this one. 8mo
See All 21 Comments
jlhammar Sounds fantastic! 8mo
Tamra It‘s such a great story! I could easily reread it. 8mo
Librarybelle What a description! Stacking! 8mo
Megabooks That cover!! 😍😍😍 8mo
BarbaraBB This sounds fabulous! 8mo
CarolynM I remember reading about Caroline Blackwood in the Tatler years ago. An interesting life. Stacking this one🙂 8mo
erzascarletbookgasm Sounds great! 8mo
Cathythoughts Definitely stacking ❤️ 8mo
batsy "Gothic Nancy Mitford" is all I needed to hear! 8mo
LeahBergen @MaureenMc It‘s weird and good. 😆 8mo
LeahBergen @Aimeesue It seems like “our” kind of book. 😊 8mo
LeahBergen @rubyslippersreads It‘s dark but good! 8mo
LeahBergen @Tamra It was so surprisingly good! 8mo
LeahBergen @Megabooks Right? It‘s awesome! 8mo
LeahBergen @CarolynM She seems fascinating! And this is semi-autobiographical, which is shocking. 😆 8mo
LeahBergen @Cathythoughts It‘s short and bizarre. I hope you like it, too! 8mo
Suet624 I‘m clearly going to have to find this one! 8mo
77 likes10 stack adds21 comments
review
sisilia
Great Granny Webster | Caroline Blackwood
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Pickpick

4⭐️ The way Blackwood described it, Great Granny Webster was this cold, ungenerous, correct-living tyrant, who was definitely not a people person. The novella is not just about her, but also about her descendants whose lives were affected by her directly or indirectly. I somehow disagree with the monstrous description of Great Granny; to me, she was just a straight-forward, practical individual. I think she‘s greatly misunderstood 🤷🏻‍♀️

erzascarletbookgasm Great review and cool pic! 👍 5y
sisilia @erzascarletbookgasm Thank you! Granny Smith for Great Granny Webster 🤪 I couldn‘t resist 😆 (edited) 5y
See All 9 Comments
Tamra I‘m glad you liked it! 5y
LeahBergen I have this one waiting on my shelves. 👍🏻 5y
mabell Great photo! 🍏🍏🍏 5y
sisilia @Tamra It has funny moments, although in a subtle way. Great short read 👍🏻 5y
sisilia @mabell Thank you ☺️ 5y
sisilia @LeahBergen Something to look forward to 😃 5y
81 likes9 comments
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sisilia
Great Granny Webster | Caroline Blackwood
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TGIF! 🎊 I‘m so ready for the weekend. I have these two books to keep me busy 😆

Tamra I loved Granny Webster! I could read it again now. 5y
Leftcoastzen Been a while but I remember loving Granny Webster 5y
sisilia @Tamra @Leftcoastzen Yay! I‘m so glad you both loved it 🥰 5y
See All 7 Comments
Bertha_Mason I love your orchids! So pretty. 5y
sisilia Our office has fresh orchids once a month. They are so beautiful 😍 @Bertha_Mason 5y
Liz_M I am intrigued by The Gate and looking forward to your comments on it! ☺ 5y
MemoirsForMe Gorgeous orchids! 😍 5y
76 likes7 comments
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Aimeesue
Great Granny Webster (Revised) | Caroline Blackwood
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I‘m not sure that someone who “took the sea air” by having a hired chauffeured Royce driven up and down the road by the shore would pick her own flowers, but the azaleas are simply popping today.
#nyrb

Tamra I loved this novella! 6y
Aimeesue @Tamra It's SO good! 6y
32 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
Tamra
Great Granny Webster (Revised) | Caroline Blackwood
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Pickpick

5⭐️ novella! It is a character study of a dysfunctional formerly aristocratic family during the crumbling of an era. The chapter describing life within Dunmartin Hall, especially family meals, is tragically comic and described so vividly it‘s like watching a film. I love this style of reflective and economical writing, which conveys so much meaning in a compact form. I‘m going to search out other Blackwood works.

batsy This sounds great! 6y
Tamra @batsy it really is - I could turn around and read it again now. 😄 6y
73 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Tamra
Great Granny Webster (Revised) | Caroline Blackwood
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5 days into DLST and still needing strong tea in the morning. 😴 Loving Blackwood‘s writing!

Reviewsbylola Curious to hear how you like this one. It sounds different, in a good way! 6y
Tamra @Reviewsbylola so far so good - 2/3 in and 2 character studies. Neither are likable and the narrator is an enigma. 6y
LauraJ DLST has my sleep schedule all messed up. In California, we voted to stop this nonsense, but it didn‘t pass yet. (edited) 6y
Tamra @LauraJ 🙄 MN is apparently considering but I am doubtful. 6y
83 likes4 comments
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LeahBergen
Great Granny Webster (Revised) | Caroline Blackwood
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And a few NYRB editions that I found on this trip (at the same used bookshop).

I'm sorry about the hotel wallpaper (again), @Suet624 . 😂

BarbaraBB Great editions. Loved Chess Story! 7y
Suet624 Oh so pretty! And these don‘t look crooked. 😁😁 7y
ReadingEnvy I bought the Dundy for my old reading friend when he turned 60 and I'm still kicking myself that I didn't give it to myself first! 7y
See All 6 Comments
LeahBergen @BarbaraBB Thanks! I'm looking forward to it. 😀 7y
LeahBergen @Suet624 Whew! 😆 7y
LeahBergen @ReadingEnvy It looks so good! 7y
103 likes6 comments
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AlaMich
Great Granny Webster | Caroline Blackwood
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My #bookishconfession: I have a thing about editions and covers. This applies even to library books. If there is a new(er) edition, that's the one I want to read/buy. It's not about content, it's about appearance. If I know there is a new edition I will find the library branch that has it and borrow that one. OCD much? 🙄 #riotgrams