Penelope Fitzgerald wrote almost fifty pieces for the London Review of Books before her death in 2000. Susannah Clapp, who edited many of them, described her as the ideal contributor: ‘She wrote to length, she wrote to time, she wrote without fuss, she wrote a lot, and she wrote always with a steady brilliance.’ As a reviewer, she was appreciative, knowledgable, succinct, and usually, though not always, benign.
This selection of Fitzgerald at her best includes pieces on Stevie Smith, Alain-Fournier, Adrian Mole, girls’ schools, Roddy Doyle, Wild Swans, wartime London, Anne Enright and Charlotte Mew.