Mary Hocking

i can't remember if anyone else on here mentioned the fact - if so my memory is worse than I ever thought, but someone posted a comment on my blog yesterday to tell me our dear Mary Hocking died on the 17th February this year :(

Such a shame - I know you love her books, Ali.

From The Argus newspaper of Lewes, Sussex.

MARY HOCKING 1921 - 2014 Passed away peacefully on 17th February, 2014, aged 92. Prolific Author of 24 Books. Sadly missed by her many friends. Requiem Mass to be held at St Pancras R/C Church, Lewes on Thursday, 13th March at 12 noon followed by burial at Lewes Cemetery at 1.00 p.m. Flowers welcome c/o Cooper and Son Funeral Directors, 42 High Street, Lewes, BN27 2DD

I didn't. But a Google search took me eventually to a small newspaper obituary (The Argos? possibly a local paper to where she lived) which seems to confirm it, she was 92.

We posted at the same time! ;~)

Here's a nice obituary about here in the Sussex Express.

http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/local/prolific-lewes-writer-with-the-ability...

I'd love to contact her friend, Jenny Barrett, to tell her how much Mary's novels are loved by this group!

That would be lovely but not sure how we could find her :)

I think this is probably her (Lewes and Hove are very close) http://sharewarmthbh.wordpress.com/about/

Thanks Liz!

I'm going to read a couple of Mary Hocking books next month -a little reading event for which I may be the only participant - judging by the crashing silence I received on Twitter to my tweets asking if anyone fancied a Mary Hocking event. I think it's sad she seems to have been so forgotten about.

I have some, as yet, unread Mary Hocking so I may join you , Ali, but I make no promises. I don't seem to be able to plan my reading from one day to the next at the moment. As you know I follow you on Twitter but I tend to think of it as something to read rather than something to contribute to...

If I can find a Hocking I will join you Ali - she doesn't turn up in my usual haunts!

I hate to tempt you (actually I don't) but awesome books have quite a number of reasonably priced second hand copies of her books.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! ;) Where's a good place to start, then?

I'm tempted to join in with some Hocking in June too. I'm trying not to buy any more paper books until I've read some more books from my TBR pile but hopefully I will have managed that by June.

Karen - some of us read The Good Daughters trilogy during AV/AA last year. Everyone loved the books which begin in the 30s and go all through the war. Also Letters From Constance is a great one-off read.

Thanks Barbara!

I have posted on my blog about our Mary Hocking reading month. Maybe a few other people will join us I've been tweeting about it too using the hashtag #rememberMary

http://heavenali.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/mary-hocking-reading-month-remembermar...

I don't know how I missed the fact of MH's death. I'm sorry. I really loved the trilogy.

Ali, I also posted the link to your blog on the VMCReaders page on FB.

Thanks Cate :)

I have done a little post here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/remembering-mary-hocking...

to promote the June celebration!

I am very pleased that someone who knew Mary Hocking commented on the post on my blog about the reading event.

What will you all be reading?

I have Letters from Constance The meeting Place and An irrelevant woman to choose from. I hope to get at least two read.

Yay!!That's lovely, Ali! I will be reading A Particular Place.

My plan is to read Letters from Constance, A Particular Place and An Irrelevant Woman come June.
Many thanks to Heaven-Ali for hosting this Mary Hocking remembrance read June. :-)

I just bought Good Daughters and Welcome Strangers but I don't know if I'll be able to get to them in June. I'm going to try for sometime this year though.

Ali- that's lovely that someone who knew her posted, I'm so pleased! I will mention your post in my next review, although not sure what I'll be able to read in June at the moment!

I will try and read Good daughters in June.

Ah Claire, that was my very favorite of the trilogy. I think you will enjoy it.

I am about halfway through Letters from Constance and I really rather love Constance.

I have finished and reviewd Letters from Constance I so loved it.

http://heavenali.wordpress.com/2014/06/05/letters-from-constance-mary-hocking-19...

I am getting ready to head to bed with Mary Hocking's A Particular Place. I know nothing about it but am sure that it will be good. The back of the book compares Hocking to Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Pym. That is some pretty good company to be in.

>32 rainpebble: looking forward to hearing what you think of it Belva

Here's a poem by Mary Hocking dated 1983. It's about a lily pond at the Anchorhold:

"Sunlight moves between the awning of branches,
Dances incessantly along the arteries of the tree,
While green flames fan the leaves.
The endless business of water over stone
disturbs the surface of the pool
And all a shimmer, reflections climb towards their images-
purple daisies breathless in the heat
and the massed stillness of berberis.
Only the water lily rests in implacable calm
on its island fan of leaves.

Obedient to the unceasing flow of power
trees and flowers allow life to move within them;
Demanding no explanation,
presenting no alternative strategy,
They consent, without analysis, to the imperative of being.
Give us grace so to accept our summer benediction,
Storing it against the time
When the veil is drawn between us and the light."

How lovely.

Thank you Belva - it is lovely :) I hadn't known she wrote poetry.

I read the first chapter of Good daughters on the train this morning and really like it so far. Alice is a very engaging character.

I just reviewed my second Hocking for the month The Meeting Place

http://heavenali.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/the-meeting-place-mary-hocking-1996/

Real Life is so relentless at the moment. A new role at work, GCSEs for one son and regular doctors trips for another (nothing too nasty, but he's missing a lot of school). Can you believe I've just gone a whole week without looking at a book? Shocking!

However, Ali's blog has prompted me to pick up Letters from Constance and I'm really enjoying it. Thank you, Ali! It's so lovely to get back to a good book.

I finished Good daughters at the weekend, and loved it. It was an extremely absorbing read, with lots of little period details slipped in to set the scene. Alice, Claire and Louise were all sympathetic and always interesting, and their friends and acquaintances were all well-rounded characters. It felt a bit like a Noel Streatfeild book only for adults (I haven't actually read any of her adult books yet so I don't know if they really are comparable) in it's realistic depiction of young womanhood and the relationships between sisters. Now I need to try and find the rest of the trilogy.

Also, I know I bought Letter from Constance about a year ago but I can't remember where I put it!

>38 Soupdragon: glad you are enjoying Letters from Constsance
>39 Sakerfalcon: so glad you loved Good Daughters.

I hit eBay the other day and ordered two more old Mary Hocking books despite still having An Irrelevant Woman to read this month.

>41 Heaven-Ali: Tut tut ;)

I really liked Hocking's A Particular Place. And yes, it does bear a semblance to the Taylor's & Pym's I've read though she has a way of her own. This one sucked me right in. When I read Pym's works, though I enjoy them, my mind tends to wander occasionally. I did not find that with this book. However I don't find Mary Hocking quite in there with the wee nuances of the everyday, like Taylor can do while yet fascinating the reader. I think that Elizabeth Taylor is in a class of her own. But this book was very, very good.

>42 kaggsy: :) I can't help myself.

>43 rainpebble: so glad you liked it Belva. A Particular Place was the first Mary Hocking that I read last year.

I have just finished my third Mary Hocking of the month An irrelevant woman and may just sneak in a fourth later this week after my recent visit to ebay.

I'm reading Good Daughters so I can squeak one in for June!

Waking up this old thread to let you know I am again trying to raise the profile of forgotten writer Mary Hocking. Only a few of her novels were published by Virago but I think she is our kind of writer.
This year Mary Hocking reading week will by 1st -7th June.

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/03/06/help-me-to-remembermaryhocking-again-...

Will certainly join in if I can! :)

I have 3 on my shelves that are as yet unread so I plan to join in with Family Circle, An Irrelevant Woman or Letters From Constance.
Thank you Ali. I will be looking forward to this as I do enjoy Mary Hocking so.

I will have to see if I can get hands on a book to join in. Will be a good time of year for me to attempt it!

June will be good for me, I hope, and I'll be happy to get back into MH. Thanks for organizing us, Ali!

Wanted to let you know a friend of mine from FB has written a basic wiki page for Mary Hocking. He had a bit of trouble getting it accepted and if it hadn't been for that tiny obituary we found online would all most certainly not had it accepted at all. I am pleased because it will help people searching for info on Mary Hocking. This page went live last week while I was away.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Hocking

I may eventually get around to starting an FB group for fans of Mary Hocking - just can't decide if there is any point.

I have created a Mary Hocking readers FB group for those of you over there maybe some of you will be able to join me. >50 rainpebble: I have added you already Belva hope that's ok.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/876775052395431/

Sign up post for Mary Hocking reading week went up on my blog yesterday.

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/mary-hocking-reading-week-1st-7th-jun...

Just asked to join the Facebook group -- found copies of Good Daughters and Welcome Strangers! Glad for the timing and to have found a few titles!

Joined! I think Letters from Constance will be coming up soon. Thanks, Ali.

Good for you ladies!
I think it will be a great week of reading. I am really excited for Mary Hocking Week and thank you so much Ali, for heading up and planning these weeks annually for us.

Last night I began The Meeting Place and just a couple of pages in I felt myself give a deep sigh of contentment.

Brilliant Belva I am already reading MH too with A Time of War

I've just finished An Irrelevant Woman but will post my review on Monday.

Yea! I am so happy to see a few of us sneaking in early.

I look forward to that review Liz as I've not yet read it.

I am taking the liberty of reposting your links Ali, so I don't have to keep searching for them.

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/mary-hocking-reading-week-1st-7th-jun...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/876775052395431/

>63 rainpebble: Thank you :)

Just here to say that I'm loving Constance and her letters!

>65 LizzieD: :) yay - it's a lovely book.

>66 Heaven-Ali: It is! My favorite of the ones I've read...... I'll finish tomorrow if nothing happens out of the ordinary.
I was looking for more MH, but apparently I have the easily-obtained ones. I can get An Irrelevant Woman and The Meeting Place O.K., but then they get rare and a bit pricey or not available - even from AwesomeBooks. At least I have The Very Dead of Winter up next.

ETA: I have just ordered the two from AMC. Happy woman!!!
ETA: How do I come to be the only LT member who has marked MH as a favorite???

Peg - Constance was my first Hocking. I read it in a German village in the early 90s but my favorites remain the trilogy I read two years ago during AV/AA. I have A Particular Place and an Irrelevant Woman still on my shelves to read.

>67 LizzieD: didn't know you could mark authors as favourites - will investigate immediately.

Heads up giveaway starts on my blog tomorrow - entry will have to be via blog comments (fairness etc) and can only afford one over seas winner. You all probably have the ones I am giving away anyway. A Particular Place, The Very Dead of Winter and An Irrelevant Woman.

Yesterday I finished A Time of War absolutely loved it. Up next - starting either tonight or tomorrow will be The Hopeful Traveller sequel to the aforementioned A Time of War.

Barbara, I love the trilogy, but *Constance* wins most love from me. I hate to finish it, but I'm about to do that thing. I've read *P Place* and loved it too. I think it must be hard to go wrong with a Hocking.
Thank goodness I have one more for next week, and BIG relief that I have two more, including *I Woman* on the way from AMP. My instinct is to hoard. Thanks for getting us going, Ali!

The Meeting Place was wonderful. I loved it! Now I am reading her Family Circle.

I am unable to find the proper touchstone for Mary Hocking's Family Circle.

>71 LizzieD: >72 rainpebble: so glad you're enjoying Mary Hocking.

My blog post kicking off MH week with details of the giveaway is up now.

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/mary-hocking-reading-week-starts-here...

I'm happy to say that I've at least started The Very Dead of Winter. It's very different, but still MH and still wonderful.

I have started An Irrelevant Woman here at the beginning of the week. I have only gotten a few pages in, but it is indeed a very unusual and striking start.

I have completed Family Circle which I hated to see conclude. Last night I began Look, Stranger but am not yet very far into it. However it looks to be another good one.

And I've reviewed An Irrelevant Woman here https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2015/06/02/book-reviews-from-a-tiny-corner-i...

Lovely to see so many of us enjoying Mary Hocking.

My review of A Time of War is up now.

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/06/03/a-time-of-war-mary-hocking-1968/

Last night I finished The Hopeful Traveller. I might get a review up tomorrow or Sunday.

Further into Irrelevant Woman and it has picked up momentum for me. I am resisting reading reviews of it until I get through, though!

My review of The Hopeful Traveller

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/06/06/the-hopeful-traveller-mary-hocking-19...

Just about getting this in to the official reading week - I have started read The Very Dead of Winter today and am loving it so far. This is my first by MH so can't comment on how different it is to her other books.

I really enjoyed The Very Dead of Winter and now have a shopping cart full of Mary Hocking's books on abebooks - thank you Ali!

>83 souloftherose:
Ali has done a very good job of that hasn't she, Heather? I think that due to her encouragement I have all but one of Mary Hocking's books now, though it has taken me three years to collect them. And like my Elizabeth Taylor books, I consider them an investment for like Taylor's, they are even more wonderful upon a reread.

>83 souloftherose:
Woohoo - *I take no responsibility for others book buying habits* :) enjoy!!

*sigh* I'm terrifically proud to have scored a copy of The Meeting Place, which arrived today and An Irrelevant Woman, which didn't. If I had all of MH's books, I'd be over the moon and pretty obnoxious, I expect. I guess I need to branch out from AMP and AwesomeBooks to see what else I can find. Meanwhile, I'm savoring The Very Dead of Winter.....sort of hate to finish it.

Mary Hocking fans - look out for a special announcment on my blog from tomorrow morning. *tries to look mysterious*

http://heavenali.wordpress.com

Ooh - mysterious! 😀

A couple of weeks ago I posted on my blog the details of the Mary Hocking books which will be available from Bello from the end of February.

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/mary-hocking-arriving-on-a-bookshelf-...

I am planning on moving Mary Hocking week to the week of April 3rd -9th. (mary Hocking's bday would have been the 8th)

Hope some of you will be able to join me.

Mary Hocking reading week starts tomorrow. I just read Visitors to the Crescent and am now reading Checkmate which has started very well indeed.

I have had to abandon Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage novels for the time being but I can join in the Mary Hocking reading week - I will be able to finish He Who Plays the King and possibly The Mind Has Mountains.
Where is the site for the Reading Week?

>86 LizzieD:
Ho ho, Peggy! I love The Very Dead of Winter. Each time I read it I almost feel as though something within the story is going to be different.

>91 mrspenny: I am delighted you are reading and enjoying so much for MH week. You can always leave a comment about what you have been reading and what you think about it on my blog - on any of the recent MH posts

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/04/03/visitors-to-the-crescent-mary-hocking... - for instance

or you can join the Mary Hocking readers group on FB (if you're on FB)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/876775052395431/?ref=bookmarks

>92 rainpebble: The Very Dead of Winter is really good isn't it :)

Last night I completed my first read of The Meeting Place and as I pretty much only read in bed, I couldn't wait to get to bed the past couple of nights. I loved it and cannot find any fault in it. There were so many subplots within the main storyline and yet I did not find myself confused with the characters nor the stories. M.H. was just such a good writer.
In The Meeting Place Clarice is a woman who works as a prompter for plays and as such finds herself in the countyside & on the moors while working on Pericles. In this place she begins to find people, local historical events & places that are seemingly familiar and before she knows it she is seeking more.
I found this story to be very interesting & I believe Hocking will be one of the authors that I *hide* in the trailer as hubby is so concerned about 'book weight'. This was a 4 1/2* read for me.

>94 rainpebble: so glad you enjoyed The Meeting Place Belva. I agree it's an excellent novel.

"A Time of War" DONE https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/book-review-for-mary-hocking-read... on to the sequel now.

>96 LyzzyBee: Yay. Really really liked that one. Hope you like the sequel I preferred first one but sequel still good. I wanted to know what happened to everyone.

Now up my review of Checkmate

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/checkmate-mary-hocking-1969/

My review of The Hopeful Traveller https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/second-book-review-for-mary-hocki... I enjoyed it as much as the first one, actually!

>99 LyzzyBee: great review. Glad you liked it so much.

I finished He Who Plays the King during this week. As far as I am aware this is the only historical novel Mary Hocking has written. It is set in the period of the War of the Roses and records the rivalry between the Houses of Lancaster and York during that time. It follows the lives of Henry Tudor and Richard of Gloucester, King Richard III, from childhood through the Richard’s death in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. It emphasizes the rivalry between the two houses and the ruthless actions people will take to achieve their ambitions.
.
MH has created a superb atmospheric novel which builds to a dramatic climax with which most students of English history would be familiar. There is a very useful “royal” family tree included in the front of the book.

Her descriptive writing is delightful to read and I would rate this work as 4.5/5.