I've now got the whole set of the Bloomsbury Group books. They've been released in pairs since July, and I just recently received the last one (on top). Technically I'm not supposed to be buying books, but I had the last two on pre-order at a very reasonable (discounted price), so I couldn't bring myself to cancel them when I decided to cut off book buying. Aren't they lovely? The idea had been to read the books as they came out and have each finished before the next pair arrived, but reading plans rarely work out how I'd like them to. I've already been contemplating what my holiday reading will consist of (I'm tempted to start making my list like Stefanie did, but so far I'm just adding books and shuffling them about mentally). I do think at least one or two of these will be on my pile, however.
Bloomsbury Publishing has linked to extracts of each story on their site in case you want to have a taste before buying. From top to bottom:
Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, D.E. Stevenson -- There are three more of these books. Persephone Books has published Stevenson's Miss Buncle's Book, which I would of course love to own and read eventually.
A Kid for Two Farthings, Wolf Mankowitz
Love's Shadow, Ada Leverson -- A good Edwardian story. There are a couple of sequels to this one, too.
Miss Hargreaves, Frank Baker
Henrietta's War, Joyce Dennys -- I think this is a similar read to the (Diary of a) Provincial Lady books.
The Bronte's Went to Woolworths, Rachel Ferguson -- This is the lone book that I've read (via the library as it has long been out of print and hard to find).
What's cool about these books is that several of them came about from the urgings of fellow bloggers and their quotes grace the back covers. These will be released in the US this spring. Not to get ahead of myself (read what I own first!), but I wonder what Bloomsbury has in mind to bring back in print next year?