A working poliswoman

I've complained before that it's hard to find examples in fiction of women at work.  When i was writing the PP, I asked individuals and groups, better read than i am, to come up with fictional examples of women where their job figures prominently, but got little response. I've been recuperating from an op, and so have had the leisure to rattle through quite a few books.  One very enjoyable thriller was Val McDermid's Out of Bounds.  Karen Pirie is in the polis - a DCI in the Historic Cases Unit, dedicated to opening old crime files and resolving them.  In this tale she finds a link between a 20-year-old unsolved murder and…
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Jane Eyre

I went recently to Jane Eyre at the National.  It's one of those productions that leave me in awe of the imaginative qualities of some of our producers - a wonderful blending of genres, with dance and energetic movement reinforcing and animating the story line.  The generous space at the National was put to excellent use.  The picture below illustrates how simple frames were used rapidly and effectively to, well, frame the story. The education of women is one of the recurrent themes: Jane's own harsh schooling, and then her efforts as a personal tutor.  Of course this seems a world away from educational practices today.  And yet I'm left…
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A working poliswoman

I've complained before that it's hard to find examples in fiction of women at work.  When i was writing the PP, I asked individuals and groups, better read than i am, to come up with fictional examples of women where their job figures prominently, but got little response. I've been recuperating from an op, and so have had the leisure to rattle through quite a few books.  One very enjoyable thriller was Val McDermid's Out of Bounds.  Karen Pirie is in the polis - a DCI in the Historic Cases Unit, dedicated to opening old crime files and resolving them.  In this tale she finds a link between a 20-year-old unsolved murder and…
Read More

Jane Eyre

I went recently to Jane Eyre at the National.  It's one of those productions that leave me in awe of the imaginative qualities of some of our producers - a wonderful blending of genres, with dance and energetic movement reinforcing and animating the story line.  The generous space at the National was put to excellent use.  The picture below illustrates how simple frames were used rapidly and effectively to, well, frame the story. The education of women is one of the recurrent themes: Jane's own harsh schooling, and then her efforts as a personal tutor.  Of course this seems a world away from educational practices today.  And yet I'm left…
Read More