Beatrix's novels

But Wisdom Lingers 

I was lucky enough to find a greatly reduced copy of this book. Beatrix wrote two novels, one that has been reprinted many times about a solider whose suffering PTSD, the other about a lesbian/bisexual woman mourning her lost love, which only had one edition. This book was simply wonderful. It reminded me of the writing of Evelyn Waugh and Christopher Isherwood. It was about the desperation of life for the "Bright young things". How depression can hit you out of nowhere. How life is about loss. How sometimes the thing you are looking for turns out most unexpectedly. There were some very wonderful passages about sexuality, depression and loss. The way she writes and her style is just lovely. I'm really glad I was able to find a copy.

Rumour of Heaven

I just adored this. The writing style was so lush and beautiful. It was a book where everyone was depressed, where everyone was odd and had a hard time understanding other people at all. There were children who had a mother with mental illness who killed herself that were trying to cope with life. Men who had returned from the First World War, scarred and broken. All together in a tumbled down country setting, where things should have been beautiful but were just a mess and couldn't make the connections that were needed for anyone to heal. It had some of the most beautiful passages about depression and suicide that I've read in a long time.

I'm really glad I bought a lovely old copy of this and have managed to find the other book that Beatrix wrote. For a long time I just thought of her as "That actress who was playing the lesbian in Stones of Blood" but then I found out she really was a lesbian, had partied with Christopher Isherwood in Berlin in the 30s, and written two novels. She seems like a remarkable woman and I'm so glad I was able to get my hands on her books.