Stella Gibbons "she applied her versatility as a writer to every subject under the sun bar cookery, which was the province of a certain Mrs Peel." At the same time she began work on the novel that would become "Cold Comfort Farm"; her colleague and friend Elizabeth Coxhead recorded that Gibbons "neglected her duties disgracefully" to work on this project. In her time with "The Lady", Gibbons established a reputation as a caustic book reviewer, and was particularly critical of the then fashionable "loam and lovechild" rural novels. Novelists such as Mary Webb and Sheila Kaye-Smith had achieved considerable popularity through their
The Great Santini (novel) The Great Santini (novel) The Great Santini is a novel written by Pat Conroy and published in 1976. Hard-nosed Marine fighter pilot Lt. Col. Wilbur "Bull" Meecham calls himself "The Great Santini". He runs his family with a strict hand. In 1962 before the Vietnam War, the Meecham family struggles to fit into the Marine town of Beaufort, South Carolina where they are newcomers. Conroy makes the point that Santini is a warrior without a war, and in turn is at war alternately with the service that he loves and his family. The novel explores main character Ben Meecham's growth