Alice Dunn

Haruki Murakami said that ‘I feel that most of what I know about writing fiction I learned from music.’ Music and literature enjoy a close relationship. Authors rely on rhythm and tone for their writing. So when a writer chooses to incorporate music into their work, it always makes for a powerful moment, connecting the reader in a sensory way to the story.  Music functions as a character in Pride and Prejudice. As a guest at Netherfield Hall one evening, Elizabeth Bennet’s sister Mary gives a performance that is not well received. Her voice is described as ‘weak, and her manner affected.’ Mary, however, remains blissfully unaware of the uncomfortable atmosphere her music provides.

‘In her big, white dress the Queen looks like a balloon that’s about to float up to the roof of Westminster Abbey and bob about up there amongst the gilded arches and roof bosses. To prevent this happening people keep weighing her down with cloaks and robes, orbs and spectres, until she’s so heavy that bishops and archbishops have to help propel her around.’ This is the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 as described by one-year-old Ruby Lennox in Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum. These observations might seem preternaturally advanced from a narrator not yet old enough to walk and talk, but that is consistent for this witty novel. It opens with Ruby being fully aware of her own conception: ‘I exist!

If you share a Netflix account with a friend, relative, colleague, in-law, neighbour or ex whose password you happened to crack, your viewing days may be numbered. The streaming service is planning to fight back against password-sharing – by charging an extra fee to subscribers who let friends and family from other households use their account. In a post this month, Netflix emphasised that ‘a Netflix account is intended for one household’, adding: ‘We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account with features like profiles and multiple streams. While these have been hugely popular, they’ve also created confusion about when and how you can share Netflix.

Literature presents many different ways of observing the new year. Much like real life, the options range from big parties to quiet stay-at-home gatherings… and existential crises. In Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Meg and Jo March attend a New Year’s Eve party at the home of their family friend Mrs Gardiner. ‘Down they went, feeling a trifle timid, for they seldom went to parties, and informal as this little gathering was, it was an event to them.’ This is the moment that Jo converses with Laurie for the first time and sparks fly as they watch the New Year’s Eve party from their shared point of refuge in a small curtained recess.

Is it presumptuous to buy perfume as a gift without knowing the recipient will like it? Scent is such a personal choice, we are told, ad infinitum. But those in close confines with a person drenched in fragrance will experience it as much as (if not more than) the wearer. Purchasing an eau de toilette is high-stakes stuff for all. Every fragrance smells different to (and on) everyone; a single spritz at the perfume counter could convince gift-givers that they have found the most charming scent in existence, only to learn it induces abject nausea in their chosen recipient. I know this to be true: a whiff of Angel by Mugler is like a high-pitched siren through my head, but its curious chocolatey concoction remains one of the most popular.

Those overstuffed shelves of the latest releases aren’t always the best place to start when you’re shopping for a book to read (or to give as a Christmas gift). You can find plenty of out-of-print books with timeless appeal that are worth snapping up – if you know where to look.   Elizabeth von Arnim’s Introduction to Sally, for example, is almost 100 years old, but is a very enjoyable read if you can find a copy. Mr Pinner is a shopkeeper and he and his wife have longed for a child for years, so they are thrilled when their daughter is born. Mr Pinner wants to call her ‘Salvation’ but they compromise on ‘Salvatia’ (shortened to Sally). Sally grows up to be the most beautiful girl anyone has ever seen.

Royal tours in glorious destinations might look like fun but they are technically classed as work. So where do the Royal Family choose to go to get their fix of sunshine and rest? Balmoral and Sandringham have always been favoured by the Queen but there are also several overseas spots that have become firm royal favourites. MaltaValletta, Malta (iStock) Between 1949 and 1951 Princess Elizabeth, as she was then, and Philip lived in Malta in a small town called Pieta very near the Maltese capital of Valletta. Their home was the Villa Guardamangia, an eighteenth-century ‘garden palace’ loaned to Philip by his uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten while Philip was stationed in Malta for naval duties with HMS Magpie.

No traffic, no pollution, no sound of engines revving at midnight; car-free destinations may be few and far between these days but there's no better way to escape the clamour of modern life. Perhaps the most delightful car-free retreats are the ones situated most closely to cities: the contrast only adds to their allure. Sail away from Athens for a couple of hours and you will reach Hydra, a car-less island popular with artists and writers keen to fuel their creativity under an azure sky. Henry Miller visited Greece at the invitation of Lawrence Durrell in 1939 and wrote ‘The Colossus of Maroussi’, an ‘impressionist travelogue’ partly based on his experiences of Hydra, inspired by Greek writer George Katsimbalis.

The thought of staying in a hotel remains a distant memory for many. To remember how it’s done, and for inspiration of where stay, look no further than your favourite films, and the real-life hotels they feature. The Headland Hotel in Cornwall The Headland Hotel in Newquay was renamed ‘Hotel Excelsior’ for the film ‘The Witches’, the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic book. Luke and his aunt Helga stay at the beachside hotel for the summer on doctor’s orders for Helga’s fluctuating diabetes. Here they encounter a convention of witches who are staying under the guise of the ‘Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.’ In fact, they plot the opposite.

With foreign holidays off the cards for some time to come, armchair travel has never been more tempting. Here are some of the best books to take you beyond your living room. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim Four women answer an advertisement in The Times, ‘To those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine. Small medieval Italian Castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be let furnished for the month of April.’ What follows is a delightful holiday in picturesque scenery as the women escape the monotony of everyday life. Don’t deny yourself the opportunity to share their views of ‘the Judas tree and an umbrella pine […] the freesias and the lilies,’ and vistas ‘across the tranquil clear green water of the little harbour.

There's nothing like the feeling of stumbling upon a book that you love. And that satisfaction is somehow multiplied tenfold if it's a writer others are yet to discover. Lockdown is the perfect time to acquaint yourself with these underrated novels, some of which were celebrated during their own time but have largely been forgotten by today's readers: The Rector’s Daughter by F. M. Mayor The Rector’s Daughter by F. M. Mayor, first published in 1924, explores the life of Mary Jocelyn, a 35-year-old unmarried woman who lives with her father and invalid sister, who sadly dies. Shy and alone, with ‘the weight of the family’ on her, Mary finds brief happiness when she falls in love, but it is not to be.