Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl
The answer may be literary snobbery. From what I’ve researched, the book was consider too “ordinary,” and the heroine was not “exceptional” enough to stand out. It sold well but was patronized as "the housewife's choice" and "suitable for the Harrods and Hatchard's market." It was competing against books by Iris Murdoch and Doris Lessing that critics thought were more deserving of such a prestigious literary award.
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I was just sitting here thinking that this perspective is ironic considering that Claudia is patronized similarly for writing popular rather than academic history books!