FORGOTTEN GEMS
A look at some notable but neglected books from the past

BOOKS nowadays do not remain on the shelves long enough for readers to discover them or for the books themselves to discover the readership they deserve because of the dynamics of the marketplace. Sadly, many of these books have disappeared, many almost without a trace. Perhaps changing literary tastes and the increasing reluctance of publishers to keep in print books that can never sell by the truckloads are responsible for this sad state of affairs. Some of these books should be rescued from obscurity for the enjoyment of a new generation of readers. These, I believe, are just some of the forgotten gems that literature buffs ought to discover or rediscover. Not discovering these underappreciated authors and their novels is indeed our greatest loss. There are, of course, more that should be revived.

The Death of the Heart (1938) / Elizabeth Bowen
Desperate Characters (1970) / Paula Fox
The House on Coliseum Street (1961) / Shirley Ann Grau
Living (1929) / Henry Green
Loving (1945) / Henry Green
The Girl on the Via Flaminia (1949) / Alfred Hayes
A High Wind in Jamaica (1929) / Richard Hughes
A New Life (1961) / Bernard Malamud
Appointment in Samarra (1934) /John O’Hara
The Girls of Slender Means (1963) / Muriel Spark
The Far Cry (1949) / Emma Smith
The Man Who Loved Children (1940) / Christina Stead
The Tenants of Moonbloom (1963) / Edward Lewis Wallant
All the King’s Men (1946) / Robert Penn Warren
Revolutionary Road (1961) / Richard Yates