Leigh Books

A racy account of an Australian couple's move to Canada written with wit and panache, Wild Women is a barnburner of a book. Leigh is a brilliant, incisive writer whose visceral prose can move you from laughter to tears and back again. Highly recommended!

PAUL QUARRINGTON called it:

"A well-written, witty, ribald and rollicking journey into the dark ways of men and women."

PODGirl (USA) wrote: "Leigh is a master of voice and this book should be required reading in creative writing classes."

(The new UKA edition costs less and has a contest for anyone who'd like literary immortality for the cost of an email.)

"'Now I want you to fake an answer.'
'Fake one?'
'Right. We're in a roomful of people, say, and several of 'em probably know more...than you do, but you're being billed as the resident expert...so somebody asks you, uh, "Mr. Doyle, to what extent, in your opinion, was Wordsworth influenced by the philosophy expressed in the verse plays of, I don't know, Sir Arky Malarkey?" Quick!'
Doyle cocked an eyebrow. 'Well, it's a mistake, I think, to try to simplify Malarkey's work that way; several philosophies emerge as one traces the maturing of his thought...'"
- Darrow interviewing Doyle for a job in THE ANUBIS GATES, by Tim Powers

For some strange reason the above passage comes to mind when reading THE WIMSEY FAMILY, the 1976 work resulting from Giles' collected correspondence between himself, Dorothy L. Sayers (the famed chronicler of the amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey), and a few other parties who 'discovered' much hitherto unpublished history.

It all began in February 1936, when Scott-Giles - a heraldic expert bearing the title Fitzalan Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary - wrote to Sayers about the Wimsey coat of arms, the blazon being included as part of the Who's Who-style boilerplate prefacing several editions of various Lord Peter novels. (A blazon is the formal description of a coat of arms, not necessarily including a picture; Scott-Giles has translated it into pictorial form in the book before you, along with other 'reproductions' of relevant pictorial bits of Wimsey family history.) Scott-Giles soberly noted that the elements of the blazon seemed to be of great antiquity, and the Saracen supporters of the shield hinted at a Crusading ancestor, so perhaps Sayers ought to clarify that the coat of arms is only by chance so expressive of Lord Peter's bent for investigation.

This led to a lively correspondence between Sayers, Scott-Giles, and a couple of Sayers' close friends, each 'discovering' more and more facts about the family history. Scott-Giles tended to concentrate on the medieval members of the family, and Sayers herself on the Tudor era. (Sayers' friend Helen Simpson, to whom we owe various drawings of Bredon Hall, the family seat, appears to have unearthed the 18th century marriage between the then-Lord St. George, heir to the title, and a hosier's widow, which caused something of a scandal.) They published various essays and even a pamphlet in the 1930s for interested parties, and some of the fruits of their joint efforts went into the final segment of BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON when Sayers adapted the original play, cowritten with one of her fellow 'researchers', into a novel.

Scott-Giles, assembling this material in the 1970s, notes that he has generally avoided discussing any Wimseys whose history hadn't 'turned up' in Sayers' lifetime. He did, however, address an apparent discrepancy raised by a fellow expert, noting that Lord Peter's older brother, being described as 'a peer of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland' in Sayers' canon implies that the title was created after 2 July 1800, but that the dukes (formerly earls) of Denver trace back far enough to properly be described as 'peers of England'. Scott-Giles deftly fielded this by digging up a Duke with an only daughter who married into a distant branch of the family after the heir-presumptive died at Waterloo.

And so on. Betwixt and between them, the original contributors managed to skate past several awkward points, among them the fact that for a considerable period in Tudor times, there weren't *any* dukes in England. In fact, exactly one duke - Denver - survived with his honours intact, having the family gift for withdrawing to the family seat and/or being stricken with diplomatic illness in a crisis.

Each part of the coat of arms turns out to have a story, starting with the original device of 3 silver plates on a black background. (A lord of Normandy, being eaten out of house and home by three hulking sons, presented them with three empty platters that they were henceforth to fill by their own efforts, with a strong hint that joining the Conqueror's army would be a capital idea.) How the device changed to three mice, with a domestic cat as crest, is a Crusading story illustrating the Wimsey strain of cleverness - the family for centuries has come in 2 flavors, mostly stolid like Lord Peter's elder brother Gerald, but occasionally breaking out in high-strung brilliance like Lord Peter himself.

All in all, if you like the bits of family history included in the Wimseys' visit to Duke's Denver at the end of BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON, here's more of the same, in more detail. You could get some of it out of Barbara Reynolds' edited collections of Sayers' letters, but those volumes only contain Sayers' part of the correspondence, not the intervening material from Scott-Giles, Helen Simpson, and Muriel St-Clare Byrne (those last two names grace the dedication of BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON, of course).

Any more-than-casual fan of Sherlock Holmes is aware of "the great game" -- the body of research and writing known as Sherlockiana or Holmesiana (depending I think on what side of the Atlantic you're on) dedicated to establishing a Sherlockian chronology, identifying disguised personages, resolving apparent inconsistencies, and generally increasing the sum of the world's knowledge about the life and work of the world's first consulting detective.

Lord Peter Wimsey, the shining light of the next generation of British detectives, has never quite been subjected to the same sort of passionate scrutiny. In part, that's because his creator, Dorothy L. Sayers, was quite explicit in dating his adventures: If she says "Unnatural Death" took place in spring, 1927, her stories have the internal evidence to prove it.

Interestingly, however, Sayers herself was a Sherlockian and an experienced player of the great game. And so when C.W. Scott-Giles contacted her in the 1930s with the mock-serious premise that the heraldic achievement of the Wimsey family suggested great antiquity deserving of further researches, Sayers joined right into the fun. This book, published many years later, is the fruit of their exchanges.

Unlike much Sherlockiana, which is meant to supplement and enhance Dr. Watson's stories, this book doesn't really add a lot to our understanding of Sayers' work. And so, it's not essential reading. It is, however, a quick and entertaining read, sure to be a worthwhile diversion for Wimsey fans.

This work follows the journey through many teachers of healing through bodywork, and has influenced me to take my work to a higher level.

The author presents his life story of beginning work on massage
and muscle work, to his learning Rolfing and Feldenkrais, to his work with a Zen Kendo (and healer) master. Along the way,
you are treated with fantastic stories of transformation and healing, all presented in a matter-of-fact way, without ornamentation or (much) philosophy. Rather than trying to proselytize or show why "his way" is the "best way", the author
tells a tale of his personal transformation and growth and the potential inside us all. Highly recommended.

The story is of Susie Henrietta Bright, the youngest and 69th grandchild to Grandpa and Grandma Bright. She lives in a wonderful little town named Bright City. The grandparents build a new house to help them in their older age and the house-warming of the new home happens on Grandpa's 71st birthday. Grandpa's gifting rules include one where family gifts should be small, inexpensive, and given with love. Hugs and kisses are best.

The 69th grandchild wants her gift to be the best after getting the "proud" idea that she was the best grandchild, being number 69. Through the story, Susie learns that all are equal and finds a way to give a meaningful gift, without costing a penny. She learns she does not have to be the best or give the best to love and be loved.

The description of the small town of Bright City is a good description of many Indiana small towns of 1951. The author, Mabel Leigh Hunt, was a Hoosier and knew the neighborliness and caring of the communities of Indiana, and wrote them into her stories.

The Bright family was a large one, with Grandpa and Grandma having 10 sons and each married with their own family. As in those olden times, they all lived near their hometown of Bright City, so all could frequently share time together. That made quite an event for the house-warming/birthday party with 69 cousins all participating with the adults.

A great nostalgic story of family time from half a century ago. It is yet a worthwhile story for young girls (as originally intended) as well as those of us adults that enjoy reading the family-oriented tales of the beginnings of the Baby Boomers.

I own this book, and know the author, she is a great photographer and has extensive first hand knowledge on the locations she has written about in this book, so if it is a good wildflower year (depends alot on the weather) then you should be able to visit any one of the locations she has listed in this book and be able to locate the banner species listed

Certainly makes those long train jorneys seem shorter. This is a book you want to carry on reading forever.

I know Leigh, and respect and admire her greatly. So when I saw her book was out, I had to pick up a copy. Working through this book gave me great insights into what is important to me.

This is not a book to sit and read in an evening. Leigh walks you through a series of exercises so that you can explore and describe what you are passionate about.

Everything comes together so well to inspire creative thought - the exercises, quotes, and examples. The only thing better would be to have Leigh sitting by your side coaching you personally each step of the way. Her book is the closest you can get to that experience in a book format.

If you are seeking your passion, I highly recommend you get a copy of this book and plan to spend serious time really working through it. You will get so much more than what you put into it.

We're all used to using the net to get information, with the end result often being too much material with too little information. This book gets right down to the "nuts and bolts". It saved me time (which I don't have enough of) and money and took away a lot of the pain. A must read!

I purchased one of the series in a second-hand book store. Ever since then, I have purchased all the Puzzle World series. They are great and full of fun. My 6 years old loves all of them. Each serie has a story and based on the story, you will have to find the missing link based on the clues you see. This book gives you 8 stories. Fun and interesting !

Great quality, pleanty of space and atractive cover - I'm very pleased with this product and highly recommend it!