![]() ![]() Four years ago, with an air of modest nonentity, he cleverly kept Melvyn Bragg at bay on a South Bank Show meant to celebrate a life-time’s oeuvre a good deal racier than most and richer than many. In later years, by a fluke of fashion bizarre enough to have tickled him, Raven as a writer was not so much neglected or forgotten as taken for granted. He also did wonderful television, from adapting The Pallisers (1974) to Edward & Mrs Simpsons (1980). May of his 34 books, written for money or mischief, will live on as Gibbonian footnotes to his true achievement: using one 10-decker novel to lure the post-war mid-century into a web of lethal humour. But Raven came nearer than other novelists to exposing, in the grandeur of its squalor and the dubiety of its standards, the times he lived in and saw through. His was a leisurely and not a powered disposition. The highest pinnacles of literary achievement were not denied him he denied them to himself - they would have diminished his life by occasioning too much work. His behaviour often reverted to apes, as though public-school bliss, whether in sport or bed or library, had entrapped his spirit for good. ![]() With his slanted eyes devilish eye-brows and in later years rugose cheeks, he had the air of a wickedly innocent Silenus, more than willing to admit his own faults and vices while keeping a sharp look-out for the fibs and evasions he expected of everyone else. LIBERTINE, WANDERER, scholar, rogue, debtor - none of these labels ever quite stuck to the writer Simon Raven, though he took full advantage of the seedy kudos they brought him. The following article, discovered in the Charterhouse scrapbook, details Raven’s extraordinary life. He is best know for is his Alms for Oblivion series of books, though he also gained considerable recognition for his TV work. In later life, he retired to the Charterhouse, and while there was featured as the subject of an episode of The South Bank Show. To escape a life of petticoats and politeness at her stuffy finishing school, Hilary sets out in search of her own seaworthy adventure, where she gets swept up in a madcap quest involving a map without an X, a magical treasure that likely doesn’t exist, a talking gargoyle, a crew of misfit scallywags, and the most treacherous-and unexpected-villain on the High Seas. Written with uproarious wit and an inviting storyteller tone, the first book in Caroline Carlson’s quirky seafaring series is a piratical tale like no other.Simon Arthur Noël Raven (28 December 1927 – ) was an English novelist, essayist, dramatist and raconteur who, in a writing career of forty years, caused controversy, amusement and offence. She can tie a knot faster than a fleet of sailors, and she already owns a rather pointy sword. There’s only one problem: The Very Nearly Honorable Leage of Pirates refuses to let any girl join their ranks of scourges and scallywags. But Hilary is not the kind of girl to take no for answer. ![]() She can tread water for thirty-seven minutes. From Goodreads: Pirates! Magic! Treasure! A gargoyle? Caroline Carlson’s hilarious novel is perfect for fans of Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events and Trenton Lee Stewart’s Mysterious Benedict Society. Hilary Westfield has always dreamed of being a pirate.
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