What the Bells Sang

Published by Gracewing Publishing  |  April, 2023  |  500 pages | $35.00   Purchase

Book Précis

Acclaimed essayist Edward Short writes with his usual insight and brio on a range of historical, literary and Newmanian matters. Here are essays on the poets Thomas Hardy and Lord Tennyson, Rudyard Kipling and T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden and Elizabeth Jennings; on the historians G.M. Trevelyan, Christopher Dawson, R.W. Southern and Andrew Roberts; on the novelists Anthony Trollope, Henry James, Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh; on the biographers James Grant, Richard Greene and John Batchelor; and on such brilliant thinkers as Edmund Burke and C.S. Lewis. A number of pieces on Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman round out this rich, elegant miscellany. A companion volume to Edward Short’s first essay collection, Adventures in the Book Pages, this new compilation will delight all readers interested in history, literature and the most eloquent of Catholic saints.

Reviews of What the Bells Sang

"Edward Short states in his introduction to What The Bells Sang: Essays and Reviews that good reviewing demands 'careful, imaginative, and judicious reading', combined with 'humility and self-effacement' — enough to put any reviewer of his new collection on his mettle. This reviewer would humbly add that a good review must be lively, honest, and, where appropriate, amusing — all features of Short’s own work. …Alongside shots of our elegant author in Venice, the main photo on his website shows him standing near bookshelves containing his books on St John Henry Newman, along with others on G. K. Chesterton, P. G. Wodehouse, and Margaret Thatcher. A conservative, pro-life Roman Catholic, who lives with his family in New York City, Short demands attention as a moralist who defends the truth against all foes in a decadent age.  … He proves perceptive and subtle when writing of Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Newman, of course, Thomas Hardy as poet, Christopher Dawson, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, and Evelyn Waugh. Ruskin and Trollope receive honourable mentions, as does Churchill’s biographer Andrew Roberts. … The richness of the book makes it perfect for browsing…”. Prof. Michael Wheeler, The Church Times

“As well as being beautifully written and genuinely brave, this book is also wise. It is a remarkable testament to the breadth and profundity of the author’s expertise and interests, and the extraordinary depth of his reading. The polymathic Man of Letters might be a disappearing breed in our civilization, but Edward Short is holding out. He should be listed, like a piece of our architectural heritage.” Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

Reviews of Edward Short’s previous collection of essays, Adventures in the Book Pages

Adventures in the Book Pages is “a fine collection”—“witty,” “wise,” and “entertaining.” Francis Phillips, Catholic Herald

“If you have never encountered author, reviewer and essayist Edward Short, you are in for a real adventure in the pages of this book; and if you know his work already, you know what to expect from this erudite, articulate writer of both catholic and Catholic interests ... His themes are wide-ranging ... His tone is always judicious ... his style eminently readable.” Richard Ormrod, Faith Magazine

“Edward Short is ... a gentleman scholar, enjoyably opinionated, engagingly well- informed, and, flatteringly, he expects his readers to have similar qualities ...The volume is thoroughly catholic ... I was duly beguiled.” James McGlone, Chesterton Review

“Adventures in the Book Pages is a romp and a marvel. I can’t decide which is its most winning attribute, erudition, range or elegance of expression. So let’s call it a photo finish.” James Grant, author of Bagehot: The Life and Times of the Greatest Victorian