Spring greetings from No. 53 Hoxton Square. We hope that Slightly Foxed Issue 57 and our two new books, Eric Newby’s Something Wholesale and Ronald Welch’s The Road to Waterloo, have now dropped on to subscribers’ doormats around the world and we do hope you’ve enjoyed them, wherever you are. Here in the office, having caught up with the delicious flood of orders that followed the release of the spring issue, we’re now turning our attention to housekeeping. Our IT developers have been muttering about the updates to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws which come into effect on 25 May for some time now, and we’re well aware how important it is that we’re ready for them. So, over the next month we’ll be busy making sure the website and our databases are fully prepared for the new regulations. As you will all know, we never share your data with any other companies, and we only store your payment details with your explicit permission, but if you have any concerns about the way in which we handle your personal information, please do get in touch and we’ll be happy to advise.
We hope that most of you are pleased to hear from us by way of the email newsletter each month (and sometimes more frequently if we have much news to share) but if any of you would prefer not to receive the newsletter in the future then you can unsubscribe from this list by using the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page, or by contacting the office using the details below. And if you would like to have your details removed from our office records entirely, do get in touch with Hattie Summers and she will arrange this for you. Although we hope we won’t receive any complaints, the rare grumbles we do receive from readers are sometimes rather pleasing – and often amusing too – so, if we do, we hope they’ll be as charming as these ones from the archive.
‘I had no idea when I first subscribed to Slightly Foxed what a dangerous, albeit delightful publication it is. Even by exercising considerable restraint, my overcrowded bookshelves continue to groan.’
‘Of all the literary journals I read – Agenda, Ambit, LRB, The Beano – Slightly Foxed is the one I look forward to the most. I just wish it were fatter, more frequent.’
‘What wicked people you are. You have tempted me down all sorts of byways and into all sorts of expensive adventures already.’
Lastly, a word of warning from Steve Watson who runs Stack Magazines and whose podcast we recently recorded an episode for (see further down the page), who writes: ‘If you feel like you have too much stuff to read, do not buy a copy of Slightly Foxed magazine . . .’ Too much stuff to read? Oh dear, we are sorry about that. At the risk of incurring further complaints pertaining to overloaded bookshelves, for this newsletter we’re travelling to Cairo with a young Priscilla Napier to investigate an unsettling egg-related incident in an extract from A Late Beginner, introduced by Penelope Lively whose latest memoir – Life in the Garden – is one of our favourite books published in recent months. Please read on for an extract and, to follow, a few spring reading ideas, some favourite (uncomplaining) missives from readers and new subscriber offers from Foxed Friends.
The SF office is now closed until 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday 3 April for the Easter break but our online shop is open all hours so do feel free to order books and goods or renew your subscription while we’re away, and we’ll send out all orders as soon as we’re back at our desks.We’ll look forward to being in touch with you again next month. Meantime we send you our very best wishes for Easter
Jennie, Anna, Olivia and Hattie
The SF Office Staff