Handheld Press

06/01/2025

We're starting the New Year with a closing down sort of feel ... the closing down sale is coming soon, and we are already running out of some of our books in the office. Jane's Country Year is now out of stock. Currently (6/1/25 at 10.03) we have ONE COPY LEFT of The Akeing Heart, Personal Pleasures and Women's Weird 2. Get 'em while you can.

The complete catalogue of all our titles, showing authors, editors and publication titles

01/01/2025

Whether 2025 is filled with Personal Pleasures, Business As Usual, or What Not…Wishing all our loyal fans and followers a Happy New Year from all of us at Handheld!

We step into 2025 with mixed feelings…as many of you will know, we will cease trading on 1st July. After seven wonderful, exciting, exhausting and exhilarating years publishing some of her favourite forgotten books so joyfully received by you all, the wonderful Kate Macdonald will we be hanging up her publishing boots….or will she?! Go and see Peachfield Press (link to website in Bio) or follow Kate on Bluesky (.bsky.social) for news of her new venture!

In the meantime, Handheld has accepted an offer from a UK remaindering company for all our UK stock. From 1st February 2025, Handheld titles will no longer be sold by mainstream UK bookshops or by us. This is a bit sooner than we expected, but it makes sense, and honestly Kate will be relieved to stop.

In the US we have also accepted offers for some of our stock there to be sold to another remainderer, and the transfer will happen in January. We will let you know where Handheld books can be bought in the February Newsletter, our last one, and the website will also close for sales on 1st February. It will probably stay online for a few months as a placeholder to redirect passing customers to the remainderers’ websites.

The good news is that there will be one more Handheld Sale! Watch this space…

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24/12/2024

However and wherever you spend your time over the next couple of weeks, Seasons Greetings from all at Handheld!

20/12/2024

We may not long ago have had Hallow’een, but Christmas is also a time for tales of ghosts and the supernatural. Here at Handheld we’ve long been fans of and have plenty of tales to choose from when it comes to sending a chill down your spine! Just a few examples…

Women’s Weird, Short Stories by Women 1890-1940 edited by Melissa Edmundson –– our first Women’s Weird collection, published in 2019. Includes stories from Edith Wharton, D K Broster and Elinor Mordaunt. Rave reviews across the board. ‘A landmark anthology … Edmundson has curated a solid journey through weird landscapes … The notes/annotations at the back of the book by publisher Kate Macdonald should become an industry standard … This is an unmissable, urgent and era-defining work. ‘ – Gingernuts of Horror

The Living Stone, Stories of Uncanny Sculpture, 1858-1943 edited by Henry Bartholomew –– A fearful anthology…to persuade you that a stone hand has been placed on your shoulder when you least expect it! Includes spine-tinglers from H P Lovecraft, Arthur Machen and Eleanor Scott. ‘Another immensely successful publication from Handheld, with an erudite and fascinating introduction from Bartholomew. Not for every reader of horror fiction, certainly, but a delight for those of us who need to check, with a nervous glance, if the gargoyle illustrating the cover hasn’t perhaps moved just ever so slightly.’ – Dead Reckonings

The House of Silence by E Nesbit –– when she wasn’t writing children’s classics (The Railway Children, Five Children and It) Edith Nesbit wrote ghost stories prolifically and masterfully for adults. ‘Nesbit’s stories range from the arch and the melancholic to the baroque and genuinely, tinglingly supernatural’ – Times Literary Supplement

For more inspiration see the link in our Bio.

19/12/2024

The Handheld Diaries are now open to subscribers on Substack! Weekly episodes unfolding the story of how Handheld began. Here's the trailer episode.
https://katemacdonald.substack.com/p/before-we-start

18/12/2024

A handful of war writing…some of the books that are concerned with war we have already featured under our Handheld Defiants banner (Margaret Kennedy’s Where Stands a Wingèd Sentry, and Ann Stafford’s Army Without Banners). Here are some more, not to be missed:

Blitz Writing; Night Shift & It Was Different At The Time by Inez Holden –– a novel of wartime factory work plus extracts from Holden’s diary of wartime life with a cast of the literary elite of the day. Both punctuated with bombs and their consequences. ‘essential documents of the Blitz … Holden’s attention to the personalities and backgrounds of those she worked among, to their body language and habits of speech, renders her portrayals vivid and memorable.’ – Times Literary Supplement

The Gulls Fly Inland by Sylvia Thompson –– A glorious, passionate novel from 1941. ‘…it’s a stunning read; I really can’t understand why it’s been out of print so long, and indeed why Thompson has slipped out of view…a striking book, cleverly constructed and incredibly evocative. It makes particularly powerful reading because of the time and setting…’ – Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings

Non-Combatants and Others, Writings Against War, 1916-1945 by Rose Macaulay –– Rose Macaulay’s anti-war writing, all in one volume. Non-Combatants and Others (1916) was the first anti-war novel to be published in the UK during the First World War. Writings Against War bring together her witty, furious and despairing journalism from The Spectator, Time and Tide, and The Listener. ‘It’s an impressive collection, and as well as giving a fascinating overview of Macaulay’s views on war, it also makes marvellous reading. Non-Combatants really brings home the devastation of war…it’s a chilling reminder of how easy it is for a country to slip into right wing intolerance with all the awful consequences that brings.’ – Shiny New Books

For more inspiration see the link in our Bio.

17/12/2024

Some Handheld Books, while written in the past, are concerned with the future, and other worlds altogether. Here’s a sample from our Fantasy and SciFi collection:

Adrift in the Middle Kingdom by J Slauerhoff (translated by the award-winning David McKay) –– Jan Jacob Slauerhoff was one of the most important twentieth-century Dutch-language writers. Adrift in the Middle Kingdom is an epic sweep of a tale that takes the reader from 1920s Shanghai to a forgotten city beyond the Great Wall of China. ‘A curious mixture of detailed travel writing…and fictional adventure that merges increasingly into existential fantasy.’ –– The Fantasy Hive

Kingdoms of Elfin by Sylvia Townsend Warner –– sixteen short stories marking the final collection from the inimitable Sylvia Townsend Warner, originally published in The New Yorker. ‘Under the surface there is something inexorable which gives these stories an exquisite, but nonetheless mortally sharp, edge.’ –– British Science Fiction Association Review

The Exile Waiting by Vonda N McIntyre –– The debut novel of one of the foremost science fiction writers of her day. McIntyre went on to win both Nebula and Hugo awards for her writing. ‘McIntyre’s concerns – power, identity, inequity, climate and social justice – are the forefront of humanist SF.’ –– Nicola Griffith, award-winning author of Hild and Menewood.

The Gap in the Curtain by John Buchan –– The only science fiction novel from the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps. Is foresight a blessing or a curse? ‘[Buchan]…proves himself adept at both rollicking adventure story and sharply amusing political satire, as he takes the foibles of the British political system and career politicians to task. More dramatically, his stories of Goodeve and Ottery being haunted by their own mortality are both chilling and moving.’ – The Fantasy Hive

16/12/2024

The Handheld Diaries in 2025 on Substack!
The Handheld Diaries is the story of Handheld’s publishing through the years of Brexit, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. It’s also a story for anyone thinking about setting up in publishing: what not to do, what you could do, and why you should (or maybe should not) try.

The episodes will start to appear in January in weekly chunks, and they’ll last at least a year and a half. Paying subscribers will get all the episodes and an extra monthly post about a Handheld title, for £5 a month, and free subscribers will get two episodes a month, all arriving as emails in your inbox for you to keep and read when you want to. Go to the link in our bio for the introductory post…

13/12/2024

Coming up in January, the Handheld Diaries. Find out all about it here.

It was seven years ago ...

11/12/2024

A sprinkle of Handheld biography and memoir…fascinating insights into the writers’ lives, the creative process and pioneering careers.

TH White by Sylvia Townsend Warner – a magnificent biography one literary tour de force (The Sword in The Stone and The Goshawk) written by another (Lolly Willowes and The Kingdom of Elfin). Much praised when it was first published in 1967 (The New Yorker called it ‘One of the finest portraits of an artist in many years’) and similarly received when we revived it in 2023. ‘Much more like a rediscovery, with new notes, index and bibliography, and an excellent Introduction by Gill Davies’ – The Times Literary Supplement

Dreaming of Rose by Sarah LeFanu – a fascinating insight into the process of biography as Sarah LeFanu (literary critic and former Women’s Press Editor) looks back at the creative and personal journey she took when she writing her acclaimed biography of Rose Macaulay (2023, Virago). ‘A gift of a chance to see into the lives and minds of not just one great writer but two!’ – Book Bound

Blue Remembered Hills by Rosemary Sutcliff – a memoir by the acclaimed British Historical Novelist (The Eagle of the Ninth) of her first 30 years, finding her writing voice and coming to terms with the agonies she endured as a sufferer of Stills Disease. ‘Her memoir…is like that necklace of hips and haws: fragments of childhood picked and gathered and strung together into something enchanted.’ – The Times

Hilda Matheson, A Life of Secrets and Broadcasts by Michael Carney and Kate Murphy –
Hilda worked for MI6 in the First World War, was political secretary to Lady Astor and became the first Talks Director for the fledgling BBC. ‘An unusual biography of a gifted, forgotten public servant …clearly an extraordinary star, whose legacy remains in the BBC.’ – Church Times

For more inspiration see the link in our Bio.

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09/12/2024

Saluting (just a few of) the Handheld Defiants! Trailblazing women who battle society, stand up for themselves and defy expectation. Christmas gifts to inspire sallying forth into 2025!

Latchkey Ladies by Marjorie Grant – a powerful and moving novel of life as a single woman in First World War London that speaks intimately across the intervening years to readers of today. ‘A novel instinct with vitality … bustling scenes … vivid characters…’ – Times Literary Supplement

Save Me The Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald – Set against the background of the Jazz Age which her husband made so famous, Zelda’s sole novel now stands in its own right as a set text for literary studies in America. ‘..the best treatment of the agony, and the satisfaction, of art.’ –– The Guardian

Potterism by Rose Macaulay – Rose Macaulay’s invention of the Potter newspaper empire satirises the British media during the First World War and beyond. ‘…slyly funny, perceptive, clever, compelling, relevant’ – from Shiny New Books

Valentine Ackland, A Transgressive Life by Frances Bingham – the definitive biography of the remarkable Valentine Ackland, dedicated poet, Communist and life-long partner of Sylvia Townsend Warner. ‘The first full-length study of this poet’s life and work … her poems well deserve Frances Bingham’s sympathetic and considered appraisal’ – Times Literary Supplement

Army Without Banners by Ann Stafford –– life as a volunteer ambulance driver in the Blitz. ‘A wonderful, inspiring novel about how ordinary people can do extraordinary things.’ – RedOnline

Where Stands a Wingèd Sentry by Margaret Kennedy –– a striking memoir written in 1940, the pivotal year of the Second World War. ‘[Handheld] has struck gold with this absorbing and engaging slice of social history … a fascinating book, an important example of contemporary home-front literature.’ – The Times

For more inspiration see the link in our Bio.

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03/12/2024

Give the gift of laughter this Christmas! Or treat yourself!! Classic comic writing from Handheld from across the 20th century:

My life and I by Betty Bendell – 87 magazine pieces originally published in Good Housekeeping and Family Circle from the late 1960s and into 1980. Chosen for their glorious humour, their social history and record of British Life. ‘A glorious collection of writing from one of Britain’s leading and funniest magazine columnists in the 1960s and 1970s…astute and wildly funny.’ — Red Online

Personal Pleasures by Rose Macaulay – sparkling wit and acute observations from the foremost novelist, reviewer, columnist and feminist wit of her day. ‘A real treat to dip into’ — London Review Bookshop

The Voluble Topsy by A P Herbert – the Bridget Jones of the 1920s, as if written by Nancy Mitford! ‘Three cheers for Topsy!’ — The Oldie

The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim – a devastating comedy of cultural clashes on an Edwardian camping holiday. ‘A hilarious tale of staycationing’ — The Times Summer Reading 2023.

Business As Usual by Jane Oliver & Ann Stafford. The life of the single, independent woman in 1930s London. ‘Fizzes with wit and verve.’ — WI Life

03/12/2024

We're in the TLS this week on 6th December! Margaret Drabble reviews Faith Compton Mackenzie's Tatting and Mandolinata.

Tatting is a novel in the idiosyncratic style of Sylvia Townsend Warner, about newlyweds adrift in a Cornish parish among some formidable women.

26/11/2024

Handheld has a Christmas sale right now! Use code BERRY at the coupon bit of the checkout to get £2.99 off any book. As often as you like, till midnight on 30th November.

Handheld Press sells wonderful stories from the past and the present. Our books are beautiful, designed and laid out with care.

23/11/2024

Instagram is our main channel here at Handheld and we’re delighted to have all our followers here, old and new. But for those of you who have joined more recently, we thought we should also let you know about our YouTube channel! Almost 100 videos about all things Handheld over the years, from how we designed our covers, edited our collections and selected our books. And you can follow a year in the life of an indie publisher with the Handheld Diaries series. Have a browse! See our bio for the link…


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