Friday lunchtime. Oxfam, Drury Lane, London WC2. Thanks to some eccentric shelving whim of the staff, I was very pleased to see a compendium of work by the popular young (and, if you absolutely must, chicklit) author Lisa Jewell resting on the shelf marked 'Literary Criticism' , just a few volumes away from Chaucer and the rest of the lads from the A-level canon. While Jewell's first novel, the marvellous Ralph's Party, was unexpectedly feted by Tom Paulin on Late Review, her subsequent work has failed to win her the same kind of critical plaudits as, say, Ian McEwan. Thank goodness, then, that someone at Oxfam is On Her Side, and doing their bit to insinuate her work into the academic literary jungle.However, that the same staff member has chosen to place the work of Jane Green on this shelf too is nothing less than total lunacy. I have only read Mr Maybe but Christ, let me tell you. It wasn't fit to clean up after Ralph's Party.
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