It only confirms how right you wre in the views you expressed.Anonymous will surely know that bloggers everywhere will not be put down by silly actions like that.Welldone and may your views keep being expressed.

I am not remotely remotely frightened off by his/her threats. And my own crime novels have attracted such a loyal following over the first 3 books that no review of them in this particular paper will make not a half penny'orth of difference.

How ridiculous. Clearly the work of one of those hyper-educated 'literary mandarins' who exist in an intellectual dimension well beyond mere book bloggers.

And what does this imply about the impartiality of the reviews in the paper concerned? If you flatter them does your work get the thumbs up?

I'm with Chris on this one. The implication is there: if you upset them, it's out to the desert for you; if you flatter them, every arm will reach out and pull you into the party. Not an example of independence is it?

At the Harrogate Festival this year one author asked why the broadsheets devote so many pages to literary work that doesn't sell well. I very recently cancelled the delivery of one Sunday broadsheet because its review section no longer sufficiently interests me or with any worthwhile regularity. What little is of interest, I can find online.

Susan, coming back to your opening comment "I have been growing more and more sure that the traditional book pages of most of the national newspapers are largely irrelevant...", that was the nearest you came to an insult that may offend, in all that you said in your post. I find the reaction almost unbelievable.

It's over 40 years since I last set foot in one, but I am reminded of nursery school.

I find this totally and utterley unbelievable!!!!!
I wonder if the editor of the paper knows this has been sent?

I think you have been very restrained in keeping the sender anonymous - in your place I would have trumpeted it high and loud so we could see precisely who this cretin is. It is beyond belief. Hope whoever it is logs on and reads the comments of us lowly bloggers.....
Elaine

Why doesn't this surprise me? Because it is exactly the attitude that you were flagging up and they have confirmed what we all thought but hoped upon hope wasn't true.Now you have elicited this "toys out of the pram" response, and I know you don't name and shame but personally I no longer wish to read anything else this publication reviews either because who else have they done this to in the past?Arbitrary decisions about which books we will be allowed to read reviews of are being made on very flimsy and suspect criteria. Susan Hill has upset us, so no more of her books. It is censorship of the worst possible kind and for the worst possible reasons and deserves to be exposed.

My comment disappeared into spam I think, are they controlling your inbox too!

No, it was flagged up as possible porn spam..

Oh, somebody please tell me it was a JOKE!! I don't want to know that our worst suspicions have been confirmed....

Susan

Who wrote this? I'll name them on the Library blog

tim

As I have said, I am not telling anyone who wrote this.

Sue them under the terms of the data protection act! Not that you want them to review you, etc, they are obviously minnows, but it will snarl them up and annoy them.

Anyone who ever went to boarding school might recognise this as 'being sent to Coventry' or 'rejecting': it's a purile, but nevertheless subtle and often effective form of bullying. And, the only way to stop bullies is to stand up to them.

I would assume that the corporation that owns the newspaper in question has a policy on bullying. It'll be interesting what their ethical officer (if that's not a oxymoron where newspapers are concerned) thinks of this. This could be done entirely discretely, but nevertheless let the overgrown schoolboy involved know that the matter won't rest here.

If you do name him in public, the risk is he'll just deny it, claim it was a joke, etc. I'm sure there are other and more private ways for the name to leak out.

I'm going to direct my protest in a more positive way, and finally get around to getting some Long Barn Books in the shop. Expect an email from me later this evening.

This is outrageous! And so petulant. I've seen more mature behaviour when my six-year old and his friends are playing at being Cybermen!

I've pretty much given up reading the review pages anyway and this confirms my opinion that they're not worth reading. The won't review my books because they're reprints (or whatever their current reason is), they won't review yours because you've upset them, and how many other writers and publishers are excluded for some arbitrary reason? And they wonder why we prefer to rely on the opinions of like-minded, independent bloggers?

To add insult to injury, what's with the gratuitous over-use of capital letters? Since when have 'blog', 'book review' and 'literary pages' been proper nouns? Is it meant to make you oooooh scared?

Whilst on matters of grammar, shouldn't a 'literary' personage know that it is 'neither...nor' not 'neither...or'? I can nit-pick, too!

So, the clues are:

Someone who probably went to boarding school.

A penchant for capital letters where the are Not Required.

A lack of Susan Hill's books on the review pages.

Shouldn't be too difficult to work out from that. A lot of people on my blog think it is a hoax email. I disagree.

To check the provenance of the email, highlight its title in your inbox without actually opening the email. Then right-click on the highlit title, and slide down the drop-down box and choose the very bottom one, Properties. In Properties, choose Details from the top, slide down through all the text and you will find your own edress just before the end. The originating edress will be the one a line or two above this.

I think we are all interested in knowing not who wrote that email, but which publication allows personal views to affect their reviewing policy.

Oh I know who it`s from it was signed. I have no need to check its provenance. But I am absolutely NOT telling anyone at all, anyone whatsoever, in private or in public, who wrote it and that is the end of the matter. They know who they are and are very likely sweating wondering if I am going to split.... unless they read these comments of course.
I will not name and shame and blame in public or private. It`s enough to have revealed that something like this can be written at all.

Yes, but I know literary editors who would NEVER write an email like this and who act with integrity. By letting the sender hide behind the cloak of anonymity the good guys are being tarred with the same brush.
As for only reviewing obscure books, I have had discussions with more than one who said they choose literary titles for two reasons:
1. these books wouldn't get the profile otherwise and are about our literary heritage
2. their job is to hunt out books their readers will like but won't be aware of from bookshop and supermarket promotions
Of course, this falls apart when they all review Zadie Smith et al. But I think it is a valid point worth mentioning.

Following a cold, I am just getting back to the world of blogdom to find this extraordinary tale! You are being awfully kind and restrained, Susan - I bet they ARE sweating bullets as the fallout would be rather striking, I suspect, were you to reveal their identity. It is the childishness of their tantrum-like response which is so very telling...

Was he male or female?

Now, now, Tim, she said she wasn't going to tell. And a Lady never tells.

Very classy decision on your part. I wonder if he expected to be outed so as to raise his profile as bit. If so, nice way to defang him!

It was a man wasn't it? One can tell.

Dear Susan Hill. I totally agree with your stance in relation to John Sutherland and am appalled by this email reply. I have published my support for you on my own Guardian books blog

Best wishes,
Alan Bissett

Thank you ..someone forwarded it to me. The saddest part is that the love and sharing of books, new and old, is something we ought all to be enjoying freely and generously and without any argument about who has some sort of right to an opinion and to voice it publicly and who has not. There is room for everyone and any illiterate/ignorant/offensive commentators on blogs and amazon and wherever will soon be dealt with, mainly by being ignored. The best way. The idea that this is some sort of protected and exclusive territory belonging to the literary pages is extraordinary, as if they were the guardians of the public good. But it doesn`t make me angry, though it irritates - most of all it makes me sad. And I do speak as someone who has reviewed in just about every paper and journal at some point over the last 46 years - even journals now defunct. I`m glad I started a debate - not in any way because I like acrimony but because I am so pro the right of everyone who reads to be able to make judgments and share views - and of course to listen to the views of others, whether voiced in the traditional books pages or on blogs.