Irene Iddesleigh by ROS, Amanda McKittrick

Amanda McKittrick Ros, a Northern Irish writer, did for the novel what William McGonagall did for poetry and Florence Foster Jenkins for the coloratura voice. She published a number of novels (all at her own expense) and in addition to being a novelist was a poet, her best known being Visiting Westminster Abbey which begins: Holy Moses! Take a look! Flesh decayed in every nook! Some rare bits of brain lie here, Mortal loads of beef and beer. The best account of her life available on the web is probably http://oddbooks.co.uk/amanda/life.html. C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and The Inklings were admirers and held competitions to see who could read her work for the longest time whist keeping a straight face. Sadly, all her books are now out of print but command high prices on the rare books market. Irene Iddesleigh, her first book, is a romantic novel, telling the common story of an unhappy, doomed marriage. The prose style however is unique. (Summary by AJM)