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Boyne Grainger was an American writer who lived in New York in the 1920s during its Bohemian heyday. Although all but forgotten today, she was known in literary circles as an essayist and poet, and the writer of two novels, The Hussy (1924) and The Jester's Reign (1938). This latter was a satirical fantasy set in Patchin Place, the little Greenwich Village alley beloved of numerous artists where both John Cowper Powys and Llewelyn Powys also lived for several years. One of many unpublished works by Grainger, We Lived in Patchin Place is a detailed reminiscence of those pre-Depression days written three decades later when the author was in her seventies. The Powys brothers feature in many of her anecdotes, and their letters to her, also published here for the first time, are a touching testament to their enduring friendships. But there are numerous others Grainger recalls, some of whom were to achieve distinction in their fields like the actor Dudley Digges, the sculptor John B. Flannagan and the artist Harry Gottlieb, and some of whom have slipped into oblivion like the eccentric Flora Tabois, the grumbling Mr Gilman and the vagabond Patrick. Grainger's nostalgic memoir evokes a world of bonhomie and easy-going hardship, brimming with colourful characters, and will be of interest not only to admirers of the Powys brothers but to the social historian and general reader alike.
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