QUEEN ANNA (Stuart Queens Trilogy Book 1) by @tonyriches #RBRT

 5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: The life of Anna, wife of James 1 of England.

I so enjoyed this book - particularly fascinating as I know next to nothing about the Stuart era, so I learned much.

Tony Riches portrays Anna as a woman who knew her own mind but was intelligent enough to know when to insist on what she wanted and when to keep quiet.  She felt like something of an 'old soul', even when she was younger; she was probably the best wife the inconstant James could have had.  I felt as though she understood her situation and decided, calmly, to make the best of it.  She never knew true romantic love, but she made up for this with her children, her interests, her friendships.

Of course the book is intricately researched, and I loved the detail about the masques that so absorbed Anna, about the customs of the time.  The novel flows beautifully all the way through, never too much information (I never had the feeling that Riches was writing from his research notes!), and it flows so well - it's a very 'easy read'.

I felt so, so sorry for Anna when she lost her children - Robert, Mary, Sophia and of course, Henry.  In an interview with the author that I read the other day, Riches describes Henry as the 'best king we never had', and that, coupled with what I read about him, made me wonder how we might have fared as a country, had there been a Henry IX.  Anna's failing health was very sad, too - if only she'd taken her doctor's advice early on, and kept away from the wine.

I highly recommend this book for all historical fiction lovers, especially if you're not already versed in the period - and I'm very much looking forward to the next book, about Henrietta, wife of Charles I.  Actually, I can't wait.

DEATH OF A CLOWN by Catherine McCarthy @serialsemantic

 5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon - available for pre-order. Publishes 27 May.
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: Saw the author talking about it on X, requested an ARC.

In a Nutshell: 'a metaphorical tale of dark fantasy, a story of hope, courage and self acceptance.'

Chester was born into the circus, into the life of a clown, but his public persona of tragi-comedy is not one that sits well with him.  What he really wants to do is change his entire life.  See the world, concentrate on his main passion - his writing.  As we join him in this unusual tale, circumstances have given him the impetus to begin his adventure.

This is such a beautiful book, in so many ways.  I always read on Kindle, preferring it, but I wanted to hold this in my hands.  The writing itself is so emotive and atmospheric, bringing the cities and theatres to life; it's the best I've seen from this author.  Chester himself is a total darling, someone you badly want to find happiness.

Interspersed with the events of his own life are the stories he writes under his pen-name of Runo Quill.  These are often metaphors for his own life, though one, The City of Silence, was more like a warning from fiction about the threats to free speech we experience in our own world.  I love clever deviations from the main theme of a novel, especially when, like these, they give you the feeling of delving down intriguing side alleys before resuming your journey.

Death of a Clown will be released on May 27th - I highly recommend!

OPERATION TULIP by Deborah Swift @swiftstory

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)

On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: one of my 'go-to' authors!

In a Nutshell: Working for the resistance in Nazi occupied Holland, 1944

What a cracking book this is!  I loved it.  It's set mostly in The Hague in the Netherlands, as well as in other parts of the country under occupation, and in England.  Main character Nancy is assigned the most dangerous task of her life in the resistance - she must assume yet another identity, and get close to a high ranking Nazi officer.  Meanwhile, her beloved Tom, a coding expert in England, finds that he can no longer just wait for her, and makes plans that he knows are potentially perilous.

What made this book so compelling for me was the plot - unusual, as I'm usually all about the characters.  But this never lets up from the opening scene; it's perfectly paced, with more introspective passages complimenting the tension and action.  Deborah Swift brings the bleak terror of the occupied territory to life; I didn't know, before reading this, that the Dutch were kept in such appalling conditions.

It's a 'clean read' with no bad language, not even when streams of it would probably have been uttered, but the picture painted is so real, so raw that the characters' reactions all seem completely realistic.  This has been my favourite of this authors' tales of espionage in WWII; it's a real page turner!

LAKE OF WIDOWS by Liza Perrat #RBRT

 4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: Emotional family drama.

Lake of Widows is set in France in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when not all attitudes had caught up with the Swinging Sixties and Women's Lib movement elsewhere in the West.  The main character is Adrienne, a timid woman lacking in confidence, who doesn't realise how much her whole personality has been subtly eroded by her manipulative husband, until an event when out shopping sends her head into rebellious overdrive, and she doesn't go home.

Then there is Blanche, who lives by a lake dear to Adrienne's heart; she is struggling with the reality that her husband is a treacherous conman.  Most of all I was interested in the story of Suzanne, a First World War wife whose life takes a turn for the worst when her husband returns from the Front.  All three women's lives intertwine in this beautiful setting, as they discover their own expectations for themselves, finding courage they did not know they possessed.

I found the part set in an insane asylum most interesting - I've read and watched a few books and documentaries that show how the treatment of the emotionally sick was, even in the 1970s, positively Dickensian.  I also loved Suzanne's story - I would have liked to read more about her and her husband.  As for the writing itself, it will make you want to visit L'Auberge de Léa, and stay there!

HARD TO FORGIVE by Georgia Rose @georgiarosebook

 5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: I'd already read another in the series.  This is Book 3 of A Shade Darker.

In a Nutshell: A woman alone, a life lived in obsession and regret...

I've read a few of Georgia Rose's books over the years.  I liked the last one in this series, the most enjoyable Shape of Revenge, but this is a different class, by far the best thing she's written.  Loved it!

Dora Smith is 69 and lives alone in the cosy village of Melton, in which all these books are set.  It's a close community, with all the advantages and drawbacks this brings, and Dora is involved yet sets herself slightly apart from her neighbours.  She has secrets; conflicting in her head is a riot of heartbreak, loss, obsession and a sense of isolation that she reveals to no one.  Sometimes she wears it well, and is content in her life.  Other times the ghosts from the past as well as the present crowd in, tearing her sanity apart.

This is a short novel, probably around 50-60k words, which is just right for the story.  Early in the book we're taken back in time to see Dora as a young woman and experience the tragedies that befell her - I found this absolutely gripping.  Yet there was another surprise I didn't expect, near the end.  The end itself made me need to know more.  What happens to her?  Hopefully we will see Dora again in another instalment of this twelve-book series.

So skilfully written is Dora's first person narrative that - even though she lives in her own head, rarely looking out - it allows the reader to see what the other people in the village think about her, opinions of which she is probably unaware.  So clever!  All the way through, Dora reminded me of Susan the vicar's wife in Alan Bennett's Bed Among The Lentils - if you like his Talking Heads monologues you'll love this, though it's considerably darker.

Well done, Georgia Rose, and I look forward to the next book!

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT by Erich Maria Remarque

 5 GOLD stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: Looked for it after re-watching the recent German remake of the film

In a Nutshell: A young German man's experiences in World War I

I was surprised, when I started to read this book.  I expected it to be heavy going, a lengthy tome, but it's far from that.  It's not very long (I would estimate about 70K words), and the first person point of view of Paul Bäumer, the protagonist, flows along in a highly readable fashion; it's like reading a diary.  I'd finished it in just two days, couldn't put it down.  

It goes without saying that the novel illustrates the absolute evil of war, and reminds one of the pointlessness of all that those millions of poor men suffered on the Western Front, for nothing much at all apart from making those who profit from such carnage even richer and more powerful.  Meanwhile, Paul and his friends gradually change from enthusiastic lads who were lied to by their teachers about the glory of war and how it was their duty to enlist, to shell-shocked and lost men who can relate only to each other; nothing prepared them for the horror of trench warfare, and no words can explain it to those back at home.

Echoing the cover, it's just the best war novel I've ever read.  Read it!! (btw if you're buying off Amazon, be careful not to get an abridged version)

'I am twenty years of age but I know nothing of life except despair, death, fear,  and the combination of completely mindless superficiality with an abyss of suffering.  I see people being driven against one another, and silently, uncomprehendingly, foolishly, obediently and innocently killing one another.  I see the best brains in the world inventing weapons and words to make the process that much more sophisticated and long-lasting.  And watching this with me are all my contemporaries, here and on the other side, all over the world - my whole generation is experiencing this with me.'

This picture says so much, no matter which country's generals demanded you be sent off to kill and be killed by men just like you - the Cameron Highlanders, before and after WWI.

THE DRAU RIVER FLOWS TO SIBERIA: The Victims of Victory by Marina Osipova

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: The story of two people who survived Stalin's Siberian gulags, and the fate of the Cossacks under the care of the Allies in WWII.

I feel quite exhausted having just finished this book, a lengthy novel in which I was engrossed throughout.  It centres around what happened to anti-Soviet Russian nationals at the end of WWII - mostly the Cossacks of Ukraine and other 'enemies' of the Allies - at the hands of the victors: the British and Americans as well as Stalin's Red Army, who also assured Germans that they would remain in the hands of the Western Powers.  All in the name of 'repatriation'. 

Anna and Zakhary, finally set free from incarceration under the most brutal of regimes, are strangers who meet by chance on an isolated peninsula of the Ob River, in 1955.  While waiting many hours for a boat, they tell each other their stories, immediately taking the reader back to the end of the war and the unforeseen dangers that lay along the paths they were about to walk.  

Zakhary was a German national whose Cossack father had taken his family to live in Germany.  Anna found herself separated from her family when the Wehrmacht occupied her town, and was offered the chance to work in Germany; sadly, she believed lies about what a good move this would be.  At the end of the war, though, she finds that nothing she experienced in the last few years has prepared her for what is to come.

The slippery hand of fate takes both of them to the Siberian Gulags; although this is fiction, you cannot help but be aware, throughout, that everything Anna and Zakhary went through was experienced by hundreds of thousands, many of whom would never see freedom again.

This isn't just about the evils of Communism, or of war, but man's inhumanity to man.  My only (tiny!) complaint is the occasional use of American English.  Words like 'normalcy' 'cookies' and 'fall' (rather than autumn) never sit right with me when the book is about European or Eurasian people.  But I doubt anyone will mind that as much as I do, if at all, and this really is a terrific book.

Here is an article about the Lienz massacre in Austria, in which the Cossacks were betrayed by the British army, and another one HERE.  Below, a short video.

THE GODS OF SANIBEL by Brian Cook

 3.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

An interesting book.  I was slightly put off at the start, because the main female character's name is 'Kak', a nick-name because her initials are K.A.K.  The American author probably does not know that the word 'cack' is English slang for faeces - I winced every time I read it!  

Basically, the story is about Kak and Rudy, who meet at defining moments of their lives.  Kak's problem is that she does not want to become an appendage to her husband-to-be, a handsome, rich doctor from a wealthy, controlling family.  Rudy is a corporate big shot, and has an epiphany when he sees how company policy has brought devastation to workers further down the chain in the company he makes money for.

I loved reading Rudy's sections - he was a great character, so likable, and I enjoyed reading all about the hellish world of amassing the billions at any cost.  I was not so keen on Kak, who came across (to me, anyway) as dithery and self-indulgent and, like Rudy, I grew tired of her talking in semi-riddles.  The main problem for me about the whole plot was this: if she didn't want to marry Phillip, why didn't she just ... not marry him?  There didn't appear to be any love there.  She could have just walked away.

Despite a few editing errors (names changing, the odd homonym - I think Phillip becomes Andrew at one point), the writing itself is great.  The dialogue is tight, realistic and amusing, with some great throw-away remarks and quips.  This was what made me want to keep reading, as well as finding out what happened.  I found the novel somewhat disjointed at first and kept having to go back so I could work out what was actually happening when - dates might have helped - but it sorts itself out by about 10%.

To sum up - there is a lot of good stuff in this book, but I think it could do with another draft or two.

FALLING by Elizabeth Jane Howard

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads
On BookBub

How I discovered this book: I read many novels by EJH years ago, but none since Getting It Right in the 1980s; my sister recommended this one to me.

In A Nutshell: A successful writer in her twilight years becomes romantically involved with a con-man ~ based on events that really happened, which are detailed HERE.

Daisy Langrish is a sixty-year-old, successful playwright who has known much pain and loneliness in her life; the loss of the beloved aunt who brought her up, betrayal by two husbands.  When she buys a country cottage as a retreat, she meets Henry Kent, a gardener who lives on a boat.  Slowly, slowly, he inveigles his way into her life.  They become close, and she is happy to be granted another chance for love and companionship.  On the surface he seems like the perfect man, in so many ways... but he has been less than honest about his history, and his motivations.

The story is written in alternate viewpoints—Henry in the first person and Daisy in the third, and some of the story is conveyed by way of letters and diary entries.  All of this worked beautifully; I was completely engrossed in this novel all the way through.  That Elizabeth Jane Howard is a master of the human drama goes without saying, but what I liked most about it was the unravelling of Henry's hidden self, which is done so subtly.  There is enough information for us to realise that he has an alcohol problem, and that he has a short temper and reacts violently when events do not go the way he wants, but this is never lain out in black and white; it is suggested, as the picture of him slowly builds...

When I started to read the book I already knew about the true story, but knowing what sort of outcome it must have didn't spoil it; indeed, it opens with Henry saying that Daisy has told him their affair is over, and gives a fair indication of the sort of man he is, so this review is no 'spoiler'; the beauty of the book is in the gradual seduction of Daisy, the uncovering of Henry's past life, and the question it left me with: did Henry actually love her, as much as he was capable of loving anyone?  Of course, we do not realise the full truth about his personality until his actions are revealed by others, because he lies to himself and, thus, in his narration to the reader.  Are his feelings part of the fantasy he must create, in order to make his behaviour acceptable in his own mind?

By today's standards this is a 'slow' book, and, although set in the mid 1980s, seems a little dated, more as if it is set in the 1960s or early 1970s; also, there were some elements I questioned.  For instance, Henry's most recent wife, Hazel, is supposed to be a fair bit older than him.  He is sixty-five.  Yet she is working as a physiotherapist; if she is nearing or possibly over seventy, wouldn't she have retired?  When the truth about Henry's past life is revealed, it seems a little muddled and rushed, with Daisy's friends having conversations with complete strangers which are then reported back to Daisy; I was disappointed by this, as I was so looking forward to it; although the way it was wrapped up was realistic, it felt a little anti-climactic.  I wondered if it was just me, but I looked at other reviews and some of them said the same.

However!  I still give this book five stars because I loved it, generally, and looked forward to getting back to it at every moment I could.  

THE RAVE by Nicky Black @AuthorBlackNE

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: I read this review on Bloomin' Brilliant Books book blog.

Genre: Crime, 1980s, Rave Culture, North East England 

A fast moving crime drama sent around a grimy council estate in Newcastle, The Rave is very much of its place and time, in the decade before the internet and mobile phones when the world was a different place.  Or maybe not so much; kids still lied to their parents about what they were doing, did drugs, and girls still broke their mothers' hearts by falling in love with layabouts.  I smiled at Denise Morris's attitude towards her son-in-law Tommy Collins, just after she'd bought her granddaughter some new clothes: 'Denise knew it would rile Tommy, make him feel inadequate.  But he was inadequate, and someone needed to make that clear.'

The novel is written in alternating POVs.  The first is that of twenty-one-year-old husband and father Tommy, who fancies himself as having the vision that can get him out of dreary Valley Park estate way of life; not for him a life on the dole or a depressing, minimum wage job.  He's not unlikeable, and I found myself hoping that he would 'make it'.  The second is DI Peach, who has many crosses to bear (no spoilers here), and is gunning for Tommy and his gang.  Lurking in the shadows is Paul Smart, local crime kingpin and the brother of Tommy's mam-in-law Denise.  The story takes place over eight days, as Tommy looks for a way of making his dreams of hosting the ultimate rave a reality.

This book drew me in quickly, and very soon I couldn't put it down, even taking it with me when I was cooking dinner.  All the characters, even the minor ones, are beautifully drawn, and the dialogue and attitudes of the rougher side of Geordieland are totally convincing.  I also enjoyed the visiting Mancunian cop, Murphy, who was revoltingly sure of himself and quick with the witticisms.  I did find Valley Park and its inhabitants depressing in the extreme, but there is joy to be found, and this is an absolute must-read for anyone who was involved in this scene in the late 80s - particularly if you're from the Toon!

SAFE WITH ME by Grace Lowrie

3.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: It was a submission to Rosie Amber's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

Safe With Me is a contemporary romantic drama involving themes of fostered children and domestic abuse.  The story alternates between the points of view of Katerina (sometimes Kat, sometimes Rina), and Jamie. 

The novel opens with Kat in a deeply depressing situation.  After a terrible childhood in and out of foster homes, then life on the streets, she has been married for many years to Vic, a criminal who owns a greasy spoon café on a London market.  Her life is one of imprisonment, abuse and drudgery, as she works in the café all day every day, and spends her evenings tiptoeing round Vic's temper.  She hates him, but is completely worn down and unable to see a way out.   The one light in her life is her memory of Jamie, the little boy with whom she was fostered as a child.  I thought this part of the book was written very well indeed, I was most impressed.  I felt every moment of Kat's fear and hopelessness. 

Jamie, by contrast, has led a happy life, but always longed to see Kat again.  When they meet up, completely by accident, neither of them have any idea who the other is.  This novel turns on its head the current trend for unguessable plot twists, which I liked very much: in Safe With Me, the reader knows what's going on, but the characters don't.  It really worked, because I found myself wondering how they were going to discover each other's identities; the 'reveal' is well done, and is unexpected; I liked it. 

Ms Lowrie has a nice, easily accessible style of writing, very readable.  I did prefer the first half of the book, which, for me, had more atmosphere and realism.  The second half is centred round the relationship between Kat and Jamie, and Kat's road to recovery; it's done well but, for me, the climax of the book came too soon.  This is just a personal preference, of course.  Conflict/tension is provided by Jamie's ex-girlfriend, and the uncovering of some secrets of Jamie and Kat's past, but I thought the Vic situation was disposed of too easily, and sometimes descriptive passages slowed the momentum; I think it needed a better edit.   

This novel has much to commend it; on the whole, I'd say it's a book for readers who like the gradual unfolding of emotions to ponder over, rather than page-turning drama. 

LAND OF HIDDEN FIRES by Kirk Kjeldsen

3.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

How I discovered this book:  It was a submission to Rosie Amber's Review Team, of which I am a member.

I love to read about adventures in icy northern wastes, so I was pleased to see this on the review team list.  The book starts off in occupied Norway in 1943, when 15 year old Kari, who lives on an impoverished farm with widowed father Erling, sees an American plane go down several miles away.  Despite wearing insufficient warm clothing and having only eaten dry bread, she walks miles through the snowy wastes to investigate, then pretends to pilot Lance Mahurin that she is a member of the Swedish resistance.  She then leads him back to the farm, steals her father's horse, cart and money, and the two of them set off on a long journey to get him to safety.  No, I wasn't very convinced, either, but, generally speaking, the book started off on a positive note, as Kari's living circumstances are well-painted, and I like the backdrop of the Norwegian countryside, and the detail about how life has changed in their town since German occupation.

The book moves on with the story of Erling's search for his daughter when he discovers she is missing, and the efforts of Nazi Oberleutenant Conrad Moltke to look for the pilot, too.  Moltke, the disillusioned officer entrenched in bitterness because he is not allowed to play a starring role in the war and live up to his father and grandfather, is by far the most interesting character.

The strength of this is the description of the scenery and the detail about the Norwegian way of life at the time. It's technically well written, but I'm afraid that the storytelling itself lacked the spark, drama, character depth and suspense that keeps me interested in a book, dying to get back to it and unable to put it down.  Some of the characters seemed like stereotypes chosen to fit the plot (Kari and her jaunty American, in particular, who, despite being a pilot who's just crashed down in enemy territory, 'sometimes forgets there's a war on'), and there were several incidents I thought unlikely.  Too many of the sentences were flat, doing nothing more than delivering information.

It's not a bad book by any means, it's well presented and there were sections I liked, but on the whole it's a 'just okay', for me.  

SANDLANDS by Rosy Thornton

5 GOLD stars

Short stories: Suffolk, folklore, history, literary

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE 

Reviewed by me for Whispering Stories 

This book of short stories based on the history and folklore in and around the village of Blaxhall on the Suffolk Coast was an absolute treat to read.  I lived in coastal Norfolk for some years and adore that part of the country, and had vague recollections of reading other glowing reviews of this book, hence my choice. 

Ms Thornton's writing is beautiful.  Evocative, intelligent, mournful, intricately researched and humorous at times, the sort of prose that doesn't need events or dialogue - and that's coming from someone who prefers books with lots of both.  Never mind complaints about too much descriptive detail in books; Mad Maudlin, for instance, in which the narrator has a strange experience with some old film of a pub in which he is staying, is made up of little but descriptive detail, and I loved every word.  

There's a very sad tale called The Watcher of Souls, about a long forgotten and tragic love affair (I want to know more about Annie!), but I think my favourites are High House, narrated by a local cleaner, about a wise man who lives above the floodlines....  and I loved Dr Whybrow in Whispers, the solitary academic who finds the inspiration he has been searching for in an old tower, built for defence during the Napoleonic Wars.  And lastly, the beautiful Mackerel, about an old lady who has hardly moved from Blaxhall from all of her eighty-nine years.  This one actually made me weep.  I mean, properly cry, not just get a bit damp around the eyes.

I'm sending this book to my eighty-seven year old father who grew up in Suffolk in the 1930s; I am sure he will love it.   

There's something wonderfully timeless about Norfolk and Suffolk, and this book made me want to go back and wander down those lonely country lanes I remember from my own childhood that, somehow, the 21st Century has not yet touched.

It's only £1.  Possibly the best one you'll spend for a long time.  Thank you, Rosy Thornton, for writing it, and Stacey from Whispering Stories for asking me if I'd like to do a guest review; without this offer, I might not have discovered this lovely book.

THE INFINITY POOL by Jessica Norrie

4.5 out of 5 stars

Dark contemporary drama/suspense

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

Reviewed by me as a member of Rosie Amber's Review Team

This was one of those surprise gems that I find now and again on Rosie's review team list.  An unusual and intelligently written holiday drama, the story takes place on an unnamed island where the locals fail to find accord with the owners, staff and guests of Serendipity, a New Age/bohemian/back to nature type retreat.  It centres round some jagged relationships: charismatic womaniser Adrian, village girl Maria who catches his eye, Serendipity regular Alice (wonderfully obsessive and creepy!).  Then there is the effervescent Ruby who finds love with a local, female detective Chris, who isn't quite sure what she's signed up for, and Bernard, the creative writing teacher who is frustrated and bitter about his own inability to produce any work of note.  Eventually the resentments and incompatibilities erupt, not only between incomers and locals but between the camp residents.

The book starts with a dramatic episode, then goes back to September 2010, which sees Adrian at his lecherous best, the camp successful, but the seeds of discontent among the villagers are already sown deep.  Fast forward to June 2011, and Serendipity is all but falling apart, with key people missing, guests unhappy, and finances falling short.

The subtle characterisation in this novel is excellent; there's a hint of mockery of the New Age claptrap in some of the guests' silliness, and I smiled at the smugness of those who considered themselves more 'in touch with their feelings' than some of the newcomers (especially those who had not yet experienced the wonder of Adrian).  The comparison between the simple lives of the villagers and the spoiled Northern Europeans who aim to slough off their weight of privilege by rather self-consciously going 'back to basics' is artfully portrayed.

At the dramatic end, some of the characters who were dubious about the place find that their lives have changed for the best after all, though perhaps not in the way that Serendipity intended.  

Alice is an excellent character; I spent much of the novel wishing that more was being done with her, and felt some of her potential went undiscovered by Ms Norrie, but her end scenes really worked and I decided that, in this case, less was more.  The high spot the whole novel, though, is the sections from the point of view of the character who has a head injury.  So good I read them twice.  I've been close to someone with a brain injury and worked with some sufferers, and this gives such an insight into how it (probably) really is for them.  He has quite an adventure; it's entertaining to read as well as being an eye-opener.

This is how to write a novel with a fair bit of domestic detail and without great swathes of thrills and spills, and still make it a real page turner! 

BEDSIT THREE by Sally Jenkins

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

Reviewed by me as a member of Rosie Amber's Review Team

A dark, fairly gritty drama with a side plot of insanity and murder - I enjoyed it!  It centres around Vesey Villas, an old house made up into seedy bedsits.  One occupant is Sandra, a single mother with her daughter, and a new arrival is Ian, an unemployed father who is hoping to get back together with his wife.  Sleeping in his car outside is the former resident of Bedsit Three, Ignatius Smith, who is eager to get back inside the building....

The novel is well written and nicely observed, the characterisation extremely good - I loved the parts about the increasingly disturbed Ignatius, and Sandra and Ian are both real and likeable, the sort of characters you root for.  The plot is perfectly paced, alternating between the three main characters, with no boring bits; I was not tempted to skip read at all, and read 80% of it in one sitting.

On occasion I felt the dialogue was a little unlikely, and I thought Ian's story was too speedily and rather drearily wound up in the epilogue (I hoped for so much better for him!), but these are my only complaints, and they are but minor.  I enjoyed the unfolding of Ignatius's story the most.

I think it would be enjoyed by anyone who likes a mild sort of contemporary thriller; it's very good.

BACK HOME by Tom Williams

5 out of 5 stars

Crime in Victorian London

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

Reviewed by me as a member of Rosie Amber's Book Review Team

I loved this book.  Although the third part of a trilogy, it is a complete stand-alone (I haven't read the other parts), with a two page preface that gives exactly the right information about what has happened before; this is so well written that I couldn't wait to get cracking on the main story.

Back Home is an excellent piece of intricately researched historical fiction, set in the mid 19th century, when affluent, middle class John Williamson returns home from thirty years in Borneo and India to find England a place that has gone through much change.  Circumstances take him to London, where he becomes involved with the murky, criminal side of life in order to rescue a friend from danger—and because he is being blackmailed.

I enjoyed every word of this novel.  It's so cleverly written, with low-key humour in parts, the research used subtly and inobtrusively.  Williamson's new life centres around an underground industry; the detail about this is fascinating, as are the eye-opening accounts of life in early Victorian slums.  That aside, I loved reading about his impressions of this new London, his observations about the sociological changes and patterns, and the people he meets.  Even the mundane domestic detail held my attention a hundred per cent.

I shall be reading the previous book, Cawnpore, very soon (I've just bought it), and highly recommend this novel to all lovers of intelligent historical fiction.  Really impressed!

ACROSS GREAT DIVIDES by Monique Roy

3 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

Reviewed by me as a member of Rosie Amber's Book Review Team

This is the story of Eva, a Jew living in Berlin, and her family.  It starts in 1932/3, when Hitler first came to power, and moves on to the family's escape to Antwerp, then to Rio, and their next move to South Africa. 

It starts off well, describing teenage Eva's life before the Nazis, and her initial fear of anti-semitism.  However, it soon becomes more like a quite basic history book or newspaper article, told mostly from the point of view of a narrator, rather than the characters.  With four years of encroaching Nazi terrorism rushed through in a small percentage of the book, I didn't get a sense of the build up of fear.  We are told that Eva's brother Max is the most fearful of the Nazis, and her father, Oskar, holds the optimistic view that it will all blow over, but I felt that the family were used as occasional illustrations for what was happening, rather than them being the subject of the story.  I imagine most people who choose to read the book will already know what happened during the 1930s and 1940s in Europe, and are looking for characters to become involved with, atmosphere and emotion, rather than factual information.

There are some interesting sections in the novel, such as information about the diamond trade in Antwerp and Eva's friend Trudy's experience working on the side of the Nazis in Ravensbruck, but with the huge subjects of the persecution of the jews, daring escape in Nazi dominated Europe, and apartheid in South Africa, I felt it was far too short a novel; it's only 223 Kindle pages long and I read it in an afternoon. 

On the whole, the book was enjoyable enough to read (if 'enjoyable' is the right term, without trivialising the subject matter), but there was no time to become emotionally attached to the characters.  It's a terrific story, and I am aware that much of it is taken from real life; the author has all the material there, but just needs to work on the actual craft of storytelling.