BOOK NEWS: Theakstons prize: women close the gap in crime

Longlist for major UK crime writing award shows more even gender balance, with Susan Hill, Val McDermid and Martina Cole in running

Crime pays ... Martina Cole is in the running for the Theakstons prize

Women have made a much stronger showing in the competition for this year's major UK crime award, with blood, guts and gore from authors including Susan Hill, Val McDermid and Martina Cole all in the running for the prize.

Last year only two women – former winner McDermid and Mo Hayder – were shortlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier crime novel of the year award, with Mark Billingham eventually emerging triumphant from a line-up of 14. This year the gender distribution is far more even, with nine women up against 11 men on the longlist for the £3,000 prize.

McDermid, who earlier this year won the Cartier Diamond Dagger award, honouring her "outstanding achievement in the field of crime writing", makes the running for A Darker Domain, about a child who was kidnapped 25 years ago at the height of the miners' strike. Hill was picked for Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Serrailler's latest outing, The Vows of Silence, Hayder for gory thriller Skin and Cole for The Business, a story of drugs and prostitution in London's East End.

Geezer Girls by Dreda Say Mitchell, Tania Carver's The Surrogate, Elly Griffiths's The Crossing Places, Caro Ramsay's Singing to the Dead and husband-and-wife writing duo Nicci French's Until It's Over complete the list of women up for the crime prize.

They will be facing tough competition from Billingham, who has won the award twice, bestselling authors Peter Robinson and Ian Rankin, and Tom Rob Smith, whose contender Child 44 was longlisted for the Booker prize.

The award is opened today to a public vote at theakstons.co.uk, with the winner to be announced on 22 July. They will take home a handmade, engraved beer barrel from Theakstons, as well as the £3,000 award money.

Judge Simon Theakston said this year's longlist was "one of the strongest yet", and a "real reflection of both readers' tastes and the current fantastic shape of British crime fiction".

The longlist in full:

In the Dark by Mark Billingham

If It Bleeds by Duncan Campbell

The Surrogate by Tania Carver

The Business by Martina Cole

A Simple Act of Violence by RJ Ellory

Until It's Over by Nicci French

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

Cold in Hand by John Harvey

Skin by Mo Hayder

Vows of Silence by Susan Hill

The Dying Breed by Declan Hughes

Dead Tomorrow by Peter James

Target by Simon Kernick

A Darker Domain by Val McDermid

Gallows Lane by Brian McGilloway

Geezer Girls by Dreda Say Mitchell

Singing to the Dead by Caro Ramsay

Doors Open by Ian Rankin

All the Colours of Darkness by Peter Robinson

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

Taken from guardian.co.uk

I haven't read any of these books - have you?

What did you think of them?

Which one deserves the Award?

Book Review: THE GOURMET BY MURIEL BARBERY

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Published by: Gallic Books (Sept 2009

Pages: 121 (Hardback)

My Rating: 7/10









THE GOURMET BY MURIEL BARBERY

As the greatest food critic in the world lies on his deathbed, having been told by his physician that he only has 48 hours to live, he looks back on his life and reminisces about the food he has savoured since his childhood.

"I am going to die and there is a flavour that has been teasing my taste buds and my heart and I simply cannot recall it........I know that it is a flavour from childhood or adolescence, an original, marvellous dish that predates my vocation as a critic.........I search, and cannot find."

This is more or less the premise of the book as Pierre Arthens desperately wants to re-live the taste before he dies and the chapters alternate between him and his friends, family, workers and even a beggar who he passed every day for ten years ..... they all spill the beans on their feelings and thoughts about him.

We see that he was not an easy man to live with, he was a cantankerous, authoritarian old man who treated his three children with disdain, his daughter Anna recalls that 'we were like flies to him, unwanted flies that you brush away with a sweep of your hand so you needn't think about them any more'. Yet to his peers and admirers he was a god and was treated with reverance upon entering a restaurant and people hung on his every word.

Pierre described many instances of his favourite meals, who prepared them (his grandmother was his first preferred cook) and where and when they were eaten, in what circumstances, all in meticulous detail.

I thought he was a strange mix, I both liked and disliked him, I was fascinated by his love of food but I was unnerved by the way he treated his family, and couldn't understand what his wife saw in him. Muriel Barbery's extraordinary descriptions of foods I found a little long-winded sometimes and I certainly enjoyed reading everyone else's chapters more than Pierre's.

An interesting book for foodie fans.

This is one of many Gallic Books that have been translated from French and I must thank Lucy at all-leo.com for sending me a copy.

Book Review: BEFORE THE STORM BY DIANE CHAMBERLAIN

BEFORE THE STORM BY DIANE CHAMBERLAIN

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Published by: Mira (May 2010 UK)
Mira (June 2008 USA)

Pages: 480 (Paperback)

My Rating: 8.5/10

The UK book cover is on the left, the USA cover is on the right. I much prefer the US one.

About the Book:

Her little boy has been accused of murder. How far will she go to protect him? When the local church is razed to the ground, dozens of trapped children manage to escape - many helped by 15 year old Andy Lockwood. Born with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Andy is more like a little boy than a teenager, but in the eyes of the people he saved, he's a hero. Laurel lost her baby once through neglect and has spent the rest of her life determined to make up for her mistakes. Yet when suspicion of arson is cast upon Andy, Laurel must ask herself how well she really knows her son - and how far she'll go to protect him.

Diane Chamberlain has been called the Southern Jodi Picoult and certainly there are similarities, for instance each chapter is narrated by a different character, and family relationships are explored in depth. However, while I have read and didn't particular warm to Jodi Picoult's books, I have to say that this story really captivated me.

The first chapter was narrated by Andy which I thought was inspiring as straight away we got a feel for his character and how he thinks and feels about his family and his circumstances. I instantly warmed to him as he joined all his 'friends' in the church for the evening and tried to talk to a girl he was attracted to by telling her that he loved her. The boy she was with talked down to Andy and he was confused as he thought everyone was his friend. Then the fire starts and panic sets in inside the church.

As the story continues we see through Andy and his family's eyes the police investigation into the arson attack and family secrets long buried start to surface. Laurel, Andy's widowed mother thinks that Maggie, Andy's sister, is happy and content but does she really know her as well as she thinks she does and why does Laurel blame her husband's brother, Marcus, for his death? All the while she is trying to protect Andy while her world turns upside down and people start to turn against her.

I thought the characters were well-defined, particularly Andy, and I would recommend this if you're looking for a read that's not too light, but thought-provoking.

BOOK NEWS: Hector and the Search for Happines to be made into a Film with Patrick Dempsey

The Works searches for Happiness with Patrick Dempsey

The Works International has taken on international sales for Hector and the Search for Happiness, starring Patrick Dempsey.

Katja von Garnier is directing the film, based on the first of a series of bestselling novels by Francois Lelord. The quirky love story spans four continents and many adventures.

Hector (Dempsey) is a psychiatrist who embarks on a round-the-world trip to discover the true meaning of happiness. His travels introduce him to a Chinese prostitute, a Colombian drug lord, a Buddhist monk and African gangstesr.

The Egoli Tossell project is co-produced with Fidelite and Film Afrika. Production will start later this year for delivery in 2011.

Producer Judy Tossell commented: “Hector is a refreshingly original, touching and funny look at what we really care about: being happy and I truly believe that this film will make people happy.”

Carl Clifton, MD of The Works International added: “Hector is the perfect date movie. It’s uplifting, heart-warming, very very funny, magical and feel-good. It’s perfect for these difficult times and also a major commercial franchise in the making. We’re absolutely thrilled to be on board.”

Taken from screendaily.com

I recently read this lovely book - my review can be found here

Book Review: BLUE JEAN BABY BY SALLY PARMER

Genre: Memoir

Publisher: Booksurge (April 2009)

Pages: 175 (Paperback)

My Rating: 8/10









BLUE JEAN BABY: ONE GIRL'S TRIP THROUGH THE 1960'S L.A. MUSIC SCENE BY SALLY PARMER

When Sally Parmer was growing up in the 60's in Southern California she didn't just want to be a fan of the music scene she wanted to be with the groups and was willing to take plenty of risks to ensure she was, such as stealing hotel room keys to be near the Beatles, climbing on stage via a balcony just to hug a member of a group, to losing her virginity to a member of the Rolling Stones. All that and more is told in fascinating detail in this engrossing and honest look at the 'swinging sixties'.

She had an uncanny likeness to Cher which opened some doors for her and her groupie friends, most of whom seemed to be sleeping with one pop star or another, while still being at school!

Brought up by an alcoholic, neurotic, controlling mother and a coward of a father, Sally had to use all her wits and guile to escape their clutches to follow the British pop groups, such as Herman's Hermits, Freddie and the Dreamers, etc. when they came to L.A. This was not all about the sexual exploits of Sally and her friends, they were growing up in a decade of change and there was mention of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy and the Vietnam War, though not in any great detail.

This was a book I really enjoyed and would recommend to anyone interested in this era.

There will never again be a decade so remarkably transitional, terrifying and beautiful as the sixties.

BOOK NEWS: Google to launch ebook store

Google Editions will allow customers to download and read books on any device with a browser

Google Editions could be launched as early as June or July.

Google is planning to launch its own ebook store this summer, setting the scene for an all-out war with Apple and Amazon over the future of the digital book market.

Speaking at a panel discussion held by Random House today, Chris Palma, Google's manager for strategic partner development, said Google Editions would launch in June or July, offering digital versions of the titles on its book search service. The company says the ebooks will work across multiple devices, and, unlike the ebooks of iPad and Kindle, any device with a browser will be able to view the books. Customers with a Google account will be able to access the service.

Readers will be able to buy digital copies they find through Google's book search function and book retailers will be able to sell Google Editions on their own sites, getting most of the revenue from sales. Google Editions will be browser based, offering the latest digital books without locking customers to a specific device.

A Google spokesman said its plans had been in the pipeline for some time. "We've consistently maintained that we're committed to helping our partners find more ways to make their books accessible and available for purchase online, and we've been sharing details with our partner publishers for some time now. We hope to launch this to consumers in 2010."

Google joins the fray as the ebook market looks set to be the latest to be transformed by the internet, following on from music and films. Wholesale revenues from ebook sales in the US tripled in the third quarter of 2009 to $46.4m (£30.6m), from $13.9m during the same period in the previous year.

Google Books, formerly known as Google Print, was launched in 2004 but put on hold a year later when the Authors Guild of America and Association of American Publishers sued over alleged "massive copyright infringement".

Its attempt to create a vast digital library has raised anti-trust and copyright concerns. Earlier this year, the US justice department said the "plan still confers significant and possibly anti-competitive advantages on Google as a single entity".

But analysts say the arrival of ebook reading devices has been a shot in the arm for the book industry. The Kindle has been a hit, selling 2.4m units, and has a market share of 55%, according to Forrester, the market research company.

Apple said this week it has sold 1m iPads so far. Prices for the iPad begin at $499 and it is more expensive than a Kindle, which begins at $259. However, the iPad can also be used to surf the net, play films and store music.

Taken from guardian.co.uk

Book Review: BLOOD HARVEST BY S.J. BOLTON

Genre: Mystery

Publisher: Bantam Press (April 2010) UK
Minotaur Books (June 2010) USA

Pages: 425 (Paperback)

My Rating: 9.5/10

BLOOD HARVEST BY S.J. BOLTON

When the Fletcher family move into their newly built house which is on the crest of a Lancashire moor and surrounded on three sides by a graveyard; the new vicar, Harry, takes over at the old church; and Evi the psychiatrist takes on a new patient; little do they know that the unforgettable incidents in the village of Heptonclough will change their lives.

The story begins one windy, rainy November night when the old wall of the graveyard collapses. Not only does it disturb a grave where a little girl is buried but, when the police and Harry arrive, it is discovered that there are another two small bodies there which shouldn't be.......and Harry recognises the clothes on one of them. So, who are they and how did they get there?

We are then taken 9 weeks back in time and so begins a chilling and atmospheric build up to the events leading to the macabre discovery and the events in the village afterwards.

The three narrators are 10 year old Tom Fletcher who is convinced that a strange little girl is watching the family from the graveyard, Harry, who thinks he hears voices in the church and strange things start to happen around him, and the psychiatrist Evi who is treating Gillian, a very disturbed mother whose young daughter died in a house fire and is convinced she is still alive and wanders round the moor looking for her. The Fletcher family become so concerned about young Tom they send him to talk to Evi as well.

The old village and the quirky villagers are like a throwback to another time with annual old rituals like the 'Blood Harvest' where animals are slaughtered, the traditional 'Cutting of the Neck' and where 'bone men' are made with real bones and thrown onto the bonfire.

This story was so creepy and compelling that I wanted to keep reading just one more chapter, and S.J. Bolton is so good at drawing you in and leaving you wanting more. I think she could make a walk in the park seem scary.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys a creepy thriller. This was a well-written story with great characters like Harry the vicar who had a wonderful dry sense of humour.

I wish more books would feature a map and I referred to this one at the front many times throughout the story as it helped me to get my bearings around the village.

S.J. Bolton is appearing at Blackburn Central Library in Lancashire on the 12th May and details of how to obtain free tickets for her talk which is 'not for the squeamish' are here. I am looking forward to it!

Book Review: The AVIARY GATE BY KATIE HICKMAN

Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing (2009)
Pages: 430 (Paperback)
My Rating: 8/10

THE AVIARY GATE BY KATIE HICKMAN



The story begins in the present time when student Elizabeth Staveley discovers a parchment in the Bodleian library that she's been looking for and which could hold the key to a mystery that's been hidden for 400 years.

In Constantinople in 1599 the Sultan's mother (the most powerful woman in the land) discovers the bodies of two people who have been poisoned in the Sultan's Palace. One is the chief of the eunuchs and the other is a young slave girl.

This is the start of an epic tale of love, murder, treachery and secrets in the 16th century Ottoman Empire. The book centres on the discovery of a young English girl -- Celia Lamprey -- who was a slave in the Sultan's Palace. By chance, she is seen one day in the Palace grounds by an acquaintance of Paul Pindar, the secretary to the English Ambassador, who was betrothed to her and who he thought had been lost in a shipwreck two years ago.

The chapters alternate between the two time frames and the Sultan's mother is one of the central characters who uses her wits and intelligence to maintain her powerful position, while the English are trying to trade with the Ottomans and must tread carefully.

Elizabeth goes to Istanbul to try and find out more about Celia Lamprey's story and my favourite chapter is when she visits the old Topkapi Palace and while wandering round the rooms where Celia and the other concubines lived in the harem, she thinks she can sense their presence......can she hear them?

The plot was interesting and fascinating, but I was a little disappointed with some of the characters, like Celia, who I didn't really connect with, she was central to the story but I felt she wasn't very well developed.

The author Katie Hickman's website can be found here.

BOOK NEWS: 'Stephenie Meyer summer' with Breaking Dawn paperback

'Stephenie Meyer summer' with Breaking Dawn paperback

Atom is to publish the long-awaited paperback edition of Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn this summer, two years after it was originally published in hardback.

The title will be available from 3rd August priced £7.99, with the publication date coinciding with the American paperback release.

Samantha Smith, Atom editorial director, said: "With everything Stephenie Meyer we try to do everything at the same time, so one set of fans doesn't get the book before the other set of fans. She is one of those true brand authors. Her fans are her fans and they will buy her books no matter what time of the year they come out."

The paperback edition has been a long time coming, with the hardback first published in the UK on 4th August, 2008.

"It has been quite a long time, but the demand hasn't dropped," said Smith. "These are books people love and people want to collect."

According to Nielsen Bookscan, Meyer's Twilight novels have sold 6,565,632 copies, taking more
than £38 million through UK book retailer tills. Breaking Dawn has sold 1,271,861 copies, amounting to £11.7m.

Kate Skipper, Waterstone's children's buyer, said: "What with the Bree Tanner novel, the new movie and, at long last, the paperback of Breaking Dawn, this is going to be a Stephenie Meyer summer. We are constantly being asked when Breaking Dawn will be out in paperback so it is wonderful to finally have an answer for these passionate fans."

To read the full article see thebookseller.com

From the Library This Week!

Here are the books I've recently borrowed from my local library.



The Secrets of the Notebook by Eve Haas

"The incredible true story revealed by a family notebook, telling of four daughters across two centuries of turbulent history, of a passionate and ill-fated royal love affair, ending in a tragic and cruel death. 'The beautiful owner of this book is dearer to me than my life. August, your protector.' Eve Haas was irresistibly drawn to the family 'notebook', which had been passed down the generations. Her father had shown her the inscription inside when she was young, with warnings of dire happenings if the secret behind the diary was pursued. Years later, Eve decided to follow the trail of the notebook, it would take her to the old kingdom of Prussia, to a forbidden royal marriage that was wiped from all official records, and a royal princess given away to ensure her protection. Forty years earlier in 1942, Eve's grandmother, Anna, had died on her way to Auschwitz after being seized by the SS. They believed she was just an old Jewish woman. The secret of her royal heritage lay in that notebook, but it couldn't save her. "

I love this kind of book, a true story mixed with mysteries and secrets. I was drawn to the cover first of the little girl who looks abandoned and the woman looking down on her, very intriguing.



TAMBURLAINE MUST DIE BY LOUISE WELSH

I've only just discovered Louise Welsh - I recently
read The Bullet Trick and really enjoyed it so, when I saw this book I grabbed it and hope it's as good.



"It is 1593 and London is a city on edge. Under threat from plague and war, strangers are unwelcome and severed heads grin from spikes on Tower Bridge. Playwright, poet and spy, Christopher Marlowe has three days to live. Three days in which to find the murderous Tamburlaine, a killer who has ascaped from between the pages of his most violent play...Tamburlaine Must Die is a swashbuckling adventure story of a man who dares to defy both God and state - and discovers that there are worse fates than damnation."

Have you read any of them? What did you think?
Do you have any others that you could recommend to me?

BOOK NEWS: Leading academics in bitter row over anonymous 'poison' book reviews

Some of Britain’s leading authors and academics are embroiled in a row over anonymous reviews on Amazon that prompted furious emails, legal threats and an astonishing confession.

(Lt-Rt) Orlando Figes, Rachel Polonsky, Kate Summerscale and Stephanie Palmer

Orlando Figes, professor of history at Birkbeck College, London, and author of a book on Stalin, has named his wife as the author of comments criticising books written by other renowned scholars as being "dark and pretentious" and "critically dull".

Mr Figes had initially denied any knowledge of the reviewer who used the pseudonym "Historian" and wrote glowing comments about his own books.

But following an angry exchange of emails and lawyers' letters with fellow historians, professor Robert Service, a fellow of St Anthony's College, Oxford, and Dr Rachel Polonsky, he yesterday issued a statement saying his wife, Dr Stephanie Palmer, a leading law lecturer at Cambridge University, had admitted responsibility.

The row has sent shock waves through the normally genteel world of academia as claim and counter-claim have been circulated by email to other top writers.

Prof Service, a biographer of Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky; Kate Summerscale, author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher; and Dr Polonsky were the three writers targeted by Dr Palmer's distinctly unfavourable 'customer reviews'.

Questions were first raised by Dr Polonsky after she read comments on her latest work, Molotov's Magic Lantern, on Amazon's UK site.

Although other users had given her hardback an average of four and a half stars out of five, 'Historian' tore into it as "dense and pretentious" writing and awarded only the minimum one star. The comment began: "This is the sort of book that makes you wonder why it was ever published."

Dr Polonsky's suspicions were raised when she noticed the critic also had a secondary nickname 'Orlando-Birkbeck'.

To read the full article see telegraph.co.uk

Book Review: SUGAR TIME BY JANE ADAMS

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Publisher: Booksurge Llc (July 2009)

Pages: 208 (Paperback)

My Rating: 8/10









SUGAR TIME BY JANE ADAMS

First Line:

"I was watching a Seinfeld re-run and picking at some leftover kung pao chicken when an octopus curled its tentacles around my midsection and squeezed."

This is how Charlotte 'Sugar' Kane, a wordly-wise (and wise-cracking) New York writer who hasn't had a hit TV show for 20 years, describes the pain of her first angina attack. She is told by her doctor to take it easy and avoid stress, around the same time as her agent tells her that her new story has got the go-ahead for a pilot show. Sugar as 'a woman of a certain age' feels that time is slipping away from her and she really needs this job to pay the bills.

I think this exchange between the doctor and Sugar is one of the funniest in the book.

Doctor speaks first

"Eat lots of fatty foods? Besides the kung pao chicken, that is."
"Hardly ever." Not if you didn't count pizza, pasta alfredo, and Krispy Cremes. "You know, the French, who eat a lot of fat, have fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans." I told him.
"You don't say. Do you drink?"
"Just red wine occasionally, with dinner. Italians, who drink excessive amounts of red wine, also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans."
"Your point being?"
"You might as well eat and drink what you like. It's speaking English that kills you."

Well, it made me chuckle anyway! A lot of Sugar's dialogue was made up of fast and funny quips like that.

While Sugar tries to ignore her heart condition, she doesn't tell even her closest friends, she moves across the country to the studios in Los Angeles, and gets an even bigger shock when she discovers that her younger assistant is trying to take over her role for herself. She feels that she has to work even harder and longer to justify her position.

She then meets and falls for Alex, a wealthy man who owns a prosperous company ............ and he is also keeping a secret.

This is a book I enjoyed reading, it kept my interest throughout and I could believe in all the characters, especially Sugar, she was likeable and frantic as she knew this was her last chance to make a name for herself in TV and didn't want anyone to take that away from her.

If you like reading about women over 50 then another book I would recommend would be Beachcombing by Maggie Dana.

Book Review: STONE'S FALL BY IAIN PEARS

Genre: Historical Mystery

Publisher: Jonathan Cape (2009)

Pages: 596 (Hardback)

My rating: 9/10










STONE'S FALL BY IAIN PEARS

About the Book:

Iain Pears tells the story of John Stone, financier and armaments manufacturer, a man so wealthy that in the years before World War I he was able to manipulate markets, industries and indeed whole countries and continents.
A panoramic novel with a riveting mystery at its heart, Stone’s Fall is a quest to discover how and why John Stone dies, falling out of a window at his London home in 1909.

My Thoughts:

The novel is recounted by three different narrators and begins in 1953 in Paris, when Matthew Braddock, a retired journalist, attends the funeral of an elderly lady that he knew several years ago in London. When her solicitor approaches Braddock and informs him that there is a package for him in London only to be opened on her death the story becomes even more intriguing.

Whilst travelling back home his mind goes back in time to London in 1909 when the widow of John Stone employs him to discover more about the contents of his will and thus he becomes the first narrator.

Another narrator takes up the story in Paris in 1890 and finally John Stone himself narrates the last part in Venice in 1867.

This is so much more than the mystery of why John Stone, a happily married man who was frightened of heights, would fall out of his window at the height of his power. We learn of the bribery and wheeling and dealing done by bankers and businessmen, of the banking crisis of 1890, espionage and the early days of shipbuilding and torpedoes, some of which I found fascinating and some of which I found heavy going. There is also a very touching love story at the heart of it all.

It didn't feel like a 600 page book, the words flowed easily and I thought the characters and situations were all very believable, with some twists in the tale!

Book News: Hornets' Nest soars into first place as Larsson takes 4% of market

The final instalment in the late Stieg Larsson's Millennium crime trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, sold a phenomenal 98,167 copies in just three days last week. The book, which went on sale on 1st April, comfortably tops this week's Official UK Top 50.

It is one of the strongest sales from a paperback fiction title since records began, and the biggest in a single Sunday-to-Saturday week since John Grisham's The Broker (Arrow) sold 99,146 copies in the week leading up to Christmas Day in 2005.

The first book in the trilogy, The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, sold 39,989 copies last week with sales split between the original mass-market edition (21,724) and the new film tie-in edition (18,265), while The Girl Who Played with Fire sold 29,271 copies. In total, just over £800,000 was spent on the three titles, with volume sales accounting for 4% of all book sales last week.

While The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest débuts at the summit of the overall chart, James Patterson and Maxine Paetro's San Francisco-set Women's Murder Club thriller, 9th Judgement (Century), debuts at the top of the Original Fiction list thanks to a three-day sale of 13,159 copies.

Lee Child's 61 Hours (Bantam Press) falls one place to second position in that list while Philip Pullman's controversial re-telling of the story of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (Canongate), joins the Original Fiction list in third place.

After weeks of stagnant sales in non-fiction there are finally signs of life — in paperback in particular. Eight new entries are welcomed into the Paperback Non-fiction Top 20, and there's a new number one. Sean Smith's biography of Cheryl Cole, Cheryl (S&S), is the new chart-topper with a seven-day sale of 6,617 copies - just three more than that clocked up by Simon & Schuster stablemate Patrick Swayze's memoir, The Time of My Life, in its three days on sale. Jo Brand's memoir, Look Back in Hunger (Headline), joins the Paperback Non-fiction Top 20 in third position while there are also new entries for Piers Morgan and the latest Playfair Cricket Annual (Headline).

For the full article see thebookseller.com

Book Review: DK EYEWITNESS TOP 10 TRAVEL GUIDE: BERLIN

Genre: Travel Guide

Publisher: Dorling Kindersley

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

My Rating: 9/10









DK EYEWITNESS TOP 10 TRAVEL GUIDE: BERLIN BY JURGEN SCHEUNEMANN

I recently stayed in Berlin for 4 days and took this useful little book with me, popped it in my pocket and found it indispensible while travelling round. It contains the following:-

• Pull-out map and guide

• Guide to the Top 10 best of everything in Berlin

The first section of the book deals with the Top 10 locations in Berlin which were:-

1. Brandenburger Tor and Pariser Platz
2. Reichstag
3. Unter den Linden
4. Potsdamer Platz
5. Pergamon Museum
6. Kurfurstendamm
7. Kaiser-Wilhelm Church
8. Schloss Charlottenburg
9. Kulturforum
10. Zoologischer Garten

A small map of Berlin shows the locations of all the above places which is handy for planning your travels.

Each of the above places has several pages devoted to it, and also detailing another 10 sights nearby, which was extremely informative.

The next sections give the traveller lots of useful information about Berlin, some of which include:-

• Lakes, Rivers & Canals
• Best Places to Eat
• Famous Berliners
• Historic Buildings and Modern Buildings
• Children's Attractions
• Festivals & Fairs

and lots more.

There is also a section entitled 'Around Town' which gives detailed information about 10 attractions area by area, including shops, Pubs and Bars, Restaurants and Cafes, together with suggestions of what to do for the whole day.

The last part of the book has more practical information about Berlin such as the transport, security and health tips, places to stay, helpful advice for disabled visitors plus lots more. There's also a few phrases that you may need!

This little guide is packed with lots of tips, full of colourful illustrations, a detailed underground map, all of which I found incredibly helpful.

Dorling Kindersley publish more than 60 of these Top 10 Eyewitness Travel Guides from London to Sydney, New York to Marrakech, all in the same easy to read, easy to carry format.

If you're travelling anywhere in the world make sure you take one of these handy little guides with you!

Book Review: HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS BY FRANCOIS LELORD

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Gallic Books (Apr 2010)

Pages: 165 (Paperback)

My Rating: 8.5/10












HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS BY FRANCOIS LELORD

About the Book:

Can we learn how to be happy?

Hector is a successful young psychiatrist. He's very good at treating patients in real need of his help. But many people he sees have no health problems: they're just deeply dissatisfied with their lives. Hector can't do much for them, and it's beginning to depress him.

So when a patient tells him he looks in need of a holiday, Hector decides to set off round the world to find out what makes people everywhere happy (and sad), and whether there is such a thing as the secret of true happiness...

My Thoughts:

This took me quite a while to get used to the child-like style of writing, and at first I wasn't sure if it was meant for adults or children, but once I'd got further into Hector's story I really, really enjoyed it.

As he travelled round the world from China to the country of MORE (we never actually know the name but would presume it's the USA!) he met many people and as he got to know them and talked to them, he compiled a list of the things that he thought made people happy. I won't list them all here as there's over 20 but I will mention a few :-

Lesson No. 2: Happiness often comes when least expected.

Lesson No. 6: Happiness is a long walk in beautiful, unfamiliar mountains.

Lesson No. 8: Happiness is being with the people you love.

Lesson No. 13: Happiness is feeling useful to others.

This is a lovely simple story told in a way that makes you think about what makes YOU happy. Also, Hector came to realise what really made HIM happy as well, though he didn't know it when he first started his journey.

I thought Hector was a wonderful friendly character who brought out the best in people (probably due to being a psychiatrist), he made me smile more than once, as well as feel sad when we both realised that the beautiful young Chinese woman wasn't just being 'friendly' to him but was just doing her 'job'..... aaahhhh. It was then I also realised that it wasn't a children's book! Not that it was overly graphic or descriptive, some things were left to the imagination.

If you're looking for a light-hearted and easy read then why not give this a try?

Read my interview with author Francois Lelord here

For a different viewpoint on this book see Kay's review over at writingneuroses.



This is one of many Gallic Books that have been translated from French and I must thank Lucy at all-leo.com for sending me an uncorrected bound proof copy.

Book Review: The Cost of Dreams by Gary Stelzer

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Decent Hearts Press (2009)

Pages: 287 (Paperback)

My Rating: 5/10









THE COST OF DREAMS BY GARY STELZER

About the Book:

Flora, a Mayan teenager, has escaped Talapa, her civil war-torn Central American village where her parents have been slain - and where even being seen in native wear could result in summary execution. Following her dream with nearly superhuman determination, she makes her way to San Diego, and against all odds, becomes a wife, mother and teacher. By hard work and shrewdness, she even obtains legal U.S. status.

But her life takes a horrific turn when she's shot by her drug-dealing brother in-law. As she lays unconscious and bleeding in front of her house, Mexican immigrants traveling on a freight train kidnap and claim her as their daughter, caring for her on a long, grueling cross-country flight.

Nearly a year later, still gravely wounded and disfigured, a freed Flora arrives at the Lake Michigan home of Kate Bowman, an American aide worker who had previously befriended Flora in Talapa. Kate's nephew had vanished on that mission, leaving Kate devastated and overwhelmed with guilt for permitting him to remain in a civil war ravaged Central America while she returned home.

My Thoughts:

Flora, the main character in the story, showed incredible courage in not only escaping from the troubles in her country to the USA but she then got married, had a family and trained to be a teacher. But I didn't really feel as if I got to know Flora as a person, I didn't know what she was thinking or the kind of person she was most of the time and so I didn't care too much about her terrible ordeals ......... and she did have a tough time throughout the book....... which was a shame, as I do love to sympathise with my characters and I usually want them to come through and live happily ever after. But I'm afraid I wasn't that bothered about what happened to any of them.

The storyline was interesting and it never got boring, there was always plenty of action, but not a lot of narrative. It was mainly plot-driven and descriptive, some of the terrain scenes I found quite difficult to visualize. Also, particularly at the beginning of the book, some of the sentences were long-winded and it didn't make for quick and easy reading, but I felt that this improved as the story went on.

Overall, even though this wasn't a book that I particularly enjoyed, I do feel that Gary Stelzer has some good creative ideas, and it was interesting to learn about a different culture.


This is Gary Stelzer's debut novel and his website can be found here


Special Thanks to Robyn Schecter at Carol Fass Publicity for sending me this book.

Book Review: THE BULLET TRICK BY LOUISE WELSH

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Published by: Canongate Books (2006)

Pages: 363 (Hardback)

My Rating: 9/10

THE BULLET TRICK BY LOUISE WELSH

About the Book:

When down-at-heel Glasgow conjurer, William Wilson gets booked for a string of cabaret gigs in Berlin, he's hoping his luck's on the turn. There were certain spectators from his last show who he'd rather forget. Like the one who's now a corpse. Amongst the showgirls and tricksters of Berlin's scandalous underground Wilson can abandon his heart, his head and, more importantly, his past. But secrets have a habit of catching up with him and, as he gets sucked into certain lucrative after-hours work, the line between what's an act and what's real starts to blur.

My Thoughts:

I picked up this book from my library, the picture first caught my eye and then the title, and when I read the blurb and noticed that some of it was set in Berlin ...... I was travelling to Berlin soon ....... I just had to borrow it. And I'm really pleased that I did as I absolutely loved it.

The story starts in present day Glasgow and travels back and forth in time to Berlin and London narrated by William Wilson, Mentalist and Illusionist, who was

the warm-up act for a whole trough of comedians and stand ups. The guy nobody came to see.

When his agent sends him to a London club for a gig he somehow gets mixed up in a missing persons mystery, involving the police and blackmail, and where, shortly after, two men are found shot to death, he decides it would be a good idea to disappear and take another job in a cabaret club in Berlin....... but, unfortunately, his troubles have only just begun. As the chapters alternate between the different cities and the different times, I loved the way Louise Welsh built up the suspense, we knew something terrible had happened to William earlier but the clues are slowly dragged out and the story never slows or gets boring.

Even though William is not the most endearing of characters, he drinks too much, smokes too much, and at the beginning of the book he gambles too much, but his witty and dry humour had me laughing out loud a couple of times and I found myself liking him more and more as his life starts to unravel in the darkly gothic world of glamour and magic.

The descriptions of his illusionist acts were fascinating, all the various larger than life characters were well-defined and I was totally engrossed from start to finish.

For more about Louise Welsh see her website

Similar Book

Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold

LISTEN TO LOUISE WELSH READING AN EXCERPT FROM THE BULLET TRICK

BOOK NEWS: Headline gets sexy with SEX AND THE CITY!

Headline has acquired the new tie-in book for the forthcoming film “Sex and the City 2”.

Emma Tait, publisher at Headline Book Publishing, struck the deal for British Commonwealth rights, for a “high five-figure sum”, with Lia Ronnen at New York packager Melcher Media. Headline said Melcher’s close relationships with HBO and Warner had guaranteed a “stunning” book with full co-operation from the film’s creators and stars.

The “lavish”, fully illustrated title is scheduled for publication on 27th May to coincide with the film’s release date. It is produced with a silver and gold-padded hardback cover and features photographs of all the outfits in the film. The book is being produced with involvement from Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays the lead character Carrie Bradshaw, as well as being co-producer of the films and series.

Tait said: “This new book promises to have everything the ‘Sex and the City’ fans want—glamour, fashion, style and, of course, lots of shoes. We are thrilled that yet again Melcher has chosen Headline as its UK partner.”

She added: “At a time when illustrated film companions rarely work, Sex and the City was an exception, and we’d expect this to be just as successful because ‘Sex and the City 2’ is the most anticipated film of the summer.”

Headline published the bestselling tie-in to the first “Sex and the City” film in 2008.

Taken from thebookseller.com

Book Review: ADMIT ONE: MY LIFE IN FILM BY EMMETT JAMES

Genre: Memoirs

Published by: Fizzypop Prod (Feb 2010)

Pages: 197 (Hardback)

My Rating: 9/10










ADMIT ONE: MY LIFE IN FILM BY EMMETT JAMES

When Emmett James was growing up in the 70's and 80's the weekly family outing to the local cinema was his escape from the grimy streets of Croydon, South London into another world.

At the beginning of each nice and short chapter a different film is mentioned and he describes how the flickering images on the big screen affected his growing up.

Career plans and life-altering directions throughout my childhood years were consistently dictated by the cinema and my favourite film at the time. I went from praying that I grew up to be a mouse after the highly emotional and utterly disturbing animated Disney film The Rescuers, to being sure my destiny was now in the field of archaeology after seeing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

He also dreamed of one day starring in one of the films; for most of us, these are just daydreams and real life takes over but for Emmett James he really does go to Hollywood and he really does fulfil his lifelong dream, eventually having a role in the biggest grossing film of all time (at least it was when he wrote this book!).

I thought that Emmet James dry and wry humour made for entertaining reading and I read this book quite quickly. My favourite story describes how he gatecrashes an Oscars party by pretending to be Richard Curtis (the writer of Four Weddings and a Funeral), who at that time was relatively unknown and no-one knew what he looked like!

From The Jungle Book to Titanic and all manner of genres in between, if you love films you'll love this!

Special Thanks to Emmett James for sending me the book and Lisa Roe at Online Publicist

Book Review: THE LAST STATION BY JAY PARINI

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Canongate Books

Pages: 334 (Paperback, Large Print)

My Rating: 8/10






THE LAST STATION BY JAY PARINI

About the Book:

By 1910, Leo Tolstoy, the world's most famous author, had become an almost religious figure, surrounded on his lavish estate by family and followers alike. Set in the tumultuous last year of the count's life, "The Last Station" centres on the battle for his soul waged by his wife and his leading disciple. Torn between his professed doctrine of poverty and chastity on the one hand and the reality of his enormous wealth, his thirteen children, and a life of hedonism on the other, Tolstoy makes a dramatic flight from his home. Too ill to continue beyond the tiny station of Astapovo, he believes he is dying alone, while outside over one hundred newspapermen are awaiting hourly reports on his condition. Narrated in six different voices, including Tolstoy's own from his diaries and literary works, "The Last Station" is a richly inventive novel that dances bewitchingly between fact and fiction.

My Thoughts:

I was first attracted to this book by the snowy cover scene (it is very similar to the one above but I couldn't find the actual cover picture on the internet!) in my local library. not realising that a film was about to be released based on this book, and also not knowing anything about Leo Tolstoy.

The book is narrated by each of the people closest to Tolstoy in his final year, by alternating chapters.

Sofya Andreyevna - his wife for nearly 50 years - to me had the loudest voice. She was an extremely complex character and not someone that I liked at all. She was paranoid, neurotic and extremely jealous of all the people surrounding Tolstoy. She was constantly trying to find out what he'd written about her; she wanted to read his diaries and letters. They even sent letters to each other, even while living in the same house!

I learnt so much about Tolstoy while reading this novel, he was such a revered man in Russia, very much like a celebrity of today, people hung on his every word. Indeed, his own physician, Dr Makovitsky, used to write down nearly everything Tolstoy said, even in front of him, which he didn't seem to mind, he was a very patient man.

Jay Parini's writing was never boring, and due to the many varied voices including his wife, daughter, physician and secretary all seeing him in a different way, I felt, by the end of the book, as if I got to know the many sides of Leo Tolstoy's character which made the story all the more fascinating, and sad. Tolstoy comes across as a humble man, tormented by his wealth and feeling guilty by living in a big house and wanting to be free; to live like a peasant; and to be free of his jealous wife; but never doing anything about it until his last days.

The book is based on the many diaries written by him and the people who surrounded him, and is definitely one that I will remember.

BOOK NEWS: Angelina Jolie is to play Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta

Angelina Jolie to take on Patricia Cornwell's famous protagonist

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is to take on the role of Patricia Cornwell's cult character Kay Scarpetta, as featured in novels such as Book of the Dead.

While the casting decision has been met with widespread dissatisfaction among die-hard fans, the author herself is happy with the decision, according to the Daily Mail.

Despite having initially wanted Jodie Foster to have played the part, Cornwell insists that Jolie is committed to the role. When the two met, the writer was reassured by the actress's attitude.

She told the news provider: "When Angelina came out of the left field last year, I was floored. She had pithy things to say about what she wanted to do [and] is direct and goal-oriented."

The dissatisfied fans' main gripe is that Scarpetta is a middle-aged, unglamorous woman with short blonde hair – not descriptions immediately associated with Ms Jolie.

The film, called The Tourist, will also feature Johnny Depp.

Taken from lovereading.co.uk

My Thoughts:

To be fair, I have only read one Patricia Cornwell book but I really couldn't picture Kay Scarpetta as looking anything like Angelina Jolie and I was somewhat surprised at the casting.
I suppose she is a big name and will 'up' the profile of the books, and maybe even introduce a whole new lot of readers to the series who perhaps weren't aware of them before.
But I just can't see her as Kay Scarpetta.

Book Review: TROUBADOUR BY MARY HOFFMAN

Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Bloomsbury (Aug 2009)

Pages: 294 (Hardback)

My Rating: 8.5/10











TROUBADOUR BY MARY HOFFMAN

The story starts in France in 1208 when one of the main characters, Bertran, a troubadour, witnesses the murder of Pierre of Castelnau, one of the Pope's representatives, who has been visiting the Count of Toulouse. He knows that this could mean trouble. not just for himself. but for all the Pope's enemies and he tries to warn other heretics (like himself) who could be in danger from the Pope's revenge by travelling to the various towns and cities of Southern France.

The other main character, Elinor, a 13 year old noblewoman who is in love with Bertran, is also travelling through France with a troupe of minstrels in the disguise of a young minstrel boy. She runs away from her family rather than marrying an older man in an arranged marriage.

Mary Hoffman has woven an enchanting tale of love, poetry and music set against the backdrop of the invading army from the north.

I really liked the character of Elinor, the headstrong young woman, who was always at war with her mother when living at home and who had to grow up quite a lot during her journeys.

I especially enjoyed learning about the troupes of joglars; these were minstrels who wandered around to different towns entertaining the Lords and Ladies by composing poems and singing especially for them in their castles, or just singing in the marketplaces.

The easy flowing writing was a joy to read and, overall, I was absorbed in the story.



Special Thanks to Liz at My Favourite Books as I was lucky enough to win it in their recent book giveaway!

Liz's wonderful review is here

From the Library Today!

I've been to the local library today and brought these two books home with me.





THE AIR WE BREATHE BY ANDREA BARRETT

Blurb from the back:

Autumn, 1916. America is preparing to enter WWI, but at Tamarack State Hospital, the danger is barely felt. Here in the crisp, mountain air where wealthy tuberculosis patients recover in private cottages and charity patients, mostly European émigrés, fill the sanatorium, time stands still. Prisoners of routine and yearning for absent families, the inmates take solace in gossip, rumour and secret attachments.

One enterprising patient initiates a weekly discussion group, but his well-meaning efforts lead instead to tragedy and betrayal. The war comes home, bringing with it a surge of anti-immigrant prejudice and vigilante sentiment. Andrea Barrett pits power and privilege against unrest and thwarted desire in a spellbinding tale of individual lives in a nation on the verge of extraordinary change.

THE GIRL WITH GLASS FEET BY ALI SHAW

Blurb from Amazon

Strange things are happening on the remote and snowbound archipelago of St Hauda's Land. Unusual winged creatures flit around icy bogland; albino animals hide themselves in the snow-glazed woods; jellyfish glow in the ocean's depths...And Ida MacLaird is slowly turning into glass.

A mysterious and frightening alchemical metamorphosis has befallen Ida Maclaird - she is slowly turning into glass, from the feet up. She returns to St Hauda's Land, where she believes the glass first took hold, in search of a cure. Midas Crook is a young loner, who has lived on the islands his entire life. When he meets Ida, something about her sad, defiant spirit pierces his emotional defenses. As Midas helps Ida come to terms with her affliction, she gradually unpicks the knots of his heart, and they begin to fall in love...What they need most is time - and time is slipping away fast. Will they find a way to stave off the spread of the glass? "The Girl with Glass Feet" is a dazzlingly imaginative and gripping first novel, a love story to treasure.

I loved the covers on both of these books, and that's one of the reasons why I picked them both up.

Have you read any of these books? If you have, let me know and I'll put a mention and a link here. Either leave me a comment or send me an email.

Andreea over at passionatebooklover has read The Girl with Glass Feet - have a look here to read her thoughts!

Jackie at Fast Lane Books Blog has also read The Girl with Glass Feet - her review is here

Book Review: TOPLESS PROPHET BY ALAN MARKOVITZ WITH THOMAS STEVENS

TOPLESS PROPHET BY ALAN MARKOVITZ WITH THOMAS STEVENS
The True Story of America's Most Successful Gentlemen's Club Entrepreneur

If you're male and reading this, I have a question for you - what would be your ideal fantasy life? How does having a string of 'Gentlemens Clubs' and being surrounded every night by beautiful near-naked dancing ladies, earning millions of pounds/dollars, driving fancy cars, owning your own private jet and racing car sound? If that life sounds too perfect and nobody could be that lucky, then think again and welcome to Alan Markovitz's world! His true story charts how he rose to become America's most successful Gentlemen's Club entrepreneur.

But, believe it or not there are drawbacks, like being shot at not once, but twice, and still having the bullet lodged in your neck between your carotid artery and your jugular vein as the surgeons considered it too risky to remove. Or maybe having your then business partner hiring two hitmen to murder you for your share of the nightclub. Or even having to testify against the Mob!

Early Life

Alan's father was a Holocaust survivor who was liberated from Auschwitz at 16 years and as he says "Maybe that's where I get it from - pluck, perseverance, determinations, balls, a little excess now and then. How else are you going to make it in this business?" His parents wanted him to be a doctor or a lawyer, the typical young-Jewish-guy-does-well-for-himself success story but Alan had other ideas, he saw how his neighbour, Sol Milan, owned a bigger car than his parents and he owned a strip club, and from an early age Alan knew that that was what he wanted.

So, Alan went to Bartender School and, luckily for him, when Sol's regular bartender wanted weekends off he asked Alan to step in, obviously he jumped at the chance and so began his first foray into the world of the 'gentlemens clubs'. When he was just 20 something he bought a run-down strip joint and with Sol as his partner he opened his first club - The Booby Trap - it was a dream come true and he never looked back.

The Shootings

The first person to shoot him was one of his own dancers, a junkie by the name of Susie who he had just fired. She didn't take too kindly to this and came back later the same night and shot her .38 revolver at him, hitting him twice, once in his liver and the other collapsed his lung. She only received two and a half years for attempted murder!

Amazingly, the next bullets were from an off-duty policeman who was apparently not happy at being asked to leave one of Alan's Clubs one January evening in 1997, having consumed too much alcohol and starting an argument with one of the dancers. After leaving he came back and started shooting his .40 caliber Glock and, unfortunately, Alan was in the way of one of his stray bullets. His jaw was shattered in six places, losing several teeth in the process, he had to have six separate surgeries, plastic reconstruction and cost him almost a quarter of a million dollars!

The Hitmen

The FBI was already investigating two thugs for other crimes when they listened in to their phone calls and uncovered a plot to assassinate Alan. Unbeknown to Alan, his business partner, Freddy Giordano, had hired the two hitmen to kill him, and Alan only found out about this while watching the evening news one night when they were arrested. Luckily for Alan they were arrested before they could carry out the hit!

My Thoughts

The book takes us behind the scenes of how the business works, the girls who, Alan continually tells us, are not stupid but are doing something they enjoy and which can pay extremely well, his battles with officialdom, the vast sums of money that can be made, all the while saying that anyone with guts and determination can do anything if they want it badly enough.

Alan comes across as a likeable, decent guy, who has made mistakes in his life and admits them honestly, which is one of the things I liked about him. He wasn't flashy or pretentious, just an ordinary person living an extraordinary life. Even though I'm probably not the sort of person the book is aimed at ...... I'm a middle-aged female ....... I would guess the book is mainly aimed at males interested in 'gentlemens clubs' ........ but I really did enjoy it. I know I'll probably never find myself in one of these clubs, but that doesn't matter, I still found it a fascinating look at a different world.

The writing flowed quickly and easily and all the chapters were nicely divided into sections, eg. Tycoons are made not born and The Girls which is self-explanatory.

My Rating: 8/10

Published by Am Productions (Oct 2009)

Special Thanks to Tracee at pump Up Your Book Promotions and Alan Markovitz.

Book Review: LIZZI & FREDL: A PERILOUS JOURNEY OF LOVE AND FAITH BY DR WILLIAM B STANFORD

Genre: Memoirs

Publisher: iUniverse.com (April 2008)

Pages: 424 (Paperback)

My Rating: 9/10






LIZZI & FREDL: A PERILOUS JOURNEY OF LOVE AND FAITH by Dr William B Stanford

The author writes in the Preface:-

I wrote this book to honour my parents and their innumerable sacrifices and to share with the world how unconditional love and faith in God carried them through their darkest crisis.

In August 1938 Lizzi (26) and Fredl (27) Steiner were happily living in Vienna, Austria when papers arrived for Fredl from the Republic of Germany demanding that he report in a few days to an aviation factory in Munich to work on delicate timing devices for bombs. Fredl, a Master Jeweller, and a Catholic, had no intention of working for a madman and they decided that their only choice was to flee Austria ...... this novel is the story of their 7 year odyssey to freedom.

They first went to Paris to say with Fredl's niece but after just 3 weeks, they had to flee south as the Germans were getting nearer. This was just the beginning of their nightmare, of being moved from town to town while the Nazis were getting closer and closer.

They then lived in Rouen for 14 months before Fredl was told to report to a military camp for the French Army which turned out to be a makeshift internment camp at Lisieux. Meanwhile, Lizzi was sent to an internment camp in Orleans before being moved to Nevers. This was the first of many separations they had to endure as Fredl was moved around France to different internment camps and Lizzi was left alone to find a new job and a place to live, all the while they were both worrying about each other and trying to remain hopeful of being together again.

Each chapter alternated between Lizzi and Fredl so we knew what was happening to them both at the same time, which added another dimension to the story.

In March 1940 there was a mass exodus from Nevers to the south and Lizzi was lucky enough to travel in a truck with some deserting French soldiers to the town of Bergerac which was high in the mountains, and where she felt safe for a little while making friends and finding work. She realised that there were many people in the same difficult position as her, displaced from their native lands, displaced from their families and friends, displaced from normal life in general. They had such unknown futures.

They did keep in touch by letter throughout this time and Lizzi even managed to obtain a travel pass and visited Fredl in some of the camps.

As Lizzi uses her courage and strength to survive we follow Fredl from one internment camp to another as the years went on, and

"fear and distrust were emotions that needed to be heeded closely. Survival was of paramount importance, and misguided trust could prove to be fatal."

Even when Fredl was at his lowest ebb, desperately ill with heart failure and pneumonia, while in a labour camp at Saint-Sauveur, near Bellac, cutting trees in the freezing winter, the thought of Lizzi and the end of the war kept him alive and having something to aim for - they often talked of emmigrating to America and starting a new life - this was their dream.

We talk of being stressed today in our lives but what they had to endure must have been worse than anything I can imagine - they had to leave their family and friends behind, they lost their home and possessions, they never knew from one day to the next whether the Nazis would come and take them away, never trusting anyone - it was their strength and belief that carried them through such a terrible time.

This is an incredible and very moving story and throughout it all it is Lizzi and Fredl's love for one another that helps sustain them, and one that I found difficult to put down.

Book Review: THREE SILENT THINGS BY MARGARET MAYHEW

Genre: Crime and Mystery

Published by: Severn House Publishers (Sept 2008)

Pages: 180 (Hardback)

My Rating: 8/10






THREE SILENT THINGS BY MARGARET MAYHEW

When the retired Colonel moves to the picturesque Dorset village of Frog's End after his wife's death he expects to live out his days quietly, but when, on collecting for 'Save the Donkeys' Charity he discovers the body of Lois Delaney (an aged actress) his life becomes anything but quiet and boring.

At the Inquest into her death it is presumed that she committed suicide but the Colonel (who was a huge fan of hers) has his suspicions that all was not as it seemed and he does his own investigating. He discovers that Lois Delaney had just been offered a wonderful acting job on the London stage and was very excited about it - so why would she commit suicide when she was so happy? It just didn't make sense to the Colonel.

Set in a contemporary era, the small village is fully of quirky characters and we are introduced gradually to all of them.

There is the nosey neighbour, Freda Butler, who uses her late Admiral father's binoculars to spy on all the comings and goings ......... the two gay men living in the converted Hall which has been made into flats, one of which is where Lois Delaney lived ......... the sour old biddy, Miss Quinn, who also lived in the flat above. Plus an assortment of oddballs and even some normal inhabitants!

We also learn that many people in the village even knew Miss Delaney years ago when she was an actress, so do any of them have a motive to murder her? And why have they kept it quiet that they knew her?

The author, Margaret Mayhew, throws in a few red herrings here and there just to keep us guessing which all added to the enjoyment.

As we get to know the likeable Colonel and the villagers the plot moves very slowly and gently with not a lot happening but I was swept along and had finished it all too soon! At only 180 pages long it is a nice easy read.

If you enjoy Miss Marple or the Midsommer Murder type of story then you'll like this. But if you're the Harlen Coban or Lee Child fast and furious type of storyline fan then I think this will move too slowly for you.

Book Review: THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON BY LAUREN GROFF

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: William Heinemann (2008)

Pages: 364 (Hardback)

My Rating: 8/10





THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON BY LAUREN GROFF

First Line:

The day I returned to Templeton steeped in disgrace, the fifty-foot corpse of a monster surfaced in Lake Glimmerglass.

These curious words are spoken by the narrator, Willie Upton, upon returning to her home town, having had a disastrous affair with her married professor and now finding herself pregnant.

She slowly starts to get her life together by discovering the lives of her ancestors who founded the town of Templeton in the 1700's and through their words we learn of past secrets, lies and rumours.

Many of the chapters alternated between Willie's voice and some of her ancestors which helped to build up a fascinating picture of her weird family, some of whom I did find a little unbelievable, together with the growth of Templeton.

I thought the slow build up of the family tree diagrams throughout the story was a nice touch and the family pictures also added to the overall feel, making it all seem real.

The story of the prehistoric monster found in the Lake was a little unusual and the author kept referring to this throughout the book as some of the characters may have seen it over the years. I'm not sure if I liked this idea or not, I just found the whole concept a little strange.

Overall though I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it if you like something a little different from the normal historical/contemporary fiction.