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Circumstance
In September 1869, Roderick (Roddy) Macrae is held for the brutal murders of 3 members of the Mackenzie family – Lachlan Mackenzie, his daughter Flora and his infant son Donnie. The flow of the storyline is original, absorbing and really well crafted considering it’s presented as statements from neighbours,…
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Thanks to a recommendation by a good friend on Goodreads, I picked up “Death and the Harlot” by Georgina Clarke, and I am so grateful for the suggestion. It’s one of the most fun kind of books to read, and it is very much not a children’s book. Don’t…
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Nucleus is the second book in this series and with this book, Rory Clements did an incredibly good job of creating a unique and thrilling fictional piece of work, whilst amalgamating many historical events and conflicts that were occurring during the Second World War period.
I think it clever to incorporate…
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Perspicacity
A truly gripping story that is full of historical atmosphere and a devilish plot. Death and the Harlot is a wonderful debut novel from the very talented, new thriller writer, Georgina Clarke. The main character, Lizzie Hardwicke, is unconventional, audacious and clever. Lizzie’s background is mysterious and considering this is London…
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The Lives Before Us is an interesting novel describing the fate of the Jewish immigrants who were lucky to leave Germany and Austria before WW2 began. The immigration, as it turned out, saved their lives. The destination place was Shanghai, one of the few places then that accepted Jews…
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Encounters
Bitching Bits of Bone is a novel that doesn’t mind offending any comfortable perception you may have of medieval times. The context of the story is the inspiration behind Geoffrey Chaucer’s writing of The Canterbury Tales. The entertaining vignettes encountered that influenced his tales and writing. What was life really…
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Malignant
The Devil Aspect is absorbing, mystifying and deliciously sinister. Craig Russell is a talented writer that has superbly blended a compelling nefarious plot, with inexplicably damaged characters, myths and legends, and a setting that is dark and chilling. I just love it. 🙂
Dr Viktor Kosárek is a young enthusiastic psychiatrist…
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Karen Maitland’s ability to create the 14th century English village scene is fantastic. The tug-of-war between religion and superstition is ever present, and the atmosphere is full of distrust. Into this fine balance comes a group of Beguine women who establish a community on their own land. Their female…
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Defiance
The futility and horror of war are felt most acutely and despairingly when the young, the helpless and the innocent, bear the ultimate price. At 4 pm on 26th May 1992, in a war-torn Sarajevo marketplace, a mortar bomb killed 22 people, mostly women, as they queued for bread….
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Survival
The Lives Before Us is an accomplished, poignant and fiercely compelling story.
A story steeped in history but personalised through the characterisation and life of 3 main characters, Esther, Kitty and Yì. Juliet Conlin has written a story conveying a sense of constant upheaval and a struggle to survive, during one…
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