During a summertime trip to France a couple of years ago, I was able to visit the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, 15 miles outside of Limoges. It was here, on the warm sunny afternoon of Saturday, June 10th in 1944, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, 75 years ago today, that the Nazis murdered 642 villagers. Only seven people were lucky enough to survive. The villagers were brought together in the main square, believing that this was yet another routine identity check. Instead, the men were separated out and taken to six barns. Here, they were machine gunned and the bodies,…
Category: <span>READING</span>
By Its Cover is a series of posts wherein I read a book based solely on my love of the cover. No reading the jacket, no checking reviews! I have no idea why, but I initially assumed the figure on the cover of this book was a satyr, half-man, half-goat, because I thought it had hooves. It wasn’t until I really paid attention that I realised that they were simply shoes and this was just a man. Having read the book, I’m no wiser as to what the cover represents but the quirkiness energy of the man with his umbrella, set…
~Once Upon a River Diane Setterfield On the banks of the river Thames is a pub, The Swan, where the locals have turned storytelling into something of a sport, meeting up to while away the long, cold winter nights with the promise of a good tale. But you know what they say, truth is stranger than fiction and so on the evening of the winters solstice, a real story starts to unfurl before their very eyes. A large man, dripping blood and river water, walks through the door of the pub carrying what turns out to be the body of a dead…
~Southernmost Silas House In Tennessee a flood wipes out a small town and its Pastor, Asher Sharp, extends an invitation to two men, a gay couple, to spend the night at his own house. But his wife refuses to allow it. It is a seemingly simple gesture which sparks a radical change within Asher who goes on to deliver an emotional and fervent sermon in front of his congregation which (because, of course) is filmed by a young parishioner and subsequently goes viral. The outcome is a bitter custody battle over Asher’s young son, Justin, which leads him to run away…
By Its Cover is a series of posts wherein I read a book based solely on my love of the cover. No reading the jacket, no checking reviews! After being consistently drawn to colourful covers I did a 180 and picked a book that has a haunting quality due to its washed out colour (or lack thereof) and twisted tree branches. Which is entirely appropriate given that the book is about magic. Love the title too, especially after a surfeit of novels entitled I Let You Go, I Found You, I See You etc, etc, etc. I wasn’t wild about Kat…
~Mr Dickens and His Carol Samantha Silva A truly joyous Christmas novel which perfectly encapsulates Dickens and his Victorian England. This is a fictional account of how Dickens came to write one of his most famous and beloved stories. When Martin Chuzzlewit is a supreme flop, Dickens must face the fact that his financial status is looking bleak. He is told by his publisher that he must write a Christmas story within the next few weeks to save himself from ruin. Meanwhile his wife is planning their annual lavish Christmas party and his kids are tugging on his coat sleeves…
~Goodbye, Paris Anstey Harris Grace Atherton appears to be quite content with her life. She owns a little shop in Kent, England where she sells the violins and cellos that she makes herself. She’s also in a long term relationship with David although we learn almost immediately that things aren’t quite what they seem. When he heroically pulls a woman off the track in the Metro the subsequent spotlight fractures their quiet life and ultimately leads to a revelation that upends the apple cart for Grace. A broken heart ensues and she is helped in her attempts to mend it by…
The inky darkness of winter is descending and Halloween is casting forth it’s spooky shadows which makes it an excellent time to talk about the gothic novel. This is the genre that bursts at the seams with atmosphere and creepiness, oozes with impending doom and drips with the mournful shrieks of the wretched. In short, these are the books which beg to be read in the oft cheerless gloom of the colder months. At the very heart of the gothic novel lies a world shrouded in doubt, particularly with regard to the spiritual and supernatural. These books toy with the…
~A Place For Us Fatima Farheen Mirza Finally, a book that checked all my boxes for a fabulous read. And what an astonishing debut novel. It’s a book about family and the myriad betrayals, misconceptions and misunderstandings that take place over the years and fracture the whole into little pieces. It starts at the wedding of Hadia, the eldest daughter of Rafiq and Layla and older sister to Huda and Amar. Amar has returned for his sister’s nuptials after abruptly leaving the family three years prior. From here the book does what I love above all else…meanders slowly back and forth…
I think it’s safe to say that afternoon tea is generally regarded as one of the most English of afternoon past times. Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford gets credit for adding such a delightful addition to the day back in 1840 after she got rather peckish in the late afternoon before an eight o’ clock dinner. It was only a matter of time before she started inviting all of her peckish friends to join her and by the 1920’s, afternoon tea had turned into a full-blown affair, frequently with dancing in posh hotels. It makes one want to swoon…