'... Pokahuntas. To whom my hartie and best thoughts are ...' Rebecca's Tale (Part Two) Heacham is a holiday resort in the county of Norfolk. Situated on the shores of the Wash, it is the English centre of lavender farming and distilling, and boasts 100 acres under cultivation. The village was of sufficient importance in …
From Jamestown to Gravesend
'... the Kings most dear and well-beloved daughter ...' On looking back, I see that I first wrote this series of articles about four years ago. Time goes by so quickly and I felt compelled to introduce to (hopefully) a new audience what, for me, is a romantic and poignant true life story. **** Rebecca's …
Ghosts in the Midi
Sepulchre by Kate Mosse The first time I read this novel, I learned it was the second book of the author's Languedoc Trilogy. Two of its minor characters, I was informed, had appeared in the first novel, Labyrinth. As I hadn't read the latter, I put the information into storage. It didn't seem especially relevant. …
Holy Fool?
The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory A review I have always found Philippa Gregory's historical fiction enjoyable, and The Queen's Fool is no exception. Set at the Tudor court like so many of her other books, it gives us an 'up-close' of Queen Mary through the eyes of Hannah Green (or Verde), a teenage girl …
Only Too Brief
A Tribute to Stephen Hawking What is time? If the Universe began with a big bang, what happened before? Was there a before? What are black holes, and why aren't they really black? These are some of the questions that Professor Stephen Hawking addressed during his lifetime, questions that are profoundly philosophical as well as …
Breathing New Life into the Classics
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller The epic poems of Homer always bear retelling. Whether in the original format or recast in one of the many variations that have appeared over the centuries, these stories of kings, heroes, gods and goddesses have the power to stir the imagination. Occasionally, a new version appears which …
The Ghost Kings
by Henry Rider Haggard For my final look (for now) at the works of Rider Haggard, I have chosen, quite by accident, a novel that appeals to me on two levels - literary and personal. Set in South Africa, The Ghost Kings has as its main protagonist a young woman, Rachel Dove, daughter of an …
Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Ayesha - the Return of She by Henry Rider Haggard 'The dogs had seen us now and came on, growling and baying fearfully. With a rush they came, and I am not ashamed to own that I felt terribly afraid. One . . . outstripped the others and, leaping up, sprang straight at my throat.' …
Two Brothers
by Ben Elton A Review 'Thus, as the months went by, a strong bond formed between the youngsters, a bond separate to their school friends and their individual lives. They were the Saturday Club. . . . Paulus, Otto, Dagmar and Silke were a true gang of four.' Ben Elton is better known (in the …
She
by Henry Rider Haggard 'I looked up again and now her perfect form lay in his arms, and her lips were pressed against his own; and thus, with the corpse of his dead love for an altar, did Leo Vincey plight his troth to her red-handed murderess.' I'll begin my review with a question: to …
Magda Green Books 