Circe by Madeline Miller A Review Madeline Miller earned the Orange Prize in 2012 for her highly original novel The Song of Achilles. Now, six years later, she is back among the gods, goddesses and sundry immortals with another feast of ambrosia and a look at one of the lesser villains of Greek mythology. I …
Category: Book Review
The Politics of Hate
The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse A Review As my first public post from my new address, I wanted to tackle a book by an author of whom I'm especially fond. Kate Mosse's love of the Languedoc always comes over in her fiction and I was looking forward to experiencing again the warmth of the …
Back to Carcassonne
I mentioned a few weeks ago taking another look at Kate Mosse's novel Sepulchre. I'm glad I did so because it put me in the right frame of mind to buy her latest book The Burning Chambers. This is the first book of a trilogy which tackles in novel form the history of the persecution …
1066
Viking Fire by Justin Hill A Review I love good historical fiction. However, it's not often I discover a book that is totally absorbing and at the same time an author who makes me think, why the devil didn't I learn all this at school? Of course, our schools are good at putting our country/countries …
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 …
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 …
Magda Green Books 