The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry Occasionally, a walk through a bookshop will throw up unexpected delights. Browsing the new and bestseller shelves in my local shop recently, I was surprised to see a book entitled The Way of All Flesh. I immediately thought of Samuel Butler, and wondered why on earth his …
Category: Historical Fiction
Goodbye to Barcelona
Next Tuesday, September 18, sees the publication (at last) of the Lucia Graves English translation of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's El Laberinto de los Espiritus. The novel, The Labyrinth of Spirits in English, is the final part of the author's cycle of stories set in Barcelona, sometimes referred to as the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. …
Gold Rush!
Kiandra Gold by Hugh Capel A Review It is always a pleasure to return to one's favourite authors and genres. However, a reader and a writer should always be willing to set off in new literary directions. And often finding something new is just a matter of being in the right place at the right …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Return to Kingsbridge
A Column of Fire by Ken Follett A Review 'The fire continued to burn, and the dead body of Philibert turned into a blackened ruin ...... I did not know how men could do such things, and I did not understand why God would let them.' It's nearly twenty years since Ken Follett surprised many …
The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas '...the whole of human wisdom is summed up in just two words: Wait and hope.' I read the other day an excellent review of Dumas' masterpiece. See https://critiquingchemist.com/2017/09/29/the-count-of-monte-cristo-by-alexandre-dumas/ It included suggestions about the questions that might be posed in a sequel, for example, how would Maximilian and Valentine deal with her family …
The Great Escape
Katharina: Deliverance by Margaret Skea (a review) [The publisher kindly provided me with an advanced reading copy of Margaret Skea's new historical novel, due to be published on October 18th.] 'It is very shameful that children, especially defenceless young girls, are pushed into the nunneries. Shame on the unmerciful parents who treat their own so …
