The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson Silly me for thinking that this book would be a lighthearted and feel-good romance in the same vein as Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand. Simonson draws the time and place so well that one cannot imagine living in that time and place with anything other than a sense …
Tag: Britain
Aug 09
Book Review: A Far Cry from Kensington
A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark I’d never read anything or heard anything about this author, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I don’t always like to read stories about female protagonists set in historical periods, because it often fills me with feminist rage, but Mrs. Hawkins manages to live in the …
Jun 07
Book Review: In the Labyrinth of Drakes
In the Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan If this novel had been the same strength as the third one, I would not be eagerly anticipating book #5, but this novel really kicked it up a notch. Politics play a much larger role in this novel, as Lady Trent and Tom Wilkins work with the …
May 28
Book Review: Ruby Red
Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier I thought I’d grown tired of YA fantasy, but apparently I can be wooed back into the fold with time travelers. I got this as an audiobook, and was drawn in by the narrator’s depiction of an average modern British teen who just happens to see ghosts and have a …
Nov 03
Book Review: It’s What He Would’ve Wanted
It’s What He Would’ve Wanted: A Novel by Sean Hughes If jokes about suicide make you chuckle, then you might enjoy IT’S WHAT HE WOULD’VE WANTED by Sean Hughes. It’s very dark, set in London, and not for the squeamish or demure. Sean Hughes is billed on the back flap as a famous humorous writer. …