Review: The Patient Ecstasy of Fraulein Braun Believe me when I say I really have thought long and hard before writing this review. An erotic book where Hitler and Eva Braun are the characters? What could you possibly write? Well, firstly, that is a pretty simplistic explanation of this title, which came across to me as [...]
Review: City of Women City of Women caught my eye because I’ve been reading a great deal of non-fiction titles around this period of history and I was interested to see how a fictional account of World War II told from a German woman’s perspective squared up to the facts. In City of Women, Sigrid Schroeder [...]
Review: Abdication (2012) I quite enjoy historical fiction, especially when it’s centred around a period of history I know a little about. When I received Abdication out of the blue I was definitely interested. This still remains one of the scandals of 20th century England, the abdication of a monarch to enable him to be with [...]
Review: Gastien Part 1: The Cost of the Dream I love the stories of artists that overcome extreme adversity and realise their dreams and bring countless masterpieces to the world. Caddy Rowland’s Gastien tells one such story of an artist in nineteenth century France. This is the first in a series of books with two [...]
Review: After the Fog Rose Pavlesic is a very together woman – on the surface. Devoted to her role of Community Nurse, Rose finds the problems of the townspeople quickly overwhelm her thoughts. Luckily, her family are all headed in the right direction so there’s nothing there to worry about… or so she thinks. However, [...]
Review: The Whip Is it a poor review that starts “I really don’t know where to begin”? It probably is but it is the truth. There is so much to Karen Kondazian’s historical fiction novel, The Whip, that I don’t know how to get it on to paper. Let’s start with the facts. This is [...]
[sws_blue_box box_size="575"]About the book The Lifeboat - Charlotte Rogan, ISBN: 978-0316185905 Source: NetGalley “The sinking of an ocean liner leaves a newly married woman battling for survival in this powerful and unforgettable debut novel. Grace Winter, 22, is both a newlywed and a widow. She is also on trial for her life. In the summer of 1914, the [...]
[sws_blue_box box_size="575"]About the book The Auschwitz Violin, Maria Àngels Anglada, ISBN: 978-1849019811 Source: I received a copy in exchange for my fair and honest review In the winter of 1991, at a concert in Krakow, an older woman with a marvellously pitched violin meets a fellow musician who is instantly captivated by her instrument. When he asks her [...]
[sws_blue_box]Inside an old German U-Boat rusting on the bottom of the Baltic are millions in gold bars, stolen art, and a secret that could tear NATO apart. The only one who knows the truth is Mike Randall, a battle-scarred American who survived four months in the frozen Hell of northern Germany at the end of [...]
[sws_blue_box] Beautiful and high-spirited Caitlin Gallagher has no desire to be married. When she’s forced into an arranged marriage, she vows to loathe the man. Her anger is kindled even more when she finds out he was born in England. Her family was forced to flee Ireland and move to America because of the war [...]
As an aspiring author I try to write as often as possible but always remember to have a book on the bedside table. I read for many reasons mostly the sheer joy of the pastime but I am constantly trying to improve myself as a writer finding worthwhile lessons in my successful peers whether they’re [...]
