I Read and I Review
In 21 October 1966, a coal slag heap fell on top of Pantglas Junior School and neighbouring houses in the small mining village of Aberfan in South Wales, killing 116 children and 28 adults. This is fact. I remember it happening. I can see now the headline in our local paper, lying on a chair... Continue Reading →
Yes, the high mountains of Portugal do exist, in the north east of the country, but, as the author writes, they are not very high at all. A more exact description of them would be a 'plateau', of scrubland and moor. The book The High Mountains of Portugal falls into three parts, with three different... Continue Reading →
Buy it here: CassaStar I don't normally do science fiction. When I was a child. at the time of the American missions to the moon, stories about spaceships and fictitious planets were all the rage - amongst the boys - but we girls found it a complete turnoff. A few months ago I said on... Continue Reading →
What a long time since I posted on Dear Reader! But I have been busy, DR, doing a lot of reading actually. Buy it here: Home Truths with Lady Grey Confessions first. I know Katherine Blessan, well, but my review, as always, will be honest. I bought this in paperback from the bookstall at the... Continue Reading →
'A tale of escape, love and loss' reads the strapline... against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War which followed. You know I have a thing for anything east European? Well, 'Beyond the Samovar' did not disappoint. Livvy and Peter are an English couple, with a baby (George), living in Baku... Continue Reading →
A thoroughly enjoyable collection of short stories. I couldn't put it down. That's what they all say, isn't it, but, really and truly, I was reading after midnight two nights running. Some of the stories were flash and others some much longer. All carried a punch, many also with a twist. Scenarios ranged from a... Continue Reading →
‘The Night Manager’ by John Le Carre This novel is set in the 1990s, in the post Cold War era. Jonathan Pine is working as a ‘night manger’ at a posh hotel in Zurich when he finds himself meeting and greeting a VIP visitor, businessman and criminal, Richard Roper, whom he holds responsible for the... Continue Reading →
Book 9 in the Simon Serrailler Series. I had read this previously (during the time I was not reviewing on here) and, when this came up at the St Andrew's Book Club, I felt I should read it again (especially seeing as I'd recommended Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler series to the others). Suffice to say,... Continue Reading →
Celtic Cross. I cannot display cover art for this book because I don't have permission to do so. I read this book as part of my research into a flash piece on medieval monks following the Celtic tradition. Celtic Christianity has always fascinated me and you, Dear Reader, will recall that a few weeks ago... Continue Reading →
Not as well-known as Ruth Rendell, Dorothy Sayers or P D James, Joy Ellis is one of the many East Anglian crime writers. She writes police procedural, setting her stories in the Lincolnshire Fens. She has three sets of characters, who occasionally overlap: Nikki Galena and her sergeant and lover, Joseph Easter, and Rowan Jackman... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader 