Archives by Tag 'Archive Review'
Review: ‘A Zoo in My Luggage’ by Gerald Durrell
A Zoo in My Luggage begins with an account of Durrell’s third trip to the British Cameroons in West Africa, during which he and his wife capture animals to start their own zoo. Returning to England with a few additions to their family—Cholmondeley the chimpanzee, Bug-eye the bush baby, and others—they have nowhere to put [...]
Review: ‘The Discovery of Chocolate’ by James Runcie
What delicious ingredients James Runcie has blended together in his first novel, The Discovery of Chocolate–a picaresque, time-travelling journey of self-discovery. Told by the Spaniard, Diego de Godoy, accompanied by his faithful greyhound Pedro, Diego wanders the world, like Don Quixote bereft of his Dulcinea, in search of his beloved Ignacia–and the perfect chocolate. (Goodreads [...]
Review: ‘Fire and Shadow’ by David Hillier
It is the time of the Third Crusade, and Isabel is about to marry when her parents are murdered. She suspects the Earl de Mortaine is involved, and learns that he is trying to eliminate the king’s supporters while the king is fighting in Jerusalem. Isabel travels there to report what is happening. (Goodreads Summary) [...]
Review: ‘The Devil in Amber’ by Mark Gatiss
Lucifer Box – portraitist, dandy and terribly good secret agent – is feeling his age. He’s also more than a little anxious about an ambitious younger agent, Percy Flarge, who’s snapping at his heels. Assigned to observe the activities of fascist leader Olympus Mons and his fanatical followers, or “Amber Shirts,” in F.A.U.S.T. – The [...]
Review: ‘Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis’ by Wendy Cope
Wendy Cope is very clever. She’s good at taking much of what poetry holds dear and pricking its balloon. Her humour is an acquired taste and one short poem from “Strugnell’s Haiku” sets the tone of this volume, first published in 1986, to great popular acclaim. “The leaves have fallen / And the snow has [...]
Review: ‘La Prisonniere’ by Malika Oufkir
Malika Oufkir was born into a proud Berber family in 1953, the eldest daughter of the King of Morocco’s closest aide. She was adopted by the king to be a companion to his little daughter, and at the royal court of Rabat, Malika grew up locked away in a golden cage, among the royal wives [...]
Review: ‘The Silver Pigs’ by Lindsey Davis
When Marcus Didius Falco, a Roman “informer” who has a nose for trouble that’s sharper than most, encounters Sosia Camillina in the Forum, he senses immediately all is not right with the pretty girl. She confesses to him that she is fleeing for her life, and Falco makes the rash decision to rescue her—a decision [...]
Review: ‘Salamander’ by Thomas Wharton
An eccentric count in Slovakia summons the great London printer Nicholas Flood to his castle for an unusual assignment: the creation of an infinite book. Flood is intrigued by the challenge as he is drawn to the count’s daughter, Irena. Their passion (and its shattering consequences) becomes the catalyst for Flood’s spellbinding, world-spanning quest in [...]
Review: ‘The Swan Thieves’ by Elizabeth Kostova
Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe has a perfectly ordered life–solitary, perhaps, but full of devotion to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient. In response, Marlowe finds himself going beyond his own legal and [...]
Review: ‘The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Millennium publisher Mikael Blomkvist has made his reputation exposing corrupt establishment figures. So when a young journalist approaches him with an investigation into sex trafficking, Blomkvist cannot resist waging war on the powerful figures who control this lucrative industry. When a young couple are found dead in their Stockholm apartment, it’s a straightforward job for [...]