Archives by Tag 'Review Archive'

Review: ‘The Vesuvius Club’ by Mark Gatiss

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Friday, August 20, 2010

Meet Lucifer Box: Equal parts James Bond and Sherlock Holmes, with a twist of Monty Python and a dash of Austin Powers, Lucifer has a charming countenance and rapier wit that make him the guest all hostesses must have. And most do.  But few of his conquests know that Lucifer is also His Majesty’s most [...]

Review: ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’ by J. K. Rowling

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Friday, August 20, 2010

The Tales of Beedle the Bard contains five richly diverse fairy tales, each with its own magical character, that will variously bring delight, laughter and the thrill of mortal peril.  Additional notes for each story penned by Professor Albus Dumbledore will be enjoyed by Muggles and wizards alike, as the Professor muses on the morals [...]

Review: ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ by Muriel Spark

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Friday, August 20, 2010

 At the staid Marcia Blaine School for Girls, in Edinburgh, Scotland, teacher extraordinaire Miss Jean Brodie is unmistakably, and outspokenly, in her prime. She is passionate in the application of her unorthodox teaching methods, in her attraction to the married art master, Teddy Lloyd, in her affair with the bachelor music master, Gordon Lowther, and—most [...]

Review: ‘The Dark Portal’ by Robin Jarvis

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Friday, August 20, 2010

In the sewers of Deptford there lurks a dark presence which fills the tunnels with fear. The rats worship it in the blackness and name it jupiter, lord of All. Into this twilight realm wanders a small and frightened mouse. Far from family and friends he perishes, and is the unwitting trigger of a chain [...]

Review: ‘The Horse and His Boy’ by C. S. Lewis

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Friday, August 20, 2010

After Shasta learnt from the mysterious stranger that he was not Arsheesh’s son, he decides to escape from the cruel land of Calormen, and with the help and persuasion of the talking horse Bree, he goes north towards Narnia where the air is sweet and freedon reigns. As they set out on their journey across [...]

Review: ‘The Trespass’ by Barbara Ewing

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Friday, August 20, 2010

London 1849. The capital city is living in fear. Cholera is everywhere. Eminent MP Sir Charles Cooper decides it is too risky for his younger daughter, the strangely beautiful and troubled Harriet, and sends her-but not her beloved sister Mary-to the countryside.  Rusholme is a world away from London, full of extraordinary relations: Harriet’s cousin [...]

Review: ‘Wayward Girls and Wicked Women’ ed. Angela Carter

By oldenglishrose - Last updated: Friday, August 20, 2010

This collection of stories, about bad girls and wicked women, extols the female virtues of discontent, sexual disruptiveness and bad manners. The authors featured include Ama Ata Aidoo, Djuna Barnes, Jane Bowles, Colette, Bessie Head, Katherine Mansfield and Jamaica Kincaid.  (Goodreads Summary) Although I really enjoy Angela Carter’s own short stories, evidently I’m not as [...]