Tag Archives: Book reviews

The Good Doctor Of Warsaw by Elisabeth Gifford

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‘You do not leave a sick child alone to face the dark and you do not leave a child at a time like this.’
Warsaw, 1940. The Jewish ghetto is under the Nazis’ brutal control. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children slowly starve within the walls.
But while all around is darkness, one man brings hope, caring for the ever-increasing number of destitute orphans in the face of unimaginable conditions.
And, torn apart as the noose tightens around the ghetto, how will one young couple’s love survive the terrible tests of wartime?
Half a million people lived in the Warsaw ghetto. Less than one percent survived to tell their story. This novel is based on the true accounts of Misha and Sophia, and on the life of one of Poland’s greatest men, Dr Janusz Korczak.

Some of the best historical novels are based on true stories, and this is one of them. I knew the facts about Janusz Korczak and have admired both his teaching and his actions, but what I knew was the bare bones. Ms Gifford has conducted intensive research over a number of years to bring Korczak to life for me, and introduce me to other people I knew nothing about. A huge number of the characters in The Good Doctor were real people whose stories told here will touch the heart, a reminder of what is best about humanity; often exhibited in the worst of times.

This novel is well-plotted as it charts the falling fortunes of the Jews in Warsaw and surrounding areas, from wealthy families to inhabitants of an ever-shrinking ghetto. The sights and sounds and smells of their experiences put the reader squarely in this terrible story of hatred, fear and death. The descriptions of starving children, of shootings, round-up’s, and trains to the death camps cannot fail to move you. The Good Doctor Of Warsaw is a window into the darkest soul of man, and as such a reminder of what we can become if we allow ourselves to build our lives on discrimination and hatred.

But the novel is also full of hope as we follow the true stories of Janusz Korczak, Sophia and Misha as they try to provide the love and security so essential to the children in Korczak’s orphanage. These real people were prepared to put their lives on the line for others, as were many non-Jews who could not allow themselves to be a part of Hitler’s Final Solution. Following these characters through the clearing of the ghetto and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is not easy reading, but it is a book which should be read as both a lesson from the past and a guide for a better future.

Above all The Good Doctor should be read as a memorial to all those who stood up for what was right in the face of so much wrong.

(You can find out a little more about some of the children of the Warsaw Ghetto in my article When Boy Scouts Went To War

The Good Doctor Of Warsaw can be found on Amazon

You can find out more about Elizabeth Gifford here

You can find more of my Recommended Reads here

Recommended Read – Queen of Bedlam by Laura Purcell

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London 1788. The calm order of Queen Charlotte’s court is shattered by screams. The King of England is going mad. Left alone with thirteen children and with the country at war, Charlotte has to fight to hold her husband’s throne. It is a time of unrest and revolutions but most of all Charlotte fears the King himself, someone she can no longer love or trust. She has lost her marriage to madness and there is nothing she can do except continue to do her royal duty. Her six daughters are desperate to escape their palace asylum. Their only chance lies in a good marriage, but no prince wants the daughter of a madman. They are forced to take love wherever they can find it, with devastating consequences. The moving true story of George III’s madness and the women whose lives it destroyed.

Most people know something about ‘Mad King George’, and about his son the Prince Regent. Much less is known about the lives of his wife and daughters. Throughout history the position and role of women has not been considered as important, and they play a secondary role to men. This is even more the case when it comes to royalty; a daughter is a political bargaining chip, a wife is there to provide an heir. For the women in the life of George III there was the added complication of his madness.

Queen of Bedlam sheds light onto the lives of the women who lived in the shadow of madness yet had to present a façade of normality to the public. Theirs was a life of pain and suffering, of having to lead their lives treading on eggshells as they feared the king’s reaction to everything they said and did. For George’s daughters, their hopes and dreams centred on the chance to marry and have children, to find love and, in so doing, escape from the control of their mother who was afraid to face her husband’s madness alone.

Ms Purcell has obviously conducted intensive research into this subject and is able to give a touch of humanity to these characters who have been for so long in the shadows. Throughout the novel we begin to relate to some believable, but not necessarily likeable, women – like all of us there is good and bad in all of them, yet being forced to live lives so different from the norm made then quite emotionally insecure and stunted in a way which many might find difficult to understand or sympathise with.

Queen of Bedlam is a well-plotted novel, constructed with a real feel for time and place, which brings into focus life in the court with Ms Purcell’s descriptions of the sights and sounds of claustrophobic live in a royal gilded cage. At the heart of the story is a group of women who struggle to find a balance between duty and love, and it is refreshing to discover this much hidden aspect of the years leading up to the Regency with it’s focus on the women who had little control over their lives, with disastrous consequences for some of them.

For those of you who enjoy Recency romances, this book will give an interesting perspective to a period of history which you may already feel you know well.

You can find Queen of Bedlam on Amazon

You can find out more about Laura Purcell here

You can find more of my Recommended Reads here

Recommended Read – At First Light by Vanessa Lafaye

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1993, Key West, Florida. When a Ku Klux Klan official is shot in broad daylight, all eyes turn to the person holding the gun: a 96-year-old Cuban woman who will say nothing except to admit her guilt.

1919. Mixed-race Alicia Cortez arrives in Key West exiled in disgrace from her family in Havana. At the same time, damaged war hero John Morales returns home on the last US troop ship from Europe. As love draws them closer in this time of racial segregation, people are watching, including Dwayne Campbell, poised on the brink of manhood and struggling to do what’s right. And then the Ku Klux Klan comes to town…

Inspired by real events, At First Light weaves together a decades-old grievance and the consequences of a promise made as the sun rose on a dark day in American history.

I was fascinated to read the author’s notes at the end of this novel. At First Light is based quite closely on real events which took place as the Klu Klux Klan moved into Florida’s Key West during the early twentieth century, and as such it makes for an absorbing read.

Ms Lafaye has conducted intensive research not only into the specific events which are the basis of her novel, but also into the Klan. It’s methods of recruitment would be called radicalisation today, preying on the weak and vulnerable and promising a better life if only they joined this group. The contrast between some almost comical aspects of the clan and their murderous brutality are chilling, as are the descriptions of the hatred and bigotry which allowed such a movement to take a hold.

At First Light also encompasses the introduction of prohibition and the smuggling of liquor which followed, as well as the Spanish flu which took so many lives at the end of the First World War. The story is however also one of friendship, a ‘coming-of-age’ tale, and a depiction of life in the Keys which is full of depth and detail in which the reader can almost smell the odours, feel the heat, and come to know the characters who lived there at the time. But, at its heart, At First Light is a story of love; a story of two people who, for whatever reasons, chose to stand together in the face of hatred and violence; a timeless story which will touch the heart.

Well-plotted and paced, clearly written with believable characters, I heartily recommend At First Light for its accurate portrayal of a time and place in the past which should be remembered if we are not to repeat the same mistakes in the future.

You can fin At First Light on Amazon

You can find out more about Vanessa Lafaye here

You can find more of my Recommended Reads here

Recommended Read – Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

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TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE. A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER. A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART.

On a summer’s day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home? Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that Hamnet will not survive the week.

Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright: a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

Hamnet was the son of William Shakespeare, but other than that we know little about him, save that he died young and was then immortalised by his father in what some believe is his best play. Miss O’Farrell brings this shadowy child to life in her compelling novel about life in Elizabethan times which is described in careful detail. Her beautiful prose brings to life the sights, sounds, and smells of the countryside, as well as the crowds and filth and stink of a capital city often ravaged by the plague. Her characters are beautifully drawn with a deft touch and an understanding of the emotional heart of us all.

It is an episode of the plague which opens this novel with Hamnet desperately seeking help for his sister who has suddenly fallen ill. Alongside this we have the story of how ‘the husband/father’ (William Shakespeare is never mentioned by name in the novel) meets and falls in love with the enigmatic Agnes. Both come from difficult backgrounds and recognise in each other a soulmate who can make them whole, they fall in love and are married. But Agnes comes to realise that she is perhaps not enough for him, and that her husband will never be completely whole until he is able to pursue a life revolving around writing and theatre in London. Agnes is strong enough, and understanding enough, to let her husband go, realising that this is perhaps the only way for her to keep his love.

Alongside this love story we see Hamnet’s struggle to save the life of his sister, a compelling tale even though we know the outcome from the historical record, (although we know that Shakespeare’s son died, we don’t know the exact circumstances). The death of the boy in the novel wrings at the heart-strings and is followed by a compelling description of the grief of a whole family in mourning. When Agnes hears about her husband’s new play, Hamnet, she travels to London to confront him, a journey which brings the novel to a fitting conclusion as the couple come to an understanding of how the loss of their beloved son has impacted both of their lives.

The death of a child is always heart-breaking – it seems to go against nature for a parent to out-live their son – and Miss O’Farrell has portrayed this with a sensitive touch which cannot fail to move the reader. Hamnet is a tale of love and loss, of how parents grieve in their own way for the loss of a child, and how this grief has the potential to tear them apart or to bring them closer together. As such, it is a tale for all people and all times, just like the tales told by Shakespeare himself.

Hamnet can be found on Amazon   

You can find out more about Maggie O’Farrell here 

Recommended Read – The Slaves Of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton

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Measuring out the wartime days in a small town on the Thames, Miss Roach is not unattractive but no longer quite young. The Rosamund Tea Rooms boarding house, where she lives with half a dozen others, is as grey and lonely as its residents. For Miss Roach, ‘slave of her task-master, solitude’, a shaft of not altogether welcome light is suddenly beamed upon her, with the appearance of a charismatic and emotional American Lieutenant. With him comes change – tipping the precariously balanced society of the house and presenting Miss Roach herself with a dilemma.

Published just after the war (1947) The Slaves Of Solitude is set in 1943 and is a book about war from which war is remarkably absent. Set in the fictional town of Thames Lockdon (based on Henley-on-Thames) the novel reflects a provincial tranquillity where everything is touched by the conflict – from blackouts to food shortages, lack of small comforts to the arrival of the ubiquitous GI’s. Patrick Hamilton beautifully captures the narrow world and pettiness of middle England during the Second World War, portraying ordinary lives lived in extraordinary circumstance.

The central character of this novel, Miss Roach, left London after being bombed-out, and now resides at the Rosamund Tea Rooms with an eclectic mix of characters. In her mid-thirties, her prim timidity makes her the butt of the bullying Mr Thwaites, and she spends much of her time re-playing her conversations with him (and others) in her head. That is something which we all do, and Miss Roach finds herself with the same dilemma – does this re-playing of conversation clear up what was said or cloud matters even further! As the novel progresses, life brightens for Miss Roach (who hates to be referred to by her Christian name) when she meets a charming though somewhat enigmatic American soldier, and also befriends a German émigré – a woman not too far from her own age.

Building on the relationship between these three people and Mr Thwaites the story unfolds with gentle humour, quiet action and circuitous conversations. On the periphery of these interactions, we find Mr Prest who is seen as an oddity and ignored be his fellow residents at the Rosamund Tea Rooms, yet he pursues a secret life in London. As the book reaches its conclusion it is Mr Prest who is the instigator of Miss Roach’s ‘purification’.

The Slaves Of Solitude is a brilliantly written tragicomedy carefully detailed to evoke a specific time and place in which Miss Roach’s silent observations of her fellow guests tellingly reveal that this could be any time and any place. The characters are superbly drawn and the author has used his masterful knowledge of language to bring them to life with all their foibles; he handles the full range of human emotions with a light and deft touch which cannot but resonate with the reader.

For a gentle and humorous read you would find it hard to better The Slaves Of Solitude.

The Slaves Of Solitude can be found on Amazon

You can find out more about Patrick Hamilton here

Recommended Read – The Far Pavilions by M M Kaye

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The Far Pavilions is the story of an English man – Ashton Pelham-Martyn – brought up as a Hindu. It is the story of his passionate, but dangerous love for Juli, an Indian princess. It is the story of divided loyalties, of friendship that endures till death, of high adventure and of the clash between East and West.

To the burning plains and snow-capped mountains of this great, humming continent, M.M. Kaye brings her exceptional gifts of storytelling and meticulous historical accuracy, plus her insight into the human heart.

The Far Pavilions is a long-time favourite of mine. The sweeping saga covers more than 30 years of British and Indian history which has been meticulously researched and is written in such a way as to portray the politics and social life of both cultures in a realistic way that it draws the reader in. Although at the heart this novel is a love story the attention to detail which is found in the descriptions of camp life and palaces, sunburned plains and snow-capped mountains, monotonous travel by train and horseback etc. is testament to the years which Ms Kaye spent in India and her love for the country and its culture. She has also been able to write about the British army during the Raj with a depth of understanding which comes from having lived in military families in India as the Raj drew to a close, and it is interesting to see the roots of political issues which still face the world today grown out of the time and place which is so beautifully evoked in The Far Pavilions.

From India under ‘The Company’ through the Great Mutiny and on to the Second Afghan War Ms Kaye has woven together the lives of people from all levels of society and a variety of religious faiths with a depth of understanding of human nature and morality with makes the story totally believable and it is easy to feel sympathy towards people from both sides of the divide. The writing is beautifully descriptive, some passages are really artistic canvases painted with words. The characters are totally believable and the dialogue realistic which combine to give real depth to the people who fill the pages of this novel. The descriptions of life for women in India is enlightening, and the device of having Ash as a British boy brought up as a Hindu allows the author to show a confusion of identity which gets to the heart of the problems of colonisation and its impact on the local population.

This is a very long book, a saga in all senses of the word, but well worth reading if you are interested in history and the psychology of Empire which has created so much of the modern world in which we live. The Far Pavilions is classic historical fiction which weaves a carefully crafted plot through the realities of the place and time so that it is sometimes difficult to know where one ends and the other begins. A great adventure story and a sweeping romance set against the backdrop of a stunning landscape, what more could any lover of historical fiction want?

The Far Pavilions can be found on Amazon

You can find out more about M M Kaye here

You can find more of my Recommended Reads here

Recommended Read – The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan

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An enchanting historical epic of grand passion and adventure, this debut novel tells the captivating story of one of India’s most controversial empresses — a woman whose brilliance and determination trumped myriad obstacles, and whose love shaped the course of the Mughal Empire. Skilfully blending the textures of historical reality with the rich and sensual imaginings of a timeless fairy tale, The Twentieth Wife sweeps readers up in Mehrunnisa’s embattled love with Prince Salim, and in the bedazzling destiny of a woman — a legend in her own time — who was all but lost to history until now.

The Twentieth Wife begins in 1577 with the birth of a refugee child. No one could have guessed that 34 years later that baby would become the twentieth wife of the Mughal Emperor, a woman who was something of a legend in her own time yet has been more or less forgotten by history. Mehrunnisa was no ordinary woman of that era, although for the years before her marriage she was constrained as all women were she had always loved Jahangir and dreamed of being his wife. For his part the Emperor was captivated with her in a way unmatched by all of his other wives and concubines. His love for her was so deep that he granted her a great deal of power after their marriage with Mehrunnisa minting coins in her name and issuing royal firmans as well as being involved with foreign trade and patronizing the arts (some of this is told in the next two parts of the Taj trilogy by Indu Sundaresan).

The Twentieth Wife is a work of fiction which draws heavily on historical documentation of the times to explain the politics, rebellions, court and marriages of this fascinating period of Indian history. Ms Sundaresan accurately describes life in the hareem, the role of women, the food, clothing and dazzling jewellery, the sumptuous buildings and rooms, all of which give a real flavour of 16th century Mughal life and makes the history of that period accessible for those who know little about India’s past. In addition to the historical accuracy of the setting the author has woven the conflicting personal lives of Mehrunnisa’s family into the plot (although I would have liked more depth to some of these family members).

If there is one weakness with this book it is that it tends (in my opinion only) a little too much towards the archetypal ‘historical romance’ type of fiction. Romance is obviously essential to the plotting of The Twentieth Wife as it is at heart a love story but I would have preferred a little more balance between the emotions of Mehrunnisa and the political machinations of Jahangir, but if you are a fan of historical fiction rooted in a real historical story laced with romance then this book is probably for you.

The Twentieth Wife can be found on Amazon

You can find out more about Indu Sundaresan here

You can find more of my Recommended Reads here

Recommended Read – I, Claudius by Robert Graves

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Despised for his weakness and regarded by his family as little more than a stammering fool, the nobleman Claudius quietly survives the intrigues, bloody purges and mounting cruelty of the imperial Roman dynasties. In I, Claudius he watches from the sidelines to record the reigns of its emperors: from the wise Augustus and his villainous wife Livia to the sadistic Tiberius and the insane excesses of Caligula. Written in the form of Claudius’ autobiography, this is the first part of Robert Graves’s brilliant account of the madness and debauchery of ancient Rome, and stands as one of the most celebrated, gripping historical novels ever written.

I, Claudius is an enduring favourite of mine. A fictional autobiography of Claudius based on meticulous research and an incredible depth of knowledge of the Roman Empire places the reader at the heart of events in Rome. The Roman way of life – dress, food, customs, religion etc.– are woven into the story in such a way that the reader comes away from this novel with a deeper understanding of the time and place yet never feeling that they have been educated in any way. Graves’ light touch in this transfer of knowledge is balanced by his deft use of language which, particularly in dialogue, draws out the aspirations, jealousies, fears, hatreds and loves of real historical characters in a way which the source documents never could.

As well as a cleverly plotted novel I, Claudius is also a study of human psychology, to see how Claudius understands and manipulates those around him in order to stay alive is an underlying pleasure of this book. From the relative calm of the rule of Augustus this fictional autobiography details the cruel reign of Tiberius followed by the madness of Caligula all purportedly written from the viewpoint of an historian who likes nothing more than to study the past yet must spend his time balancing the politics of his present in order to stay alive.

It is necessary for Mr Graves to introduce us to a number of generations of the imperial family to tell his story and some readers may find the number of Latin names difficult at first, but I urge you to persevere for it is this richness of connections and understanding of family which underpins the novel and gives it a wholeness which many other historical novels focussing on the Roman  era do not have.

I, Claudius is a classic work of historical fiction telling a story of intrigue, lust, murder and dynastic politics from the point of view of a man who appears such a hapless fool that it is not worth the effort to kill him, yet this supposedly incompetent historian becomes, at the end of the novel, the next Roman Emperor. If you enjoy this read, which I hope you will, then you will be more than happy with its sequel – Claudius the God – which continues Claudius’ autobiography in recounting the reluctant emperor’s surprisingly successful reign.

I, Claudius is a classic in every sense of the word.

I, Claudius can be found on Amazon

You can find out more about Robert Graves here

You can  find more of my Recommended reads here

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

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On 21 June 1922, Count Alexander Rostov – recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt – is escorted out of the Kremlin, across Red Square and through the elegant revolving doors of the Hotel Metropol.

Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count has been sentenced to house arrest indefinitely. But instead of his usual suite, he must now live in an attic room while Russia undergoes decades of tumultuous upheaval.

Can a life without luxury be the richest of all?

A Gentleman in Moscow is a novel full of engaging characters who surround Count Rostov as we are immersed in his life confined in the Metropole Hotel for 32 years. You may wonder how following the day to day life of one man in captivity for such a long period of time can create a storyline varied enough to fill a novel, and perhaps some people have not picked up this book for that reason – if so they have missed a gem. This book has been a favourite of mine since I first read it and was drawn into a country in upheaval, following the dramatic changes within Russia during the first half of the 20th century.

The novel begins with Count Rostov being condemned by a tribunal in Moscow as an unrepentant aristocrat, but because of a poem he wrote in his youth which showed a sentiment for revolutionary change he was not put to death, instead he was sentenced to spend the remainder of his life in his current residence – the Metropole Hotel. As we follow him through the long years of his confinment we come to know the Count as a learned man, a philosopher at heart, who is determined to adapt to his new way of life. Through his friendship with a young girl called Sophie he learns of the rich life behind the scenes of the hotel. Through friends who visit him he is able to follow the turbulent events taking place in his country from both sides – the oppressed and the oppressor. When an unforeseen event changes his life even further Count Rostov becomes a father in all but name and focusses his life on educating and raising a daughter to go out and face a world in which he can no longer partake himself.

This is a book full of humour, pathos, laughter, friendship and love. It is written in an elegant style with beautiful prose and insightful dialogue which subtly explore deep questions about the purpose of our lives and how we can make a difference through many small acts. The characters are well observed, the writing sophisticated, the humour at times gentle and at others farcical. It is a rich, multi-layered novel with much to offer even the most discerning of readers.

As Count Rostov muses towards the end of the novel ‘it was, without question, the smallest room that he had occupied in his life; yet somehow, within those four walls the world had come and gone’. I urge you to join him within the four walls of his attic room and experience the rich delights of this novel

A Gentleman In  Moscow can be found on Amazon

You can find out more about Amor Towles here

You can find more of my Recommended Reads here 

Recommended Read – Dictator by Robert Harris

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There was a time when Cicero held Caesar’s life in the palm of his hand. But now Caesar is the dominant figure and Cicero’s life is in ruins. Exiled, separated from his wife and children, his possessions confiscated, his life constantly in danger, Cicero is tormented by the knowledge that he has sacrificed power for the sake of his principles. His comeback requires wit, skill and courage – and for a brief and glorious period, the legendary orator is once more the supreme senator in Rome. But politics is never static and no statesman, however cunning, can safeguard against the ambition and corruption of others.

Riveting and tumultuous, DICTATOR encompasses some of the most epic events in human history yet is also an intimate portrait of a brilliant, flawed, frequently fearful yet ultimately brave man – a hero for his time and for ours. This is an unforgettable tour de force from a master storyteller.

Dictator tells the story of Cicero, the great Roman statesman and orator, from the time he was forced to flee Rome to escape Julius Caesar to his eventual death*. Written in the style of a biography (purportedly by his former slave and secretary, Tiro) it gives us a glimpse into the tumultuous times which saw the death of the Roman Republic and the birth of an Empire. Tiro collated the works of Cicero as well as recording speeches in the senate verbatim (he developed the first system of shorthand, we still use some of his symbols today – &, etc., i.e., NB, e.g.), and it is his works which Robert Harris has drawn on to create his descriptions of the key characters in the early days of the Roman Empire, the political turmoil and martial conflict which they lived through.

It would be impossible to write about this period of history without a focus on politics, but Mr Harris cleverly entwines this with the personal lives of his characters, people whom he brings to life in all their complexity. We see their loves and hates, their strength of character, the ebb and flow of their allegiances; and it is these well-rounded characters who breathe life into this engrossing novel. Mr Harris is a skilful author who creates a believable Cicero, a man of lowly birth who rose to the greatest heights in the Roman Republic, a man of incredible intellect who had the gift of holding an audience in the palm of his hand with the strength of his oratory; a Cicero who we can all believe in and sympathise with. The descriptions of Roman life, the cities, travel by sea and on land, all are well researched and believable as Mr Harris utilises his apparently simple style to great effect, weaving a world which we can almost feel and smell and taste.

Many people believe that Cicero was one of the greatest Romans, not only as a politician and statesman but also a philosopher with deep insights into the human condition, a man who studied the ethics of the Greek masters and tried to apply them to his own time. All of this is portrayed in Dictator through Cicero’s own letters and speeches, bringing to life a man of personal courage whose strong principles had a profound impact on his world, for good and evil. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history and the human condition.

*I saw Dictator on the shelves in the library and it immediately appealed to me; it was not until I was half way through the book that I became aware that it is the final part of a trilogy about Cicero by Robert Harris. I enjoyed the book immensely and will definitely go back and read the first two parts – Imperium and Lustrum. If my review of Dictator appeals to you then I would recommend reading these two books first!

Dictator can be found on  Amazon

You can find out more about Robert Harris here

You can find more of my Recommended Reads here