Tag Archives: fiction

Recommended Read – Island Song by Madeleine Bunting

Book reviews, , , , , , ,

In 1940, Helene, young, naive, and recently married, waves goodbye to her husband, who has enlisted in the British army. Her home, Guernsey, is soon invaded by the Germans, leaving her exposed to the hardships of occupation. Forty years later, her daughter, Roz, begins a search for the truth about her father, and stumbles into the secret history of her mother’s life.

Written with emotional acuity and passionate intensity, Island Song speaks of the moral complexities of war-time allegiances, the psychological toll of living with the enemy and the messy reality of human relationships in a tightly knit community. As Roz discovers, truth is hard to pin down, and so are the rights and wrongs of those struggling to survive in the most difficult of circumstances.

Ms Bunting has created an interesting blend of the past and present which shines a light on just how difficult it was for the residents of the Channel Islands to live under German occupation, the only part of the British Isles to fall into German hands. Roz’s search for the truth about her father is interwoven with the search for art treasure plundered by the Nazi’s, therefore creating a mystery to be unravelled at the same time as a quest for identity.

The author has clearly researched life on the islands during the Second World War – the hunger and fear, the plight of the Russian deportees sent to work on the island’s defences, the feeling of isolation. Alongside this the reader is reminded that nothing is ever black and white, especially not in wartime. Some women had relationships with the occupiers – maybe because they were truly in love, maybe to receive extra rations, maybe to save a loved one from deportation – but whatever the reason they were all vilified at the end of the war. Island Song brings this dichotomy clearly into the light; when reading the experiences of Helene, Roz’s mother, it is easy to see that people often had few choices, that they made the best they could out of a very difficult situation, and the ramifications of those experiences coloured and shaped the rest of their lives. It was not only those who fought the enemy face to face who had to deal with trauma and psychological problems as they moved from war to peace.

The descriptions of the island of Guernsey in Island Song are fascinating, giving the reader a real feeling of the place and its central role in the lives of the islanders. The sounds and scents of the island are brought to life and become a counter-point for the pain and hardship of occupation. Alongside this we meet a German whose background and motivations are not made clear until the final chapter of the book, leading the reader to questions their own views and prejudices of ‘the enemy’, who may well be just another person doing their best to survive.

Is you enjoy historical fiction rooted in fact, or an unconventional love story, then you will probably enjoy Island Song.

Island Song can be found on Amazon

You can find out more about Madeleine Bunting here

You can find more of my Recommended Reads here

Recommended Read – A Burnable Book by Bruce Holsinger

Book reviews, , , , ,

A stunning debut historical thriller set in the turbulent 14th Century for fans of CJ Sansom, The Name of the Rose and An Instance of the Fingerpost.

London, 1385. A city of shadows and fear, in a kingdom ruled by the headstrong young King Richard II, haunted by the spectre of revolt. A place of poetry and prophecy, where power is bought by blood. For John Gower, part-time poet and full-time trader in information, secrets are his currency. When close confidant, fellow poet Geoffrey Chaucer, calls in an old debt, Gower cannot refuse.

The request is simple: track down a missing book. It should be easy for a man of Gower’s talents, who knows the back-alleys of Southwark as intimately as the courts and palaces of Westminster. But what Gower does not know is that this book has already caused one murder, and that its contents could destroy his life. Because its words are behind the highest treason – a conspiracy to kill the king and reduce his reign to ashes…

A Burnable Book is a medieval thriller with London in 1385 as its main setting, but it is not London as we know it. It may surprise some readers to discover that it was really three cities at that time – the walled city of London with Southwark and Westminster beyond. Each of these areas is described in fascinating detail, from the houses to the places of work, the bishop’s palaces to the slums, the law courts to the brothels. Bruce Holsinger has conducted an incredible amount of research which enables the reader to feel that they are there, experiencing the sights and sounds and smells of medieval London. I found the detail of the developing legal profession particularly fascinating as the Inns of Court came into being during this period at the end of the fourteenth century. Here we learn something of the education system which underpinned this legal system, the serjeants-at-law and other members of the legal profession, all within the framework of a novel which keeps the reader engrossed until the last page has been turned.

A Burnable Book is set during a turbulent time in English history with renewed tensions with France, Scottish incursions to the north, and friction amongst nobles all vying for power. This political intrigue is the backdrop for a story with Chaucer and his contemporary writer, Gower, as two of its main characters. Whilst planning his Canterbury Tales Chaucer has written a fictional poem which is then taken and used by enemies of the king who present it as a prophesy of his death, then work to fulfil that prophecy. Can Gower prevent this from happening? (An interesting plot device is the use of playing cards, which were fairly new to England at this time, and which introduce an element which would not be out of place in a modern crime novel).

Mr Holsinger has created a believable cast of characters (some based on real historical figures), they are well rounded with strengths and weaknesses which we will all recognise and who are brought to life by well crafted dialogue which gives the reader a feel for the time without being too anachronistic and difficult to read.

A Burnable Book is a good read; there are admittedly one or two weaknesses in the plot but these can be forgiven by a reader who likes to immerse themselves in past times, and one cannot fault Mr Holsinger’s knowledge and ability to present this in a style which draws the reader in. If you like crime novels, thrillers, and history, then this is a book for you.

A Burnable Book can be found on Amazon

You can find out more about Bruce Holsinger here

You can afind more of my Recommended Reads here