John Murray

An intriguing Victorian novel about a girl called Esperanza Gorst, who is employed as a lady's maid to Baroness Tansor but, Esperanza has been sent by her guardian to perform certain tasks.

I enjoyed this book very much becouse as the plot enfolds I gradually learned more about Esperanza's former life and the reasons for her being there. The main themes of the book are obsessive love which affects future generations. Murder and fraud are skilfully woven into an intricate plot that will keep the pages turning until the end.

Having not previously been a fan of the Ed Loy novels, I was a little apprehensive about starting this book, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I found the story much easier to follow, the characters more easy to relate to, and the whole thing a bit easier to understand than the last Hughes novel I read.

While its not exactly a constantly-keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat story, I found the book easy to read and enjoyable enough to keep going until the end, where I was surprised by the outcome.

Wow! This is a very densely written book about how we seems to have collected numerous foreign words into the English language and made them our own. For instance shampoo is a Hindi word - the origin from the verb champna - to knead or press to relieve fatigue and stimulate circulation! Isn't that why we enjoy having our heads massaged and washed in a Hairdressing Salon!

Also Propaganda wasn't a political word as we know and understand it now, but a specialist term for the promotion of the Christian Faith!

Although this book is about the murder of the wife of a popular Breakfast Host, it is realy about love. Robert
Rotenberg spins his story out like a spiders web with so many chracters and subplots that keep the reader
guessing until the last page. My favourite chracter is Judge Summers who is a fiesty old man who terrifies everyone and runs his court room like a ship, but I am sure that there are others like him.

This is one of the best thrillers that I have read for a very long time with a ingenious plot. Absolutly Brillant.

A factually well written book, however I found it difficult to follow all the references to the IRA etc and to keep up with who was who. The main character lacked a bit of substance but was likable, and quite funny at times. ..read more

This is the second book in Abbess of Meaux murder mysteries.The nun Hildgrard is sent on a mission to buy a holy relic for the Abbey.This journey will take her from England across the Alpes and eventually to Florence.

An enchanting book. Take an idyllic English country house estate, with gardens, meadows, woods, a river, an island complete with folly and set it in a racy 1920s golden summer. People it with eccentrics, war heroes and survivors, slim young things and a pre-pubescent wunderkind and stir with Roman and Egyptian mythology, voodoo and lost tribe shamanism. Then sprinkle with ghosts and memories, death and sex.

An enthralling book about the Italian P.O.W.S.who converted two huts into a chapel at Lamb Holm in the Orkneys.Kirtsen Mckenzie gives us an insight into what life was like for the Italians, who lived there under very difficult circumstances with the extreme cold and gruelling hard work yet they found the time and the energy to convert and decorate this chapel.I believe that these men were on a spritual journey becouse this project gave them hope that things could only get better. This Chapel is a symbol of what can be achieved in adversity. ..read more

This book explores the river Indus from Pakistan to it's source in the Tibetan mountains. We are taken on a wonderful journey through several civilisations, then several era's of archaeology and religion. We also learn how the people live by the river Indus today.

As outlined in the subtitle, this is an account of the development and career of this particular plane and its part in the British war effort during the mid 20th century. It seems very thorough, covering both famous episodes - such as the Dambusters raids, and less well-known aspects, such as the disagreements over its design and the gambles taken to make the first planes.