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Aug 28, 20221 min read
1008. Peng Shepherd - The Cartographers
This is also extraordinary and very good. An incredibly well structured and plotted novel about cartography, encompassing an element of...
Jul 14, 20221 min read
996. Yangsze Choo - The Night Tiger
Very good, although quite difficult at times. The story of two teenagers, set in Colonial Malaya in the 1930s. The teenagers are both...
May 9, 20221 min read
975. Anne Perry - A Truth To Lie For
This was pretty low grade, despite being described as ‘reminiscent of Graham Greene’. I don’t think so. A quasi-espionage thriller set...
Jan 9, 20221 min read
932. Martin Edwards - Mortmain Hall
Never heard of this guy, or read anything of his before. 1930’s upper class decadence and sexual depravity meets 1930’s intellectualised...
Oct 5, 20191 min read
719. Tracey Chevalier - A Single Thread
One of Paddy’s and this was brilliant. Set in the early 1930’s and about a 38 year old spinster whose intended had been killed the 1st...
Sep 30, 20191 min read
717. Jessie Burton - The Muse
This is by the author of ‘The Miniturist’ which I have seen on television if not read. Not in the George Eliot class (well what would...
Aug 21, 20191 min read
704. CJ Sansom - Winter In Madrid
I enjoyed this, although it was long and hard work! Annoyingly, it succumbed to various clichés attaching to this type of novel; about 3...
May 12, 20191 min read
682. William Golding - The Pyramid
A strange book about English provincial life, set unclearly in time, but I think in the 1930’s. The central figure is an adolescent boy...
Feb 23, 20181 min read
574. Margery Allingham - The Tiger In The Smoke
Another Susan Hill recommendation. I have never read this author before, detective novels written I think in the 1950’s. This was a...
Feb 12, 20181 min read
572. Muriel Spark - The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie
I don’t think I have ever read any Muriel Spark before, but put her on my list after reading 568. Quite a strange book; Jean Brodie’s...
Feb 21, 20161 min read
379. William Boyd - Sweet Caress
Very readable, but a little similar to other (I think W Boyd) books; the 20th century seen through the developing life of an individual....
Jun 26, 20141 min read
225. Graham Greene - Stamboul Train
Pretty good. A relatively early Greene, about a rail trip from London to Istanbul in the 1930’s. As the train progresses — Ostende,...
Feb 5, 20141 min read
181. Patrick White - The Tree Of Man
Extraordinary. Long and difficult (although ultimately very simple) book, simply about human life. Very un-glorified. The characters are...