The Road by Cormac McCarthy

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It is difficult to assign this novel a genre. Horror? Science Fiction perhaps? Regardless, it is a compelling read - hardly surprising given its Pulitzer Prize winning status. It is both bleak (VERY bleak) and beautiful, the story of the love between a father and son who remain unnamed throughout the story, and who are on a journey to survive(the Road of the title)in a post apocalyptic world. We are left to draw our own conclusions about the cause of the apocalypse. This is an existential piece in which cause and history is irrelevant, nothing that was is any longer. The future is a meaningless concept, all that matters is to survive the day. The father and son however, hold onto a remnant of hope - "the fire". They are "good guys" and this keeps them going.

It is impossible to do justice do McCarthy's prose. Through his profound talent with words, McCarthy takes us on the journey with the two protagonists,in language that like the landscape,is terse and sparse but overwhelming in its descriptive power. It is ultimately a triumph of the power of a father's love and belief in his son, and a little boy's trust that somewhere, in some of the few of the world's survivors, there is still good to be found among the horrors encountered almost daily, in the struggle to survive. Perhaps it is also a comment of hope for the world, that even in the most unspeakable and evil circumstances,somewhere at sometime, the flame of humanity will continue to flicker.

---- Reviewed by Barb, guest

Resistance by Agnes Humbert

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Genre - Non Fiction

Agnes Humbert was an art historian living in Paris when the Germans invaded in 1940. She immediately became part of a group which spread anti-Nazi propaganda throughout occupied France through newsletters called Resistance. The title of the newsletter, Resistance, became the name of all the groups opposing the occupation. Agnes’ group was quickly betrayed & Agnes was arrested & sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for distributing propaganda. This book was written using the diary she kept until her arrest & her memories of her trial & deportation to a German labour camp. Agnes was forced to work in German factories in shocking conditions as slave labour. Slave workers were forced to do the most dangerous jobs such as weaving nylon without any protective clothing. Their hands were continually burnt by acid & they were considered unworthy to receive medical attention or adequate food. Agnes fought back by sabotaging her work so as to make the nylon useless or the wooden boxes she made in another factory fall apart because she cut short the nails she was given. After the Americans liberated the camp in 1945, Agnes began organizing supplies for the refugees pouring into Germany & collecting evidence to prosecute the Nazis. This remarkable book is a testimony to the strength of Agnes Humbert. She never loses her sense of humour, or her sense of outrage at the fate of her country & her determination to survive.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Star gazing by Linda Gillard

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Genre - Romance

This is a wonderful romantic novel with an unusual heroine. Marianne has been blind since birth. Tragically widowed in her 20s when her husband was killed in the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion, she now lives in Edinburgh with her sister Louisa, a novelist who writes Scottish Gothic vampire romance. Now in her 40s, Marianne is lonely but determined not to admit it, spiky, prickly & resistant to help or pity. One night, she arrives home in the snow & loses her door key. A man appears, helps her find her key, they have a brief conversation about Puccini, and he disappears. Keir Harvey lives on Skye, and as he gets to know Marianne, he becomes determined to take her to Skye and “show” her the stars. As a sighted person, I can’t judge how accurate Linda Gillard’s portrayal of blindness from the inside is, but, as a reader, I was totally convinced. Keir is a heart-stoppingly attractive hero, and Marianne is so stroppy, you just have to love her & want this relationship to last. It’s unusual in romantic fiction to have a heroine who exasperates the reader as much as Marianne does, but, the book is all the better for it. There are more than enough bland heroines out there. Marianne is real & the journey she takes with Keir is a delight. Edinburgh & Skye in winter are gorgeous settings for the story, and Louisa & her Goth assistant, Garth, provide some lighter moments. This is a fantastic romance with real characters. I read it in one afternoon, unputdownable.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The fears of Henry IV by Ian Mortimer

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Genre - Non Fiction

Henry IV is one of the lesser-known English monarchs. Most lovers of English history would know that he deposed Richard II, had leprosy & was the father of Henry V, & most of that was learned from Shakespeare. Actually, he didn’t have leprosy, just a nasty skin disease. He did depose Richard II, but Richard was far from the noble monarch depicted by Shakespeare. He was a paranoid tyrant who planned to disinherit Henry when his father died & threatened the inheritance rights of all the nobility. Parliament virtually begged Henry to accept the crown, but once Henry was king, they thwarted his plans by keeping him short of money. His reign was plagued by rebellions in Wales & in the North of England, wars with France & Scotland, & the struggle with Parliament. In contrast with the glorious military achievements of his son, Henry V, his reign seems disastrous. However, Mortimer’s portrait of the king is a sympathetic one. He had little choice but to depose an unfit monarch, but then had to live with the consequences of an act that was seen to be violating God’s laws.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The private patient by P D James

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Genre - Mystery


Investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn is booked into a private clinic in Dorset to have a scar removed from her face. The scar was inflicted over 30 years before, and when Mr Chandler-Powell, the plastic surgeon, asks Rhoda why she’s having the scar removed now, she says “Because I no longer have need of it.” This is the intriguing opening of the new mystery by P D James. We know on the first page that Rhoda is the murder victim, but why is she murdered? Is it because of who she is, or is it what she knows? James always uses wonderfully isolated locations for her books, & the Dorset clinic is just the kind of remote place with a small group of suspects which she enjoys. The staff of the clinic are the main suspects & most of them have something to hide. The book has an air of finality about it, as Commander Adam Dalgliesh contemplates marriage & a new job when his investigative team is disbanded. Recommended for lovers of the classic English detective story.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters