The sad joyless marriage between Alexander and Sandra came across very well but equally very one-dimensional, and the descriptions of Sandra I found cruel. I know this is how Alexander perceived her, and the book was called Alexander and Maria not Alexander and Sandra, but the story would have had more depth and interest for me had she had a voice too.
How Britain Ends – English Nationalism and the rebirth of Four Nations. Gavin Esler calls for a radical revision of the British constitution.
Folkestone-based Writing Group Write by the Sea (set up in 2018 by Karen Marwood) continued to meet by zoom during lockdown
Is this island story of a lone lighthouse-keeper off the coast of an unspecified African country applicable to populism in other countries?
The Orchid House is about developments in the lives of three friends, Ginny, Bella and Leila, challenge them and their friendships
Lilian and the Italians begins as the 1960’s story of a recently widowed Englishwoman’s quest to find her son, Andrew, last seen in Venice
A Change of Seasons is a promising start by a new author. It is a very atmospheric book, grounded in the drama of every day life
The protagonist, Sophia is a Jewish girl from Babylon. The plot is broadly divided into five phases: her life in Babylon in a family of well-settled Jews, her father being a keeper of manuscripts; her flight across the desert with Nabatean merchants; her seven years with a strict Jewish sect; her allegiance to the zealots in the time of the Roman attacks on Jerusalem, and finally her looking back in old age, from a female academy in Alexandria.
Bangkok Burning by Robert Newbold is an unflinching read. 40-year-old Graham leaves his wife for a new life with a ladyboy lover.
The Big Keep reviewed by Tony Bassett seemed challenging at first but in the end turned out to be a rollicking good read