Author Archives: Jules
HHhH – what does it mean?
The title of this novel is from a popular German saying of World War Two “Himmler’s brain is called Heydrich” and is based around the heroic and suicidal assassination of the main architect of “The Final Solution” and Himmler’s right hand … Continue reading
Posted in Book reviews, Distractions
Tagged HHhH, laurent binet, reinhard heydrich, sam taylor, World war two fiction
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Meet Dr Siri Paiboun
Colin Cotterill has created a loveable set of characters in his Dr Siri series. Dr Siri, a french-trained physician, is the reluctant coroner in Communist Laos in the 1970′s. In the course of his work, which he must undertake with extremely … Continue reading
The Midnight Dress
The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee. A teenager who feels like an outcast is nothing new but when combined with a mystery which seems to revolve around a dress created out of a 1950′s gown something interesting happens. It is … Continue reading
Victoria Hislop goes back to Greece
Victoria Hislop won great acclaim for her first novel The Island which was set on a Leper Colony on Crete – an island off the coast of Greece. Her next novel Return was set in Spain during the Spanish Civil … Continue reading
Gold by Chris Cleave
What is Gold about? It’s about elite sports training and the physical and psychological toughness needed to reach the Olympics. It’s about how each of us deals differently with grief and loss and how that impacts on our lives. It’s … Continue reading
New York, New York
While mucking around in Novelist, one of the library online resources for readers, I found a link to the Colum McCann novel, Let the Great World Spin, from a previous novel I had enjoyed and reviewed on this site A Visit … Continue reading
Posted in Book reviews
Tagged book review, colum mccann, let the great world spin, man on wire, new york fiction
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The Red Thread by Ann Hood
Maya Lange runs an agency called The Red Thread that matches adoptive parents with abandoned baby girls from China. We meet five sets of adoptive parents and learn why they need or want to adopt a child from China and what … Continue reading
China before Mao
I have recently started researching China with the idea of a journey through the country in a couple of years time. In the past I have read many heart-rending stories about China during the time of Mao. Wild Swans : three … Continue reading
Billy Lynn’s satirical look at life, war and everything.
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk – with a title that gives nothing away about the content of the novel – is an amusing and wicked satire of middle America and the American War in Iraq. Billy Lynn is with the … Continue reading
Arcadia
The tale of Arcadia is told through the voice of “Bit”- Ridley Stone and is set in Upstate New York beginning in the 1960′s. Bit’s parents, Hannah and Abe, are part of a community striving to create a perfect place, Arcadia, … Continue reading






