Yesterday, when MJ Shubhra asked me to recommend books at the 'Book Club' show, I was tongue-tied, somehow. I could think of nothing. On my desk lay an Eva Ibbotson, so I said 'Eva Ibbotson'.My favourite by her remains Journey to the River Sea, but I've enjoyed everything I've read by her.The Haunting of Hiram was no different.It's a wacky book about a Scottish castle, bought by an American millionaire, and transported to Texas. The millionaire has a daughter who has polio, and predictably, the millionaire (the Hiram of the title) wants to protect and mollycoddle her. So, the Scottish castle must, at all costs, be freed of all ghosts.The book was a light, joyful read. It made me laugh; what more does a fun book need? Ibbotson's imagination always impresses me. It takes courage to write something utterly unbelievable and be willing to be as silly as you like. The … [Read more...]

When I first read Mary Higgins Clark, I remember how amazed I was. All Around the Town remains one of the most powerful books of all time in my memory.Yet, when I read this, there was the sense of something artificial. As craft, detective fiction shines. I enjoyed the intricacy of the narrative. Romance within a detective novel adds a little sugar and a little spice. Wondering who-what-why keeps the brain alive. Following Mariah's life as an investment advisor with a mother who has Alzheimer's is absorbing. I was curious about the precious parchment, supposedly the only letter ever written by Jesus Christ.But The Lost Years did not touch that core of my being that I want fiction to touch. The romance was interesting, not exciting. Mariah's life was absorbing, not moving. The history was background, not intriguing.Detective fiction remains, for me, craft - not art. 'Syntactic' … [Read more...]

Madeleine Brent, ah, Madeleine Brent. So many of your books are based on the same thing - an English girl in a foreign land, falling in love with an Englishman under impossible circumstances. How is it that I love them all?The power of the narrative just gripped me right through the book. A sense of peace always came with the eager anticipation of the next twist in the tale. I think that's something I could probably say about all Brent's works.Is Stormswift exceptional? I don't know. I want to say that it is because I was just swept away by the tide of the tale, poring over page after page even though I've read the book before. An English girl, sold to a pacha in Afghanistan, whipped into sexual submission, discarded as barren, adopted as a servant by a half-Greek-half-French doctor in captivity... All this happens even before the book has begun. Jemima Lawley, the English girl, … [Read more...]

Unbelievably moving.Two English children in the middle of the Australian desert - what are their chances of survival? But they come across a bush boy. A naked dark-skinned Aborigine. They cannot communicate to one another, but they have to because the 'darkie's' attitude towards them is simple. He will not judge. Everyone is together in the single battle of life - the battle against death. When a little boy and a little girl are stranded, what can the bush boy do except help them?So they begin their journey together, a journey that revolves around yeemara and arkooloola. These two are the bare essentials of life - food and water.But how can the civilised, Christian, English girl Mary come to terms with a darkie who doesn't even speak her language? Besides, the darkie has no sense of shame and wanders around naked! And worst of all, little twinges of jealousy tell Mary that … [Read more...]