No Reserve by Felix Francis

No Reserve by Felix Francis

Summary:

Theo Jennings is a young auctioneer at the Thoroughbred sales ring in Newmarket. The October yearling sales are where the big money exchanges hands in frenzied auctions: millions of Guineas paid for horses that are as yet unnamed, untested, and have never taken a step on the track. It’s the greatest gamble in all of horseracing, and one that can end in ruin.

Theo has just made the biggest sale of his life, when he overhears a secret conversation between the two bidders – can they really have colluded to fix the price of his big sale? When that same horse is found dead the next morning, he has no choice but to investigate, even against the wishes of his boss. But the more he uncovers, the less he can trust the people around him.

The higher the stakes, the greater the risk. And in the bloodstock game, the ultimate price can be murder . .

My Review:

So a little-known fact about me is that I love horses and have been to a few race meetings through the years. So I was thrilled to receive a review copy of No Reserve by Felix Francis (Zaffre) that hits the bookshops tomorrow Thursday 28th September. Flix is the son of the famous mystery author Dick Francis of and I enjoyed many of his books.

This is a riveting read set against the backdrop of the sale of thoroughbred horses for racing and this is where huge sums of money change hands in the blink of an eye. And No Reserve by Felix Francis goes to the heart of the story as Theo Jennings is an auctioneer at Newmarket and he has just brought the hammer down on a sale of a horse for a staggering amount of cash, but so what you may think this happens in horse racing. But this is where the story is just beginning.


The very next morning the same horse is found dead. Now you know this is more than just a coincidence and Theo cannot leave it here and has to investigate what is going on.


The more questions Theo asks the more he must investigate as there are some who just want him to leave the story alone. But what if Theo does not? At what risk to himself does this place him?
If you think watching horse racing was fast, then grab yourself a copy of No Reserve by Felix Francis and grab a coffee, this is a terrific read and one of my novels of the year so far.

400 Pages

My thanks to Sophie Ranson (Ransom PR) and Zaffre Books for the review copy of No Reserve by Felix Francis. Released in hardback on 28th September 2023 and will be available from all good bookshops and Amazon UK and UK Bookshop.org.

The Mystery of Yew Tree House by Lesley Thomson

The Mystery of Yew Tree House by Lesley Thomson

Summary:

Eighty years of secrets. A body that reveals them all.

1940. At Yew Tree House, recently widowed Adelaide Stride is raising her two daughters alone – but it’s not just the threat of German invasion that keeps her up at night. She is surrounded by enemies posing as allies and, while war rages, she grows sure that something terrible is about to happen.

2023. Soon after Stella Darnell begins her holiday at Yew Tree House, a skeleton is found in a pillbox at the bottom of the garden. The bullet hole in the skull tells her that the person was murdered.

This triggers the unravelling of a mystery eighty years in the making. Soon, Stella will learn that Adelaide was right to worry – the fighting might have been happening abroad, but the true enemy was always much closer to home…

My Review:

I am a real fan of Christie Golden Age mystery and released today is The Mystery of Yew Tree House (Head of Zeus) by Lesley Thomson. Though mainly set in the present day but we also head back to wartime in 1940/41 in this fabulous mystery.

The year is 1941 and Britain is at war, life for many will never be the same again, for Rupert and Adelaide they are just trying to make their way in life and raising their two daughters, but now Rupert has been killed at Dunkirk and Adelaide must raise her two daughters alone. Adelaide is afraid she feels the enemy is not across the channel but a lot closer and she is worried especially as night draws in. Now we see the story move to 2023 and Stella Darnell and Jack Harmon have rented the run-down Yew Tree House for a long holiday with 7-year-old-old twins Millie and Justin. It is not long before they discover the pillbox in the garden dating from WWII. The pillbox has been blocked up, but the children soon have found a way past that, but it is what they now have found, and it is a skeleton with a bullet hole in its skull.

So now Yew Tree House is a scene of a murder but who knew of the murder and was Adelaide right back all those years ago and that the enemy was a lot closer to home. What begins now is a story that moves back and forth between the past and present. Who was the victim? and who was the murderer. I really enjoyed the characters and got to se how the story developed and evolved.

It is a mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end. One I really enjoyed.

320 Pages.

My thanks to Sophie Ransom (Ransom PR) for the review Copy of The Mystery of Yew Tree House by Lesley Thomson. Published on 14th September 2023 and is now available through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

The Blood of Others by Graham Hurley

The Blood of Others by Graham Hurley

(Volume 8 Spoils of War)

Summary:

Dieppe, August 1942. A catastrophe no headline dared admit.

Plans are underway for the boldest raid yet on Nazi-occupied France. Over six thousand men will storm ashore to take the port of Dieppe. Lives will change in an instant – both on the beaches and in distant capitals.

Annie Wrenne, working at Lord Mountbatten’s cloak-and-dagger Combined Operations headquarters, is privy to the top secret plans for the daring cross-Channel raid.

Young Canadian journalist George Hogan, protege of influential Lord Beaverbrook, faces a crucial assignment that will test him to breaking point.

And Abwehr intelligence officer Wilhelm Schultz is baiting a trap to lure thousands of Allied troops to their deaths.

Three lives linked by Operation Jubilee: the Dieppe Raid, 19 August 1942. Over six thousand men will storm the heavily defended French beaches.

Less than half of them will make it back alive.

My Review:

I have read just a few of Graham Hurley’s novels and I am really delighted share my review of The Blood of Others (Head of Zeus) today which is also publication day. This is the book that Graham himself will tell you that he always wanted to write. Set against the backdrop of the Dieppe beach landings in August 1942. But this is a story told from both sides and I have to say that I really enjoyed reading this WWII thriller.

The Dieppe landings contained thousands of soldiers mainly Canadian troops and was an invasion that in the end cost the lives of many of those brave soldiers in August 1942. In this novel there are two main characters on both sides in London George Hogan, a reporter sent to cover the war, we first met George when he was young and who really impressed Lord Beaverbrook and now he is at the forefront of covering the war as it unfolds, but he now forms a relationship with Annie Wrenne who herself has close links to Lord Mountbatten and now MI5 have him in their sights, but why? Is George a spy or a Nazi sympathiser who might pass on secrets to the Germans?

On the German side we meet Wilhelm Schulz who is a member of the German intelligence service the Abwehr. Now Wilhelm is sent to Paris as an officer of the intelligence service. Paris has a lot to offer even during the war for a German intelligence officer and it is not long before he meets an attractive woman. We now get to see both sides and the build up to the Dieppe invasion, is this a well-planned plot to lure thousands of allied troops to their death? I thought I knew quite a bit about the ill-fated invasion but what Graham does through The Blood of Others is take you to London and Paris and to the beaches of Dieppe and then just as to what really lay behind the decision to invade at dawn on the 19th of August 1942.

What I will say is this is a superb read, slow to start with but also well researched and once in you will not want to put this down. If you have not read any of Graham’s WWII thrillers, then why not start here with The Blood of Others and then you can get a real feel for Graham’s writing.

400 Pages.

My thanks to Sophie Ransom (Ransom PR) for the review Copy of The Blood of Others by Graham Hurley. Published by Head of Zeus on Thursday 6th July 2023 and is now available through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

The Blog Tour

In Memoriam by Alice Winn Book Review

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

Summary:

In 1914, war feels far away to Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood. They’re too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting his own private battle – an all-consuming infatuation with the dreamy, poetic Ellwood – not having a clue that his best friend is in love with him, always has been. When Gaunt’s mother asks him to enlist in the British army to protect the family from anti-German attacks, he signs up immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings. But Ellwood and their classmates soon follow him into the horrors of trenches. Though Ellwood and Gaunt find fleeting moments of solace in one another, their friends are dying in front of them, and at any moment they could be next. An epic tale of the devastating tragedies of war and the forbidden romance that blooms in its grip, In Memoriam is a breathtaking debut.

My Review:

One of the best debut novels I have read in a long time is In Memoriam (Viking) by Alice Winn. I was reading this late at night after a long day at work and evenings studying I found the hours would just go so quickly. There have been many novels on WWI but this is just stunning in the way Alice Winn writes.

The summer of 1914 and Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood are a word away from war. But it does not escape them as they talk about the war and play act. What I enjoyed was the snapshots of the newspaper the school would publish called The Preshutian in this there would be columns and also debates. The war would also be debated. The two best friends though different, Ellwood was poetic whereas Gaunt was half German and half British. There was a secret that the boys could not openly discuss and that was they were in love, but dare not admit to each other. Remember this is 1914.

It would not be long before the names of the dead would appear in The Preshutian, those that had fallen and been at the school. War was getting close, in fact too close and now Henry Gaunt was under pressure to sign up and fight for his country. It is not long after the Ellwood arrives at the hell that was the trenches. This is were Alice Winn takes the story to another level, the horrors that the young men faced, the slaughter of the innocent as they went over the top or be shot for cowardice. The soldiers that suffered horrific injuries and the dead and dying left on the battlefield, let alone life in the appalling conditions they faced daily in the trenches.

This is a novel that is powerful and openly raw and emotional. You just cannot fail to wonder was fait was to follow for our two protagonists as the war intensified. But the two men who clearly were in love would soon admit there love for each other.

As for the ending of In Memoriam, that you will have to discover for yourself, but this is one novel that will remain with me for a very long time. I will say that the research that Alice Winn did for her debut novel is detailed at the back of the novel and is extensive. If you enjoy reading historical novels and you have been thinking of reading In Memoriam, then I am happy to recommend. It is harrowing in places, but war is harrowing, and World War One was beyond hell. I am really interested to see what Alice Winn now comes up with for her next novel.

400 Pages

In Memoriam by Alice Winn was Published on 9th March and is now available through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

Go as a River by Shelley Read

Go as a River by Shelley Read

Summary:

On a cool autumn day in 1948, Victoria Nash delivers late-season peaches from her family’s farm set amid the wild beauty of Colorado. As she heads into her village, a dishevelled stranger stops to ask her the way. How she chooses to answer will unknowingly alter the course of both their young lives.

So begins the mesmerising story of split-second choices and courageous acts that propel Victoria away from the only home she has ever known and towards a reckoning with loss, hope and her own untapped strength.

Gathering all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, she will arrive at a single rocky decision that will change her life for ever.

GO AS A RIVER is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettable characters and a breathtaking natural setting, it is a sweeping story of survival and becoming, of the deepest mysteries of love, truth and fate.

My Review:

When you have read the first few pages of Go as a River (Doubleday) by Shelley Read you know you are reading something very special. Already one of my books of 2023 and it will linger long in the memory when you finished reading. A story that is compelling and so beautifully written, heart-breaking but there is hope in the story.

The story set in the late 1940’s follows seventeen-year-old Victoria (Torie) Nash who has already know what tragedy is at a young age. Now Victoria is working on the family’s peach farm in Colorado. Torrie is now the only female in the family. It is late Summer and Torrie is heading into town to make a delivery of some of the late picked peaches, but here is a chance encounter with a stranger that will ignite many feelings but also there is danger. Wilson Moon is a Native American and has found himself in the town at the same moment as Torrie. They meet though it is a fleeting moment in time. Something has awakened in Torrie, and she finds Wilson captivating. This moment will change Torrie’s life forever more.

Though the start of the novel may seem a little slow to begin with, it sets the tone for what is to come in the remaining pages and for our main character. Something about hatred in the town where she lives and those who are not welcome in their town. Now we follow Torrie as she must flee the family home and hide in the mountains. How will she survive in the wilderness. She is now alone and must survive as the seasons change. But the one thing Torrie will find is that nature has a way of healing. But the story does not come to end for as she now must head home only to find more heartache, the family farm that has been theirs for generations is to be taken from them and flooded. The valley will be flooded and gone forever.

This is a story where we follow Victoria through the decades that follow, she has known tragedy at a young age, love, and lost love as well as the worst form of hatred. A novel set in the wilderness and is so descriptive of the mountains and landscape of Torrie’s life. There are several themes running through Go as a River. The characters are written so well into the novel. But the writing by Shelley Read is breath-taking. A novel not to be missed.

320 Pages.

My thanks to Alison Barrow and Doubleday for the review Copy of Go as a River by Shelley Read that is Published on 13 April 2023 and is now available to order through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

The Exes by Jane Lythell

The Exes by Jane Lythell

Summary:

When Holly is bequeathed a large but derelict house, she wants to share her good fortune. So she gets in touch with former boyfriend Ray, a builder who can project-manage the renovation in exchange for the basement flat. The spacious middle floor would make a glorious studio space—perfect for her friend and first love, Spencer. And before Holly knows it, the upper floor is let to soon-to-be ex-husband James, who’s on a path of reinvention from city highflyer to osteopath. What could possibly go wrong?

But no good deed goes unpunished, and soon the house is riddled with tension, rivalry, and petty spitefulness. And as Holly is beset with migraines, nausea and spiralling self-doubt, even the house itself seems to be turning against her. But for someone, everything is going to plan . . .

My Review:

Over the years, I have read a number of books by Jane Lythell and I have really enjoyed reading all of them Jane has also had one of her books made into a film in the USA. How delighted I was to receive a copy of Jane’s latest book The Exes (Bloodhound Books) that has recently been released and it is one of those books that you just cannot leave alone.

What an opening to The Exes and this really is how to pull in a reader from the very start, no spoilers from me but just take my word for it. The story follows the main character Holly as she has been bequeathed Penumbra House situated in Brighton from her aunt Lillian and the house does need a lot of work to make it into her dream home. The house has a large garden at the back that also needs a lot of work to hack down the brambles and weeds, at the bottom of the garden there is a tree. Do you take it down or cut it back? What Holly does decide to do is to invite some of her former boyfriends to move in and so long as they pay rent, it also helps that one is just really good at renovation and this will become a project to get the house fixed up and that includes the leaky roof as the rain pours in.

It is not long after that things start to go wrong, and talk about things that go bump in the night. It tuns out that there are now threats to Holly personally and then there are the extracts from her aunt’s diary that suddenly and unexpectedly start appearing on her doormat each morning that tell a story of her aunt Lillian that Holly never knew about and the disturbing unease that this causes starts to play at Holly’s mind. Who is doing this and why? Clearly someone has a grudge at her being given this rundown old house.

Why does Holly’s friends dog seem to have a real interest in tree at the bottom of the garden, he heads straight there as soon as the backdoor is open. It is not long before the exes start to bicker as tensions rise. I really enjoy how Jane Lythell creates her characters and weaves a story within a story. What transpires is a psychological drama that twists and turns and keeps you wanting more. What is really going on at Penumbra House?

The Exes delivers on all fronts and if you are looking for your next book to read you will not be disappointed.

334 Pages.

My thanks to Jane Lythell and Bloodhound Books for the review Copy of The Exes by Jane Lythel Published on 2nd March 2023 and is now available through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

Poor Naked Wretches: Shakespeare’s Working People by Stephen Unwin

Poor Naked Wretches: Shakespeare’s Working People by Stephen Unwin

Summary:

Was Shakespeare a snob? Poor Naked Wretches challenges the idea that our greatest writer despised working people, and shows that he portrayed them with as much insight, compassion and purpose as the rich and powerful. Moreover, they play an important role in his dramatic method.
Stephen Unwin reads Shakespeare anew, exploring the astonishing variety of working people in his plays, as well as the vast range of cultural sources from which they were drawn. Unwin argues that the robust realism of these characters, their independence of mind and their engagement in the great issues of the day, makes them much more than mere ‘comic relief’.
Compassionate, cogent and wry, Poor Naked Wretches grants these often-overlooked figures the dignity and respect they deserve.

WINNER OF THE FALSTAFF AWARD BEST BOOK 2022

My Review:

What do you think of when you read a Shakespeare play or someone talks to you of William Shakespeare’s plays? The setting the actors perhaps or maybe it is the key characters of his plays? On a recent study trip to The London Library I was just looking through the recent releases section of books and one book really caught my eye. Poor Naked Wretches: Shakespeare’s Working People (Reaktion Books) by Stephen Unwin. One of those books that you were really pleased to find. Now here is a book that will make you see Shakespeare’s plays in a whole new light.

Read or watch closely William Shakespeare’s plays and there is more to see and understand than the leading characters. What reading Stephen Unwin’s book teaches us is that there lies a whole new dynamic of the great mans plays. It is the poor and the working class, the common people that go to make up his plays that really are missed. Together with a series of images in the book they go to understand about the lives of the ordinary people that actually mirrored Shakespeare’s own life.

The books is laid out so that you get to read chapters on various social settings so there are chapters on “Fools, Clowns and Jesters”, “Soldiers, Sailors and Men at Arms”, “Maids, Nurses and Witches”, “Inns, Taverns and Brothels” to name a just a few and each chapter will take a close look the settings and in turn some of Shakespeare’s plays and a whole new world of understanding how Shakespeare wrote his plays whether they were the comic plays or the more darker plays and in turn what you do get by reading Stephen Unwin’s outstanding book is a deeper and closer understanding of details and character formation of his plays. So much detail goes into each play, be it in written form or acted on stage it can easily be missed and now comes along this book that opens up a whole new world of understanding. An outstanding book. Even if you are not an avid Shakespeare reader or watcher of his plays, it gives a voice to the poor and the working people.

Stephen Unwin is a theatre and opera director who founded the English Touring Theatre in 1993 and you get a real sense of Stephen’s own experience of Shakespeare’s plays and Poor Naked Wretches went on to win the Falstaff Award Best Book 2022.

On a personal level, I have to say just how well the book is laid out, and the research Stephen has done to make this such a fascinating read. Sadly, I must return my copy to The London Library in the coming days, so I will now be getting my own copy as this is going to be of real help with my studies that include Shakespeare in the coming years.

304 Pages.

Poor Naked Wretches: Shakespeare’s Working People by Stephen Unwin.     Published by Reaktion Books in hardback on 11 July 2022 and is now available through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

A Winter Grave by Peter May

A Winter Grave by Peter May

Summary:

A TOMB OF ICE

A young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station in Kinlochleven discovers the body of a missing man entombed in ice.

A DYING DETECTIVE

Cameron Brodie, a Glasgow detective, sets out on a hazardous journey to the isolated and ice-bound village. He has his own reasons for wanting to investigate a murder case so far from his beat.

AN AGONIZING RECKONING

Brodie must face up to the ghosts of his past and to a killer determined to bury forever the chilling secret that his investigation threatens to expose.

Set against a backdrop of a frighteningly plausible near-future, A WINTER GRAVE is Peter May at his page-turning, passionate and provocative best.

My Review:

I have always looked forward to a new a new thriller by Peter May and out today 19 January is his new standalone novel A Winter Grave (Riverrun) and based in the Scottish Highlands and there is clear climate warnings through this brilliant and very readable thriller.

A Winter Grave is set in the future and the year is 2051 the planet we call our home has changed forever and people are on the move to survive. On a Scottish mountain Addie is checking the weather station the weather station for the latest readings. But there is something really chilling up that ice covered mountain near Loch Leven. Encased in ice inside an ice tunnel is a body of a man but how did he get here and what really happened to him. Alone up a mountain and you come across a body in ice is frightening and for Addie she needs to get off the mountain and get the police involved.  

We now get to meet police detective Cameron Brodie who has been sent to investigate the body on the mountain. The body has been identified as missing journalist Charles Younger but now the question is what happened to Mr Younger was it an accident or was it fowl play. When the report from the pathologist arrives, it points to something more sinister. What I loved about Peter May’s latest novel is the characters hat really bring a personal touch to the plot especially when it comes to DI Cameron Brodie and Addie Sinclair and Cameron now needs to tell her who he really is.

Now Brodie is investigating a mysterious murder but soon he is going to have his hands full with another. This quiet Scottish Highland spot is now a murder scene.

There is enough here to keep you really guessing as to what really is going on and who is behind the murders and why. It is superbly written and crafted. If you are a Peter May fan, then A Winter Grave is your next read. If you have not ready, any novels by Peter May, what a book to start with. You will not be disappointed.

368 Pages.

My thanks to Sophie Ransom (Ransom PR) and Jess Hunt and Riverrun for the review copy of A Winter Grave by Peter May Published on 19 January 2023 and is now available in Hardback through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

Summary:

Oxford, 1836.

The city of dreaming spires.

It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.

And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.

Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.

Until it became a prison…

But can a student stand against an empire?

My Review:

I am not normally taken to reading fantasy novels but there has been one book that before Christmas I was completely absorbed in and it was Babel: An Arcane History (Harper Voyager) by R.F. Kuang. I have to say it completely blew me away with the style of writing and how absorbed in the main characters I became.

Welcome to Oxford it is 1836 and the city of dreaming spires. This though is an alternative nineteenth century and the British Empire. Here in Oxford the centre of all knowledge lies Babel an institute that is the centre of translation. But that is not all, there are things going here that really is the lynchpin to the British Empire.

It is here that some of the brightest come to learn from all parts of the British Empire and there is one that is the main character in this incredible novel. His name is Robin Swift. Robin was born in Canton but at a young age he lost his mother to the dreaded plague. Robin could easily have lost his way in life at such a young age but his has a benefactor and soon Robin finds himself taken from his home to England but now he will need to prove himself in education to gain entrance to Oxford. When Robin does finally qualify he also gets to join Babel, the institution that is the heart of translation. But what have the production of magical silver bars got to do with powering the British Empire. This dear reader is for you to find out for yourself. No spoilers from me. Though I will say it is absolutely ingenious piece of work that is Babel.

Robin gets to meet some of the other students and becomes friends with three of them. But all is not as it seems. Robin along with a few other students and are subjected to discrimination on a shocking level. But the they are at Babel to study translation and languages it here that things may sound complicated as the students seek matching words from different languages that in a sense make the magical silver bars. All sounds incredibly fantastic. And it really is. If you have an interest in philology then you will really appreciate R.F. Kuang’s writing as she is a translator herself a Marshall Scholar in Chinese-English. There are many themes that you will encounter within the storyline and does not shy away from the some of the horrors of the British Empire. Throughout the novel R.F. Kuang has added many footnotes that are really helpful. But if like me you love the study of words then you will be chomping at the bit on every page and there is close to 560 pages. I look forward to the day when I have more time to go back and re-read Babel at my leisure and enjoy once again.

560 Pages.

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang is Published by Harper Voyager and is now available in hardback through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World by Irene Vallejo. Translated by Charlotte Whittle

Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World by Irene Vallejo.

Translated by Charlotte Whittle

Summary:

Long before books were mass produced, those made of reeds from along the Nile were worth fighting and dying for. Journeying along the battlefields of Alexander the Great, beneath the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, at Cleopatra’s palaces and the scene of Hypatia’s murder, award-winning author Irene Vallejo chronicles the excitement of literary culture in the ancient world, and the heroic efforts that ensured this impressive tradition would continue.

Weaved throughout are fascinating stories about the spies, scribes, illuminators, librarians, booksellers, authors, and statesmen whose rich and sometimes complicated engagement with the written word bears remarkable similarities to the world today: Aristophanes and the censorship of the humourists, Sappho and the empowerment of women’s voices, Seneca and the problem of a post-truth world.

Vallejo takes us to mountainous landscapes and the roaring sea, to the capitals where culture flourished and the furthest reaches where knowledge found refuge in chaotic times. In this sweeping tour of the history of books, the wonder of the ancient world comes alive and along the way we discover the singular power of the written word.

My Review:

Imagine a book that would take you back to the earliest days of writing when before the earliest forms of paper it was on tablets of stone, then the same book would bring you right up to modern times. One of the most incredible books of this year has to be Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World ( Hodder & Stoughton) by Irene Vallejo and translated by Charlotte Whittle. A book that has become an international bestseller.

This really is the story of the birth of the alphabet and the first papyrus scrolls. These were fought over and died for. Irene Vallejo takes the reader on journey that for anyone who has a love of books and their history will rejoice. It is a pure delight to read from the first page to the last. I can really understand why Papyrus has sold over a million copies worldwide. But this this is not just a history of books, as Irene Vallejo covers a wide spectrum of topics, which is why I think this book will become a classic over time, of this I have no doubt. When you think back thousands of years to the great library of Alexandria and the thousands of scrolls that that must have contained. It was Mark Antony who brought many thousands of scrolls to the great library as a gift to his love that was Cleopatra.

Irene Vallejo really has done her research and her love of the written word really pours out of every page. There are so many stories and facts about ancient literature that it one of those books you can dip in and out of and learn something each time you do. This is not a heavy book for academics as such, but anyone with a love of a history of ancient literature and where and how it all began as well as the great philosophers are all here. This is a book about libraries of the past and of the present and also the booksellers. As Irene will tell the reader about how you can create a parallel world when opening a book and reading every word, and yet at any moment you can move you gaze away and return to the world that is.

When you think of the first ancient letters on clay to papyrus and move through the ages to leather bound books to the modern day books on both paper and then those words read on electronic devices, think back to where it all began in the ancient world. This really does bring those earliest moments of ancients times alive. It is a phenomenal achievement and a book that will stand the test of time. Just to mention that the translation is by Charlotte Whittle. A book of discovery and wonder and Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World by Irene Vallejo I highly recommend.

464 Pages.

Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World by Irene Vallejo is Published by Hodder & Stoughton and is now available in hardback through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org