Tuesday, 12 February 2019
Monday, 11 February 2019
An Englishman In Madrid by Eduardo Mendoza
Paperback: Anthony Whitelands, an English art historian, is invited to Madrid to value an aristocrat's collection.
At a welcome lunch, he encounters Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder and leader of the Falange, a nationalist party whose antics are bringing the country ever closer to civil war.
The paintings turn out to be worthless, but before Whitelands can leave for London the duque's daughter Paquita reveals a secret and genuine treasure, held for years in the cellars of her ancestral home.
Afraid that the duque will cash in his wealth to finance the Falange, the Spanish authorities resolve to keep a close eye on the Englishman, who is also being watched by his own embassy.
As Whitelands - ever the fool for a pretty face - vies with Primo de Rivera for Paquita's affections, he learns of a final interested party: Madrid is crawling with Soviet spies, and Moscow will stop at nothing to secure the hidden prize.
An Englishman In Madrid (2013) won both the Planeta Prize and the European Book Prize (fiction category) and is translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor.
About the author: Eduardo Mendoza studied law in the first half of the 1960s and lived in New York between 1973 and 1982, working as interpreter for the United Nations. He maintained an intense relationship with novelists Juan Benet and Juan García Hortelano, poet Pere Gimferrer and writer (and neighbour) Félix de Azúa.
In 1975, he published his very successful first novel, La verdad sobre el caso Savolta (The Truth about the Savolta Case), where he shows his ability to use different resources and styles. The novel is considered a precursor to the social change in the Spanish post-Franco society and the first novel of the transition to democracy. He describes the union fights from the beginning of the 20th century, showing the social, cultural and economic reality of the Barcelona at the time. A year later he was awarded the Critic Prize.
His most acclaimed novel is probably La ciudad de los prodigios (The City of Marvels, 1986), about the social and urban evolution of Barcelona between the Universal Expositions of 1888 and 1929. It was adapted to the screen by Mario Camus in 1999.
In 1996, he published his third major Barcelona novel, this time set in the 1940s, Una comedia ligera (A Light Comedy).
Also within Mendoza's work stands the saga of Ceferino, a peculiar character, a detective locked up in a mental hospital. The first of these novels, El misterio de la cripta embrujada (The Mystery of the Bewitched Crypt, 1979) is a parody with hilarious moments mixing detective stories with gothic narrative. In the second novel of the saga, El laberinto de las aceitunas (The Labyrinth of the Olives, 1982) he confirms his talent as parodist; the novel is one of his most successful works. The third (and last) novel of the saga, La aventura del tocador de señoras (The Adventure of the Powder Room) was published in 2002.
The newspaper El País published two of his novels by instalments, Sin noticias de Gurb ( No Word from Gurb, 1990) and El último trayecto de Horacio Dos (The Last Journey of Horatio Dos, 2001).
In 1990, his work in Catalan Restauració made its debut. He later translated it into Spanish himself.
In 2010, Mendoza won the Premio Planeta, Spain's most lucrative literary prize for An Englishman in Madrid.
About the translator: Nick Caistor is a translator, journalist and author. He has translated more than forty books from Spanish and Portuguese, including works by Paulo Coelho, Eduardo Mendoza and Juan Marsé. He has twice been awarded the Valle-Inclán prize for Spanish translation.
Rating: 5/5
Saturday, 9 February 2019
When Satan Wore A Cross: The Shocking True Story Of A Killer Priest by Fred Rosen
Paperback: From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth, From the laziness that is content with half-truths, From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth, O God of truth, deliver us. - Hugh B Brown
In 1980 in Toledo, Ohio - on one of the holiest days of the church calendar - the body of a nun was discovered in the sacristy of a hospital chapel.
Seventy-one-year-old Sister Margaret Ann had been strangled and stabbed, her corpse arranged in a shameful and stomach-churning pose.
But the police's most likely suspect was inexplicably released and the investigation was quietly buried.
Despite damning evidence, Father Gerald Robinson went free.
Twenty-three years later the priest's name resurfaced in connection with a bizarre case of satanic ritual and abuse.
It prompted investigators to exhume the remains of the slain nun in search of the proof left behind that would indelibly mark Father Robinson as Sister Margaret Ann's killer: the sign of the Devil.
When Satan Wore a Cross (2007) is a shocking true story of official cover-ups, madness, murder and lies - and of an unholy human monster who disguised himself in holy garb. "Priest Kills Nun" was a first in American criminal history.
About the author: Fred Rosen is an American true crime author and former columnist for the Arts and Leisure Section of The New York Times.
Rosen's published works in the genre include There But For the Grace: Survivors of the 20th Century’s Infamous Serial Killers (2007) and When Satan Wore a Cross (2007). Both were best-sellers at the Doubleday Book Club, Literary Guild, Mystery Guild, and Book-of-the-Month Club.
He is also the winner of Library Journal’s Best Reference Source 2005 award for The Historical Atlas of American Crime, and has written many other works of historical non-fiction including Cremation in America, Contract Warriors and Gold!
Thursday, 7 February 2019
Dark Sacred Night (Bosch and Ballard Series) by Michael Connelly
Hardback: At the end of a long, dark night, LAPD Detectives Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch cross paths for the first time in the new thriller series - Dark Secret Night (2018) - from #1 NYT bestselling author Michael Connelly.
Renée Ballard is working the graveyard shift and returns to Hollywood Station in the early hours to find a stranger rifling through old files.
The intruder is none other than legendary LAPD detective Harry Bosch, hunting for leads in an unsolved case that has got under his skin.
Bosch is investigating the death of fifteen-year-old Daisy Clayton, a runaway on the streets of Hollywood who was brutally murdered and her body left in a dumpster like so much trash.
Ballard escorts him out, but - curious to know what he was searching for - soon becomes obsessed by the murder of Daisy Clayton.
Was she the first victim of a serial killer who still stalks the streets?
For Bosch, the case is more than personal: it may be all he has left.
The Bosch and Ballard sequel, The Night Fire, will be released sometime in 2019 so do watch out for it!
About the author: Michael Connelly was born in Philadelphia, PA on 21 July 1956. He moved to Florida with his family when he was 12 years old. Michael decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing - a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.
After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.
Michael is the bestselling author of thirty-two novels and one work of non-fiction. With over seventy-four million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into forty foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today. His very first novel, The Black Echo, won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly’s 1998 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of his #1 bestselling novel, The Lincoln Lawyer, hit theaters worldwide starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. His most recent #1 New York Times bestsellers include Dark Sacred Night, Two Kinds Of Truth, The Late Show, The Wrong Side Of Goodbye, The Crossing, The Burning Room, The Gods of Guilt, and The Black Box. Michael’s crime fiction career was honoured with the Diamond Dagger from the CWA in 2018.
Michael is the executive producer of Bosch, an Amazon Studios original drama series based on his bestselling character Harry Bosch, starring Titus Welliver. Bosch streams on Amazon Prime Video. He is also the executive producer of the documentary films, Sound Of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story and Tales of the American. He spends his time in California and Florida.
Rating: 5/5
Wednesday, 6 February 2019
The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Historical) by Heather Morris
Paperback: This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage is based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov - an unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity.
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.
Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism - but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.
One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.
A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz (2018) is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.
TV rights in Heather Morris’ bestselling novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz have been snapped up by Synchronicity Films for a multi-part, high-end international drama series. The plan is to broadcast in January 2020 to tie in with the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Morris' next book, Cilka's Journey - a sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz - will be published on 3 October 2019.
About the author: Heather Morris was born in Te Awamutu, New Zealand, educated at Pirongia Primary School and Te Awamutu College. In 1971, she moved to Melbourne, Australia. In 1975, she and her husband returned to New Zealand, living in Christchurch. She commenced a BA degree at Canterbury University (NZ) in 1986 before moving back to Melbourne in 1987. She completed her BA at Monash University in 1991. In 1995, she began work in the Social Work Department at Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne where she stayed until 2017. In 1996, she decided to follow her passion for storytelling and enrolled in The Professional Scriptwriting Course through the Australian College of Journalism. Heather attended many screenwriting courses, seminars and workshops in both Australia and the US. Her first screenplay was optioned by Academy Award winning writer Pamela Wallace (Witness).
In 2003 she was introduced to Lale Sokolov and subsequently wrote The Tattooist as a screenplay.
The Tattooist was optioned by Instinct Entertainment (Melbourne). When the option lapsed, Heather entered it into several international screenwriting competitions, winning the International Independent Film Awards competition in 2016 and highly placing in several others, including the ISA (International Screenwriters’ Association) and Final Draft competitions.
Inspired by the comments from competition readers, Heather embarked on a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to self-publish her story as a novel. Through this venture, she came to the attention of Angela Meyer at Echo (Bonnier Publishing Australia) in Melbourne.
Rating: 4/5
Diary Of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy In My Soul (Spiritual Growth/Mysticism)
Paperback: Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, a simple, uneducated, young Polish nun receives a special call. Jesus tells her, "I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My merciful Heart." Jesus also tells her to record His message of mercy in a diary: "You are the secretary of My Mercy. I have chosen you for that office in this and the next life."
These words of Jesus are found in the Diary of St Maria Faustina Kowalska, which chronicles Sr Faustina's great experience of Divine Mercy in her soul and her mission to share that mercy with the world.
Though she died in obscurity in 1938, Sr Faustina is now hailed by Pope John Paul II as "the great apostle of Divine Mercy in our time."
On 30 April 2000, the Pope canonized her as St Faustina, saying that the message of Divine Mercy she shared is urgently needed at the dawn of the new millennium. More than 800 000 copies of the Diary have been sold worldwide.
In the Diary, this woman mystic's childlike trust, simplicity and intimacy with Jesus will stir your heart and soul. Her spiritual insights will surprise and reward you. "Only love has meaning," she writes. "It raises up our smallest actions into infinity."
How did St Faustina grow in deeper trust and intimacy with Jesus?
What promises did He make to her?
Discover the answers to these questions and many more in the Diary of St Faustina (1987).
About the author: Saint Faustina is "a gift from God for our times", great mystic, mistress of spiritual life, prophet, who reminded the biblical truth about merciful love of God for every human being and calls to proclaim it to the world through the testimony of life, deed, word and prayer.
Apostle of Divine Mercy, Prophet of Our Times, Great Mystic, Mistress of Spiritual Life - these are the epithets usually appended to the name of Sister Faustyna Kowalska, St Faustyna (Faustina), of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. Sister Faustina is one of the Church’s most popular and widely known saints and the greatest mystics in the history of the Church.
Sister Faustina was born on 25 August 1905 in Głogowiec, Poland to Marianna and Stanisław Kowalski as the third of ten children. Two days later she was baptized with the name Helena in the parish church of Świnice Warckie. At the age of nine, she made her first Holy Communion. She attended elementary school for merely three years and then she went to work as a housekeeper in various well-to-do families in Aleksandrów and Łódź. From the age of seven, she had felt the calling for religious vocation, but her parents would not give her permission to enter the convent. However, impelled by the vision of the Suffering Christ, in July 1924 she left for Warsaw to find a place. For another year she worked as a housekeeper to save some money for a modest monastic trousseau. On 1 August 1925, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw on Żytnia Street.
She lived in the Congregation for thirteen years, staying in many houses, the longest time (she spent) in Kraków, Płock and Vilnius; working as a cook, shop assistant in baker’s shop, gardener, and portress. She suffered from tuberculosis of the lungs and alimentary system and that is why for over 8 months stayed at the hospital in Kraków - Prądnik. Greater sufferings from those which were caused by tuberculosis, she offered as a voluntary sacrifice for sinners and as the Apostle of Divine Mercy. She experienced also many extraordinary graces such as: apparitions, ecstasies, the gift of bilocation, hidden stigmata, reading into human souls, the mystical betrothal and nuptials.
Sister Faustina’s principal task was to pass on to the Church and world the Message of Mercy, a recapitulation of the Biblical truth of God’s Merciful Love for every human being, and a calling to each of us to entrust our lives to Him and to actively love our neighbour.
Jesus not only revealed the depth of His Mercy to St Faustina, but also gave her new forms of worship: the picture inscribed Jesus, I trust in You, the Feast of Divine Mercy, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and the Prayer in the Hour of His Death on the Cross, the Hour of Mercy. To each of these forms of worship, as well as to the preaching of the message of Mercy, He attached great promises, on condition that we care about the attitude of trust in God that is to fulfil His will and show mercy to our neighbours.
Sister Faustina died in Kraków on 5 October 1938, at the age of just thirty–three. Out of her charism and mystical experience grew the Apostolic Movement of the Divine Mercy which continues her mission, proclaiming the message of Mercy to the world through the testimony of life, deed, words and prayer.
On 18 April 1993, the Holy Father John Paul II raised her to the glory of the altars and on April 30, 2000, numbered her among the saints of the Church. Her relics are in the Shrine of the Divine Mercy at Łagiewniki, Kraków.
The Holy Father John Paul II wrote that in the age of totalitarianisms Sister Faustina became the ambassador of the message that the only power strong enough to counteract their evil is the truth of God’s Mercy. He called her Diary a Gospel of Mercy written from a 20th-century perspective, which has helped people to survive the extremely painful experiences of these times.
"This message," Pope Benedict XVI has said, "the message of Mercy as the Divine Power, as God putting a check on all the world’s evil, is indeed the chief message of our times."
Tuesday, 5 February 2019
Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Return To Mount Athos by Father Spyridon Bailey
Paperback: Extending out from Northern Greece into the Aegean Sea are three peninsulas, one of which, Mount Athos, has been a monastic republic for over a thousand years.
A pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain is a journey to the heart of Orthodox monasticism, and Father Spyridon takes us with him to hear words of ancient wisdom that may lead us into a deeper sense of God's presence.
Father Ioakeim Oureilidis writes, "This book is primarily a spiritual invitation through this paper object, that our Holy Mary, our Panagia, making good use of Fr Spyridon's skills and talents, extends to us all to visit her earthly home, the Holy Mountain, in order to be rejuvenated through faith and communication with the praying fathers and her grace."
Return To Mount Athos is published in 2018 by FeedARead.com Publishing and financed by the Arts Council of Great Britain.
About the author: Father Spyridon is a Greek Orthodox priest serving in Herefordshire, England. He has previously published a number of books of poetry and novels under his name in the world, Darren Bailey.
As an ordained priest in the Greek Orthodox Church Father Spyridon has focused on spiritual themes: Journey To Mount Athos, his first of these books, details his trip to the Holy Mountain where he encountered monks and hermits and was allowed access to a way of life few of us have encountered
The Ancient Path is a series of reflections on various aspects of life using the Church Fathers as the starting point in which Father Spyridon identifies how far modern man has strayed from an authentic Christian view of the universe.
Trampling Down Death By Death explores various themes relating to death and resurrection. It is deeply hopeful book that brings the reader into a vivid sense of the full reality of God's purpose for us.
Fire On The Lips is his return to the novel. A young couple have a chance encounter with an Orthodox monk which develops into a life-long friendship. The book explores the reality of sainthood in the modern world and drawing on a number of real events takes the reader into the mystery of ancient spirituality. Sub-titled "Encounters With A Saint", it demonstrates that Christian holiness is as real today as it was in the deserts of Egypt sixteen hundred years ago.
Tuesday, 29 January 2019
The Corsican Caper (Sam Levitt Series) by Peter Mayle
Hardback: Here is Peter Mayle at his effervescent best - his master sleuth, Sam Levitt, eating, drinking, and romancing his way through the South of France even as he investigates a case of deadly intrigue among the Riviera's jet set.
When billionaire Francis Reboul finds himself on the wrong side of a Russian tycoon, he is fortunate to have vacationing friends Sam Levitt and Elena Morales on hand to help him out. Now it is up to Sam - who has saved Reboul’s neck before - to negotiate with an underworld of mercenaries, hit men, and Mafioso, to prevent his friend from becoming a victim of “Russian diplomacy.”
As usual, Sam and Elena still find time to enjoy the good life, but as Sam’s sleuthing draws him closer to the truth, he realizes Reboul might not be the only one in trouble.
Rich with clever twists, sparkling scenery, and mouthwatering gustatory interludes as only Peter Mayle can write them, The Corsican Caper is an adventure par excellence!
The Corsican Caper aka Murder In The Med (2014) is the third book in the entertaining and clever lawyer and wine connoisseur Sam Levitt series set in France.
About the author: Peter Mayle (born 14 June 1939, in Brighton) was a British author famous for his series of books detailing life in Provence, France. He spent fifteen years in advertising before leaving the business in 1975 to write educational books, including a series on sex education for children and young people. In 1989, A Year in Provence, was published and became an international bestseller. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages, and he was a contributing writer to magazines and newspapers.
Indeed, his seventh book, A Year in Provence, chronicles a year in the life of a British expatriate who settled in the village of Ménerbes. His book, A Good Year, was the basis for the eponymous 2006 film directed by Ridley Scott and starring actor Russell Crowe. Peter Mayle died in Provence, France on 18 January 2018.
Rating: 5/5
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