I’d read A Place of Greater Safety a couple of years after it was first published in 1992 and, at that time, I’d never heard of Hilary Mantel. Seems strange now, but that’s the way it was! In fact, it was recommended to me as a political novel, rather than a work of historical fiction and, of course, the book fits neatly into both genres. I hadn’t really visited the French Revolution since school days, thirty years earlier and, to be honest, I … [Read more...]

It was going to be a long summer, one of those that burn your eyeballs with the blast of lipstick colour from all those new bestsellers that Goldie Graham just finished stacking like sliced salami along his shelves. I needed a fix. Something new. And I needed it bad. Something to get me through weeks of baking sun and sand, only an occasional dip in the ocean to break the monotony. ‘Hey, what d’ya think of this one?’ said Goldie. When … [Read more...]

This is the best book I’ve read in the past year by a long head. It’s very rare for me to say “I couldn’t put this down” though, in this case, I literally finished it in two long sittings. Opening: ‘Major Picquart to see the Minister of War...’ The sentry on the rue Saint-Dominique steps out of his box to open the gate and I run through a whirl of snow across the windy courtyard into the warm lobby of the hôtel de Brienne, where a sleek … [Read more...]