Tag: England


Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

February 11th, 2021 — 10:47pm

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

What could be more fitting during this year of COVID-19 then to read a book that take places in the 17th century during the Black Plague and how it impacted a small isolated village in England. The story is mostly through the eyes of one woman, Anna Frith, a young widow who becomes very close to the local pastor and his wife. There is death spreading like wildfire throughout the village with burials seeming to occur on every page. The village under the leadership of the pastor decides that they will isolate themselves from other communities, so not to spread this deadly disease to nearby towns, which seemingly have not been impacted the plague. There are subplots, which deal with romance, affairs, jealousy, greed, murder, and revenge, etc. The major impact of the loss of spouses, children, and threat of death everywhere leads to major challenges for the various characters some of whom appear to rise to the occasion and others go off the deep end. As impactful as our modern plague is to our society today, it does not seem that we have deteriorated as have some of the characters in this story, at least not yet.

Comment » | FH - Fiction Historical

A Minister in a Box by Aaron Ben-Shahar

March 30th, 2019 — 12:50pm

A Minister in a Box  by Aaron Ben-Shahar

This is an exciting adventure story that goes back and forth mostly between Jeronti, a small African nation, England and Israel. There are secret agents, some who had been very high up in the Mossad, as well a head Mafia guy, There is even an anesthesiologist who will keep the man in the box sedated as he is kidnapped in a most daring caper. At times I had difficulty keeping track of the characters, as their names were unfamiliar ones. But that did not stop this from being a page turner. (Yes, I actually read this in soft covered book.) Although this is touted as pure fiction, I could not help but wonder if some of the events may really have happened since the author has a history of having served in highly sensitive positions in Israel’s General Security Services.

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Comment » | FT- Fiction Thriller

Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood With Britain In their Darkest Hour by Lynne Olson

September 7th, 2017 — 5:54pm

Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood With Britain In Their Darkest Hour by Lynne Olson

I thought that I had a pretty good understanding of the famous cast of characters behind the scenes of World War II. Growing up in the post-war years, I read many books and followed radio, television and movies on this subject. I certainly heard the previous generation talk about FDR and the New Deal. Also, Edward R. Murrow was one of my heroes and I collected his I Can Hear It Now record albums and as a youngster, I followed his TV shows Person To Person and other productions, and even tried in a small way to emulate him during college as I had a radio program called Face the Mike. But I must admit after reading Citizens of London, I realized that I  “didn’t know squat” which really means I didn’t appreciate what was really going on during this fascinating time in history.

This book puts the spotlight mainly on three people:

Gil Winant who was Ambassador to England from the United States during World War II.

Averell Harriman, who was in charge of Lend-Lease and a confidant of Roosevelt and Churchill.

Edward R. Murrow, who was the iconic radio newsman who made memorable broadcast from England back to the United States.

In addition, this book provided an amazing insight into the thinking of Winston Churchill and FD Roosevelt, as well as Dwight Eisenhower and the people around these great men.

This book also captures, in depth, the atmosphere in Britain from the late 1930s to the post-war years. The author provides insight into the thinking and feelings of the citizens of London, as well as the Americans who, for various reasons, spent much of his period in this very special city. We come to see and understand the contrast between England as they battled the Nazis, who eventually took over Europe, and the Americans on the other side of the pond who were very reluctant to get involved in the war. In Britain, they were rationing food while America was coming out of a depression and beginning to enjoy prosperity.

It took the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to get the United States to finally join the British in the war against Germany. This book gives us an inside view of the bustling City of London as hundreds of thousands, if not more, of the allied soldiers gathered to await for D-Day. We see this city become a vibrant place, despite having been heavily bombed by the Germans,  that would endure even more severe V2 rocket attacks later in the war.

I also had no idea of the disputes and infighting between the British generals and their American  counterparts, as well as the jostling between FDR and Winston Churchill. It was especially interesting to see the behind-the-scene interactions when these great leaders held their secret meetings during the war  or as they communicated back and forth through their emissaries.  We are also given the sense of the complicated post-war planning or should I say the serious lack of such planning that created many difficulties when the war finally ended. It was an amazing disparity between the jubilant United States at the end of the war that was looking forward to an expanding economy, an equally jubilant, liberated and unscared Paris, filled with victorious soldiers and grateful citizens, whereas London was still climbing out of the devastating damage from the bombing, rationing and the scourge of war  as the Americans found their way home.

This book couldn’t cover everything in depth and it is a little light in discussing the extent of the holocaust. It did describe perhaps Edward R. Murrow’s most dramatic radio broadcast back to the United States (even more memorable than the broadcast from a US bomber over Germany that was nearly blasted from the sky) and that was the broadcast of Murrow’s description after he entered the Buchenwald concentration camps with the US troops. As he witnessed the unspeakable horrendous sights  he nevertheless did find the words to describe them, despite his tears.

Lynne Olson has tapped many historical resources, published diaries, as well as archives about the war to provide a vivid and sometimes a very personal behind-the-scenes account of World War II. She has framed this story by focusing on a handful of participants, one of which is the City of London itself. The author also pulled aside the curtain that  usually covers the personal lives of these famous participants. The wind and heat of war apparently led to various romantic liaisons in the three major subjects of this book, Winant, Harriman and Murrow and even involved trysts with women of the Churchill Family. There was even an unexpected very sad suicide by one very important character in this book.

This is a very well done, informative and interesting book that well deserves your attention.

To purchase this book on Amazon, please click here

 

Comment » | P - Political

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

November 12th, 2011 — 9:42pm

Major Pettigrew's Last StandWhen you are part of book discussion group, you often find yourself reading books that you might not have chosen on your own. A book about a stuffy British retired Major would not normally be my cup of tea and I felt that way for the first few chapters of the book. However the issues, which the characters were dealing with, began to stimulate my thinking. The  Major was obsessed  whether he would get the other half of a pair of old shooting pistols with a meaningful family history that had been in the possession of his recently deceased brother since he always felt that they both should have bequeathed to himself by their father. I could not help but think of all the stories I have heard about hurt feelings that have revolved around inheritances and the life long bitterness that sometimes follows such circumstances. Also quite thought provoking was  the main theme of this novel which  was romance that the Major and a similarly “older” Pakistanian women were developing. .It confronted the issue of how family, friends so often try to define what the boundaries of a relationship should be , especially when there might be differences of  race, religion and culture. The author really looks at what the obstacles could be to joining a country club as well as the obstacles  for two good people joining together in a relationship. While a story of  love occurring at the tail end of the age spectrum will not come as a surprise to senior citizens, their children’s generation  can find it hard to believe This was one of the reasons why  the way the main character  had to consider had to be thoughtful of how he was now viewing his own son. In the end I decided that I did like this British cup of tea and suggest it can be savored for some good reading.

2 comments » | FR - Fiction Romance

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