The House of Silk - Anthony Horowitz

Reading this on the train heading into town as the snow was descending definitely added to the atmosphere Horowitz creates of Holmes’ wintry, foreboding London. He really has done a fine job of keeping enough familiarity that the reader feels automatically transported into a classic Conan Doyle mystery, whilst giving Holmes a fresh and original case.

Watson narrates us through the entangled web of intrigue that takes us around London and across the pond to America.  He also has an interesting, albeit brief, confrontation with Moriarty, which adds a wonderful dimension to the story. The way in which Moriarty contrives the meeting and the information he imparts is a secret that remains between Watson and the reader, never shared with Holmes even after the case is closed.

The character I had in mind whilst reading this is very much the traditional Jeremy Brett version of Holmes, rather than the big screen Robert Downey Jr. This is the one that I grew up with and in reading Horowitcz’s end note, was the one that he feels most close to. 

The story evolves from one of robbery and blackmail into the far more sinister areas of child  abuse and mistreatment. As Holmes gets closer to the truth we see him framed and imprisoned leading to a spectacular escape and final showdown with those responsible. 

This is one I am recommending to everyone I know who loves a good mystery, or the legendary Sherlock Holmes himself. 

Two Brothers - Ben Elton

I haven't read all of Ben Elton's books, but having enjoyed all those so far this has to be the best to date. He has such a great writing style that gets you hooked right into the story and tuned into the bigger message he is trying to convey. In the past that has covered a variety of topics including drug culture and reality TV.  This time he turns his attention to the experience of the Jews in the run up to, and during, the Second World War.

The Stengel family and friends come to life straight off the page as Elton evokes their everyday life and struggle under the Nazi reign. The two brothers in the title are the Stengel twins, who together with their maid's daughter and their father’s music pupil form The Saturday Club. The story follows their friendship throughout this period of history as they are all forced into lives they never chose.

The boy's father Wolfgang particularly stood out for me as a character. His exciting bohemian life as a talented musician, playing the clubs at the beginning of the novel, is slowly crushed as he experiences the growing persecution. His demise is a powerful story in itself, difficult to read and incredibly moving.

The book explores humanity and what an ordinary person (Jew or Nazi) will do to survive; how all these people manage in times of extreme - deprived of food and basic human rights, subjected to brutality and violence. The lengths that some characters go to in order to survive is remarkable and leaves you asking if you can really question their tactics given their remarkable situation.

The author's note at the end reflects on the personal inspiration he had to write this novel, given his incredible family history. The care and attention to detail he delivers in this novel is evident throughout and, according to a recent interview, is the story he has wanted to write all his career. It really is a remarkable, touching piece of work that stays with you after you have finished it.

Shark Trouble?

  Peter Benchley created one of the best monsters ever when he penned the novel Jaws and Steven Spielberg adapted that story and brought the monster alive with a blockbuster film that spun off 3 sequels of varying success. The shark might have been rubber and the effects may now look extremely dated, but the sheer terror that the film evoked of the predatory beast feeding on the locals and holiday makers of Amity Island stayed with the audience long after they had left the screen. 

But the story was fiction and Benchley spent the rest of his days trying to educate people on that point. Unfortunately his story was taken as fact and the shark has been misunderstood, feared and hunted ever since. His book 'Shark Trouble' is a fascinating read about Benchley's experiences with sharks. It's a real education into their important role in our waters. The book is full of facts and stories of his encounters with sharks over the years, including the making of Jaws. Possibly the most powerful part of the book is the short story he includes to illustrate why sharks are essential to the balance of marine life and all those who live and prosper from coastal life. It's called 'The Day All The Sharks Died' and it's no more than 10 pages long, but is a really simple explanation of the important role that sharks play.

And if like me you start to really admire these animals and want to get even closer then you can get in a cage alongside them at the London Aquarium. At present the aquarium has 15 sharks ranging from the bottom dwelling Guitar Shark (which is a bit of a cross between a shark and a ray) to Black Tipped Sharks, Nurse Sharks and the ferocious looking Sand Tiger Sharks. These unfortunate beasts aren't able to close their mouths due to their large amount of teeth so they definitely look the most frightening. The sharks are well fed so they aren't interested in feasting upon you. But they are curious and will come right up alongside the cage and hold eye contact.

These animals are seriously endangered. They sit at the top of the food chain so have no natural predator, which means that we have become their only threat. And that threat takes a variety of forms; we hunt and kill them either for sport or for their fins, creating keepsakes from their teeth that get made into jewellery; we trap them in nets that are supposed to keep sharks away from the beaches, so they struggle and die. 

Maybe they aren't as attractive as the Giant Panda or Bengal Tiger, who are also both endangered species, but they do equally deserve our protection. It is imperative that we keep the natural, healthy balance that our oceans thrive on. Nothing exists on its own, everything around us works together to keep a healthy planet.

The London Aquarium are donating £5 out of every ticket they sell to The Shark Trust, which is a great charity I have been supporting for the last few years. It aims to advance the worldwide conservation of sharks through science, education, influence and action (www.sharktrust.org).

So please consider taking the plunge yourself, or gifting the snorkelling experience to others and get to know these creatures better. They are incredible creatures and need all the help they can get to survive.

The Secret Rooms - Catherine Bailey

This book goes on sale tomorrow, but I got an advance copy to review for Waterstones and can recommend it as a great read. It tells the incredible story of a lost or veiled history attached to one of the wealthiest aristocratic families in the country. 

Catherine Bailey explains how she originally wanted to write a book on the impact of the First World War on this small part of England. She wanted to follow the paths of all the Belvoir volunteers who had left their roles on the estate to fight for their country. However when she started to go through the family records at Belvoir Castle a darker story started to emerge. Although the records had been catalogued, archived and meticulously organised to an incredible level of detail, spanning hundreds of years, they revealed 3 short periods of time that were missing. Further investigation led her to understand that they had been removed to conceal something that the 9th Duke of Rutland wanted to remain secret - something that led him to work tirelessly right up to his last moments before he died alone in the very rooms that house the archive of records. He went to great lengths to erase these periods within his personal history, however fragments of clues remained that were just enough to be explored and the real story gradually unfolds.

The mystery is incredibly intriguing and each chapter ends with a further twist or revelation that keeps you wanting to read on. The detective work that the author has undertaken in order to follow all the trails, hints and sometimes red herrings to get to the bottom of the mystery reveal the wider context within which the events are taking place – from the military service records publically available right through to private correspondence that has been preserved by friends and acquaintances of the family. All these sources are pieced together to expose aspects of the Rutland’s characters that some would have preferred to remain private.

This book would appeal to those who have also enjoyed The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and Mrs Robinsons Disgrace. It’s a great read, very easy to get into and equally hard to put down.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce

Another book that has been eagerly anticipated and surrounded in hype so I was curious to see if it met expectations. 

Harold goes on a journey to deliver a letter to a dying friend, which should have ended at the top of his road when he dropped it into the postbox, however he is overwhelmed by a desperate sense of duty to hand deliver his note. So his journey continues on foot through towns, fields and counties where we meet a host of characters along the way who all have their own stories to tell. Harold reminisces about his own life, what brought him to his current situation, his disappointments, experiences and fears and gradually his personal sadness unfolds. 

I can see why this book appeals to so many people; its a nice story, both easy to read and thought provoking, but for me it was a little too simple. There wasn't enough for me to think about, to work out or to surprise me. The author does include an attempt at a twist, but it was pretty obvious very early on in the novel what that was going to be.

It's a nice story, not a great book or one that I would ever return to, but a light read that may be well suited to a holiday reading list. 

Needless to say I would be very disappointed if this beat Hilary Mantel to the Booker Prize.

The Marlowe Papers - Ros Barber

The book opens and we are plunged into dark Elizabethan London and all it's terror. Heretics heads are displayed on spokes along Tower Bridge and the plague ravages the city. And so Christopher Marlowe (or Marley, or indeed Morley to some) begins to recount his journey through both life and death, revealing the truth about that infamous tavern brawl that seemingly led to his demise.

Marlowe’s voracious ambition and unquestionable talent is unravelled as we learn that his naive, foolish tongue was both his rise and his downfall - “though truth was both my glory, and my ruin”. With the benefit of hindsight he is able to reflect on his situation, presenting his accomplishments alongside his failures. His passion for exciting material to fuel his writing leads him to a secondary career in espionage, which allows him to move in circles he would not necessarily have access to, ranging from the palace to the gaol.

Our flawed protagonist is whisked across the channel in an elaborate plot conjured up by his close friends in the hope of preserving his life and his contribution to the stage. And so ensues his travels abroad, where he waits for the “crab-haired queen to crumble”, in the hope that he can return to London once King James takes over the throne and his careless musings on religion will no longer be punishable.

His story has all the elements of the Elizabethan dramas he contributed to during this remarkable period of literature, both penned and performed to an audience; a journey both physical and metaphorical; a variety of disguises both male and female gaining him access to a performance of Richard III on one occasion; the arcane love that simmers below the surface.

Throughout the story his passion for writing, alongside the success, praise and status it delivers, is evident. He doesn't hide his anger at the fact that another is celebrated falsely for his own work - “the accident of needing some disguise to write beneath means all the praise belongs to my invention, Shakespeare. Who is me, and yet divorced from all my infamy”.

This is such a fantastic book, written so elegantly in verse that makes you want to recite it as you read. This may put some people off, but I would urge anyone with an interest in this period and a love of a great mystery to try this out. The language is an absolute masterpiece recounting the twists and turns of fate, love, lust, death and intrigue.

This is one of the best books I have read this year and one I will definitely return to. I hope that Ros Barber is recognised with a literary prize for this incredible accomplishment.

Whispers Undergound - Ben Aaronovitch

The third instalment of such an exciting series of books takes us beneath the streets of London this time, through the underground stations and the secret labyrinth of tunnels interconnected, revealing a whole new clandestine world beneath our feet.

It is so hard to predict exactly where the author is heading with the overarching story of wizardry and mayhem, as the sub-world of magic and mysticism, goblins, ghosts and the ever present gods and magnificent goddesses grows with each book. And my enjoyment grows with them.

These are essentially fantasy novels, but deliver so much more. The ongoing collisions between the real world and the 'alternate' forces that struggle to coexist alongside us mere mortals covers so many  different genres of fiction. The crimes taking place and the detective strand, alongside the gothic presence of the Folly and its Practitioners, together with the magical creatures and entities they encounter, mixed up with the comedy and calamity that takes place, all underpinned with the historical facts and folklore of London itself each contribute to the enjoyment of every book.

These novels are pure escapism at it maddest! See All Things Bookish for an article about my recent conversation with the author.

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
There has been a lot of hype over this book since it was published and further promotion through the Richard and Judy Bookclub encouraged me to find out what I had been missing.

The story revolves around a magical (truly magical!) circus that travels the globe mysteriously appearing amid fervent rumour rather than organised publicity. And it only opens at night. Two children are chosen from an early age, trained in the art of magic and pitted against each other in a competition established by their manipulative rival mentors.

The descriptions of the circus itself are incredibly vibrant - it becomes a character in its own right around which everything is suspended. It’s a very sensual place, where the enchanting sights are compounded by the equally bewitching smells, sounds and tastes that come together to create such an incredible experience to all who visit. The circus seems to live and thrive with an almost unearthly heart of flame that resides at the centre and is constantly alight. The plot that accompanies all this however didn't deliver the same magic.

The story is essentially a romance, with a ’Twilight-esque’ edge to it which made it feel disappointingly like a teen fiction as opposed to a mature novel. It is a pure escapist novel, with elements of fantasy and fairy tale that I enjoyed to varying degrees and I can appreciate how it has appealed to most people. This just wasn't for me! 

Bring Up The Bodies - Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel’s sequel to the epic Wolf Hall transports the reader back in time once again to Henry VIII’s court.

Although we are all familiar with the story, this version reveals Thomas Cromwell’s perspective and unfolds with him at the centre and instrumental in Anne Boleyn’s catastrophic fate.

Mantel mixes history with her fictional take on Cromwell’s involvement and her attention to detail and description is beautifully evocative - you can see, smell and taste the surroundings:
“We think that time cannot touch the dead, but it touches their monuments, leaving them snub-nosed and stub-fingered from the accidents and attrition of time.”

Alongside the methodical man with calculated ambition we are already familiar with in Wolf Hall, we also glimpse Cromwell’s sensitivities and introspections on the loss of his wife and a number of his children, feeling time slip away from him as he gets older. This balance is what really made the novel for me. He is a manipulator hungry for success, but he carries himself with the charms, wit and grace of a gentleman far above his humble roots and equally aware of the feelings and ambitions of those surrounding him. The chosen few he chooses to protect are as far from harm as anyone can provide in such stormy political times.

Mantel has one more instalment to conclude Cromwell’s life at court and I can’t wait to see what further layers she can add to such an intriguing character, who doesn’t yet have a dedicated historical biography of his own. Having recently attended a talk by Alison Weir (See All Things Bookish page for more details), one of the country’s leading female historians, I asked her if this might be a possible future project for her, or if there was insufficient material to work with. She praised Mantel’s novel but explained that although there is much documented to work with he wasn't actually such an interesting and ’sexy’ character in real life. So any biography that is written would be an academic one charting his work, interspersed with such critical events of the time such as Anne Boleyn’s execution.

If this book sparks an interest in this period, and the downfall of Anne Boleyn, then I can highly recommend Alison Weir’s book “The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn” which delivers all the historical facts and details in a fantastic read.

Signs of Life - Anna Raverat

Simple on one level yet totally engrossing. Rachel narrates a familiar tale of an affair gone wrong, but brings so much depth and intrigue to the story you really can't put it down.

The reader is taken back and forth across the years as the story unravels and the conclusion is revealed early on, however you are taken on a journey through a series of memories recalled from the mind, diary entries and photographs.Sometimes mis-remembered, hard to recall or sometimes deemed unimportant at the time so not held onto for posterity. On occasion these recollections are twisted, altered slightly which keeps you questioning what really happened and what kind of person she really is. She questions herself on a number of occasions and these moments help to humanise her, bringing her to life.  

These are the moments that are familiar to us all as we try to recall characteristics, incidents and emotions from the past - sometimes with the interference of hindsight, sometimes with the interface of our own vanity or pride.

Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame-Smith

The thought of 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' never really appealed to me, however the idea of Abraham Lincoln as an axe-wielding vampire slayer was an intriguing concept.

Packed full of historical facts, this is a very entertaining version of an alternative history of a figure I knew little about, other than his dramatic assassination. 

There is a dark comic element to this book, emphasised by the series of 'photographs' which have been mildly doctored for effect. However, this is also a great way to learn about a very important time in history. Grahame-Smith intertwines 2 stories one fact and one fiction - the fight against slavery and the freedom of all individuals, regardless of their colour, simultaneously taking place with the growing battle of the rise of the vampire and their goal of taking over and enslaving the entire human race.

Both these stories share the themes of injustice, freedom, and equal rights. The notion of slavery here encompasses all regardless of race, and the idea of war - all wars spanning from the American Civil War right through to WWII and beyond - stems from this notion of inequality and an unhealthy thirst for elitism.

There is a strong gothic theme underpinning the novel, and a chance meeting between Abraham Lincoln and Edgar Allen Poe simply adds to the dark undercurrents that are taking place. 

This really was a surprisingly easy read and one I would recommend to anyone looking for something different.

Mrs Robinson's Disgrace: the Private Diary of a Victorian Lady - Kate Summerscale

Although this book is centred essentially on one woman’s diary and her subsequent divorce case, it reads as so much more.

It delivers fascinating insights into such an incredible era in our history. The context Kate Summerscale provides surrounding her story builds a rich picture of the times: attitudes towards women, the role of a wife, sex, marriage, reputation and adultery – all of which are directly linked to the case. These sit within the wider backdrop of art, literature and an age of discovery in terms of groundbreaking medical advances and new practices. These include the new fashion for hydrotherapy and also phrenology, with some great examples of conclusions drawn about an individual’s personality and temperament based on the examination of the size of their skull.

A number of familiar Victorian characters also appear including Dickens, Nightingale, Darwin, Wordsworth and Charlie Field – the inspiration behind Inspector Bucket in Dickens ”Bleak House”, who also manages to play a role in the case itself. London features almost as a character in its own right – with the River Thames freezing over in the winter, and then almost boiling in the summer and filling the air with its rotten stench, forcing parts of the House of Commons to be evacuated at one point due to the smell.

The growing importance of a journal and its history is also an interesting part of this book, exploring what people record and, more significantly, for what purpose. Whether you believe that her journal was a work of fiction or a true account of her life, you can’t deny that Isabella is an extraordinary woman living in extraordinary times. The idea that she may have actually wanted people to eventually read her journal adds another dimension to her character – and also helped me as a reader from feeling too voyeuristic about reading extracts from such a personal and private document!

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend to anyone who has an interest in such an exciting period of history and am now keen to read her previous books.

The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson

With beautiful use of language and stories within stories, in many respects fairy tales, this book is an engrossing read.

The narrator keeps your feet on the ground throughout with his very calm, realist perspective on everything happening to him, with such vivid descriptions and imagery created throughout. These really kept me gripped and kept me questioning exactly where the author was going to take me. Weaving into all of this the thread of Dante's 'Inferno' as a constant theme and reference, you feel in many respects that the journey the narrator is sharing is a version of the rings of hell.
This is an incredibly accomplished first novel and deserves the hype that it received upon its release.