The publication in 1955 of The Last Temptation by Nikos Kazantzakis led to a campaign by Greek Orthodox clergy to have Kazantzakis excommunicated as they considered the work blasphemous. It was published in English in 1960, the same year that the book was placed on the Catholic Church’s Index Librorum Prohibitorum (dismantled in 1966 following … Continue reading Book Review – The Last Temptation by Nikos Kazantzakis
Book reviews
Book Review – Traitor’s Knot by Cryssa Bazos
Traitor’s Knot begins in 1645 with the Battle of Naseby where the New Model Army commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell all but destroyed the Royalist army. James Hart, a Royalist captain, despite the hardening influence of three years at war, is shocked to his core when, in his escape from pursuing Roundheads, … Continue reading Book Review – Traitor’s Knot by Cryssa Bazos
Book Review – The Women in Black by Madeleine St John
The Women in Black is a delightful book set at the end of the 1950s in the Ladies Cocktail Frocks section on the second floor of F G Goode’s Department Store in Sydney (loosely based on David Jones). The story centres around the lives of the black-frocked sales assistants working there – Patty, Mrs Williams, … Continue reading Book Review – The Women in Black by Madeleine St John
Book Review – The Woman in the Shadows by Carol McGrath
The Woman in the Shadows* is a fictional account of the adult life of Elizabeth Wykes, the wife of Thomas Cromwell, a man from relatively humble origins who rose from merchant and lawyer to become chief minister to Henry VIII. For most people, all that is known of Elizabeth is as Cromwell’s wife, a background … Continue reading Book Review – The Woman in the Shadows by Carol McGrath
Book Review – The Coffin Path by Katherine Clements
From the very first page The Coffin Path gives off a sense of foreboding and building menace. It begins in the Spring 1674, fourteen years into the reign of Charles II, although people and places still bear the scars of the English Civil War. Mercy Booth lives with her father, Bartram Booth, and an aging … Continue reading Book Review – The Coffin Path by Katherine Clements
Book Review – The Good People by Hannah Kent
The Good People is set in an isolated village in Kerry, about ten miles from Killarney, in the years 1825 and 1826. It begins with the sudden but seemingly gentle death of Martin Leahy at the village crossroads, the place where traditionally suicides were buried. From the start, it is clear that this is a … Continue reading Book Review – The Good People by Hannah Kent
Book Review – Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski
Little Boy Lost begins at Christmas 1943 when poet Hilary Wainwright receives the news, brought by Frenchman, Pierre Verdier, that his three year old son, John, is lost somewhere in France. Hilary has only seen his son once, just after his birth, as he had to flee France following the German invasion. His wife Lisa, … Continue reading Book Review – Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski
One Minute Book Review – Girolamo Savonarola: The Renaissance Preacher by Samantha Morris
Girolamo Savonarola was a 15th century Dominican friar. For most people today, he is known either for his striking portrait by Baccio della Porta (Fra Bartolomeo) or for his association with the Bonfires of the Vanities in Florence where Savonarola’s supporters publicly burnt thousands of objects considered to be distractions from religious duties and possible … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Girolamo Savonarola: The Renaissance Preacher by Samantha Morris
Reviews of Forsaking All Other
Recent reviews of Forsaking All Other. Mary Anne Yarde 'I think Meyrick has set a new standard of excellence. Forsaking All Other is certainly the best historical romance book I have read in this era. It is, without a doubt, a plot-driven page-turner of a book. ' The Borgia Bull 'It’s been a good while … Continue reading Reviews of Forsaking All Other
Book Review – A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys
A Dangerous Crossing, set in mid-1939, begins with a well-dressed woman removed by police from a passenger ship after it has docked in Sydney. The novel then steps back to the beginning of the voyage where we are introduced to Lily Shepherd who is bidding farewell to her family on board the Orentes, a migrant … Continue reading Book Review – A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys
Catherine Meyrick 