Sacred Hearts is set in the Benedictine convent of Santa Caterina in Ferrara in 1570, a time of upheaval with changes brought about by the Counter-reformation, the Church's response to the Protestant Reformation, threatening to alter the way the nuns lives are lived. The Church reformers have not yet set their eyes on Santa Caterina … Continue reading Book Review – Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
Historical fiction
Book Review – Gilgamesh by Joan London
Gilgamesh by Joan London begins in 1918 with Frank Clark an Australian soldier in a convalescent hospital in England meeting Ada who is there ‘to visit the soldiers’. He invites her to come with him back to Australia, to ‘go far away to a country where there will never be another war’. Ada accepts the … Continue reading Book Review – Gilgamesh by Joan London
Book Review – The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Bible is filled with so many, many stories that it is easy to read superficially without thinking much beyond the words on the page. One story easily overlooked is that of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, the Old Testament Patriarch, father of the twelve men who formed the tribes of Israel. Dinah … Continue reading Book Review – The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Hilary Mantel’s Reith Lectures 2017
In the Reith Lectures this year Hilary Mantel discusses what is at the heart of good historical fiction, our relationship with the past, and the central elements in a historical novelist's attempt to bring the past alive for us today. As Mantel herself says 'The reason you must stick by the truth is that it … Continue reading Hilary Mantel’s Reith Lectures 2017
Book Review – The Golden Age by Joan London
The Golden Age is a Perth convalescent hospital for children recovering from poliomyelitis. Under the care of dedicated nurses and physiotherapists, the children are taught to use their limbs again and to gain the independence necessary for their return to the outside world. In this nurturing environment, cut off from their familiar lives with family … Continue reading Book Review – The Golden Age by Joan London
Book Review – The Muse by Jessie Burton
This dual narrative novel begins in London in 1967 with Odelle Bastien, a young woman from Trinidad who works in a shoe shop while nursing the dream of being a writer. When Odelle finds a new job as a typist at the Skelton Institute, an upmarket art gallery, she is encouraged in her ambitions by … Continue reading Book Review – The Muse by Jessie Burton
Book Review – Towers in the Mist by Elizabeth Goudge
This delightful novel covers a year in the life of the Leigh family, from the arrival on May Day 1565 of Faithful Crocker, a 14 year old orphaned vagabond, carrying his meagre possessions, a copy of Virgil and of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, and a burning desire to become a scholar, to the visit of … Continue reading Book Review – Towers in the Mist by Elizabeth Goudge
Book Review – The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
The Swan Thieves is an intriguing story of art and obsession. Its starting point is the attack on a 19th century painting hanging in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The attacker, Robert Oliver, is a brilliant painter suffering from a psychosis. He is hospitalized under the care of psychiatrist Andrew Marlow who is … Continue reading Book Review – The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
Book Review: The Spy by Paul Coelho
This short novel by Paul Coelho begins with British reporter Henry Wales’ eyewitness account of the execution by firing squad on 15 October 1917 of Margaretha Zelle otherwise known as Mata Hari. Of a middle-class Dutch family, Margaretha was brought up by an uncle after her parents died. At school she was raped by her … Continue reading Book Review: The Spy by Paul Coelho
Book Review – La Princesse de Clèves by Madame de Lafayette
This edition of La Princesse de Clèves also includes two earlier works written by Madame de Lafayette – La Princesse de Montpensier published in 1662, and La Comtesse de Tende published posthumously in 1718 although this is probably the earliest of Madame de Lafayette’s works. Both are short, no more than thirty pages and deal … Continue reading Book Review – La Princesse de Clèves by Madame de Lafayette
Catherine Meyrick 