Book Reviews: 9 August
OUT NOW
RED JOAN by Jennie Rooney (Chatto & Windus, £12.99; offer price, £10.99)1930s Cambridge: a brew of socialism and science starts the chain reaction that leads to the Cold War. Based on the true story of Melita Norwood, Joan is an undergraduate who falls in love and becomes Russia’s best atomic spy, undetected until MI5 catches her aged 87.
Sadly, like communism, the story makes great promises but disappoints: motivation is a major part of a successful spy’s character, and Joan’s never really emerges. She seems passive and lacking any firm ideology; not so much ‘red’ as pale rosé. Joan’s sleepwalk into spying is obstructed by adjective-ridden prose and incongruent details – clichéd and confused – such a great plot deserves a greater telling.
Stephen Coulson
A MARKER TO MEASURE DRIFT by Alexander Maksik (John Murray, £17.99; offer price, £15.99)Set on a Greek Island in the Aegean Sea, this haunting novel tells the story of Jacqueline, who fled the brutality of Charles Taylor’s regime in Liberia. After her escape, she must now face a life of poverty and exile, fighting starvation while living in a cave off the beach.
Spending her days offering foot massages to tourists, Jacqueline attempts to distract herself from the guilt she feels about surviving, while her family did not. After befriending a waitress, she confronts her brutal past in a thoughtprovoking novel.
Daisy Butler-Gallie
MARY BERRY’S COOKERY COURSE by Mary Berry (Dorling Kindersley, £25; offer price, £20)In mixing together a blend of Mary Berry’s teaching expertise with her iconic culinary talents, the resulting creation is a colourful kitchen companion offering guidance across a range of dishes, from soups to stir fries and relishes to roasts, plus a healthy dollop of cakes and pastries.
Each section begins with a master recipe focusing on and fostering core skills. Detailed preparation and description of the cooking process are reinforced by images that both instruct and provide enticing detail.
Mary Berry advises and encourages her fellow cooks, making this volume mutually accessible and inspiring to everyone, regardless of cooking experience.
Sandra Smith
WHY CAN’T MY GARDEN LOOK LIKE THAT? by John Shortland (Constable & Robinson, £14.99; offer price, £13.49) A garden that embraces the seasons and whose design exceeds predictable lawn/border permutations may be the aspiration of many amateur gardeners, yet such horticultural creativity can also be a stumbling block for those with limited time or knowledge.
Here, however, even to approach the task as an adventure. Garden coach and former country house head gardener, Shortland, blossoms with enthusiasm, prompting the process of creating, then maintaining, a garden covering layout, foliage combinations and tools. Deceptively simple ideas that could help generate your own dream garden. SS
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Collision of power BURNT NORTON by Caroline Sandon (Head Of Zeus, £16.99; offer price, £14.99)
Made famous by TS Eliot in Four Quartets, this still extant stately home and garden was the site of a terrible tragedy when deranged Sir William Keyt tried to immolate himself and the property in 1741.
In this intriguing historical novel, Sandon has drawn on historical records to recreate the blighted story of the Keyt family with a strong and vivid sense of both the Cotswolds locality and the theme of time wasted and the possibility of its redemption. Although one can make comparisons to Downton Abbey, there is a more democratic, humanistic imagination at work here, one less fuelled by nostalgia for the days of aristocratic rule, than by a sense of the trauma and harsh unfolding of events. Burnt Norton is a house that should be haunted by its past – perhaps the very reason it inspired Eliot.
William Keyt is driven over the edge by grief over the loss of his youngest son, which seems to turn him into a kind of Gothic, patriarchal villain avant la lettre of Horace Walpole’s novel of 1764 – desiring the maidservant Molly Johnson, whom his own son and heir loved. The tragedy that ensues in the novel is as much about a collision of power, social class and authority in 18th-century England as it is about personalities, though I was pleased to realise the real heroine is Molly herself.
Steve Barfield
COFFEE TABLE BOOK
THE WALLACE COLLECTION: CATALOGUE OF GOLD BOXES by Charles Truman (The Wallace Collection, £100; offer price, £90)
Taking snuff was de rigueur in 18th-century fashionable circles across Europe, creating a demand for ornate boxes that became status symbols, royal gifts, collectors’ items – and a currency in the delicate system of diplomatic gift giving. Feast your eyes on enamel miniatures inspired by the Old Masters, intricate patterns, veined surfaces of lapis lazuli and carnelian – and read about the skills and in uences involved in their production. As with couture, designers’ names were famous, but myriad little hands of goldsmiths, enamellers and other craftspeople remain anonymous. A surprising detail: ladies took snuff, too. This lavishly illustrated book is a treat for anyone who loves small things of great beauty.
Juanita Coulson
PAPERBACKS
READY TO DIE by Lisa Jackson (Hodder Paperbacks, £7.99; offer price, £7.59)When a killer stalks and shoots his victims, including a prominent judge, the hunter must face his prey. The latest instalment of Jackson’s Montana ‘To Die’ series proves to be a personal and dangerous case for Detectives Pescoli and Alvarez.
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MORE BITTER THAN DEATH by Camilla Grebe & Åsa Träff (Simon & Schuster, £12.99; offer price, £11.69)
A group of domesticabuse victims grow close after sharing their stories. When the fate of fi ve-year-old Tilde, who witnesses her mother’s murder, becomes intertwined with that of the women, what began as a search for peace becomes a scorching hunt for a murderer.
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HOW TO TWITTER FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS by Nicky Kriel (The Other Publishing Company, £5.99; no offer price available)
For those not accustomed to reviewing the help section on the Twitter website, this book gives a detailed guide on how to use this versatile social medium and includes ‘soft skills’ for eff ective online communication. Ijeoma Onweluzo
LIFESURFING: YOUR HOROSCOPE FORECAST GUIDE 2014 by Victor Olliver (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, £6.99; no offer price available)
If you are fascinated by astrology, these lengthy, lucid monthby- month forecasts of our astrologist’s sun signs for 2014 will prove illuminating.
SB
ALSO ON THE SHELF
THE VARNISHED UNTRUTH by Pamela Stephenson (Simon & Schuster, £8.99; offer price, £8.54)From successful comedian and actress to a psychotherapist specialising in sexual disorders, this book tells the unusual story of Pamela Stephenson. Mrs Billy Connolly recounts her tale of childhood, a life-changing move to London and its consequences, in a unique and humorous style.
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3 BEST NOVELS: THE AMERICAN SOUTH
- Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
AUDIO BOOK OF THE WEEK
MISTRESS by James Patterson and David Ellis, read by Kevin T Collins (Random House, £10.99; offer price, £9.89)Starts with the death of Diana, a CIA operative, and love interest of Ben. A little lacking in suspense, it drags around Ben’s investigation as he becomes tied up in a sinister and ultimately compelling plot.
IO
NEWDUNNITS
Victoria Clarke on the latest crime novels
HER LAST BREATH by Linda Castillo (Macmillan, £13.99; offer price, £12.59)
This is the fifth Kate Burkholder mystery. Set in Painters Mill, Ohio, Kate is police chief in a town with a large Amish population. As a ‘banned’ Amish, Kate has a unique insight into their habits and traditions. When an Amish father and his children are hit by a car while returning home in their buggy, she investigates a hit and run and discovers a killer at work. Although Castillo’s books are usually enjoyable, this one drags considerably in the middle.
THE GOLDEN EGG by Donna Leon (William Heinemann, £17.99; offer price, £14.99)
Detective Brunetti’s territory is the canals and piazzas of Venice. Davide – a middle-aged deaf mute with the mental age of a child – is found dead of an overdose of sleeping pills. Although there are no suspicious circumstances, Brunetti’s wife Paola (upset by the indiff erence the death provokes) asks her husband to investigate and he becomes concerned by how little is known of the unfortunate Davide.
There are the usual Brunetti family meals to tickle the salivary glands and Signorina Elettra’s dubious computer skills are put to good use.
However, this is a more cynical, fatigued version of Brunetti-land than the earlier novels. Elettra’s physical charms are waning with age and there is a bone-weariness to Brunetti’s championship of honesty and integrity. The character of the deaf mute serves as an allegory of the political landscape of Italy – the public silenced and ignored, while those in power continue the ancient Italian tradition of fiddle playing.