London Tales is a collection of short stories through time that all have a central London theme. There are a range of styles and some are more snippets of action rather than full tales.
I enjoyed the first few stories and I particularly liked the third one about Wat Tyler because it was told from the point of view of the peasants as well as the lords.
The story of Holly and the girl who fell through the ice in 1814 was fun to read during an ice cold day in my town. It made me glad to have heat and warm socks!
I thought that the build up to the story set during the London Blitz was good, but the ending left me a little disappointed.
There are several other stories in this collection but they were less appealing to me and overall the book was okay, but not as good as I had hoped.
Set in Switzerland in the era of WWI and up to the mid-1920s, we first meet Seraphine where she lives in the Alps. Her life is hard. She’s the illegitimate child of an unwed mother who has found a husband and given birth to two other children. The two children (sons) suffer from cretinism (congenital hypothyroidism) and the daughter (as well as the mother) has a goiter condition.
The daughter has the burden of caring for the family with her work tending the sheep as well caring for her brothers. The father is off patrolling the borders and the mother is clearly depressed and doesn’t do much other than sit at the house. The only break Seraphine gets is when she’s at school.
We’re then introduced to Bastian, a young man who was in medical school but conscripted into the army during the war. Eventually, he is mustered out and returns to school in Zurich. We meet his friends and learn about his life.
The chapters alternate with the two main characters and also include newspaper articles of the era detailing the Russian revolution and the Swiss workers’ strikes, as well as letters between a number of people that help move the story along.
Eventually, Bastian comes to the Alps to assist a doctor who is working on a cure for cretinism and goiters and the two main characters meet.
The book is called Salt of the Earth for a reason as this doctor, among others, believes these conditions are caused by a lack of iodine in the diet. It’s especially important to not have an iodine deficiency in the preconception stage. The doctors’ work focuses on helping the people of the Alps and concentrates as well on the pregnant population to try to stop these conditions from manifesting in the infants and children.
Intrigued by the story and the iodine component, I took a deep dive into the history of this disease and who started the research into a cure. The author used the real history in the story, even naming the doctor, H. Eggenberger, as a peripheral character, as well as using Otto Bayard as a mentor to the male protagonist.
She also used Anna Heer, a female doctor, who founded the first professional nursing school in Switzerland. The female protagonist also did some work with a real person, Lotte Volger, who specialized in moulaguese. I had never heard of moulages so did a look around online about them as well. They were wax models of how certain conditions manifested themselves on patients. Lot of great innovation happening in Zurich medically in that era and I love how it was woven into the tale without being boring.
I learned a lot reading this story. I love novels that use real events from the past as a jumping off point for the book. When such whets my appetite for more information, that’s even better. The author even worked in a famous murder that occurred in Santis, Switzerland in order to get the male protagonist out of a sticky situation he found himself in. It was quite a clever use of a historical event in the time period.
I’m also curious about the author and why this thyroid condition intrigued her enough to write this book. I guess I’ll never get the answer to that question. Haha.
Historically set with a lot of references to everything that was happening in this era, this is an enjoyable story with characters who speak to the reader with their kindness and concern, not only for their loved ones, but for humanity at large. I liked the characters and the setting as well as how the author wove all the elements together.
A lovely read and beautiful story that I very much enjoyed.
This is going to be a strange review as, in the beginning, I hated both of the main characters in this book. One of them was a terrible, terrible, terrible human being. The other was a victim of the first. But he had a lot of unlikable characteristics himself. I almost put it down several times and walked away. I could only manage a chapter or two a day as I began this one.
The father character, Ronnie, was downright abusive to everyone he knew but mostly to his son. It was hard to read the awful things he did to the poor boy growing up.
Based on the blurb, I knew this was going to turn into a thriller type book even though it was slow getting there. By the end of chapter eight, I thought I had the story figured out. When I decided I’d figured the case out, it motivated me to keep reading and I was able to read more than a chapter at a time. I still was angry at Ronnie, but I was determined to see if I was right about how this would play out. LOL
I went on reading, getting more and more agitated at this Ronnie guy’s behavior. As I went on, though, the psychology classes I took kicked in and I became more sympathetic to the son. He was definitely a product of his upbringing. A mostly absent mother and an absolute jackass of a father. Of course, I did see that the father was also a product of some things that happened to him as a boy but, he was too far gone for me to have any sympathy for at all.
It turns out I did figure out the outcome of the story. I’m glad I finished it as it was definitely well written and the author must have some psychological training or had good advice on this work. She crafted a character in Ronnie that evoked strong feelings—albeit negative ones—that compelled me to keep reading. So, well done to the author.
To sum up, a slow start, a character who isn’t likable, and a female character who was clueless, along with a younger character we learn to understand, all add up to a read that is compelling and well written. I recommend plugging away at this one if you enjoy psychological thrillers.
Another great spy story from Tom Williams starring his spy, Burke and the sergeant, William, who helps him in his missions. I had not heard of the fortifications at Torres Vedras before picking up this book.
I love this series as it combines history with intrigue and exciting stories. This one was no exception. It was more of a slow burn than a minute by minute danger zone, but was very enjoyable. Our hero is tasked with rooting out spies in the Portugal city of Lisbon and the surrounding area. It wasn’t going to be quick and it wasn’t going to be easy. The pacing was slower than the last book, but as a fan of the series, I can see how that was necessary for the plot. While every minute of a spy’s day is dangerous due to the nature of the work, the actual tedium of doing the groundwork to root out the spy being sought might not be moments of breathless excitement.
Poor William caught the brunt of the issues in this adventure. I felt sorry for him. Poor guy. But as usual, he didn’t let it bring him down.
The respect Burke shows to one of the adversaries near the end of the book was intriguing and admirable even though I was a bit surprised. He’s a good man and I love the way the author has taken a real historical figure and made him someone we in this modern era can relate to even if we sometimes can’t relate to the tactics that were used in those days in the Army and the art of war.
In short, this was another success and I recommend it for those who enjoy historical fiction with a lot of realistic scenes of danger and violence as each side of a war try to win. Man’s inhumanity to man is definitely on display in this one. Five stars.
This novel is based on and inspired by the real life bravery of a Scottish countess in 1715. Her name was Winifred Maxwell, Countess of Nithsdale. She saved her husband from certain death by smuggling him out of the Tower.
The character in the book is Bethan Glentaggert, Countess of Clarencefield. When she was a child, her family fled to France with King James II (A Stuart king) when William of Orange and Queen Mary (Stuarts) took the throne. Her family was Catholic and lived in exile for many years. She married at age 27 and moved to Scotland with her husband. They lived happily for a while, having three children, but eventually, when the first Jacobite rebellion (to restore James to the throne) occurred, her husband joined in, taking many of his tenants with him into battle.
With the rebels’ loss at Preston, her husband was taken prisoner and held in the Tower of London awaiting trial. The countess sent her children to safety and traveled to London to try to save her husband.
We, as readers, make the journey with her. Through a terrible winter storm. One of the worst in years. The author did an excellent job with the descriptions and the travails of the trip. A lesser woman might have given up. The countess had to leave her companion at one point and continue on her own. As a modern day woman, I can’t even imagine how scary that was—first, with the weather and then when alone, worrying about cutthroats and robbers. A woman alone was very vulnerable, but she persevered.
Once she arrives in London, she visits her husband in the Tower and gets him legal counsel to try to fight the treason charges. She also tries to plead to the king to let him go free. She hatches a back-up plan to try to save him if the legal case doesn’t go well.
The book was full of historical details and the author did an excellent job of painting the reader a picture of the era. It was as if we were there with the intrepid countess in the snow and in the Tower. The feeling of fear she felt for her husband and what would happen to him read very real.
The only disappointment I had with the book was the ending. I wanted more information about what happened when the countess joined her husband at the culmination of her brave and daring plan. I guess I’ll have to read one of the books in the bibliography at the end of the novel to learn more about the real life lady who took on the British establishment.
This book was interesting but a little confusing. The main character seemed to leap to many conclusions without much in the way of evidence before she did. AS I read, I actually said out loud a few times, “This woman is whackadoodle.”
I enjoyed the story for the most part, but there were things left hanging at the end that I wanted explained. As a reader, I want all the questions answered especially if it seems there is not going to be a sequel.
The premise of the story was intriguing and the fact that the main character was so strong in her opinions and actions made the tale pleasurable. The beginning was slow. The character spent a lot of time removing wallpaper and drywall and inspecting the room she was renovating. I got a little annoyed at how long that took and the amount of detail conveyed. Some readers may enjoy that kind of slow build, but personally, I am all about getting to the action.
Once we got to the action, things moved quicker and I enjoyed the pace of the story from about chapter four or five on. The way the protagonist made leaps of logic was interesting and when she went to the police after visiting one particular man made me scratch my head as to how she came to the conclusion that led her there. It was precipitate at the least and a bit crazy at the most. I confess, I was kind of stunned—which may be what the author intended. LOL
I’d have liked the writer to give us closure on the sister-in-law and what was going on there. We got good closure on the main story, but I was disappointed at the plot points left hanging.
This one has me torn. They were a lot of good points in the story but there were also a number of things that bothered me. I am going to have to give it 3.5 stars.
Ramblings of a Writer 