Reviews

‘I opened this book with high expectations. They have been admirably fulfilled.  Here we have a stand alone thriller about two lonely people who pursue a relationship of monthly weekends together in remote spots.  Suddenly one of these two fails to get to the rendezvous-vous and the other realises how very limited her knowledge of her  companion is . . . Gradually the reader pieces together some of the facts as an atmosphere of rising tension envelops everything. The intelligent way Jay, Lisa and others plan their actions is enjoyable and the suspense of the tale is palpable.’

- MYSTERY PEOPLE

A friend for life

Posted on Jul 28, 2023 in Anthony Trollope, Iris Murdoch, The Pallisers, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Yesterday on a day trip from Sheffield to Oxford the train speed through Solihull. I can never see the sign go flashing past without being profoundly thankful that I am no longer working for the Inland Revenue. It’s many years since I caught the train from Birmingham to Solihull every day to my job at […]

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I Blame the Parents

Posted on Jun 6, 2017 in Anthony Trollope, The Small House at Allington | 8 Comments

Who would have thought I’d be stricter than a Victorian mama? One of the pleasures of getting older is rereading old favourites and finding that you see them from a different angle. I am currently listening to Timothy West reading (superbly) The Small House at Allington, which I first read in my twenties. I naturally identified […]

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The Flight from Solihull

Posted on Mar 31, 2017 in Anthony Trollope, Iris Murdoch, Solihull, the Inland Revenue, The Sacred and Profane Love Machine | 6 Comments

On Wednesday the train I caught from Sheffield to Oxford went through Solihull and I felt a deep sense of relief even after all these years that I didn’t have to get off the train and go to work there. It was a long time ago – so long that people were still allowed to smoke […]

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Eight novels set in cathedrals or churches

Posted on Jun 9, 2015 in Anthony Trollope, Barbara Pym, Dorothy L Sayers, Edmund Crispin, J Meade Faulkener, J. L. Carr, Michael Gilbert, Pamela Hansford Johnson | 22 Comments

Time for another list! My good blogfriend, Moira at http://clothesinbooks.blogspot.co.uk/and I are sharing our choice of eight books set in churches or cathedrals. I don’t claim that mine are the best books, but they are all books I’ve loved and read more than once. My first would have to be Trollope’s Barsetshire novels: all six, beginning with The Warden (1855) […]

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