The star of this book is the treacherous Skeleton Coast where the action takes place at two different periods in history, in the 1950s and during WWII. Geoffrey Peace is the skipper of a large fishing boat called the Etosha who works in these unpredictable waters. When visiting a friend in Swakopmund, a strange incidentContinue reading “A Twist of Sand by Geoffrey Jenkins”
Category Archives: author
The Tenth Man by Graham Greene
Graham Greene wrote The Tenth Man in 1944 when he was under a two-year contract with MGM. The manuscript lay forgotten in their archives until 1983 . It was published two years later. This story starts with 30 men in a German prison cell in occupied France. As a reprisal for three murders by theContinue reading “The Tenth Man by Graham Greene”
The Storyteller Essays by Walter Benjamin
These are interesting essays by Walter Benjamin who is now considered to have been the most important German literary critic in the first half of the 20th century. Born into a prosperous Jewish family, Benjamin studied philosophy in Berlin, Freiburg im Breisgau, Munich, and Bern. He settled in Berlin in 1920 and worked as aContinue reading “The Storyteller Essays by Walter Benjamin”
The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky
This is a compelling novel about The Gambler, Alexey Ivanovitch, who is working in the household of a Russian General – he was only promoted to this rank on his retirement – who is staying in a hotel in the fictional town of Roulettenburg. The others in the General’s party include the Frenchman Dr Grieux,Continue reading “The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky”
Pan by Knut Hamsun
This book was published in 1894 and is set in the Northern wilderness of Norway. The book tells the story of a summer relationship between Lieutenant Thomas Glahn who is spending time on holiday in a hut with his dog Aesop and Edvarda Mack the daughter of the local rich man. Glahn and Edvarda haveContinue reading “Pan by Knut Hamsun”
The Figure in the Dusk
John Creasey wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty-eight different pseudonyms during his career as a novelist. This is one of the Chief Inspector Roger West books known alternatively as ‘A Case for Inspector West’ in the UK. Members of an extended family are gradually being shot dead in their cars and houses inContinue reading “The Figure in the Dusk”
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
This novel is set in a small town in Ireland and follows the thoughts of Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant who is married with five daughters. He works hard but life is still a struggle and it seems to him that he is existing rather than living. The essence of Bill Furlong isContinue reading “Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan”
Time Traveller’s Diary
The Greeks were going to use a real horse at Troy until… This is the diary of a time-travelling health and safety executive who tries to stop accidents through history before they happen. If Dr Who can travel in time then why can’t a Health and Safety Exec do the same? The Exec influences theContinue reading “Time Traveller’s Diary”
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Aldous should have toned down his inclination to use his wide vocabulary in favour of a more mantra-like style that would have been more in keeping with the ideas in the book. This book describes a bland yet menacing society where spontaneous and creative ideas and thoughts are no longer tolerated due to the rearingContinue reading “Brave New World by Aldous Huxley”
Dr Sally by PG Wodehouse
A superb PG Wodehouse story where aged golfer Sir Hugo Drake falls for the shot-making abilities of a beautiful woman doctor called, you’ve guessed it, Dr Sally Smith. The thing is his good-for-nothing nephew Bill Bannister falls for her too, but not for golfing reasons, whilst intending to ask Mrs Higginbotham to marry him. MrsContinue reading “Dr Sally by PG Wodehouse”
Julian Worker Fiction Writing 