Tuesday 28 April 2020

More Excellent Books

Two of the books bought with the free gift card have been read and both were good.

First.........

Crossed Skis: An Alpine Mystery (British Library Crime Classics Book 78) by [Carol Carnac, Martin Edwards]

British Library Crime Classics have already reprinted a few books by this author under her pseudonym of E.C.R. Lorac and they were all well written and this one is a good read too.

 This was written in 1952, one year after the author had her own holiday in the alps
.
In London, still recovering from WWII, Inspector Brook of Scotland Yard looks at the victim of a ruthless murder who lies burnt beyond recognition, his possessions and papers destroyed by fire. But there is one strange, yet promising, lead – a lead which suggests the involvement of a skier.

Meanwhile,  sunshine beams down on the sparkling snow of the Austrian Alps, where a merry group of holidaymakers are heading towards Lech am Arlberg. They are a ski party organised among friends and colleagues consisting of eight men and eight women and travelling out from London to enjoy some time on the slopes. Some of the 16 are known to each other but a few are friends of friends stepping in to fill the gaps when others dropped out. The story moves between London and Austria  as  the ski party are soon to become sixteen suspects. Perhaps one of their number is not who they claim to be.



Secondly.................... and thank you to whoever it was (if it was a blogger) that mentioned "The World My Wilderness" by Rose Macaulay.
What a treat this book was.

The World My Wilderness (Virago Modern Classics Book 15) by [Rose Macaulay, Penelope Fitzgerald]
It is 1946 and the people of France and England are facing the aftermath of the War. 17 year old Barbary Deniston has spent her childhood years in the sunshine of Provence living with her beautiful mother and stepfather. During the War she ran wild with the French Resistance, experiencing collaboration, secrecy and murder.
 In peacetime she is sent to live with her very proper and upright barrister father and young stepmother in the drab austerity of postwar London life. 
Confused and unhappy, she discovers the flowering bomb craters around St Paul's Cathedral. Here, in the bombed heart of London, with the outcasts living on the edge of society, she finds a world similar to the way she lived during the war.
Then an accident among the ruins of churches and homes brings her mother to her from France.


Originally published in 1950 this was first reprinted by Virago in 1983.
I loved it and raced through it in all spare moments - and there are plenty of those now!



Back Tomorrow
Sue

19 comments:

  1. We are both up bright and early this morning Sue. I like the sound of the Rose Macauley - I love her writing. Have a good day.

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    1. I wasn't up as early as you think! - I just schedule the posts to post at 7am - I was still in bed at 7!

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  2. I recognised the street picture on your first book because I have walked down it quite a few times when I used to go to Austria alot.It is the Maria Therasian in Innsbruck and the view of the Alps is amazing.I have got a stein with the picture of it on my sideboard.I am enjoying reading your blogs each day!,Safe safe,xxx

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    1. One of the lovely things about the British Library Crime Classic reprints is their use of old pictures on the covers.
      I'm glad you like reading my ramblings

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  3. I absolutely love it when you find a book like that - where you feel both eagerness to read it and sadness to read it so quickly because it will be finished!

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    1. The problem is it stops me getting on with a new book after reading a good one

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  4. Both sound good. I am currently reading the first of the Brighton novels written by Ellie Griffiths (love her work) - The Zig-Zag Girl. I had read other later ones in this series, but not this, the first. I have a couple of other books on the go too, depending which room I am in!!

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  5. I'm so glad you liked The World my Wilderness. I'm always recommending it to people. Hmm, might be time for a reread!

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    1. Perhaps I saw it on your blog - I really enjoyed it

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  6. The second book sounds really good, and I love the cover.

    I'm beginning to reclassify 'spare moments', instead there are bits and bobs of necessary work and then there's my doing the things I want to do ... the things that would I guess, usually be done in those spare moments.

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    1. Ive had too many spare moments today - I've wasted a whole day doing nothing much and it's made me tired!

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  7. Both of those sound interesting. I love the cover styles of the British Library's crime series.

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    1. I think the covers really sold the books when they started to reprint all these old crime books

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  8. I love your blog. I also enjoy reading a couple of others from the U.K...especially the comments, bits and bobs...allotment...things I have no clue, other than to read for context...hope you are doing well isolating...it has been 40 plus days for me with groceries delivered by family...I know we are saving lives...keep writing...the books look good.

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    1. I'm glad you enjoy reading. I;m certainly not going far - just food shopping or post office although I need to get to a bank soon

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  9. I have enjoyed the books I have read by E. C. R. Lorac, and look forward to Crossed Skies, but it won't be released in the US till autumn. I hope I can remember to look out for it.

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  10. The World my Wilderness sounds like my kind of read. Thanks for the recommendation.

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  11. What lovely books.

    God bless.

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