A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a book that annoyed me as it seemed to give wrong details about how much people would have known about what was going on at Bletchley Park during WWII.
Then I read the first by a new- to-me author - Christina Koning - that was also about Bletchley Park and in this story there is much more about how secret it was and how no one talked about what they were doing. ( I reserved it because of the title, without looking to find out about it )
The main character in this book is Frederick Rowlands a man who was blinded in WWI but is able to be a "detective" and help the police with murder enquiries because he has an excellent memory and uses all the senses that he has, noticing things that other people don't.
This is the 8th in a series.
Now I've just read another, the 7th which goes back to 1939 in the lead up to war when Frederick is asked by an old friend to go to Dublin, where her husband has been getting death threats.
What surprises me in these books is how well a man who cannot see, except to tell light from dark and to make out vague shapes, is able to move around - even in places he hasn't been before but I can't get annoyed with this because I've never known anyone blind so have no idea how real this is!
The Fantastic Fiction website has more information and from this site it looks as if the author has written 9 books in two years which would be a fairly amazing feat, but delving deeper I discovered that actually the first books were published over 10 years ago and have just been republished by different publishers in a new format, which is how and why they've only now appeared in the library.
Really it would have made much more sense for me to have started at the beginning - if I'd realised there were 7 to read before the Bletchley one! The first - The Blind Detective [Originally published as 'Line of Sight']- is now reserved and will be waiting for me at the end of the month when the mobile is next around. Then maybe I'll find out more about Frederick and his family and his blindness.
Back Tomorrow
PS............... Happy 4th of July to readers across the pond!
PPS - Guessed Cilic would beat Jack Draper - sadly. Although Cilic always seems a good bloke, nicer than some others. 19 mens seeds out leaving things to Carlos, Novak the misery and Jannik (who is the most un-Italian looking Italian - if you follow )
All on Cam Norrie today then!
This sounds like a good series to get into. Thanks for the heads up. I've been watching Covert Affairs on Amazon prime [it's about the CIA, very glitzy, absolute opposite of the seedy characters in Slow Horses] and the male lead was also blinded in a war. He hears [and smells] things and also makes brilliant deductions.
ReplyDeleteAlways interesting to try a new author - perhaps reading book one will elucidate you further.
ReplyDeleteIt's always great to find a new series of books to get stuck into, a shame you accidentally started at the end, but beginning again from the first one will be really good.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend who was totally blind, we worked together for a few years, and Alan's Mum was blind for the last couple of years of her life. They both got around brilliantly at home, in fact you wouldn't have known they were blind. They both needed some help in new places, but very quickly acclimatised.
My neighbour has been blind all his life. As people have said already of others the blindness doesn’t seem to slow him down in any way.
ReplyDeleteI still say who I am when we meet in the street but I think he knows who it is already.
The reality of Bletchley Park and the people who worked there is quite astonishing. My late friend's parents worked and met there - extraordinary people.
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