In the midst of the Blitz in London in 1943, an extraordinary event took place in Bethnal Green, an event so extraordinary that it is not understood completely even to this day. On March 3, 1943, when the air raid warning sirens went off, thousands of people headed, as usual, toward the nearest bomb shelter, the local Tube station, a one-entrance location which could accommodate up to ten thousand people within a few minutes of their arrival. On this night, something unique happened. One hundred seventy-three people died of asphyxia within a minute of their arrival at the station, all suffocated in the crush on the first twenty stairs of the entrance. Not one of the victims had managed to reach the landing at the bottom, only a few feet away, from which another seven stairs down would have guaranteed their safety. Ironically, “not a single bomb had fallen in the city that night.” All these deaths were accidental. A fine novel which deals with major ethical and moral issues within a context which every reader will appreciate and understand, The Report offers a different way of looking at historical events—rationally, but with a kindness toward the participants which protects their integrity and their future lives.
Read Full Post »
How long has it been since you have read a novel with a thematic line so unusual and so well explicated that reading the book changed your way of seeing the world? This novel was one such experience for me. Metaphysical, historical, and utterly different from anything I have ever read, Giles Foden’s TURBULENCE kept me (neither a mathematician nor a student of physics) turning the pages, no matter how theoretical and dense the novel sometimes became with its science. Fascinating personal stories are interwoven with the scientific plot, giving the novel immediacy, even for a devout non-scientist. Set in London and Scotland from January through June, 1944, the novel is a study of weather forecasting and all the factors which must be considered in making long-range predictions. Henry Meadows must focus on the idea of turbulence and other complex flows, which move constantly, are difficult to quantify, and have unpredictable effects on other physical measurements as he observes and eventually helps forecast weather patterns over a five-day period for fifty miles of German-occupied French coastline so that an invasion can be planned and a window of opportunity identified for D-Day.
Read Full Post »
The fraught events in the Balkans leading to the occupation of Greece by the Nazis in April, 1941, form the structure of this complex novel, which begins in Greece and ranges through Albania, France, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Turkey, as small, vulnerable Eastern European countries try to stave off both the Nazis and the Italians. Alan Furst, famous for his carefully researched espionage thrillers focusing on events from 1940 and 1941, recreates the confusions and the complications of the Balkan countries in early 1941, as they try to maintain some semblance of sovereignty against the massive war machine of Nazi Germany. With their different political systems, languages, and cultural sensibilities, their best chance for individual survival lies not within their own, often impotent, governments but within a loosely connected group of individuals from many European countries who may have access to information. Exhibiting little sense of trust of each other, some are associated with police and intelligence agencies, while others are committed private citizens who want to help the Jews escape the onslaught of the Reich. All want to stop Hitler, but all also have separate, private goals.
Read Full Post »
Timid Miss Roach, a woman of thirty-nine who is a secretary for a London publisher by day, lives at the Rosamund Tea Room, now a boarding house, in Thames Lockdon during the Blitz in 1943. When Miss Roach meets American lieutenant Dayton Pike, who, with a friend, has recently had dinner at the Rosamund Tea Room, she and he become friendly, and her life changes. “Her” lieutenant enjoys kissing her, taking her to the local bar, providing her with “gin and french,” and even talking about marriage. The arrival of Vicki Kugelmann, a German-born friend, turns her life upside down. Hamilton’s ability to create sympathetic characters, while also conveying sense impressions, moments in time, and unique, visual observations about ordinary life is unparalleled. A wonderfully ironic and gently satiric picture of life in England in 1943.
Read Full Post »
Major Max Chadwick is the Information Officer for the British army on Malta during World War II. “Loyal Little Malta,” a British colony strategically located between Sicily and North Africa, has been bombarded non-stop by the Germans and Italians for many months. Though British submarines based on Malta have been interrupting German shipping in the Mediterranean since the war began, the British are almost helpless against the Axis air power. In April, 1941, “the Luftwaffe flew a staggering 9600 sorties against the island, almost double the number for March, which itself had shattered all previous records.” The total number of available planes in Malta was ten. When the body of a Blue Parrot “sherry queen” shows up, Max realizes that there is a serial killer on the loose, and evidence with the body indicates the killer is British. Max must search for the killer without alienating the Maltese residents who are counting on them for their security. Despite some weaknesses, the novel does create interest in the amazing stamina of the Maltese people during the Siege of Malta.
Read Full Post »
