91 Book Review CHANGING PERSPECTIVES


It’s festival season and many authors are out on the road sharing their thoughts, ideas and characters with their readers. There’s no doubt that meeting the author can change your outlook – some might burst your bubble others might open a door. The Greenway Literary Festival is the newest and most local event on the scene with two weeks of bookie activities for adults and children from


female slave, the graphic horrors of war with skilful imagery and well-drawn characters. The Times describes it as “chilling, powerful, audacious.” The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder by


Sarah J Harris (The Borough Press) is an equally compelling book but set in contemporary times. This is a murder mystery with a difference whose 13 year old narrator, Jasper, sees life with a truly


by Emma Jones


25 May – 9 June. Nationaltrust.org.uk. (See page 33). And look out for bestselling authors Alexander McCall Smith and Marcia Willett who are also hosting reader events in Dartmouth in May. Amongst the arrival of good paperbacks this


spring is Circe, published by Bloomsbury and written by Madeleine Miller, the author of the winner of the 2012 Orange Prize Winner The Song of Achilles. Hotly tipped to be the ‘literary sensation of the summer’ it’s at the top of my to- read list. Once again the author has returned with a story that is a modern take on an ancient Greek myth – The Odyssey - however this time it is has been reworked from the perspective of Circe. This strong, heroic sorceress who previously only had a minor role in the story now takes centre stage in this timeless tale of family rivalry, love and loss. The myth has been brought to life, full of magic, enchantment and with a thoroughly modern Circe updated for our era of me too, with the Observer calling it “a novel to be gobbled greedily in a single sitting.” The Silence of the Girls (Penguin paperback) is the latest book by highly acclaimed author Pat Barker. Feted as one of our finest chroniclers of war the author of World War One trilogy Regeneration this time brings the Trojan war to life adding new perspective to the myth, The Iliad. Here the story is told from the viewpoint of a woman, Briseis who was enslaved by the Greeks. This has the makings of a modern classic depicting the life of a


different perspective – he cannot recognise faces and he hears sounds and voices as colours: Tuesday is bottle green, murder is ice blue crystals and Wednesday is toothpaste white.


It’s both


an intriguing and endearing read which draws you into a kaleidoscopic world with an engaging character with a love of parakeets – if you liked The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time this is one to look out for. With the 75th anniversary of D-Day on the


horizon one final mention for Disaster Before D-Day: Unravelling the Tragedy at Slapton Sands which has just been published by Pen & Sword Military. This is a new book about Operation Tiger by historian Stephen Wynn which sheds new light on the disastrous event which killed over 700 American servicemen in 1944. Most of us know the tragic story which was chronicled through Ken Small’s book The Forgotten Dead. But how much do you really know? If you want to fill in the gaps about the secrecy of the American military authorities and find out more about what really happened and how these events could have changed the course of history… read on!


15 - 22 June


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