In memory of Richard Kiel RIP

Richard Kiel will be forever remembered as one of the best Bond Baddies of all time. Seven foot 2 with metal teeth that could bend steel bars he terrified me as a child and I loved him for it. He and Roger Moore were the perfect foil. Entertainment at it's best.
Richard Kiel 
Actor 1939-2014


Obituary in The Daily Mail

Film Review: Pride starring Bill Nighy, Dominic West, Ben Schenetzer, Menna Trussler and Imelda Staunton

Synopsis

UK gay and lesbian activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.

My Musings

We were lucky to be given early bird tickets for this film for a showing at 10.30 am on Sunday morning. There are not many things that will prize me away from my coffee and sunday papers but I was dying to see the film featuring a star turn from our very own local actress Menna Trussler and so off we zoomed, blurry eyed and coffeeless. 

We were so glad we made the effort. Definately one of the best films this year.

Setting the stage we meet the first half of a large ensemble cast, a gay London activist group led by Mark played by the brilliant Ben Schenetzer, (recently seen in The Book Thief) and includes older couple, Andrew Scott(Sherlock's Moriarty) and Dominic West, Freddy Fox and George Mackay with Faye Marsay as the token lesbian. They all have their own personal issues to deal with but also decide to show solidarity with the Welsh miners and raise funds for them during their fight against the closure of the pits.  It would sound very far fetched if it wasn't absolutely true and because of that it is immeasurably heartwarming. 

When they raise enough money the group feel they should go and give it to a community in need and after picking a welsh mining village they all head off to donate their support in person.

This is where the fun really begins, seeing two cultures clash as each side go on a journey of discovery about the other. Set against the backdrop of the fragmentation of these tight welsh communities and the emergence of AIDs and the backlash that came with it the many individual stories that are weaved throughout the film could have been a mess but was told sensitively and intelligently. 

It was also nice to see no stereotyping on either side and all the ensemble cast were fantastic. The Welsh contingent was led by Billy Nighy who underplayed the quiet stern Welshman with a sensitive side and Mena Trussler innocently playing the perfect foil to the gay activists while on a steep learning curve. One of my favourite parts of the film was Mena and Imelda Staunton dancing with Dominic West. Who knew he had moves like that! Brilliant. Talking of which the music score of 80's hits are brilliant and will have you toe tapping through out. 

This isn't your usual comedy as it is touched with a serious message and note of sadness in that the miners lost so much with their community and work and the gay community had to deal with aids and the hysteria and ignorance that came with it. The ending was very unhollywood in that the miners lost their fight and the gay community continue to fight ignorance on several fronts however in the film many of the individuals won on personal levels. The film ends with a really positive and extraordinary true scene showing the Union joining the 1985 Gay and Lesbian Pride Rally in London, and helped push through gay rights policies at the 1985 Labour Party Conference, in the face of opposition from that Party’s National Executive. 

This film will make you laugh and cry and more importantly leave the cinema filled with PRIDE

So spread the word it's well worth it.

Book Review, Mrs Sinclair's Suitcase by Louise Walters

Synopsis

Forgive me, Dorothea, for I cannot forgive you. What you do, to this child, to this child's mother, it is wrong...

Roberta likes to collect the letters and postcards she finds in second-hand books. When her father gives her some of her grandmother's belongings, she finds a baffling letter from the grandfather she never knew - dated after he supposedly died in the war.

Dorothy is unhappily married to Albert, who is away at war. When an aeroplane crashes in the field behind her house she meets Squadron Leader Jan Pietrykowski, and as their bond deepens she dares to hope she might find happiness. But fate has other plans for them both, and soon she is hiding a secret so momentous that its shockwaves will touch her granddaughter many years later...

My Musings

A beautiful novel about two different women in different times coping with life, love and loss. 

The setting for the book is very endearing. Roberta works in a beautiful old bookshop collecting letters of strangers that have been left behind which leads her to find a devastating letter of her grandmothers. It seems she made a decision which led to the loss of her one great love, but why?.

Louise then spins us back in time to Dorothea, Roberta's grand mother in wartime when her husband is away fighting and she is recovering from a still birth. The arrival of Jan a hansome polish pilot turns her world on its head. Back with Roberta, her friendship with Philip, the owner , is kept at a distance because of abandonment issues, insecurities and her terminally ill father. The steady resolve and determination not to give up on either women by both men in the book is deeply romantic, sensitive and I would definitely like to meet both in real life!!

The book weaves back and forth seamlessly as both women struggle to overcome their reticence to make a meaningful connection afraid to be hurt. Both women have quite difficult and frustrating characters in their own way. I can't imagine I would warm to either in a first meeting but as the story gently unfolds to its heartbreaking conclusion Walters shows us why both these woman have made the choices they have and we really shouldn't judge a book by its cover, excuse the pun!!! The secondary characters give the book added richness and it weaves a rich tapestry of intertwining stories that conclude very satisfyingly even if you may need to reach for a tissue at points.

A great debut novel and will definitely look out for this author again.

If you like this you may also like

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn
The Light Behind Windows by Lucinda Riley

Facts
Louise Walters Blog

Book Review Frozen by Melissa De La Cruz and Michael Johnston

Synopsis

From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.

Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.

At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.

But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all.

Release Date October 2nd 2014

My Musings

This is a hybrid book of dystopian mixed with fantasy. Mad Max meets X Men meets The Wild West!! 
Sounds a mess and could have been but in the hands of these writers they pull together a vibrant and brutal world that is totally fascinating. Throw in an eclectic group of characters and this is a series which could become seriously addictive. 

Nat is in Las Vegas hiding her true identity and past. She is one of the minority with special skills that are hunted and used by the brutal authority. It s a lawless and dangerous place in which she has to survive whilst fighting the monstrous voices in her head telling her to find a legendary paradise called Blue. It has water and warmth of which there is precious little where she is. The only person who can get her there is Ryan who leads a rag tag band of mercenaries and has his own secrets and tragedies. 

A fantastical mix of dystopian and fantasy fiction that introduces us to some very endearing secondary characters and storylines that add depth to the bubbling romance between Nat and Ryan as they cross the treacherous toxic sea littered with icebergs of rubbish and slavers and pirates. They both fight their feelings towards one another and their journey takes you on a real roller coaster ride right up to the heart stopping finale. 

This is the first book of the series and I am already addicted. Some reviewers have commented that there are holes in the world building but it didn't bother me and I just thought those things will be explained as the series goes on. If you had an indepth history of this particular world included in the book it would have damaged the pace and excitement of the story and I didn't feel it was needed. 

A unique mix of genres that sets it apart and I can't wait for the next!

Trailer

If you like this you may like
Books
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Hunger Games by Suzanne Harris
Films
Mad Max Series
X Men Series

Interesting Facts
Official website of Melissa De La Cruz
Melissa De La Cruz

Michael Johnston is Melissa's husband and has been collaborating on her books from the beginning of her prolific career although his name has never appeared until now.
Below is a link to an interview with both and ineresting chat on their working life together and their thoughts on Frozen
Interview with husband and wife writing team Melissa and Michael

Film Review The Book Thief

Synopsis

While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being sheltered by her adoptive parents.

My Musings

Adapted from the international bestseller it tells the story of a young orphan girl Liesel, adopted in Nazi Germany. Sophie Nelisse as Liesel is mesmerizing throughout the film as she learns to escape from the tyranny of Nazi Germany through her love of books. This she unexpectedly shares not only with her adoptive parents but also with a young Jewish boy her parents hide in their basement and an wealthy woman who has lost her only son. Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson play the parents and give quiet powerful performances where they have the confidence to underplay their characters. You warm to them immeasurably as their relationship builds with their new daughter and the tension builds with the surrounding dangers. Death is the narrator in this film always in the background whispering of an inevitability. I did not guess that the end would be quite so devastating but it is a heartrendingly beautiful film. It takes strength from its subtle performances and leaves you pondering over the uselessness and wastefulness of war. This film deserved more publicity and acclaim and will be one that stays in my memory for quite a while.

If you like this film you may like

• Schindlers List with Ralph Fiennes
• Malena with Monica Bellucci
• Goodnight Mr Tom with John Thaw
• War Horse, Stephen Spielberg
• The Piano with Adrien Brody
• Boy in The Striped Pyjamas
• The Reader with Kate Winslet

Book Review All Souls Trilogy The Book of Life By Deborah Harkness All Souls Trilogy

Synopsis

The highly anticipated finale to the #1 New York Timesbestselling trilogy that began with A Discovery of Witches

After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

With more than one million copies sold in the United States and appearing in thirty-eight foreign editions, A Discovery of Witches andShadow of Night have landed on all of the major bestseller lists and garnered rave reviews from countless publications. Eagerly awaited by Harkness’s legion of fans, The Book of Life brings this superbly written series to a deeply satisfying close. 

My Musings

When I walked into my local library on Thursday I couldn't believe my eyes, there was The Book of Life, waiting for me! Deborah Harkness has made her fans of the All Saints Trilogy wait 2 years to see how Matthew and Diana conclude in their trials to survive and their search for The Book of Life, the title of the final installment. I was going to wait for the paperback but fate had other ideas and even though I didn't really have time to read anything at the moment I couldn't resist.
 Its a BIG book. 
I handed it over the counter and the librarian looked at me dubiously. "You realise this is only on loan for a week because its a best seller and new in? "
I shrugged.
"And you can't take it out again so you will have to read it in a week? It is a very big book!"
By this time I was getting a little annoyed, with my hands firmly on my new prized possession I firmly replied. That won't be a problem. 
Well I started on Thursday and finished it this Sunday morning tucked up in bed with a hot cup of sugary tea and the reminents of  Hurricane Bertha swirling around the house, lashing rain and rumbling thunder. How precipitous was that!!

Back to the actual book. I was a bit nervous that it would live up to the hype but should not have been worried. Yes you do have to read the previous books before but that goes without saying. All the characters are there that we have grown so fond of and at the centre is the unflinching love of the ancient (but gorgeous and handsome) Matthew and the beautiful and spirited witch Diana. Diana is now pregnant with twins, still learning about her powers and looking for The Book of Life which is like a bible for all creatures such as Daemons, Vampires and Witches. Harkness blends magic and science together in two veins to try and build bridges, find out truths of their existence and bring a peace to the different factions. To add to the mix is one of Matthew's sons, an evil vampire Benjamin bent on revenge to an horrific and devastating degree.

There are a lot of characters in the book and Harkness harnesses them well. I loved that we saw Phillip Matthews father, and Diana's father slip in and out of the story as they were such pivotal characters in the last book and it would have been a shame to lose them completely. My only query, and it is very small, is that was Harkness too kind to her characters? Should she have been more ruthless with one or two of the secondary ones? Is that too brutal? Yes I am arguing with myself because in the end I was relieved that without giving too much away everything went according to plan. The shocking parts were in hindsight between Phillip and Benjamin and Matthew and that was actually brutal enough.  

The pace of the story never slackens and you are swept along with a degree of urgency to see how  Matthew and Diana will find peace and happiness for their new family.  On character alone I loved that the female and male characters where equally matched. There were no fainting maidens in this book thank god. And Matthew was given a more vulnerable  side to match his darker character. Both are very enticing prospects. There will be no spoilers here but to say the reader will be totally satisfied with the end. There are conclusions and also a few loose ends and question marks over which the reader can muse to the different paths the characters take. 

I hear there is a film optioned. How they will produce such a complex story for screen I don't know but I would love them to try. I hope it does make it. 

When I finished my book the storm had subsided and I closed the last pages with a sigh of pleasure and satisfaction. It was like eating a Laduree cake. Tasted as good as it looked and lingers in the memory as a slice of indulgent escapism. It was a naughty luxury I'm very glad I succumbed to. 


links of interest
www.deborahharkness.com
www.twitter.com/DebHarkness

Other books that may be of interest
The Black Magician Series by Trudi Canavan- More fantasy fiction than historical but with the similar depth of character and plot.

Book Review Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Synopsis

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. 

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them. 

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss. 

The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel

My Musings

The first thing that caught my attention about this book was how visual and atmospheric it was. Stedman really draws you into the age at in the 1940's in Australia just after the war. Also the main location which is the  lighthouse has a magical quality as a place 'away from the things of man' and away from reality. This is the premise of this wonderful book. The lighthouse is a safe haven for Tom the new lighthouse keeper and his young wife Isabel as he wants to escape the memories of the war and start afresh. Life is idyllic until after 3 miscarriages and inconsolable Isobel finds a baby washed up in a little boat with a dead man and persuades Tom much against his instincts to keep it.
Like Tom and Isobel the reader assumes the baby's family is dead are they?

The plot really starts to thicken and the different shades of right and wrong rear their head on several occasions. As new truths emerge Tom struggles with his conscious about who the baby belongs with. His loving wife and brilliant mother or the young woman who believes she has lost both her husband and baby. 

The dilemma for Tom, especially when he realises he has met the baby's mother before, is can he sacrifice this womans grief for the happiness of his wife? The moral dilemma of a situation rapidly spinning out of control is painful , heartbreaking and intriguing. I am not sure any reader would be convinced of the absolute right or wrong of any of the decisions made . 

Of course ultimately it is the innocent little girl. Lucy Grace who will be the unwitting victim and potentially emotionally scarred. 

A gripping read that will have the rights and wrongs of the situation swirling around your head long after you finish the book. A great first book and look forward to the film as it definitely has a cinematic quality.


If you like this you may also like
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

Ps. Good For a Book Group, loads to discuss