Set against the familiar background of Italian corruption at all levels, The Temptation of Forgiveness is our 27th police procedural in the erudite company of Commissario Guido Brunetti.
When a man is found badly injured after a late night attack on the steps of one of Venice’s many bridges, the victim’s wife turns out to be one of Paola’s colleagues, who’d recently spoken with Brunetti concerning her son’s suspected use of drugs.
As Brunetti and his colleagues – Commissario Griffoni, Ispettore Vianello and Signorina Elettra – investigate, preconceptions and prejudices come into play, and moral dilemmas abound.
More adventures in magical London (and beyond) for Mage Alex Verus, made even more complicated by the occasional appearance of Not-Anne, a djinn and the ever present political machinations of the Light Council.
Zenobia – Nancy – Wix is the daughter of theatre impresario Devil and former artists model Eliza.
Born in the early 20th Century, Nancy and her brothers live through the First World War and its emotional aftermath. It’s the Roaring Twenties and the era of women’s emancipation too.
A near-death experience confirms teenage Nancy’s awareness that she senses and sees things that other people don’t, and in the grief and soul searching that follow the Great War, and after the Great Depression strikes the Wix family finances hard, she takes to the stage as a Spiritualist.
This novel has been on my watch list for a while, so I made the most of spotting the beautifully produced hard back in Barbican Library. The Night Circus is always out on loan, even though it was published 7 years ago.
A mysterious circus that opens only at night, offering customers exotic experiences featuring acrobats and contortionists, ice sculptures and performing animals, magicians and merry-go-rounds.
So far, so relatively normal.
However the origins and operation of the Night Circus are far from normal, and that’s what made this a speedy read at Walton on the Naze.
Tricky to categorise too – sort of fantastic (rather than fantasy) historical fiction.
