From emancipated Eigg to the tidal mudflats of Essex, Patrick Barkham visits 10 (?) different islands off the shores of the British mainland, exploring the history, geography, people, wildlife and present day culture on each.
In tandem, snippets of the life and islands of novelist Compton Mackenzie.
A great read.
Publisher page: Islander: A Journey Around Our Archipelago – Patrick Barkham
Farewell Falco. The last in Lindsey Davis’ hugely enjoyable and educational series about a 1st century AD Roman informer and his world.
So, of course, it is the long overdue reckoning between best pals Falco and Petronius, and arch enemy Anacrites.
Author page: Nemesis – Lindsey Davis
Falco, Helena and big bump, together with smitten Albia and oblivious Aulus, travel to Alexandria for a taste of Egypt’s ancient culture.
As sightseeing meets scrolls in the Great Library, the holiday plan goes AWOL when the Librarian dies after dinner hosted by elusive Uncle Fulvius and his gentleman friend, Cassius.
Chocabloc of truisms.
Author page: Alexandria – Lindsey Davis
Patchy.
I enjoyed the earlier chapters although the foreshadowing of The Big Reveal became a bit repetitive and the coverage of events in the Debatable Land under the Tudors and early Stewarts, as the borders between England and Scotland came more into focus, felt rather drawn out. The chapters on the Scottish Referendum and Brexit felt like articles tacked on at the end.
As for the big reveal? Well, I would have likes more insight into the competing theories as to the identity of legendary King Arthur, and the key maps that underlying the place name and Ptolemaic Map analysis needed to be larger scale and would have been better located in the relevant chapters – true for all the maps at the back of the paperback.
Publisher page: The Debatable Land – Graham Robb
Uhtred encounters a Norse wolf lord with designs on becoming King of Northumbria, and the noose of Englaland draws ever tighter as Edward the Elder edges towards death and his successors start plotting….
Author page: War of the Wolf – Bernard Cornwell