Annabel Fielding's Blog, page 4
May 13, 2018
Book Review: Song for Arbonne, by Guy Gavriel Kay
Song for Arbonne is one of Guy Gavriel Kay’s earlier novels. Much like his later ones (Lions of Al-Rassan, Sarantine Mosaic, Children of Earth and Sky), it was inspired by a real historical era – this time, we’re transported to the lavender fields of medieval Provence, with its Courts of Love, sophisticated troubadours, and a...
May 2, 2018
Crash-tour of Marylebone
Marylebone encloses around me with a strange suddenness. Just three minutes ago, Oxford Street was roaring around me in all its doubtful glory, with inevitable garbage on the ground, cheap souvenir shops flashing to either side of me, and a sticky smell of fast food unmistakable. Now it was as if I just stepped through...
April 25, 2018
Book Review: Affinity, by Sarah Waters
My acquaintance with Sarah Waters started in the windy Northumbrian winter of 2014. Huddling in blankets and embracing my radiator in rapturous passion, I immersed myself in the treasure of Victorian historical fiction that is Tipping the Velvet. I absolutely adored the book– but after that, first buried under my academic reading list, then distracted by...
April 17, 2018
The fish market of Trouville-sur-Mer
As you might have noticed, I like to eat on my travels. Well, okay, I kinda have to – but I also enjoy devouring a good studel as much as I enjoy devouring a fascinating piece of history. And France is the best country for a wandering foodie (maybe after Italy, but this is a...
March 22, 2018
Book Review: The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock
I won’t hesitate calling The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock one of the top reads of 2018 – at least, for historical fiction lovers. Yes, I know the year has just started. My point still stands. According to the official blurb: ‘One September evening in 1785, the merchant Jonah Hancock hears urgent knocking on his front...
March 7, 2018
3 best breakfast spots in Berlin, Tiergarten
During my stay in Germany (starting with Bremen) I’ve picked up a decadent habit of going out for breakfast – a habit I know I will have trouble shaking off when come back home to my cereals. Now, should you wish to partake in the same destructive pleasures, I’ve compiled a small list of the...
February 28, 2018
Book Review: The Tiger and the Ruby, by Kief Hillsbery
The Tiger and the Ruby is really a unique sort of book. I could call it a great travel memoir, and, ostensibly, it is – after all, it narrates the author’s journey through Nepal, Afghanistan and India in search of a solution to one family mystery. Or, as the official blurb puts it: ‘In 1841,...
February 19, 2018
The sweetest spot in Bremen
I found a lovely historical café in Bremen to spend a morning in… As is the case with many German cities, the bulk of Bremen’s old town was wiped out in the firestorm of the last world war. Most of Bremen is populated by brightly colored concrete buildings, built to close the gaping wounds of...
February 10, 2018
Book Review: Ines of My Soul, by Isabel Allende
A perfect novel for readers looking for some great historical fiction with a non-European setting. Ines of my Soul tells the story of a real-life conquistadora Ines Suarez – a colonist and a settler, a lover and a fighter, and, ultimately, one of the founders of the kingdom of Chile. It really is a tour...
February 3, 2018
Den Gamle Kro: the hidden (foodie) gem of Odense
I happened to celebrate the New Year’s Eve in the little Danish town of Odense, about two hours’ drive from Copenhagen. Odense is most renowned for having been the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, and it shows. The quotes from his fairy-tales emblazon even the walls of the local Radisson Blu, enlivening the otherwise bland,...
