This was given freely for review by Sapere Books. 617 Squadron are best known for the 1943 Dambusters raids on the Mohne and Edersee dams in Germany whThis was given freely for review by Sapere Books. 617 Squadron are best known for the 1943 Dambusters raids on the Mohne and Edersee dams in Germany which disrupted German war production. Plenty has been written and filmed about that mission but this book focusses on missions after that famous event. Tom Bennett himself was a member of the squadron and this personal book follows brave individuals and their experiences over France, Germany and Norway. The most high profile mission featured is the sinking of the Tirpitz at harbour in Norwegian Arctic territory late in the war. During that mission some didn't make it home with several spending the remainder of the war as prisoners while some were able to get their damaged planes to neutral Sweden and repatriation. As well as detailed accounts of the missions the book also highlights life on the various bases and the camaraderie that kept morale particularly high in this band of brothers in arms. Each pilot, navigator, engineer or gunner featured has their personality clearly defined - this isn't just a book of facts, it's a book of people. Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and Brits - all feature equally here in a multi-national effort that also owes a heavy debt to Polish and other nationals who manned the fighters accompanying the bombers. For me, it's this element that is most poignant. The book was first published in the mid 1980s from interviews and research in the years preceding. I was in my mid-teens and soldiers, airmen and sailors from the war were still of working age as I started my working life (I remember seeing First World War veterans marching on Remembrance parades). Many of the characters from this book were, at the time of publication, just starting their retirement or still in their post-war careers in Britain and the Commonwealth. Sadly, it's unlikely that any are still alive. It's a good thing that we still remember them....more
It's hard to imagine that lives like this are real. David Smiley was a young man who was an army reguThis was given freely for review by Sapere Books.
It's hard to imagine that lives like this are real. David Smiley was a young man who was an army regular at the outbreak of war. After service in East Africa he used his family influences (he was of noted stock) to join a commando corps and started his most extraordinary adventures. After missions in Abyssinia, Syria and Palestine he joined the Special Operations Executive and was parachuted into Albania to work with the locals against Italian and then German occupation. What is most fascinating about these times is the underlying politics. Albania wasn't (isn't) a country of similar people. There are different ethnicities, tribes and religions with some being Muslim and some orthodox. Sadly, these differences in that region never seem to have settled and in my lifetime there have been tragic events in Kosovo against ethnic Albanians. At this time communist forces are also trying to establish power in the region. The British government plays games behind the scenes trying to not only win the war but also influence the outcomes. Will we ever learn that arming groups with British weapons so often works against us? As we now know Albania entered Soviet influence and King Zog was exiled - it could so easily have been a similar story in Greece where civil war was also unfolding at the same time. Back to Smiley - he is at the forefront of these events. He discusses with all parties in the field in an attempt to drive out the Italian and German forces. He moves around using false identities or disguises and at one point even has a lift in a car with a German soldier. All this despite speaking little Albanian and conducting many conversations in French. The sheer front of the man (and others alongside him) is phenomenal. A strange and disconcerting aspect of the book, to me at least, is the cold bloodedness of war. While Smiley clearly describes with fondness certain dishes he ate, houses he stayed in and girls that served him the truly exciting events are tossed aside in the manner of "we laid a mine to disable a troop lorry and killed about 20 men as they jumped off". Simple as that, and yet the affection he had for a horse was enough that he showed real emotion at parting. I guess that's how soldiers are trained. I really enjoyed these memoirs - the politics really drew me in, especially being of an age that remembers the Cold War of the 80s, the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Balkan wars of the 90s. This is where it all started and it's not pretty reading for fans of British influence. Our soldiers are as incredible as ever, our politicians as inept. Greece avoided communism despite British aid, not because of it according to this book. A great read for fans of politics and war history as well as those who want a true story of incredible heroism, this is a recommended read....more
It never decreases, the horror that a massacre of this scale by a civilised nation could have happened. That being born of a particular race can lead It never decreases, the horror that a massacre of this scale by a civilised nation could have happened. That being born of a particular race can lead to systematic murder on a factory scale, using state of the art technology. That a nation so similar to our own could find enough willing participants to carry out the evil will of a nazi government. Amidst the horror the camp inhabitants continued everyday life. Brave, intelligent souls worked hard to bring a routine to each day to keep up hope and spirits, especially amongst the younger children. At Auschwitz the nazis set up a 'family camp' and the inhabitants of this camp worked. The intention was that this was the camp that the nazis would show the Red Cross if they visited in the hope of persuading them that they were behaving in accordance with international law. How they would explain the smoke and the chimneys is anyone's guess but the Red Cross didn't visit, nobody came until the end of the war. 14 year old Dita comes to the camp with her mother and father. Like many of the camp's inhabitants she is Czech. In the 'school' that is set up in the family camp she is the librarian, charged with looking after the 8 books that have been smuggled into the camp. She checks them out to the teachers, she repairs them and she hides them every night. The nazis know nothing of this as teaching is forbidden, books are forbidden and pencils are forbidden. But for all the evil in humanity there is a greater amount of ingenuity, of spirit, of determination and of love. This is a novel based on the story of Dita. Many of the characters are real and the events are as described but worked in a storyline format. It is heartbreaking and sickening but also uplifting. ...more
I love a bit of nature, me. I'm no Chris Packham but I know a fair bit about birds and stuff, enough to make a walk interesting. One group of animals I love a bit of nature, me. I'm no Chris Packham but I know a fair bit about birds and stuff, enough to make a walk interesting. One group of animals I'm not so hot on are insects and a while back I threw my hat into the ring on a BBC Wildlife competition and was lucky enough to win a signed copy of this book by Peter Eeles. It's a weighty, glossy tome and sat proudly on my bookshelf with a few other book about birds. Lockdown came along and I, like many others, found myself stuck on my own for days on end with glorious weather outside. I walked every evening and started noticing the butterflies and decided this would be my new focus to keep myself busy - something new to learn a bit about. I dusted off the book and read it from cover to cover. I didn't mean to, but butterflies are fascinating! Some species of butterfly rarely wander more than a few hundred metres and colonies can take decades to spread a few miles. Your Painted Lady, though, migrates from Africa and back on high wind currents. But that's not the only incredible thing - this migration takes several generations to get from one place to the other. Did you know many species of butterfly have symbiotic relationships with ants? The butterfly have a 'honey glands' which produce a sweet substance attractive to ants. In return the ants protect the larva from predators. In some cases such as the Large Blue the ants take the larva into their nests where they pupate after feeding on ant grubs. Butterflies are pretty similar in style aren't they? They might differ in size and colour but generally they are an easily distinguishable shape. Their larva aren't. They come in all sorts of sizes and levels of hairiness and can differ considerably between the different stages of larva) known as instars). Some blend incredibly with their chosen foodplant, others mimic ant larva to get protectio. Some butterflies winter in their pupae whereas others winter as eggs before hatching into larva. Some larva winter as a particular instar before continuing their lifecycle. Honestly, they're really really incredible animals. Eeles knows his stuff. Every single butterfly has detailed lifecycles accompanied by clear phots - many of which are taken by the author. He has remembrances of his sightings of different species and examples of when he has reared some at home. This book will retain pride of place on my shelf and I'm already about 12 species into ticking off the ones I've spotted and identified using it. I'd say every home should have one but at about £30 it's a bit too much for anyone other than the really interested person but you get what you pay for - this must be the greatest British butterfly book of all-time....more
This collection of short stories feels like something of a 'jam session' from the author. Most of the storiesThis was a free download from the author.
This collection of short stories feels like something of a 'jam session' from the author. Most of the stories are ideas put down on paper rather than carefully structured short stories in the traditional sense. Graham is a fan of traditional science fiction and there are plenty of representatives of the genre here, quick snapshots of a longer story. Indeed, there are chapters of two of Graham's published novels ('Milijun' and 'Saving Paludis') which hint at a better buy for your money. I'm afraid the others just didn't grab me. A decent short story still needs a beginning, middle and end for me to engage with it and most weren't that detailed and needed more. There are some good stories in there - the title story which opens the collection is a decent tale with a twist and and the closing story - 'Trapped' - a sweet story of love that finished thne book nicely. Of the sci-fi tales my favourite was 'Vanguard', a story that hints at something that could be explored further - like the dark side of the Moon where it is set. I'd have preferred to see those tales fleshed out bit and fewer stories....more
Like many battalions from across the Empire, the 46th was formed from volunteers willing to leave their This was a free review copy from Sapere Books.
Like many battalions from across the Empire, the 46th was formed from volunteers willing to leave their civilian lives and go half way across the world to fight for King and country. It is still amazing to think that people would be willing to risk their lives to fight for the protection of a country so far away. In fact, given that Great Britain only entered the war due to Germany's invasion of Belgium to get to France then these brave Canadians gave their lives to protect countries beyond Empire. When one looks back to the times though it has to be remembered that North American countries were younger, their generations of immigrants fewer and the ties to the 'old country' would be stronger. Canadians marched through French towns on the way to war wearing kilts and whisky was the drink of choice for officers.
First published in 1978 this book is meticulously researched and is able to include first hand accounts from men who were still alive at the time of publication. It is a harrowing read. Immensely so. The descriptions of the injuries, the manner of death of so many young men, the conditions under which they lived, slept, ate, fought and died are harsher than more recent accounts. There is no gloss her, fear and horror sit alongside bravery.
And what bravery. There are tales that spring from the pages of comic books, of dashing sergeants running and shooting from the hip; of men taking out a dozen Germans and capturing scores more. To me, though, the real bravery is just climbing up that ladder and walking towards the enemy and the 46th did it time after time after time. The Somme, Passchendaele, Vimy, Valenciennes, the list of battles at which they fought is incredible and yet those same boys from South Saskatchewan kept going back to the line and going again. This isn't crazed bloodlust, this isn't hardened soldiering, this is a group of farmhands and clerks following orders, overcoming fear and honestly talking of the confusion of battle.
The start of the book will be a joy for military history fans but the numbers of battalions and the administration of armies didn't do much for me but once they arrive in England and then on to France it picks up and is as honest an account of how horrific war is as I have ever read. Rum was a welcome relief on the frontline and I raised a glass to them several times during reading this book....more
This was a free download from the author in return for an honest review.
If I had to pick characteristics of a cosy mystery that make it my ideal I'd pThis was a free download from the author in return for an honest review.
If I had to pick characteristics of a cosy mystery that make it my ideal I'd probably choose things like a 'golden age of mystery' era, eccentric middle and upper class characters and a 'closed cast'. It's the ultimate escape for someone who lives in a modern day, reasonably safe (certainly murder free) environment where (in normal times) I meet with a wide variety of people who are mostly working or lower middle class but usually in humdrum settings like offices.
This story has those elements - a 1920s cruise liner is the setting. You've got the closed cast, you've got the era, you've got the types of people in your officers and passengers who can afford the better class of cabin. The cast size is increased by those auxiliary roles that come from outside the middle classes at the fore of the plot but add extra levels of texture - the companions, servants, cooks waiters and the ever dependable brave young urchins from third class. If only threre were a body in the cold store.....
Take the above ingredients, shake thoroughly and pour over an ice cold murder. Garnish with a beautiful, intelligent, witty young widow called Ginger Gold, her sidekick companion and a handsome police officer and serve. Drink slowly and enjoy.
Like all cocktails, this is delicious but never seems quite enough and leaves you wanting more - my main gripe, I'm afraid. I'm greedy - I want cocktails in a pint glass. This is more of a long short story rather than a novel. The good news is that there are other Ginger Gold mysteries to binge on. I haven't read them but I've a feeling several characters from this will appear again. Those urchins are worth their weight in gold....more
This was a free download from the author in return for an honest review.
Elaine Sommers' single life in Los Angeles is rudely interrupted by the arrivaThis was a free download from the author in return for an honest review.
Elaine Sommers' single life in Los Angeles is rudely interrupted by the arrival of 'Chris', a chivalrous knight magically transported from Dark Ages England to modern day LA in order to retrieve gholy artefacts and save the world from evil.
This is a daft romp, the literary equivalent of a TV movie. Everything conveniently falls into place without feeling the need for lengthy explanation. I've never been to LA but I'm sure the kids on the beach won't speak or behave like this, characterisation is as much a as the plot.
If you can get this for under a pound/dollar then there are worse ways to spend an afternoon. Couldn't recommend paying more than that though....more
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