The Spider-Orchid by Celia Fremlin

Posted on 26 October 2024 by Katrina

The Spider-Orchid by Celia Fremlin was first published in 1977. I suppose that means it’s vintage crime – astonishingly!

This one is I suppose a psychological thriller, that means that for me it was an uncomfortable read, it’s certainly not cosy crime. Also it takes a very long time for an actual crime to take place, despite all that, it’s a very good read – at the end anyway.

Adrian has recently been divorced from his wife Peggy after she declared that she couldn’t stand it any longer. What she couldn’t stand was Adrian’s long term affair with a woman called Rita. Adrian is amazed as he didn’t even realise that Peggy had been aware of his affair, despite him flaunting Rita around the local neighbourhood and even in front of friends and work colleagues.

Living in a rented flat on his own is ideal for Adrian, with just a few visits from Rita a week, he’s happier living on his own, but Sundays are sacrosanct, that’s when his daughter spends the day with him. When Rita decides to move in Adrian is not at all happy, but he only has himself to blame as he has been agreeing with Rita for years that it would be wonderful if they could be together all the time. He’s aghast, especially when it transpires that Rita is very much against the existence of Amelia his daughter.

Ultimately I enjoyed this one because for me the ending went in the right direction, but for a lot of the time the plot was a bit of a worry!

It’s a quick read at just 176 pages.

Sovereign by C.J. Sansom

Posted on 24 October 2024 by Katrina

Sovereign Book Cover Sovereign by C.J. Sansom was first published in 2006 and it’s the third book in the Shardlake series.

It’s 1541 and Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak have been riding for five days, making their way to the north of England. It’s a particularly gruelling journey as the summer has been so wet, the roads are bad. Shardlake is on a mission for Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he wants to get to York before King Henry VIII does. After the revolts in the north Henry is making his way there, the revolt has been quelled and this Royal Progress is to consolidate his power. He’s also expecting to meet with his nephew the Scottish King James V, but James isn’t daft enough to travel into England.

Not everyone has been forgiven though, Sir Edward Broderick is languishing in a filthy prison cell, waiting to be transferred to the Tower in London, and it’s Shardlake’s job to make sure that Broderick doesn’t die before he’s taken to London for interrogation and torture in the Tower. It’s a job that horrifies Shardlake, but he has troubles of his own, it seems that someone is trying to kill him.

This is a fairly hefty book at 658 pages, but it really doesn’t seem that long, it’s so well written the whole thing flows smoothly. Sansom imagines the arrival of the King and his court, the army and masses of followers, and the effect that his presence has on the people who witness his arrival so well. People couldn’t even look at him, and shook in terror. At this time Henry was married to his fifth wife Katherine Howard, and her silly shenanigans come into the tale too. Sansom also didn’t ignore the problems that so many people descending on a place caused, specifically the amount of sewage involved. There’s more involved in the plot, but that’s as much as I’m going to say.

I’m so glad that I didn’t read this series as they were published because now I don’t have to wait for the next book to be published, I’ve already borrowed it from the library.

Hill Top, Beatrix Potter’s home – part 2

Posted on 24 October 2024 by Katrina

So here we are upstairs at Hill Top and as you can see this four poster bed is very ancient looking.

There’s also a fireplace in the room so it could be quite cosy, despite the harsh winters in this rural area of northern England.

Below there’s what looks like a Tudor chest to match the bed and lovely drawings of birds on a William Morris wallpaper design.

Hill Top is full of pretty things, Beatrix was a collector although it’s fair to say that it was the fashion to have lots of ‘stuff’ on show. I particularly love that perfect miniature chest of drawers in the photo below.

Another bedroom below.

I now can’t remember which room the photo below was taken in! That’s just about all of the photos that I took, apart from some photos of the things in Beatrix’s display cabinets. There are so many reflections on the glass though, I’ll have to see if I can get rid of them.

The house isn’t large, what is open to the public anyway, but as there were only two people in it, plus a couple of servants maybe, it’s a nice size for comfort. We visited outside the school holidays and it was very busy, we booked up ahead and also reserved a parking space, it would have been a bit of a nightmare if we hadn’t I think. The car park is about 200 metres away from the house, so that’s a short walk to it, past a few houses which are right by Hill Top, I can’t help thinking that the people who have those houses must at times be cursing the popularity of this National Trust property.

I have a few photos of the garden and surrounding countryside, but I’ll leave those for another time.

Hill Top, Beatrix Potter’s home

Posted on 23 October 2024 by Katrina

While we were in the Lake District last month we visited Hill Top, Beatrix Potter’s home. We tried to visit it about ten years ago but didn’t realise that it doesn’t open on Fridays for some reason – and guess who visited it on a Friday! It was very busy as you can see from the photo below. Beatrix gifted the house to the National Trust, along with a lot of land when she died.

As soon as you get through that doorway you are in the room in the photos below. These china plates were painted by Beatrix’s father, you can see where she got her talent from.

This fireplace/range is on the opposite wall from the photo above. As you can see the ceiling has wallpaper on it too. The door to the right of the range is what we in Scotland call a press, a built in cupboard.

Another cupboard below.

The next room opens off the first room and strangely it has a door knocker on it, as if it was a front door.

Beatrix loved collecting pretty things, she certainly enjoyed what was the first home of her own as her parents objected to her having a life of her own. When her books became so popular she was well able to buy this house outright, at last she could do what she wanted. You can even look at what she had inside her little desk.

Then we went back into the first rooom again to go up the stairs. I must say that from the photos you don’t get the impression of how dim the light is in this room, in fact the photo that I took of the dresser to the right of the clock didn’t come out at all, annoyingly. Beatrix used some of her own furniture in her illustrations.

I’ll do another blogpost about the rooms upstairs.

Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom

Posted on 20 October 2024 by Katrina

Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom was published in 2003 and it’s the second book in the author’s Shardlake series.

The year is 1540 and with Henry VIII in a mood because his marriage with Anne of Cleves had been a disaster as far as he is concerned. As Cromwell brokered the marriage he’s in a difficult and dangerous position, and Shardlake finds himself working for Cromwell.

As Cromwell has so many enemies within the court he’s desperate to get into Henry’s good books. He has heard that someone has found some Greek Fire and is desperate to track it down and then have it analysed so that it can be replicated. The formula has been long lost. With such a horrific weapon in his arsenal the king will be euphoric and Cromwell will feel a lot safer.

Possessing Greek Fire/Dark Fire would have been the equivalent of being a nuclear power in Tudor times.

At the same time Shardlake has to work to get evidence of a young girl’s innocence of a murder. She has already been sentenced to be pressed to death for the murder of her cousin, and Shardlake is sure she is not gulity.

This was a great read, Shardlake is such a likeable character, I can’t wait to get my hands on the third book in this series – Sovereign – I’m really enjoying this historical crime fiction series.

Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg # The 1970 Club

Posted on 19 October 2024 by Katrina

Tower of Glass Book Cover I had read all of my own published in 1970 books, so I dived into the garage to delve into the overflow bookcases and came up with one of Jack’s books, an SF book – Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg, it was published in the US in 1970. It’s a good long while since I read any science fiction.

Simeon Krug is fabulously wealthy. He has created a community of androids, three different grades, Alphas, Betas and Gammas, they are made in vats starting with a sort of chemical soup and then they are given a training to learn how to become almost human, to understand their needs, the Alphas being the closest to being human. They look similar to humans, apart from their skin being red. The androids exist to do the dirty work and make life easier for humans.

Simeon Krug, their creator has moved on to a new project and he has become obsessed, he has designed a massive tower of glass and he hopes that as it reaches far into space he’ll be able to communicate with other galaxies, one in particular which is sending signals which can’t be deciphered. .

Unknown to Krug the androids have set up chapels where they can worship Krug their creator, but he does know about the AEP which is a political group founded by disgruntled androids who are determined to gain equal rights with the humans. They want it to be made illegal for them to be sold and for anyone harming them to be held responsible legally.

So there are parallels with slavery, and social inequalities, but also the dangers of creating what could be superior beings which could take over society if they felt that way inclined.

Fifty-four years ago Robert Silverberg was imagining an AI takeover, except nowadays no androids are required, just computers.

This was a surprisingly good read, although I don’t really know why I was surprised as Silverberg was one of the best SF authors of his time. I have read a few of his previous books, but decades ago.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, The Hunterian, Glasgow

Posted on 16 October 2024 by Katrina

I’m just finishing off my Charles Rennie Mackintosh Humnterian posts with some random photos that I took. Below is very typical of his designs, a stained glass stylised rose.

The Hunterian even has what was the hallway of Charles and Margaret’s home in Glasgow, rebuilt but with the original furnishings.

The metal plaque below was designed by Margaret I think, she had a penchant for what some people described as ‘spooky’ figures.

I love the door below with its inset stylised glass hearts.

The cheval mirror below is in what was their bedroom, I made sure that my reflection wasn’t in the photo but in retrospect it might have made more sense than the reflection of a door which you can see. I love the design and all the wee drawers but I know that if I had it I would have to search in several of them before I found whatever I was looking for!

Anyway, if you’re a fan of C.R. Mackintosh then you will really enjoy a visit to The Hunterian in Glasgow.

Astercote by Penelope Lively – The 1970 Club

Posted on 15 October 2024 by Katrina

Astercote by Penelope Lively was first published in 1970. It was aimed at young teenagers – probably, but is good for any age.

Sister and brother Mair and Peter Jenkins are living in Charlton Underwood, a Cotswolds village. They’ve moved there recently as their father has taken up a teaching post, so it’s all new to them. When their dog runs off into the woods they chase after him, although they’ve been told not to go into the woods.

That’s when they discover that the woodland had once been a village. The children discover that the Black Death had overcome Astercote and the area has been completely taken over by nature, but you can still see some of the cottage ruins. It’s all slightly spooky, or maybe just atmospheric. Events take a strange turn when some of the locals get ill and are convinced that the Black Death has returned.

This one wasn’t quite what I expected, for some reason I had assumed that it was going to be historical fiction, but I enjoyed it.

The 1970 Club – previous reads

Posted on 14 October 2024 by Katrina

I’ll be joining in with The 1970 Club which begins on Monday, it is hosted by Stuck in a Book and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings. I’ve read and reviewed just a few books from 1970 in the past, but I don’t have many unread in the house, so it looks like I’ll be diving into Jack’s many SF books from that year, there are quite a few to choose from.

My previous 1970 reads are:

The Twelth Day of July by Joan Lingard

Tamlane by Anne Rundle

The Witch’s Brat by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark

The Homicidal Colonel by Robert Player

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

I know that I reviewed 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hannf but it seems to have disappeared from my blog.

So that’s just six books from 1970, I should be able to add a couple to that over the week, possibly by Roger Zelazny and Philip K. Dick.

The Rival Monster by Compton Mackenzie

Posted on 10 October 2024 by Katrina

Book Cover

The Rival Monster by Compton Mackenzie was published in 1952. This very prolific author is better known for writing Whisky Galore and The Monarch of the Glen. This book features a lot of the characters from the Whisky Galore books, with the same daft humour.

In a previous book (which I haven’t read yet) a flying saucer had apparently been seen attacking the Loch Ness monster and it is feared that it had either killed the monster or scared Nessie off, to take up home in another loch.

But there have been lots of sights of another monster and it definitely isn’t Nessie as it has huge teeth and comes onto the land. The tabloid newspapers are agog and one of them is putting up a prize of £250 for anyone who gets a photo of the monster. A young English palaeontologist makes his way to the island of Todday, hoping that finding the ‘monster’ will boost his academic career.

The twins Muriel and Elsie Waggett have almost given up hope of ever getting a life of their own off the island, and their mother just dreams of moving back to London, close to her sister.

This is a really light-hearted romp with a lot of the humour revolving around Mr Waggett, the pompous incomer who had been head of the Home Guard during the war. He’s even worse than Mr Mainwaring of Dad’s Army fame.

Pining for the West

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Author Archives: Katrina