Paris | Edward Rutherford

I started this book last year while visiting Paris. I try and read books relevant to the places I visit but on this occasion it wasn't a good choice. I found it very hard to 'get into' the book, so I abandoned it until a month ago. I was then able to read the rest of it and enjoy it although not as much as his other books.

The history of Paris is fascinating and it is worth reading, maybe start before you arrive in Paris! The first third of the book is the hardest, after that it's ok.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North | Richard Flanagan

Flanagan is one of my favourite authors. I find his stories interesting and the way he tells them is beautiful. He handles language exquisitely.

This book is no exception. It is the story of an Australian soldier who finds himself a POW on The LIne: the Burmese railway. The story is told in a series of recollections of the past melded with the present. He tells the story of his life and how it all relates, and is coloured by, his time as a POW.

I have read other books about this particular episode in history, such as Eric Lomax's book The Railway Man. There are a lot of similarities in the accounts, but a vastly different lives before and after for the characters.

This book has just been named the winner of the Mann Booker Award for 2014. It is well deserved, as Flanagan has proved time and time again he is one of Australia's most eminent authors.

Well worth reading.

Apple Tree Yard | Louise Doughty

It's a bit hard to write about this book without giving away any of the plot twists. It's the first book I have read by this author, who is very skilled and tells a great story.

This is a courtroom drama, told in a series of flashbacks. It takes a while to understand what the charges are and how it all ties together. We have a woman narrator, who is one of the accused, and there is a co-accused. It is revealed eventually that it is a man. As the story knot unravels, we are drawn into a well told , tense courtroom drama set in London.

Well worth reading.

All Saints' Rising | Madison Smartt Bell

I was a little daunted by the size of this book, it's 530 pages. But as I began to read this epic historical novel I was swept away by the well written account of the Haitian slave uprising in the late 1700's and early 1800's. The research involved would have been a huge undertaking in and of itself, but the author has done a seamless job of balancing historical detail and fictionalising characters to engage the reader.

I knew very little of what happened in Haiti before and during its bid for independence. Brutal and violent, savage and indiscriminate all parties involved were intent on massacres and torture to bring about their desired government.

The slaves rebelled against the white plantation owners who had oppressed them for centuries. The whites fought between themselves, the French against the English. Mixed up with all that were the Mulattos and other mixed race people. All in all a great knot of belief and histories and philosophies all trying to untangle themselves and gain the upper hand.

Well worth investing the time to read, and as it's so well crafted, it won't take very long. Interesting from a historical point of view and the characters are so well portrayed, the reader engages with them and cares deeply about their fate.