Immersed me into the world of 1930's Italy in particular Naples. And the character of Commissario Ricciardi. Plus for paperbacks the books are beautifully produced.
The eighth Commissario Ricciardi historical mystery from the author of The Bottom of Your Heart “will surprise readers at every turn” (La Repubblica).
In the abyss of a profound personal crisis, Commissario Ricciardi feels unable to open himself up to life. He has refused the love of both Enrica and Livia and the friendship of his partner, Maione. Contentment for Ricciardi proves as elusive as clues to the latest crime he has been asked to investigate. The beautiful, haughty Bianca, countess of Roccaspina, pleads with Ricciardi to investigate a homicide that was officially closed months ago. In the tense, charged…
This is a fictional account mainly of the war-time life of the poet Charles Causley one of my favourite poets. Mr Gale certainly had a novel approach even if he dropped some clangers about the Navy for example on ship toilets are called 'heads' but it did not affect my enjoyment.
'A characteristically tender novel about a young man growing up in the shadow of one war and the whispers of the next' Observer
'A wonderful novel about relationships, particularly between a mother and son. A compelling read, beautifully crafted and sensitively written' Irish Examiner _______
Laura, a laundress, meets her young husband when they are both placed in service in Teignmouth in 1914. They have a baby, Charles, but his father returns home from the trenches a damaged man, already ill with the tuberculosis that…
A thoroughly good espionage yarn I always look forward to reading a Boyd although for some reason it took me a while to get round to this one such a novel idea forgive the pun.
'Eva Delectorskaya,' I said mystified. ' Who's that?' 'Me,' she said. 'I am Eva Delectorskaya.' What happens to your life when everything you thought you knew about your mother turns out to be an elaborate lie? During the long, hot summer of 1976, Ruth Gilmartin discovers that her very English mother Sally is really Eva Delectorskaya, a Russian emigre and one-time spy. In 1939 Eva is a beautiful twenty-eight year old living in Paris. As war breaks out, she is recruited for the British Secret Service by Lucas Romer, a mysterious, patrician Englishman. Under his tutelage she learns to become…
A book set largely in wartime Italy. In 1976, Tom Faulkner is in Fowey, the small Cornish south coast port, to attend the funeral of Jack, his father, and put his affairs in order. Soon, it becomes apparent his father may not have met a natural end which leads Tom on an odyssey to Italy and into his father's wartime past. In Italy, Tom meets Carlo Miller, an elderly priest and friend of Jack, here the story moves to 1933 when Jack takes part in the famed Italian road race the Mille Miglia with the MG team, and first meets the aristocratic Landucci family at their home the Villa Valetta, on the shores of Lake Garda .Jack is back in Italy during World War II and is sent into the Mussolini Salo Republic on as SOE mission. He yearns to rekindle his passion for Nicole Landucci, the beautiful ardent fascist aristocrat he cannot forget.
