Imogen Edwards-Jones

This was absolutely unputdownable- 4* writing but a *5 story, which I'd never heard of. I had never considered HOW Rasputin, a Siberian peasant, gained entrance to the Romanov court. Here we learn of the "Black Princesses"- Montenegrin sisters who have married into the slightly lesser echelons of St Petersburg aristocracy. Sidelined and treated with contempt for their lowly origins, Militza and Stana gain an intimacy with the unhappy Tsarena, disliked and unable to produce a son, through show more their ability with the occult. With spells and drugs, various spiritistic friends...and finally Rasputin himself, they become constant figures in the highest circle.
But jealousy grows...other royals seeing themselves usurped...and later from the sisters themselves, as the Tsarena takes up with other, more suitable, ladies...as Rasputin launches his career, unaided by them..and as his harem of female acolytes makes him more hated by the day...
Quite fascinating! show less

This book was such great fun! I read Hotel Babylon on holiday years ago, but I think this one was even better. In this exposé the anonymous whistle-blower is once again a manager in the hotel industry, but this time of a luxury island resort rather than a London establishment - and it takes things to a whole new level! As in the other Babylon books, all the people, places and madcap events that appear in the book are real, but names and locations have been changed (obviously!) and the show more bizarre situations the manager finds himself having to cope with have been condensed into one crazy 'week in the life'.

The reader is swept into a world of incredible luxury and privilege. This is a resort where the villas can cost up to $6000 a night, and the guests are so wealthy that they can afford to blow $20,000 on a afternoon's entertainment or $1,500 on a bottle of champagne without batting an eyelid. Not only does our intrepid manager have to cosy up to each and every one of his guests and bend over backwards to keep them happy, but he must also deal with their more outrageous requests, make sure the isolated island has everything it needs on a daily basis, and try to keep his staff functioning and content in the face of daily difficulties.

This is a wonderful piece of escapism, managing to capture both the little bubble of island life, with its daily champagne parties and beach barbeques and celebrity guests, and the all-consuming nightmare of trying to keep such a large resort in the impossibly perfect condition expected by the demanding clientele. Despite the 'world apart' nature of the island, the characters will be painfully familiar to anyone who's ever been on holiday! It's funny, it's dry, it's cringeworthy - and it's brilliant! show less

This was a very atmospheric and in general, beautifully written book. I loved all of the details of the extravagant and vicious court life of these extremely wealthy and awful people of the Russian court. As other reviewers have noted, it's difficult to keep track of the different characters, who each have multiple names that are hard to keep track of for someone not very familiar with Russian history. The author revels in explicit discussions of the vile and grotesque, and there are lots of show more bodily fluids throughout. Edwards-Jones does a great job of bringing to life her setting, describing the piercing cold, the disgusting smells, the glittering jewels and dresses, etc. It's quite repetitive and overly long, however, and in spite of all of the lurid details, it was at times a tedious read. show less

I made the mistake of reading this while I was on call. And yes, I do work in a hospital. While my experience of working 24/7 was not quite as bad as the unnamed doctor, there are a lot of things that ring true in this book. Written in conjunction with numerous hospital staff, this book tells the story of a truly horrible 24 hours in the Emergency Department. While all of these things do happen, hopefully they don’t happen in a single (double) shift.

This book is incredibly funny and yet show more incredibly sad. From the propofol and sux (suxamethonium, both anaesthetics) races – wrong, but oh so funny to the nurses hiding the chocolates, this will have you laughing and crying. People really do take up residence in the ED waiting room, the place usually has several drunks sleeping it off and others do shoot up just outside. There are also the traumas that just cannot be saved and the unexpected deaths when it all looked so medically simple.

The book also catches the feelings of the staff – from feeling useless at a trauma, exhilaration after a successful resuscitation and annoyance at the abuse of the system as well as the ‘four hour rule’ (i.e. in and out of ED in four hours or less, it’s the source of a lot of talk currently in Australia). I don’t know if some of the sexual things go down but the tiredness and the snaffling of food, any food is all real.

This is a great look at what goes on in the ED from the doctor’s perspective – it is moving and funny. The procedures are explained simply (and correctly, one of my issues with some fiction books) and it’s a light, quick read. show less