Top Five Books of 2018

pmarshall: Based on the true story of Pino lella, a member of a wealthy Jewish family in Milan, Italy. In 1943, age 17, Pino starts his resistance activities by leading Jews and downed Allied airmen over the Alps to neutral Switzerland. Just prior to his 18th. birthday, at his parents urgings, he enlists in the German army to avoid being conscripted into the Italian army and sent to the Eastern Front. He becomes the driver for the German General Leyers and is exposed to the worst of German warfare. Little is written about the war in Italy which makes this even more interesting.

pmarshall: The Moonstone is a name given to a large yellow diamond stolen from a religious shrine in India during a battle between the British and the Indians in 1799 by John Herncastle as witnessed by his cousin John Verinder. The diamond carried a curse which brought trouble to whom ever possessed it. In brief "The Moonstone" is a suspenseful story of the gifting of the diamond to a young lady on her 18th birthday in 1848, its disappearance the same night and the subsequent search for it until 1850. The way the mystery is told is most interesting. Eleven different characters relating their role as well as to what they could personally attest to the robbery. This provides various views on what occurred and how the actions of others were interpreted. In these narratives the reader learns of the history of the diamond and it's three Indian protectors, the gifting, the loss and the search for the diamond from a long-time servant in the country home of the wealthy family, the poor Christian spinster cousin who thrives on doing good work and spreading the faith. Two male cousins one a gambler and the other somewhat of a dilettante, both wishing to marry the same cousin. The wealthy side of the family, the family solicitor, the village doctor and his assistant, a police sargent who specializes in family thefts and roses, and a well traveled man with certainty some Indian heritage. It provides an interesting cross-section of life in Victorian England. It is one of the earliest mystery novels written, and was serialized, likely in a newspaper, when first published. For those of us use to the pace of today's mysteries we may find it a little slow in places but it did not lose my attention. Collins is to be commended for keeping all the strands of the story straight. Reviewed September 18, 2018 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

pmarshall: Major Pettigrew is a retired British army officer and a widower living in a small village in England. He develops a relationship with Mrs. Ali, a Pakistani widow who owns the village store. The storyline is a light romances but in the process shows racism against foreigners seniors tradespeople and the lower classes.

pmarshall: The greatest adventure of my life, a trip across the African continent in 1975, started because my father was seconded from the New Brunswick Electric Power Commission in 1971 by the Canadian International Development Agency to head up the Botswana Power Corporation. My parents lived in Gaborone for four years, returning to Canada in the fall of 1975. It is because of their move that I started to read about Botswana, it’s history and people and continue to do so, expanding it to include more African countries. At university I took a course “Africa and the Victorians” and my readings have brought Africa to the present. I lived in Gaborone for 3.5 months and then camped my way across Africa in 5.5 months in 1974 - 1975. Both before and after independence on September 30, 1966, Khama build on the existing non-racial, discussion based culture of the Bangwato to develop Botswana into a democratic country with a supporting economic structure that meets the needs of all its citizens. What is amazing is how he maintained his vision after all that Great Britain did to him and his wife Ruth. Khama was the son of a Tswana chief and was in line to take over this position from his uncle who was the acting regent, when he completed his education in England. There he met and married Ruth Williams thereby becoming a large political problem for Great Britain. It was an interracial marriage and completely unacceptable to many whites but particularly to the Bechuanaland Protectorate’s neighbour South Africa, who in 1948, started to put past social practice into law, Apartheid started. Not wanting to admit to pressure from South Africa and later Rhodesia, first the Labour and then the Conservative governments detained the Khama’s on the bases that his people would not except his white wife. That failed as Ruth was accepted and they were demanding that Khama be made chief. The couple was taken back to London and remained in exile there for six years. The book goes into great detail with the background politics, the papers, reports and lies told to all involved. It also outlines the actions that were undertaken to have the ban lifted on behalf of Khama. The early 1950’s was a time when many future black leaders of African and Caribbean countries were studying in England and formed lasting friendships. Only one man from West Africa had married a white woman, the daughter of a lord, and nothing happened to him. The behaviour of the Bangwato throughout this ordeal was amazingly calm, that is not to say there was no violence but there was very little. There tradition was for the men to come together with the chief and talk out a problem, with each person having a voice. This didn’t work with the British so they took an approach closer to what Gandhi used in South Africa or what unions call working to rule and they withheld taxes. By 1955 some of the people in authority had changed and views on independence for African countries were changing and the world view of South Africa decreased its pressure on G. B. So a quick report to the prime minister and cabinet discussion and the decision was made. The bann was lifted. It went out with a whimper not a bang after all the fuss and time. Williams ends the book with a summary of Khama’s political career in Botswana. I found the book interesting because of my personal experience with Botswana and Africa. I saw the movie “A United Kingdom” which was based on “Colour Bar.” The movie glossed over the politics that kept them in exile and the book was very tedious in covering it. I didn’t need that level of detail. I really detest the use of acronyms and I found it difficult keeping the different government offices, commissions and officials straight. What will stay with me is the image of President Khama walking out of his office to go buy a book at a bookstore nearby! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

pmarshall: In 1940 a motley crew of a couple of French soldiers and civilians, a couple of British soldiers and a French train engineer made their way to the latter’s farm enroute to the French coast and to England. This was just after Dunkirk. The engineer was murdered by German’s at his farm and his three daughters joined the others in the escape. Once they reached London the engineer’s daughters approached De Gaulle to join the Free French. Here is where the most interesting part of the book starts. In detail it outlines the 18 months of training they undertake in Yorkshire to prepare them for their return to France. It included what you would expect, physical training, Morse code, map reading, weapons from hand guns to knives to hand-to-hand combat. For the three young women, 19 and 16 year old twins, it also included a weekend in a brothel where they learn to be comfortable with their own sexuality as well as with men in German uniforms. The men learn how to operate trains, boats and tanks and they all learn how to parachute out of a plane in the dark of night.The details of all the training are fascinating. In 1943 the men parachute into the south of France and the women arrive over the Pyrenees from Spain. All had spent time in Gibraltar getting a tan, nothing was left to chance. Their clothes, shoes etc. had been made in France and sent to them in England for wear and washings. Now they put their training to use with the goal of disrupting the Germans without making it look like the activities were carried out by the local citizens. They wanted to avoid retaliation. They bombed bridges, sabotage trains, take back gold and jewels the Germans had stolen from Jews. This funded weapons for local resistance groups. As D-Day came closer they joined forces with local French resistance groups, assisting with training and disruptive activities leading up to and beyond the Normandy invasion. At one point they work an operation with the American Army. It is fiction but the writing style is more like nonfiction which adds to the reality of the book. I have my usual complaint of poor editing. In this case the author confuses two characters and has, Jean, a Frenchman from Lillie, introducing the group to his parents at their farm in Yorkshire. Edward was from Yorkshire and his parents lived on a farm. At the beginning of the book is a list of characters with a short biographical note which helped me sort this out. One other thing that bothered me was they all survived the war, with just two of the men getting wounded. I know their training was to help them avoid this, but I found it unrealistic. I have read a number of books, fiction and nonfiction, about World War II and the resistance. None have had the level of detail on the training and activities as [The Frenchman’s Daughters.] I highly recommend it. Reviewed March 8, 2018 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2