Pagan Rite by Leslie Scase

 

Our Rating 4 ⭐

You Can Buy Pagan Rite...here

You Can Find Out More About Leslie Scase...here

280 Pages

First published 2026

• The Blurb...

1897
Inspector Thomas Chard is sent to investigate the discovery of a mutilated corpse feared to be the work of Jack the Ripper. His investigation leads him to a ‘Festival of the Unknown’ and when a second murder occurs, rumours of demons and hell-hounds flood the public’s imagination. With the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations fast approaching, Chard has to fight his prejudices to deal with psychics, fortune-tellers, druids and scientists in order to expose a deranged killer.

• Our Review...

This is the fifth in the Inspector Chard series, the others being 

Fortunas Deadly Shadow

Fatal Solution

Sabrina's Teardrop 

Flames of Anarchy

Each has a slightly different taste but all under the genre of Victorian Industrial Noir. I dont actually know if thats a thing. I may have just made it up, but it sums up the field of expertise that the author writes in. I use the word expertise deliberatley. The author includes a section on his research at the rear of the book and it is almost as fascinating as the fictional narrative. So why do i keep coming back to this series, and why this book in particular. Well theres a few reasons..

Atmospheric Verisimilitude: Scase doesn't just describe the setting; he makes you smell the coal dust and feel the damp Welsh mist. The tension between the burgeoning industrial world and the deep-seated "old ways" of the hills is the book's strongest asset.

The Protagonist: Thomas Chard remains a refreshingly grounded lead. He isn’t a "super-sleuth" with flashes of divine inspiration; he’s a methodical, dogged, and often weary investigator who relies on local knowledge and persistence.

The "Pagan" Element: The title isn't just window dressing. Scase explores the revival of Druidic traditions and neo-paganism in the 19th century with historical nuance, avoiding the "occult thriller" clichés while keeping the stakes high.

"Pagan Rite" is a slow-burn procedural that rewards patient readers. While it helps to have read the previous books  Scase provides enough context that this functions well as a standalone mystery.

The story is set against the backdrop of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. While the British Empire is celebrating its height, Pontypridd is gripped by fear. A mutilated corpse is discovered, and the brutal nature of the crime immediately sparks a media frenzy, with headlines suggesting that Jack the Ripper has moved to the Valleys. As Chard investigates, he finds himself caught between two worlds: The Rational: A group of scientists and Victorian sceptics trying to debunk the supernatural and The Mystical: A "Festival of the Unknown" arriving in town, featuring fortune-tellers, psychics, and a revived interest in ancient Druidic rituals.

Some of the key themes and elements are mass hysteria: When a second murder occurs, the public’s imagination runs wild with talk of "hell-hounds" and demonic entities. Scase brilliantly captures how quickly a rational community can descend into panic when traditional beliefs are challenged. The clash of eras: The book highlights the friction of 1897—a time of rapid scientific advancement (the rise of forensic thought) clashing with a desperate nostalgia for ancient Celtic "pagan" roots.  The "Ripper" shadow: By invoking the specter of the Whitechapel murders, Scase raises the stakes for Chard, who has to solve the case quickly to prevent a full-scale riot during the Jubilee celebrations.

It may be a bit selfish but I also like the series because I know the locale in which it is set. I have drunk in the Llanover Arms. I have walked over the old bridge in Ponty. I have been on the Gower many times. Geographical experience always adds a little to the experience of reading a book. I recently found a website that suggests books set in the place that you are about to visit. Isnt that a good idea! The link is Trip Fiction

Unlike the earlier books, which focused more on industrial espionage (Fatal Solution) or anarchist plots (Flames of Anarchy), Pagan Rite is much more atmospheric and eerie. Chard is a fantastic "fish out of water" here; he is a man of facts and evidence who is forced to navigate a world of "miracles" and mysticism to find a very human killer. 

• Selected Quotes...

The tiny pistol’s hammer made a gentle click as it was cocked and placed against skin and bone. A crack, no louder than the sound of a snapped twig went unheard as the bullet found it’s mark…… then oblivion ………… at least for a while……

he’s a simple-minded soul, but pretty. It was her sixteenth birthday and fruit ripe for the plucking.’ ‘A chip off the old block!’ laughed the magistrate.

‘She asked about someone, and I consulted the cards. It was this one,’ said Sibylline, turning over the one in her hand, ‘the ten of swords.’ Chard looked at the image of a figure lying on the ground, pierced by blades, and felt a shiver through his spine.

Bugger won’t talk, despite walking into the wall a few times.’ ‘You know I don’t approve of prisoners having “accidental” injuries,’ admonished the inspector. ‘But as he’s a lying bastard of a killer, I’ll let it pass, just this once.

• If You Liked This Then You May Like.

The House of Silk by Anthony Horrwitz

Blood Among The Threads by David Ebsworth

The Railway Detective by Edward Marston

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

 

208 pages

Our Rating 5 ⭐s

You can buy The Quiet American...Here

You can find out more about the author...Here

• The Blurb...

Into the intrigue and violence of 1950s Saigon comes CIA agent Alden Pyle, a young idealistic American sent to promote democracy through a mysterious 'Third Force'.

As Pyle's naive optimism starts to cause bloodshed, his friend Fowler, a cynical foreign correspondent, finds it hard to stand aside and watch. But even as Fowler intervenes he wonders why: for the greater good, or something altogether more complicated?

• Our Review...

This is the third Graham Greene that I have read, after Brighton Rock and The Power And The Glory, and it is once again excellent.

Set in Vietnam in 1952 when the Vietnamese forces were fighting the French colonial power before they went on to defeat the USA. The tale focuses on three people. 

The old cynical English journalist Fowler, whose weapons of choice is a witty mind and a cruel tongue

His young local lover Phuong

An a newcomer to Indo-China. Pyle a young brash American. He is the human equivalent of a Labrador puppy. All innocent and bouncy but sadly lacking in nuance and decorum. He is working for the USA government in some pseudo industrial cartel/quango.

So the scene is set the males both want to be with Phuong. Phuong just wants a comfortable life. Pyle just turns up and oblivious to everyone else just blunders in  and Fowler is just hanging  on knowing his golden era is long gone but is just hanging on to the vestiges of life and love with Phuong. And so the three leads are obviously analogous to the politics of the time. ie the tug of war between the old powers and the new powers for countries that really just to be left alone. They have no interest in capitalism, communism or colonialism. They just want food, health and to be left alone. 

Greene manages to create a romance book about political intrigue in an historical flash-point that includes a whodunit and all the while it is an anti-war novel. That takes some doing not only that, it is one of the best books that I have ever read. 

In some ways Greene's novels are very diverse. Brighton Rock is about English Gangsters, The Power and the Glory is about the persecution of Catholic priests in Mexico, and the Quiet American is about political interference in Vietnam. However the backdrops may be different the same themes run through all. Morals, introspection, corruption both of the soul and the real world, loss, love and hope. 

The book is 73 years old but unbelievably it is more of the now than ever. I was born in 1967 so 73 years before that would have been 1894. I can't imagine a book written in 1894 being relevant in 1973 as The Quiet American is now. It forewarned of the naive, USA getting itself involved in a draining war over decades, which it had brought on itself by interfering in a different part of the word and a very different culture to itself which it has no idea about. For Vietnam 1955-1975 see Iraq 2003-2011, Afghanistan 2001-2021.

Similarly a film version was made starring Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser in a classic case of bad timing it was test screened in Sept 2001 but after 9/11 it was shelved for a few years as it was thought to be anti American.

However to focus on the political landscape of the novel would be to do it a disservice. There is so much more in this novel as hopefully the selected quotes will show. It encompasses a huge range of emotions and dilemmas. There are no good guys just guys who do the things they do for different reasons with different outcomes. No black and white just grey and shades.   

He just has an awareness of how emotions link  into small lives that link into bigger actions that develop into political and moral concepts. How everything in life relates to everything else like a circular butterfly effect.

I know others will read Greene and think  meh! 🤷 but he is just on my wavelength. I will read more Greene and look forward to reading his autibiography.

• Selected Quotes...

The Minister had a great respect for Pyle—Pyle had taken a good degree in—well, one of those subjects Americans can take degrees in: perhaps public relations or theatrecraft, perhaps even Far Eastern studies (he had read a lot of books).

Vietnamese Sureté that seemed to smell of urine and injustice.

It’s always the same wherever one goes—it’s not the most powerful rulers who have the happiest populations.’

The canal was full of bodies: I am reminded now of an Irish stew containing too much meat. The bodies overlapped: one head, seal-grey, and anonymous as a convict with a shaven scalp, stuck up out of the water like a buoy. There was no blood: I suppose it had flowed away a long time ago. I have no idea how many there were: they must have been caught in a cross-fire, trying to get back, and I suppose every man of us along the bank was thinking, ‘Two can play at that game.’ I too took my eyes away; we didn’t want to be reminded of how little we counted, how quickly, simply and anonymously death came.

Wouldn’t we all do better not trying to understand, accepting the fact that no human being will ever understand another, not a wife a husband, a lover a mistress, nor a parent a child? Perhaps that’s why men have invented God—a being capable of understanding.

‘And if you lose Phuong, will you be sensible?’ ‘Oh yes, I hope so. And you?’ ‘I doubt it. I might even run amok. Have you thought about that, Pyle?’ ‘I wish you’d call me Alden, Thomas.’ ‘I’d rather not. Pyle has got—associations.

You and your like are trying to make a war with the help of people who just aren’t interested.’ ‘They don’t want Communism.’ ‘They want enough rice,’ I said. ‘They don’t want to be shot at. They want one day to be much the same as another. They don’t want our white skins around telling them what they want.’

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

Power of the Dog by Don Wilmslow (review here)

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré

Burmese Days by George Orwell 

Still Life by Sarah Winman

  

Our Rating 4.5⭐s

You can buy "Still Life"...here

You can find out about the author...here

• The Blurb...

1944, Italy. As bombs fall around them, two strangers meet in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa and share an extraordinary evening.

Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, Evelyn Skinner a 64-year-old art historian living life on her own terms. She has come to salvage paintings from the wreckage of war and relive memories of her youth when her heart was stolen by an Italian maid in a particular room with a view. Ulysses’ chance encounter with Evelyn will transform his life – and all those who love him back home in London – forever.

Uplifting, sweeping and full of unforgettable characters, Still Life is a novel about beauty, love, family and friendship.

• Our Review...

This is a very different book for me to read, totally not of my usual fare. I normally go in for twisty plots, thrilling chase to a climatic end and a denouement of the arch villain. This book isn't like that. It is akin to a family saga (although the protagonists are mostly unrelated) that covers roughly 75 years from about 1900 on. It does so in two stages 1945 to 75ish and the last part of the book relates to Evelyn remembering her early twenties.

Evelyn and Ulysses cross paths during the war and the story follows them as they weave their way through the subsequent years until they both end up where they first met in Florence, birth place of the Renaissance. Indeed Florence is as much a presence in this book as any of the characters. It and its art and its architecture and its soul are intertwined in every chapter. You would do well to keep a phone or PC next to you when reading this book to look up the numerous works of art and areas of the city that are constantly mentioned throughout. I only did this towards the end of the novel and wished I had started doing so earlier.

So the author clearly has a huge passion for both Florence and the appreciation of art. The love of art in this narrative is borderline obsessive with a sprinkle of pretentiousness. hence the 4.5 instead of 5 stars. Maybe I am a bit too basic in my outlook. I think art is a pleasure in life, this novel puts art on a level with love as being one of the vital drivers of life which is a little bit of a reach for me. I suppose the pursuit of art becomes more of a priority if you don't have to think about where your next meal, or the payment for the roof over your head is coming from. This is not a criticism, it is just my lived experience. 

The decades long soap opera of a story follows the working class found family of Ulysses in London's East End and the life and loves of Evelyn a teacher and art lover from a very privileged background, who comes across many famous artists and authors including a young E.M. Forster. The cast is wide and deep including a very wise old man, who doesn't really know how wise he is, a love interest who is hard as nails and a heartbreaker and the most intelligent and linguistically gifted parrot in the whole of literature. Life happens to them all. Lifelong unrequited love, coming of age, loss, friendship, good luck, bad luck and serendipity. Fortunes are never too good nor too bad but a little of both and at often at the same time. From the book I think the lesson is it matters not what tribulations may come it is how we face them that is of more importance. And the best way to do this is with friends and above all kindness. What can I say, I like books with a moral compass.

However, where this book towers above the herd is how the author delivers the big poignant moments in life. You don't read this book, you feel it. It'll make you double cry, tears of both happiness and despair.  There are times in life e.g. when your father passes away or when you hold your grandchild in your arms for the first time, when time stops, and you connect with...with well everything and the author conveys these many moments in this novel. The sweet sadness of life and the sad sweetness of death tear on the threads in your emotions. It feels as if you are living the opening scene of Disney's "Up" or that scene from Jon Voight's "The Champ." It is amazing to think that just looking at words in a book can induce such wild emotions in the reader. It really is a kind of magic or legal drug dealing. Sarah Winman should change her name to Houdini Escobar. Wow.. just wow.

• Selected Quotes...

The man was a dreamer, he said. Had a loser’s luck and a winning smile and was never happy unless he had a churn in his guts that denoted money riding on an outcome. A feeling he often equated to love.

We like beauty, don’t we? Something good on the eye cheers us. Does something to us on a cellular level, makes us feel alive and enriched. Beautiful art opens our eyes to the beauty of the world, Ulysses. It repositions our sight and judgement. Captures forever that which is fleeting.

She’s gone up in the world. Typist. Sixty words a minute and that’s just her gob.

You’re a good mum, Peg. No I’m not but it’s good of you to say. Your mum was a good mum, Temps. That’s what a good mum is. Mine was competition.

Her beauty had been her currency. Always had been. No one talked about when the bank ran dry as it inevitably would.

We shall be at war one day with your European brothers, as you call them, Mr Collins. It’s inevitable, said Mr Lugg. They’re not like us. But they want what we have. And do we not want what they have, Mr Lugg? Michelangelo? Dante? Beauty? Wine on a sun-drenched terrace? Villas nestled in the hills going for a song? Mr Lugg ignored Mr Collins and reached for a plate of stinking goat’s cheese. Yes, but will you fight? said the reverend, bringing the conversation back to British imperialism. It’s a simple question. For what cause? said Mr Collins. Cause is irrelevant. Cause is not irrelevant. To teach another nation a lesson, then, said the reverend. A nation is not a person. And so I will not.

• If You Liked This You May Like...

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

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      Sarah Winman author of Still Life

Here Be Dragons by Sharon Penman

 

Rating 3.5⭐s

You Can Buy Here Be Dragons...Here

About The Author...Here

• The Blurb...

Thirteenth-century Wales is a divided country, ever at the mercy of England's ruthless, power-hungry King John. Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, secures an uneasy truce by marrying the English king's beloved illegitimate daughter, Joanna, who slowly grows to love her charismatic and courageous husband.

But as John's attentions turn again and again to subduing Wales – and Llewelyn – Joanna must decide where her love and loyalties truly lie.

Beginning the medieval trilogy that includes Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning, Here Be Dragons brings thirteenth-century England, France, and Wales to tangled, tempestuous life.

• Our Review...

As a proud Welshman I have always been a little perturbed by my lack of historical knowledge of my people. When I was a child we were taught history from England's viewpoint, Longshanks and all. I did a little research and now the GCSE curriculum focus in Wales is on Wales, eg The Lord Rhys, Owain Glyndwr  and it's place in European and world history e.g. Wales in The Civil War. This awareness of OUR history is nice to see and long may it continue. I have recently seen in the UK Black History Month in addition to South Asian Heritage month on sky. While these are worthy promotions I despair that in Great Britain we do not have a Celtic Heritage/History month concentrated through BBC/ITV/Sky. The media of Tv, films and indeed books have a huge part to play in keeping a nations heritage alive. Before the flawed but exciting epic Braveheart I guarantee not may people outside of Scotland had heard of William Wallace. 

I enjoy historical fiction so I decided to go for two birds one stone approach. Fun and educational.. Here Be Dragons is the fictionalised Biopic (Biobook?) of Llewellyn the Great, one of Wales favourite sons. Here again the story of Wales is heavily influenced by England. The focus of the book is actually Llewellyn's wife Joanna. The illegitimate daughter of KIng John (yes the bad guy from Robin Hood!) Both Llewellyn and Joanna are coerced into a political marriage which by all accounts went very well...until it didn't (no spoilers but the marriage encounters a big bump in the road!)

I found the book really hit the spot in feeding my quest for historical learning. I could really place myself in the room with Llewellyn and Joanna and developed a far better understanding of the timeline than I would if i had just read a straightforward dry non-fiction. When I read an historical fiction novel it ceases to be history, I am transported to that time and place and the history spontaneously evolves into something more akin to current affairs.

The author does have a nice way with words and  smooth style. The focus of the tale, I felt, was more from Joanna's point of view, so affairs at court took precedence over affairs on the battlefield. While I realise most readers are female, I being a Welshman would have liked more emphasis on Llewellyn. A little more Bernard Cornwall a little less Gregory for me would have been my sweet spot. Again this is purely subjective. I suppose there is a subtle difference between male and female historical fiction. You pays your money and takes your choice. This slight caveat aside I did enjoy this book and I will no doubt at some point delve into the author's Biobook of the greatest Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr. 

• Selected Quotes...

They say a Welshman’s word is worth spit in the wind. And they are right, lad. An oath given to an enemy is made to be broken; we understand that. We use what weapons we have available to us, and when we fight, we fight on our terms, not theirs.

I do not mean to offend you, but the Welsh have been given little reason to love the English.” Joanna had never thought of herself as English; in fact, to one of Norman-French descent, that qualified as an insult. She did not quibble at Adda’s inaccuracy, however, realizing that to the Welsh, the distinction drawn between Norman and Saxon was irrelevant.

it would be a drawn-out, bloody, and brutal war. Wars with the Welsh always are. They disappear into inaccessible mountain retreats, phantom foes we cannot find. But they have no trouble finding us, my liege; they excel at ambush, at surprise attack and counterattack upon the morrow. There is no glory in wars against the Welsh, only blood-spattered rocks and shallow graves, and once you win, you find precious little for the plundering.

A scar signifies past pain, a wound that did not heal as it ought. But it testifies, too, to survival, breila

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick

Katherine by Anya Seton

The Bruce Trilogy by Nigel Trantor

Banquet of Beggars by Chris Lloyd

 

Our Rating 5⭐s

You can buy Banquet of Beggars...Here

You can find out about the author...Here

• The Blurb...

In Paris 1940, survival means sacrifice. Like most in the city, Detective Eddie Giral has already lost so much under Occupation: the people he once loved, the job he once believed in.

And his latest investigation into the murder of a black-marketeer has made it clearer than ever: Eddie is no longer just catching criminals. He's working for them. Because when a German trader is the next to die, the authorities decide it's innocent civilians who will pay the price - unless Eddie can find the killer in time.

As hunger grows, tensions rise and a fierce rebellion brews, Eddie will tread a dark path between doing whatever it takes to live with the enemy... and also with himself.

• Our Review...

This is the third in Chris Lloyd's "Occupation series" following The Unwanted Dead and Paris Requiem. Reviews for these two novels can also be found on this blog. All feature the anti hero Eddie who I have previously labelled "a tough, vulnerable, relentless, thug of an honest cop." And yes he is still all those things and yes he is still played by a French Bob Hoskins in my head. 

I am running out of superlatives for this series. I religiously follow only 2 series of books and the Occupation series is the only I have given 5 stars for every review.

Again its a murder mystery set in occupied Paris in 1940/41, but this time the investigation follows the murder of a local black marketeer who has been profiting at the misery of the starving citizens of Paris. Later another murder is committed linked to the Black Market. There are numerous plot twists and turns before Eddie can work out who the killers are. If the whodunnit plot were to be lifted from this novel and placed in a modern setting then it would still be a very good if not excellent mystery but the absolute beauty (and genius) of this book and the others is the setting.

Eddie is a good cop with a good heart but he is a bad man. . His situation is finely balanced like an elephant on a see saw. The crooks hate him because he is a cop, the citizens hate him because they think he is a collaborator, The Wehrmacht hate him because he may be resistance and the Gestapo hate him because well just because he's not a Nazi. The old joke springs to mind... It's not paranoia, if they really are out to get you, and the situation he finds himself in is akin to a paranoid's fever dream.

I feel I must give special mention to the first chapter mini spoiler alert coming. but not really a big one as its only about the first chapter. Act 1 Scene 1 Eddie wakes up in a sweaty underground room, parched and exhausted. He licks moisture of the walls.... Immediately the reader thinks prison cell. As the scene unfolds french people are encamped with him, the reader switches to thinking air raid shelter. Eventually it becomes clear the reason why he is there is something very different. The author cunningly guides us through this mini mystery tour with just descriptions of thoughts and feelings till you get a feeling of waking up somewhere where you cant remember from the night before. It's a very carefully thought out false trail, he intentionally gives us mental breadcrumbs to follow to lead us into the  assumptions of "Oh he is in a prison cell." quickly followed by "Oh he is in an air raid shelter." The author knows what he is doing in planting the thoughts in our minds. False trails., obfuscation and frustration, he sets the tone right at the start of the book Wonderful example of an opening chapter.

Again the authors research is amazing. Actual dates, timings, events, processes, of occupied Paris, these are the things that he is good at. These are our black and white lines and the colour is added through Eddie and his emotions and thoughts through out his adventures. It is every bit a spellbinding mixture as Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, it's just that the era and country are different.

 The feeling of oppression and never ending stress living under the constant pressure of an institutionally psychopathic regime makes for a teeth clenching, heart pounding read. I have mentioned before how Eddie is like a 1920s LA noir detective but thrust into an alien backdrop of occupied Paris. The narrative also reminds of Orwell's authoritarian hell-scape of 1894. The terror of saying the wrong thing, of thinking the wrong thing, of being the wrong colour or just being in the wrong place. How could you conduct an honest murder investigation in this world. An Eddie type would be your only hope.

Of course occupied 1940s Paris, or Orwell's 1984 aren't the only fascist games in town. Trump's USA is coming to the boil and it is terrifying. I'm off to buy some guinea pigs ready for the incoming world collapse and subsequent right wing terror.  Oh guinea pigs? You'll have to read Banquet for Beggars. I promise you will never look at a guinea-pig in the same way again.

Another great book in a great series.

• Selected Quotes...

"If they cut the meat allowance any further, I might even become fashionable."

"Butter was the new cocaine."

"you know my boys Eddie. They wouldn't hurt a fly." "I know they wouldn't." She backed away to close the door. They'd be too fucking stupid stupid to hit it."

"This is not how we do things Judge." "This is how we do things now. This is an opportunity for France. A chance to sweep away the old." "You mean things like justice and law?" "Wasters and hopeless people. The ones who offer nothing and take everything." "I've got a few names for you."

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

The Gathering Storm by Alan Jones. (our review..here)

• About The Author...

Chris was born in an ambulance racing through a town he’s only returned to once, which probably explains a lot.

Straight after graduating in Spanish and French, he hopped on a bus from Cardiff to Catalonia where he stayed for the next twenty-odd years, first in the small and beautiful city of Girona, then in the big and beautiful city of Barcelona. He’s also lived in Bilbao, pre-empting the Guggenheim by a good few years, and in Madrid, where his love of Barcelona football club deepened. During this time, he worked as a teacher, in educational publishing, as a travel writer and as a translator. He still spends part of his day translating lofty and noble academic and arts texts.

Besides this, he also lived in Grenoble for six months, where he studied the French Resistance movement, a far deeper and more complex subject than history often teaches us and one that has fascinated him for years.

He now lives in his native Wales, where he writes crime novels and translates stuff.

The result of his lifelong interest in World War 2 and resistance and collaboration in Occupied France, The Unwanted Dead (Orion) is Chris’s first novel set in Paris, featuring Detective Eddie Giral. The series will see Eddie negotiate his way through the Occupation, trying to find a path between resistance and collaboration, all the time becoming whoever he must be to survive the ordeal descended on his home.

He also writes the Elisenda Domenech series (Canelo) set in Girona, featuring a police officer in the devolved Catalan police force. The head of an experimental Serious Crime Unit, she fights the worst of human excesses in the most beautiful of settings.

When he’s not writing or trying to keep up with his reading pile, Chris loves travelling, languages, red wine, Wales and Barça at football, Wales at rugby, cryptic crosswords, art, rock music and losing himself in European cities.

He’s especially proud to be a member of the Welsh crime writing collective Crime Cymru, the Crime Writers’ Association and the Society of Authors.

For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Rating 3.5 ⭐s

You can buy For Whom The Bell Tolls....here

• The Blurb...

Immerse yourself in the poignant and powerful world of war with Ernest Hemingway's timeless novel, "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, this gripping narrative delves into themes of love, sacrifice, and the stark realities of conflict.

As the story unfolds, follow Robert Jordan, an American dynamiter, who is tasked with blowing up a bridge to aid the Republican cause. What drives a man to risk everything for a cause greater than himself? Hemingway's masterful prose invites you to explore the complexities of loyalty, honor, and the bonds forged in the crucible of war.

But here’s the question that lingers: In a world marked by chaos and uncertainty, what does it truly mean to be human? As Robert grapples with his mission, he encounters a cast of unforgettable characters, each struggling with their own demons, hopes, and dreams. The haunting realities of war blur the lines between good and evil, challenging perceptions and provoking deep introspection.

Experience Hemingway's exquisite writing style as he paints a vivid picture of love amid the horrors of battle. The evocative imagery and rich character development create a reading experience that resonates long after the last page is turned.

• Our Review...

For Whom The Bell Tolls (FWTBT) follows Robert Jordan an American demolition expert over several intense days in the Spanish Civil War. Jordan is fighting on the side of the Republicans and is tasked with blowing up a bridge behind enemy lines before a forthcoming offensive. However he needs the help of the local Guerilla fighters led by the experienced, surly Pablo, his robust and capable woman Pilar, Maria a young women suffering PTSD from being sexually abused by the fascists. and a cast of other fighters. Encouraged by Pilar, Jordan and Maria fall madly in love during the intense prep for the demolition of the bridge. All the while Pablo is becoming more withdrawn, knowing full well the Fascists retribution will destroy his small happy band who had been enjoying the war in a sleepy little backwater.

I chose to read this book because I had seen two very prophetic Hemingway quotes about "listening" and "darkest moments" (I will put them at the end of the review after about the author) I thought that both both were accurate and insightful facets of what it is to be human. The style clear and concise. 

While I enjoyed the book, I felt the signature conciseness and clarity was lost with the archaic use of thee and thou in the dialogue. It drew the reader out of the story..

The characters of Pablo and Pilar are very interesting. Pablo is an instinctive, ruthless tactician and killer who has lost his hunger for the fight and now just wants to survive and enjoy his freedom and beloved horses. He battles within himself to decide whether his longing for life in obscurity is enough to tip the balance to betray Jordan and his former republican idealism. While Pilar is the experienced, bullish woman of the world. Lover of a semi famous bull fighter back in the day. She still believes in what they are fighting for even though she has seen atrocities committed by both sides. She acts as a mother figure and matchmaker for the troubled young girl Maria. She tries to help Pablo keep the faith in what they used to believe but she knows she is fighting a losing battle. In addition she acts as facilitator to ensure Jordan's mission is successful. She is the hero of the narrative just as much as Jordan. 

The section where Pilar describes surrounding her home village courthouse and dragging the fascists out one by one to be murdered in various ways and thrown from the cliff to be very harrowing. These fascists once being her friends and neighbours. It put me in mind of a war between say Brexiteers and Remainers in UK. It would be horrific. Civil War is in reality the least civil war. It may be my imagination but this felt as if this part of the story had the ring of truth about it. Hemingway was a journalist and was in Spain at the time. Who knows what tales he picked up with his ear to the ground.. 

The narrative deals with all the big juicy stuff of life...Love, honour, duty, death, politics, corruption, right and wrong. All the stuff I look for in a novel. I think I will read more Hemingway. Probably his short stories. 

As an aside I read The Secret Hours by Mick Heron in parallel with FWTBT. While FWTBT is very "American" eg the handsome American faces overwhelming odds and gets the girl. I suppose what you would call an All American hero. 

The Secret Hours is all cynicism, sarcasm and sniping from the side, which adds flavour. I know I'm comparing different genres from different times. But at the time it struck as good example of the difference in UK v USA writing.

• Selected Quotes...

So if you love this girl as much as you say you do, you had better love her very hard and make up in intensity what the relation will lack in duration and in continuity.

Your nationality and your politics did not show when you were dead.

How could the ‘Inglés’ say that the shooting of a man is like the shooting of an animal? In all hunting I have had an elation and no feeling of wrong. But to shoot a man gives a feeling as though one had struck one’s own brother when you are grown men.

Dying is only bad when it takes a long time and hurts so much that it humiliates you.

• If You Liked This Then You May Like.

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Rope Burns by FX Toole

• About The Author....

Ernest Hemingway was born in 1899. His father was a doctor and he was the second of six children. Their home was at Oak Park, a Chicago suburb.

In 1917, Hemingway joined the Kansas City Star as a cub reporter. The following year, he volunteered as an ambulance driver on the Italian front, where he was badly wounded but decorated for his services. He returned to America in 1919, and married in 1921. In 1922, he reported on the Greco-Turkish war before resigning from journalism to devote himself to fiction. He settled in Paris where he renewed his earlier friendships with such fellow-American expatriates as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Their encouragement and criticism were to play a valuable part in the formation of his style.

Hemingway's first two published works were Three Stories and Ten Poems and In Our Time but it was the satirical novel, The Torrents of Spring, that established his name more widely. His international reputation was firmly secured by his next three books; Fiesta, Men Without Women and A Farewell to Arms.

He was passionately involved with bullfighting, big-game hunting and deep-sea fishing and his writing reflected this. He visited Spain during the Civil War and described his experiences in the bestseller, For Whom the Bell Tolls.

His direct and deceptively simple style of writing spawned generations of imitators but no equals. Recognition of his position in contemporary literature came in 1954 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He died in 1961.

Hemmingway Quotes....

When people talk listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe. You should be able to go into a room and when you come out know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave you any feeling you should know exactly what it was that gave you that feeling.

In our darkest moments, we don’t need solutions or advice. What we yearn for is simply human connection—a quiet presence, a gentle touch. These small gestures are the anchors that hold us steady when life feels like too much.
Please don’t try to fix me. Don’t take on my pain or push away my shadows. Just sit beside me as I work through my own inner storms. Be the steady hand I can reach for as I find my way.
My pain is mine to carry, my battles mine to face. But your presence reminds me I’m not alone in this vast, sometimes frightening world. It’s a quiet reminder that I am worthy of love, even when I feel broken.
So, in those dark hours when I lose my way, will you just be here? Not as a rescuer, but as a companion. Hold my hand until the dawn arrives, helping me remember my strength.
Your silent support is the most precious gift you can give. It’s a love that helps me remember who I am, even when I forget.”

Claudius The God by Robert Graves

 

Rating 4.5 ⭐s

488 pages

You can buy Claudius The God....Here

• The Blurb...

Continuing the saga begun in I, Claudius, Robert Graves's Claudius the God is a compelling fictional autobiography of the Roman emperor, published with an introduction by Barry Unsworth in Penguin Modern Classics.

Claudius has survived the murderous intrigues of his predecessors to become, reluctantly, Emperor of Rome. Here he recounts his surprisingly successful reign: how he cultivates the loyalty of the army and the common people to repair the damage caused by Caligula; his relations with the Jewish King Herod Agrippa; and his invasion of Britain. But the growing paranoia of absolute power and the infidelity of his promiscuous young wife Messalina mean that his good fortune will not last forever. In this second part of Robert Graves's fictionalised autobiography, Claudius - wry, rueful, always inquisitive - brings to life some of the most scandalous and violent times in history.

• Our Review...

There are some spoilers in this review.

Regular readers of our website (if there are any! Give us a shout!) will know that "I Claudius" if one of our favourite novels and Robert Graves autobiography " Goodbye To All That" is probably our favourite autobiography. So it will come as no surprise that we loved this novel. These novels are very accurate in that they get the factual historical points dates, battles, speeches etc correct but the beauty of these tales lies in the colour of the human stories that the author uses to complete the historical outline. It is a potent combination.

Claudius the God is the sequel to I Claudius. In I Claudius we learned the story of how half cripple half idiot fell by luck into firstly surviving the assassination riddled arena of Roman politics and subsequently becoming Emperor of Rome.  In the sequel we follow his tenure as the supreme leader. If anything his life becomes more difficult. The disguise is now lost, those once oblivious to him are now very aware that he is not an incompetent fool. He is now literally a target. In spite of this Claudius tries his best to give good governance and stable leadership to Rome. 

This book is told with such clarity it could be ripped from today's headlines. Any great historical fiction shares the same traits be it Wolf Hall, I Claudius, The Godfather et al the historical contrast is important but not as important as human nature and interaction. The love of power, influence, sex and money are universal through out time. They may be historical novels but are (and always will be) contemporary.

There are three main sections within the book. The story of his friend the loveable rogue Herod Agrippa, his conquest of Britain and his betrayal by his young wife Messalina (who turns out to be a bit of a strumpet.) These threads are set against the back ground of his constant attempts to be a benevolent ruler.

One of the interesting aspects of this book is the first person narrative. Claudius tells his own story in his own words. He is our guide but is he trustworthy. Its his side of history and his story. All his actions seem to be arrived at sensibly and without malice but there is a constant small niggle in the back of your mind as you read. Is he telling the truth? He does seem to have an awful lot of people executed. In addition he yearns to return Rome to a democracy but there is always a reason it cannot be done just yet and he must continue to rule. Is this really the case or is it political spin. 

As every star rises so it falls and Claudius is no exception. Herod Agrippa warns him to trust no one but Claudius has one blind spot his young bride Messalina who has many sexual partners without his knowledge and eventually tries to overthrow him. Claudius is besotted with her and his court is afraid to inform him of her escapades. Eventually he discovers her treachery and avoids the insurrection but the betrayal breaks him in his soul and is left a shell of his former self. He goes within himself and allows others to take the reins of power and eventually comes to sad end. 

I love these books and they constantly remind me of "The Godfather" 

• Selected Quotes...

Herod himself always insisted that he was congenitally a rogue. To which I would reply, ‘No, you are a fundamentally virtuous man wearing the mask of roguery.

there are fools who pretend to be wise men and wise men who pretend to be fools, but you are the first case I have encountered of a fool pretending to be a fool.

There’s truth in wine

one learns more about a man from ten words which he speaks himself on his own behalf than from a ten-hour eulogy by a friend. It does not matter so much what he says in those ten words: what really counts is the way in which he says them.

reminds me of what you said when we had that mystical idiot John the Baptist beheaded – ‘Religious fanaticism is the most dangerous form of insanity.’

You Romans aim at extending your sway over all mankind, but it does not follow that all mankind will immediately accept that sway. I cannot understand, my Lords, how as rulers of a City as glorious as this is, with its houses like marble cliffs, its shops like royal treasuries, its temples like the dreams that our Druids report when they return from magical visits to the Kingdom of the Dead, you can ever find it in your hearts to covet the possession of our poor island huts.

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

The Silver Pigs by Lindsay Davis

The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

• About The Author

Robert Graves (1895-1985) was an English poet, translator, and novelist, one of the leading English men of letters in the twentieth century. He fought in World War I and won international acclaim in 1929 with the publication of his memoir of the First World War, Good-bye to All That. After the war, he was granted a classical scholarship at Oxford and subsequently went to Egypt as the first professor of English at the University of Cairo. He is most noted for his series of novels about the Roman emperor Claudius and his works on mythology, such as The White Goddess.

Silent Riders Of The Sea by John Gerard Fagan

 

Rating 4 ⭐s

You can buy Silent Riders Of The Sea...here

You can visit John Gerard Fagan's website...here

• The Blurb...

In 1930, Jack the miner is grieving the loss of his young son.

In a desperate attempt to escape his misery, he makes the choice to leave.

With a motley crew of Scots, he embarks on Arctic fishing with the promise of a better life.

John Gerard Fagan, the author of the memoir Fish Town, takes us on a ride to the Arctic Sea through Jack's battle for survival on a crammed and gruesome ship and inescapable submission to the cruelty of nature and humankind alike.

In the background, memories of his life as a miner, while a permanent excruciating pain from mourning his own child lingers.

Be ready for a tale of human suffering, violence, and sadness with this story of the hard side of human life.

• Our Review...

Now then where to start with this very unusual item. I began reading this expecting a novel, you know the usual set format. Protagonist, antagonist., plot, character arc, redemption etc, etc. However it becomes clear from very early on this is not your bog standard novel. 

For a start the chapters are numerous and very short and I mean very short. There are no capital letters or full stops.. How do you know when a new sentence ends and a new one begins.? Well the author just starts a new line. In addition the author leaves out a lot of minor words that help the narrative flow such as conjunctions. The result is prose that is as close to poetry, without actually being poetry that I have ever read. At one point I found myself counting syllables convinced that he was, in part at least, writing in iambic pentameter. All very odd and it succeeds it making you feel a little off kilter as if your horizon of normality has tilted a little. Dare I say it makes you feel little sea sick which all adds to the immersive experience. This literary sleight of hand is similar to "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy where there are no chapters at all, just an endless trail with no respite which foreshadows the narrative. 

So if it doesn't feel like a novel what does it feel like. Well the author has such a gift for creating a living, breathing, visceral world that if feels like an insertion into an actual life. Like the old TV show Quantum Leap but not in a cute, feel good, solve the mystery, all's right with the world sort of way. The author's world is horrifyingly brutal and unforgiving. Its probably the most bleak thing that I have ever read. Bleak because its probably the most like real life that I ever read. It's like a cross between The Road by Coramc McCarthy and the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by S.T. Coleridge all mixed together and then given a seasoning of grim, dour, hard edged Scottishness. 

 The reader really feels as if he really has lived Jack's life. It is very real. The trouble is Jack's life is horrific at the start and goes downhill from there.. Death, at times, seems a much better option.  

I feel that this will be a marmite book. Some will love it, some will find it too grim..

I enjoyed the experience, I thought the writing was captivating and stimulating. Something very different from the norm. Going on the doomed voyage with Jack was unforgettable. Hence the four stars. 

The author is very good at what he does. Just don't expect happiness anywhere or anytime. 

• Selected Quotes...

"as soon as they were away from the shore cabins damp n diseased from the lack of sunlight human faeces mixed with blood n vomit from the last voyage left to harden in corners dirt n mould blooming like weeds in summer splintered wood soft to the touch and crumbled in your fingers those were the highlights of that ship"

"breath smoking through the cold the nets were cast once more water swept back to the deep fish were slaughtered gutted canned floating on swollen waters and all on board acted like they were not inches from death."

"the local rich working the local poor to death to feed the foreign poor n line the pockets of the foreign rich there was the only meaning he found."

"night sandpapered the remains of the day away and left the sky blood red"

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. (review ...here)

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Grief Is The Thing With Feathers by Max Porter.

• About The Author...

John Gerard Fagan is a Scottish writer from Muirhead in the outskirts of Glasgow, who currently lives in Dunbar..He has published over a hundred short stories, essays, and poems in Scots, Scottish Gaelic, and English. Fish Town is his first book, about leaving everything behind to move to a Japanese fishing village for seven years. Silent Riders of the Sea, a Scottish verse novel of struggle set in 1930, is his second.