Derek Beaugarde's Blog: The 2084 Blog

Closing the Ring by Winston S. Churchill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Closing the Ring (The Second World War #5) by Winston S Churchill was a terrific listen, beautifully narrated in Churchillian-style. It covered the campaigns from 1943 up until D-Day in June 1944 and climaxing with the liberations of Rome and Paris. It also covered the Big Three conferences in detail between Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill, discussing their agreements and disagreements on how various campaigns should be carried out. Closing the Ring



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This is the best piece of historical fiction I've read in a long time. The story of a bookseller in occupied Inverness in 1752 after his return from transportation to Virginia following the defeat of the Jacobite army at Culloden in 1746. His seemingly innocuous occupation turns into a fast-paced story of murder, intrigue, treachery and the revelation of Jacobite traitors. Can the bookseller unravel the plot with the aim of furthering the cause of the King over the Water?
The Bookseller of Inverness

Where Liberty Lies by Nathaniel M Wrey is the stunning sequel to his first post-apocalyptic dystopian thriller Liberty Bound. It continues the adventures of Finbarl and Aminatra and their son Karlmon as they escape Athenia and cross the treacherous mountains seeking a better life. However, fate has another outcome for them. Another tremendously well-written piece of prose crafted expertly by Wrey.

Their Finest Hour by Winston S. Churchill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Winston S Churchill's Their Finest Hour is a fantastic memoir of his leadership throughout 1940 in particular, which included The Battle of Britain, the Blitz and the war in North Africa. It is an incisive piece of writing by Churchill and tremendously narrated by Michael Jayston in imperious Churchillian tones. This was the period which included some of Churchill's most stirring speeches to the British people included "Fight them on the beaches" and "Never in the field of human conflict".



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God Bless Mrs McGinty!: My Life and The Sunday Post by Bill Anderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Bill Anderson's autobiography begins with the near-fatal car crash that prompted him to write his life story, from humble beginnings as the son of a Motherwell steelworker, to becoming the fabled managing editor of the Sunday Post. A great mixture of humour, poignancy and a life well lived, keeps Anderson's life story moving along at a fair pace.



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The Gathering Storm by Winston S. Churchill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Gathering Storm is a fast paced history of the events from the rise of Adolf Hitler to the beginning of World War Two and Churchill's appointment as Prime Minister as biographed by Churchill himself. The narration in Churchill's own droll style sets a terrific tone to the book and Churchill eloquently leads the reader through the momentous events of the Twenties and Thirties in Europe as the war drums again began to bang.



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The Martian Diaries: Vol. 3 Gateway To Mars by H.E. Wilburson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Martian Diaries: Vol. 3 Gateway To Mars H E Wilburson has created another 5 star addition to his Martian Diaries trilogy, with the superbly crafted Gateway to Mars. Keeping true to the ethos of H G Wells, this has elements of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine woven into the epic sci-fi storyline. Once again humankind finds it is in a titanic battle in the 22nd century with a new invasion of the Martian tripods on Mars and Earth and Alan Sterling, who becomes the Time Man, struggles to save the human race from annihilation.



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This little book was quite entertaining, telling the biography of Florence Bramford, who became a Lady's Maid to a Lady in Waiting to the Royal Household. Florence was born in the Victorian era in Upton on Severn and ended up travelling all around the world in the entourages of King George VI and the Queen Elizabeth II. The book could have done with a bit of tighter editing.

The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Journalist, presenter and author Sally Magnusson's debut fiction novel The Sealwoman's Gift is a fictional account of the life of an Icelandic woman Asta Thorsteinsdottir based on a true historical event. It tells the little known story of 400 Icelanders who were kidnapped into slavery in 1627 and shipped off to be bartered in the slave markets of Morocco and Algiers. It mainly follows the story of Asta who, along with her children, are bought by a rich Moorish Algerine merchant Ali. Her husband Olafur is quickly released to travel to Denmark to seek a ransom from King Christian IV. Asta is an unquestioning Lutheran, but her captivity over a number of years, brings into question her true faith, as she draws closer to her merchant owner. A tremendously well-written novel which weaves Asta's dilemmas with her love of the Icelandic sagas, the famous Arabian Tales of Scheherazade and her love being torn between two men, Olafur and Ali.



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The Chess Men by Peter May

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Chess Men was another great read from the pen of Peter May and the final book in The Lewis Trilogy. The story takes Fin, now an ex-cop, back to Lewis, the land of his birth, and when he and his friend Whistler discover a murdered body in a plane at a remote loch, it sets in place a series of events which unleash past secrets and current angsts. A gripping finale.



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