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Book Review

The Fires of Gallipoli, by Barney Campbell

The Fires of Gallipoli, by Barney Campbell

The Fires of Gallipoli is more than just a wartime history, it is a tale of epic friendship and its trials and joys.
Ella Beales

The Fires of Gallipoli explores resilience, self-discovery, fortitude and friendship during, and in the aftermath, of the Gallipoli Campaign. This book follows Edward Salter, a shy 25-year-old solicitor whose life is changed by the outbreak of the First World War and...

Found, by Will Erikson

Found, by Will Erikson

The book is full of the rich detail you would expect from an author with personal experience of his subject matter.

Found is the debut novel from Will Erikson. It is set in 2003 in the chaotic aftermath of the coalition invasion of Iraq. Told in the first person, the protagonist, Harry Smith, is a junior officer in the UK intelligence services who is deployed to Iraq as part of the...

A Serpent in the Garden, by Howard Linskey

A Serpent in the Garden, by Howard Linskey

This is definitely a book for Shakespearian Scholars.

‘A Serpent in the Garden’ is the first in Howard Linskey’s new 'William Shakespeare Mysteries' series. It is set in Shakespeare’s ‘lost years’ of 1585 to 1592. A seven-year-period when Will left Stratford with no prospects but managed to earn enough money to buy a...

The Last Days of Budapest, by Adam LeBor

The Last Days of Budapest, by Adam LeBor

This is an immaculately researched book, written in a fluent and engaging style.

Eighty years on from the end of the Second World War our understanding of it ought to be sophisticated enough by now to appreciate that all was not necessarily as it seemed. As tempting as it is, one should avoid viewing the events in Europe in 1939-1945 in simplistic...

Military Maverick – Selected Letters and War Diary Of ‘Chink’ Dorman Smith, by Lavinia Greacen

Military Maverick – Selected Letters and War Diary Of ‘Chink’ Dorman Smith, by Lavinia Greacen

This book is a fascinating insight into the mind of a far thinking officer with, in many respects, a brilliant mind.

Military Maverick – Selected Letters and War Diary Of ‘Chink’ Dorman Smith, by Lavinia Greacen As the only candidate, before or since, ever to have achieved 100% in the tactics paper in the entrance examination for the army Staff College Eric Dorman-Smith ought...

Oath Breaker, by Adam Staten

Oath Breaker, by Adam Staten

The relentless pace, the breath-taking action and the engaging characters all combine to produce a tale that keeps you hooked from the first page to the last.

Oath breaker is the second book in Staten’s Honour Bound trilogy, following on from Blood Debt, released earlier in 2024. Before I start, I should confess two things: first, that this era is an era that ranks among my favourites, meaning I am predisposed to enjoy...

Churchill’s Citadel, by Katherine Carter

Churchill’s Citadel, by Katherine Carter

This is a book about much more than a house. It’s a book about the headquarters of a resistance movement.

Churchill’s Citadel, by Katherine Carter You may have read all 911 pages, excluding notes or index, of Roy Jenkin’s magisterial biography of Winston Churchill, which after 20 years remains incredibly sound. There is also a good chance that you’ve read Andrew Robert’s...

A Leap in the Dark, by Justin Kerr-Smiley

A Leap in the Dark, by Justin Kerr-Smiley

A Leap in the Dark is a fast-moving crime adventure based in Edinburgh in 1798.
Michael Ward

David Stoddart is a well-respected town councillor with a troubling thrill addiction. By day, he’s a successful businessman and pillar of local society. But as darkness falls, Stoddart slips out of his house to prowl the streets of The Old Town, committing burglaries...

I Am André, by Diana Mara Henry

I Am André, by Diana Mara Henry

An important and fascinating story written in considerable detail.

January 2025 will be the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, a single event which has come to symbolise the Holocaust. No-one could claim that in the eighty years since there’s been a shortage of literature on the Holocaust: a search on...