A highly addictive satisfying read - 5 star

A most unusual but equally really enjoyable read. The writing is fast and furious and it is impossible at times to put the book down :) Lila Gulliver is the Madam of a brothel on the tropical island of Verona. She is a bright business woman not only managing her staff but also looking after their welfare, and this in return creates a sense of loyalty. A young attractive lady impresses Lila, and even though Carita is blind she is employed, and very quickly proves  her worth to the business. However life soon gets very complex when Carita falls in love with Ian Brohan son of judge Michael Brolan…….” a dashing, fine figure of a man, confident in the power of his physical presence”......

It would be wrong to believe that clients visiting Madam Gullivers are dictating, and demanding, being wealthy does not mean that they have a right to humiliate, use, and discard the young ladies on offer. What makes this such a brilliant book is the way the author shows the reader that in reality it is the women working for, and with, and including, Lila Gulliver who dictate the shape and direction of their lives….”Men are expected to succeed, women to fail. Every woman knows the deck is stacked. In practical terms this makes it more difficult for women to succeed, but it’s more damning for men to fail. Win or lose, defying expectations is heavy going”........

This is storytelling at its best, set in the early 1950’s it brings to life the sights and sounds of a tropical island. Lila Gulliver holds the reader in awe with her beauty, and smart business acumen looking after and guiding those girls who she feels have entrusted their lives to her. Highly recommended.

Delights and horrifies in equal measure - 5 star

If you think of the bad in Stephen King you think of Randall Flagg and if you think of the good only one name can truly inspire loyalty in the reader and that is Holly Gibney. Holly came to the notice of Bill Hodges, who gave her belief in herself, and she soon became an intricate part of the Finders Keepers detective agency......."Holly has come a long way from the shy introvert Bill Hodges met lurking outside a funeral home all those years ago, but that woman still lives inside her and always will".......

Now as sole proprieter of the agency she is investigating a number of seemingly unconnected disappearances, years apart.......what devilish little piece of storytelling has Mr King got in store to delight and horrify us. It becomes apparent very quickly who the perpetrators are and the reasoning behind their murderous acts is what makes "Holly" a brilliant novel. It seems that as the author ages his writing just gets better and better and this is a brilliant tale to delight and horrify in equal measure.

Not the full story - 3 star

This book did not really get to the story behind Reg Harris. We certainly heard about his success and his many championship wins but this information shed little light on the man behind the myth. The author was not allowed to interview or speak with many who knew Harris, and thus in my opinion the story is only half told. At times it read a little like a cycling manual, linear in the telling and often boring in the reading.

A worthy booker winner 2023 - 4 star

With fond memories of 1984 I was eager the read Prophet song. This is a dark sombre tale of what it could be like to live in a state which no longer allows freee thinking. The family and the life that was and is Eilish Stack begins to disintegrate first with the arrest of her husband, a trade union member and much loved teacher, and the ever increasing feeling of strangulation as the new police state strengthens its grip. This was a vey claustopohic read, and yet a difficult book to leave once started. A worthy winner of the 2023 booker prize.

An original and highly entertaining read - 5 star

What a debut novel of pure imagination, a dash of decadence, a little sauciness mixed with some electrifying horror creates the truly unforgettable Botanical Daughter. Simon and Gregory, more than just friends, live in the surreal botanical environment that is Grimfern, a vast greenhouse of living plants. Simon occupies the basement with his taxidermy workstation, and Gregory the upper level of this glass sanctuary. Gregory dreams of success at the Royal Horticultural Society and his experiments have led him to believe that there could be intelligent life within plants. Within his haven a lone  orchid appears to have a fungal guardian shielding the fragrant petals from direct sunlight…..” A shallow glass bowl about a foot in diameter contained an inch of soil and a seething mass of sinews. These tendrils caressed and cocooned a gorgeous orchid”.....As part of his vision and to ensure a successful outcome of this most outlandish of experiments, Gregory needs a human corpse to act as a “substrate” thus incubating the orchid and fungus and combining their intelligence……Gregory will then be recognised as a true genius by the RHS merging plant life and human brilliance.

There is certainly a nod to Frankenstein in the revealing of this tale, but I thought the storytelling and the use of language was exceptional and highly entertaining. The cast of characters from the unfortunate Julian Mallory the current President of RHS ( whose position Gregory aspires to) and the delightfully named Rosalinda Smeralda-Bland…”a sumptuous woman of continental extraction” all add to the readability and the delightful sequence of events as they unfold. Those readers who crave a little spilling of blood will not be disappointed and the final scenes create a perfect conclusion to an amazing story. An exceptional debut novel and one that I enjoyed very much.

The best sports biography I have ever read! - 5 star

It’s probably true to say that if Beryl Burton had lived some 30 or 40 years later she would have been recognized as the greatest living woman cyclist. As we look back at her achievements, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles, we must marvel at how this remarkable woman succeeded at a time when women were refused equal status to their male counterparts, in many sporting arenas and in particular cycling. The 1st ladies tour de france was in 1955 however the disparity in pay and prize money has only been addressed in very recent times, with female riders still having an unfair advantage in their earning capability. But the gender disparity doesn’t end with prize money. For many women, the sport has long been exclusionary, with sparse access to funding that would allow women to compete in the first place. The UCI (International cycling union) did not implement a minimum wage for women cyclists until 2020, a standard already in place for men.

These conversations and outcomes were a long way in the future and the world of cycling that Beryl inhabited was neanderthal by comparison. A yorkshire woman born and bred, and with that came yorkshire grit; friendly but bloody minded, stubborn and argumentative. She only knew one way to cycle and that was to simply get to the front and stay there. There were no such luxuries as team cars and buses, her husband Charlie was her constant companion, driver and support, supplying only those items deemed really necessary. Woolen overgarments and cycling shorts bore little or no resemblance to modern lycra and the bright yellow sowester acted as a sail in rainy, stormy weather. This was the world that Beryl competed in, and she flourished, but at a price. The bicycle was her form of transport as well as her racing companion, she could average 400 miles a week in training and this naturally at times gave rise to absences from her daughter Denise. To gain extra finance and to improve her flexibility she worked picking rhubarb ( no fancy team masseur or indoor gym here!) 

The passing of years only made Beryl more determined to keep winning even when her body dictated otherwise. She was rarely happy with what she had achieved, and minutes after the “win” elation it was back to hard work and long miles in the saddle. She developed anemia,and asthma and as a child rheumatic fever hospitalized her for 9 months. She had always had a somewhat odd heart arrhythmia and died of heart failure during a social ride, when she was out delivering birthday invitations for her 59th birthday party. Her daughter believed that Burton's competitive spirit and drive eventually just wore her body out.

This is without the doubt the best sports biography I have ever read. Jeremy Wilson captures the spirit of this remarkable athlete and brings her to life before my reading eyes. There is much to learn for all of us here…..to do…to reach out…to attain…to never give up……to go to the front and always remain. A fantastic book, a monumental achievement that should be read and loved by all.