Philip Spires

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The Colonel"��s Last Wicket By G V Rama Rao The Colonel's Last Wicket by G V Rama Rao is an optimistic novel about human relationships in India seen through a filter of cricket. A retired army officer resolves to develop the bowling talent of a young orphan, a task that demands love, devotion and perseverance. The Heather Blazing By Colm Toibin The Heather Blazing by Colm Toibin is an Irish novel set in Dublin and Wexford. Eamon Redmond is a high court judge with political connections and a family history. The book tells his story and describes the conflicts generated by his legal judgments with deep compassion. The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini has been showered with priase and attention since it publication. The book deals with Afghanis experience of the turmaoils that have beset their country in recent decades, and this is seen through the lives of a pair of friends who grew up together. It is a deeply moving book. The Mission Song By John Le CarrÃ© In The Mission Song John le Carre examines the establishment of a deal that will hopefully bring stability to an area of central Africa. It will also create profit for a selection of its sponsors, a situation not appreciated by everyone involved. Shakespeare By Bill Bryson In Shakespeare, Bill Bryson has accomplished a great feat - the publication of a short, succinct, highly entertaining and informative work on the greatest writer of all time. The Statement By Brian Moore In The Statement Brian Moore's main character is pursued by a Jewish group wanting to avenge a wartime massacre. The book presents a good read alongside many missed opportunities. A Review Of A Room At The Top By John Braine It is fifty years since John Braine published Room At The Top, a novel that presents a stark, perhaps cynical view of the British class system. Its frank portrayal of relationships and sex caused a stir at the time. Fifty years later, it is still poignant, and it also reminds us that some things have changed a lot, though not the British class system. A Review Of A S Byatt's A Whistling Woman A S Byatt's A Whistling Woman is a strange book. At one level it's a straightforward account of university life, with its politics, affairs and academic pursuit. But then there's the suspicion that none of this is ever satisfying for those involved. They yearn for something bigger. A Review Of The Gathering By Anne Enright The Gathering by Anne Enright has recently won the Booker prize for fiction. It's a novel that deals with private grief, privately, where strong emotions cannot be completely expressed, and where there always has to be someone or something to blame. A Bucket Of Ashes, A Romantic Novel By Jill Lanchbery Is Published By Libros International A Bucket of Ashes, a romantic novel set in Britain and Nigeria, by Jill Lanchbery is published by Libros International. At the heart of A Bucket of Ashes by Jill Lanchbery is an old fashioned love story. A Review Of The Waterfall By Margaret Drabble In Waterfall maragaret Drabble examines marriage and relationships. The novel's principle character, Jane, is intensely analytical, and extrudes every aspect of her own psyche in every direction possible through the needle-eye of existence. A Review Of The Debt To Pleasure By John Lanchester A Debt to Pleasure us a novel by John Lanchester. A profound anti-hero called Tarquin Winot explores a culinary world that can be cooked to his own advantage. A Review Of Going Home By Doris Lessing Doris Lessing returned to Rhodesia, the country of her upbringing, in the 1950s. She describes the absurdity of a social system based on race, which is at least as nonsensical as one based on class. After fifty years, in my opinion she may add prescience to the book's achievements. A Review Of Flaubert's Parrot By Julian Barnes In Flaubert's Parrot Julian Barnes creates a universe with several layers. There's the biography and anlaysis of Flaubert and his work. But there is also the book's main character, the biographer Geoffrey, who is gradually revealed as having a direct interest in the content and subject matter of Flaubert's fiction. A Question Of Upbringing By Anthony Powell Anthony Powell's A Question of Upbringing�"' is the first part of his mammoth twelve novel epic A Dance to the Music of Time�"'. He writes with wit, humour and not a little sarcasm, describing a quintessential Englishness that perhaps was never representative of the society and has, arguably, disappeared. Europe Revisited, Reinterpreted - A Review Of A Ruby In Her Navel, A Novel By Barry Unsworth Barry Unsworth's A Ruby in her Navel is a superb historical novel that reminds us that our notion of nationality, our idea of country is a recent invention Potentiall, the notion clouds rather than informs our understanding of history. A Million Would Be Nice By Ken Scott Newcastle-born crime fiction writer Ken Scott has recently published his second novel, A Million Would Be Nice. Philip Spires, author of Mission, an African novel set in kenya, reviews the book.

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