The Swimmer deals with a lonely poet living in Suffolk who falls for a visitor to her river. Unfortunately the peace of the countryside has been shattered by a series of grizzly animal killings. Suspicion falls on immigrants, fuelling the fire of the Far Right.

Ria is a forty-something virtual recluse living in her aunt and uncle's house in the countryside in Suffolk. Divorced and estranged from her brother, Ria lives a lonely, but peaceful life as she tries to finish her latest anthology. She has suffered a lot, with the premature death of her beloved father, unable to properly grieve as her family preferred to keep their stiff upper lip. Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of resentment. Her younger brother is a bully prone to mood swings, and he is especially unhappy that Ria won't sell the house, and thus is depriving him of his share of the cash.

Ben is the titular swimmer, an illegal immigrant working locally while he waits for his paperwork to come through. He travelled all the way from war-torn Sri Lanka in the hope of a better life. His life is like many immigrants, working as a labourer despite being highly educated, and missing home all the while.

Ria notices that food in her house is missing and at first blames the cleaner until, one night, she sees Ben swimming across the river at the bottom of her property. The unlikely pair strike up a friendship, the lonely poet and the foreign farmhand. Both are educated and artistic, she writes while he plays the piano. They seem to fill a void in each other's life, a connection than transcends age or nationality.

If life were simple, then the book would end here, but their idyll is threatened by Ria's brother and the unsolved crimes. As you read, you hope for peace for the characters, for themselves, but making peace with the past is easier said than done. I did enjoy The Swimmer, with its topical themes and almost local setting (my parents live across the water in Essex). The only drawback is a bit of a rushed ending, while the reader appreciates the closure the ending brings, I was left wanting more.

(I would give this 7/10, but no half stars here)

The dark world of the early days of anatomy and those who supplied them with the bodies. Gabriel Swift starts the book as an apprentice, preparing bodies for anatomy lectures, but becomes involved with the men that supply the bodies, which pushes him down the road to social and moral ruin.

His name is well chosen, the angelic Gabriel and Swift for how fast it all goes wrong. Gabriel is an innocent, orphaned and all alone in the big city, he doesn't have anyone to pull him back from the brink. The body snatchers - Lucan, Caley and Walker- are well-drawn, providing menace and showing the underbelly of London.

The historical detail is very interesting, from the descriptions of the anatomy sessions and foetuses suspended in embalming fluid to how the corpses are seemingly taken by order from graves. But there is a but. I did enjoy the writing, but found it rather strange, sparingly written, which sometimes left me cold and I lost my sympathy for Swift. Interesting read, but I feel it lacked the necessary substance to be good.

(note on score - I actually rated it 5/10, but can't do half stars here)

Dr. Siri is Laos' only coroner, not through choice, but being the only doctor around, his "promotion" was unchallenged. To say he has reluctantly taken up the position would be an understatement, at the grand age of 70-odd and after years of patching up communists soldiers in the jungle, he had thought he could retire.

Most of the autopsies present no great mystery, and with the aid of his assistant Mr. Geung, with Down's Syndrome, a generously built nurse, Dtui, and some crusty textbooks, Siri manages to muddle through. That is, until two strange cases arrive in quick succession.

The wife of a party official dies suddenly at a meal, and it soon becomes clear that, despite the official's desire to put it down to natural circumstances, foul play is involved. The second case has international implications as two bodies rise to the surface of a lake, clearly men from Laos' neighbour and ally, Vietnam. As there is evidence of torture, Siri must find out what happened before a diplomatic relations broke down.

Another dimension of the book is the supernatural, Siri dreams of the dead, who sometimes give him insight into their own deaths. As he heads north, he is given answers as to why he has this gift.

I have seen this compared, prehaps inevitably, with Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies' Detective Agency Series. Both detectives are rather unusual, but Cotterill puts the political situation in a more prominant position. Through Siri's set-to's with his superiors, we get an insight into Laos in the 1970s: a fledging communist state, a lack of resources, a carefully monitored population, Laos' French and American influence as well as its stormy relationship with its larger neighbour, Vietnam.

Siri and his band of misfits add a great deal of charm to the book, setting the backdrop for what I believe will be a good series of crime books.

Another of my long term TBR books. I really enjoyed Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which is why I picked this up.

Wilberforce is a wine-lover, though that term doesn't really get close to how he really feels about the drink, he "inherited" a great wine cellar when he bought up a dying friend's collection. He is an alcoholic, drinking up to 4 bottles of wine a day, and not just any wine, but great vintages, from his cellars and restaurants. He justifies his drinking, claiming not to be an alcoholic as he only drinks great wine, not just any bottle.

The style of the book is unusual, with Wilberforce narrating his story, each part starts a year before the previous, so while you know how it will end, only slowly do you find why. In the first part, 2006, we see how this "inheritance" is destroying his life. The killing he made when selling his computer software company is dwindling as his obsession gets more acute. His personal relationships are also deteriorating rapidly as the wine takes more and more control over his life.

The story is told by Wilberforce, so while we get an insight into his thoughts, other characters only seem to warrant a superficial glance. This says a lot about Wilberforce's own character, a lonely man whose loneliness makes him even more intraspective. A computer programmer, he didn't have great people skills, but fell into a group which, for him, represented getting a life. Trying to fit in, he takes it too far, and starts alienating those around him.

This is a much darker novel than Salmon Fishing, more similar to The Girl on the Landing in its deconstruction of the human character, though the latter deals with latent mental illness rather than the induced, which we have here. Wilberforce's delusions are fascinating, though tragic, reading. I recently read a non-fiction book about wine, so connected better with the object of Wilberforce's obsession.

I would recommend the book, for the literary style and also a, sometimes painful and often sad, intimate portrayal of a man's self-destruction.

A real page turner, I sat down in a cafe to read " just a few more chapters" and ended up finishing the book!

I was already familiar with Mosse's work, having read Labyrinth a few years ago. The Winter Ghosts also takes place in the same area of France, the Languedoc region, famous for the Cathars. Starting in the inter war period, a young man walks into a shop with a piece of parchment with an almost forgotten language written on it, he then tells the story of how he came into possession of it.

Freddie lost his older brother in the war and the guilt of surviving his beloved sibling causes him to break down. He is travelling in France when his car breaks down and he is forced to stop. While he struggles to get to safety, he hears a voice calling to him. He makes it to the village, a place under a cloud of sadness. The landlady invites him to a festival that evening, which will change his life. At the party he meets Fabrisse, a young woman traumatised like him, a soul in need of peace after a years of suffering.

I enjoyed the dual time period of the book, and Mosse certainly knows how to draw in her audience and paint a beautiful scene. Perfect after a long day at summer camp, it is the kind of book that sucks you, entertains you, but ultimately won't remain with you for long.

If I could, I would rate it as 7/10.

I was given this by a friend and was pleasantly surprised to see it was written by Fiona Mountain, whose Natasha Blake books I have enjoyed.

Rebel Heiress is set during the turbulent times after the English Civil War in the Somerset Levels. The Heiress of the title is Eleanor, the only surviving child of a Puritan veteran. She has grown up under an austere father, despite being heiress to his dead wife's land in Somerset. Eleanor is a strange child, she is inquisitive and spends her time running after butterflies for her collection. This predilection for the flying creatures causes locals to think her strange, especially as butterflies were sometimes thought of being a witch's familiar.

The story follows Eleanor's life, from the curious child chasing butterflies, to coming into her inheritance, and her marriage and children. Eleanor falls in love with Mr. Merrick's choice, Edmund, a solid, dependable man, but is blown away by his best friend, Richard, a Cavalier. She is torn between her wifely duty and her desire for Richard. Mountain keeps up the tension well, a case of be careful what you wish for, though.

Her interest in nature is both her passion and her downfall, as it used against her by unscrupulous characters. She maintains correspondence with James, a fellow lepidopterist , who understands her interest and recognises her talent.

The Somerset Levels are as much of a character as any person. They serve to remind man that nature cannot be controlled. Eleanor's guardian, Mr. Merrick is keen to start drainage work on the Levels, as a businessman he believes that it would make a lot of money. Eleanor's father is against the idea, as it would have a huge impact on the local area, on the people living there.

I must admit, I prefer the original title, Lady of Butterflies, Rebel Heiress smacks of Mills & Boon! Don't let the title put you off though, it is a good example of historical fiction. The book is well researched, the author really brings Eleanor to life, she was definitely a woman ahead of her time. (I actually would rate this 3.5 / 5)

Bloke-lit in the vain of Tony Parsons or Nick Hornby. I did enjoy seeing life from the other side of the gender divide.

Dave is a music journalist, he has been with his wife for 6 years and is ecstatic when she announces she is pregnant. When Izzy miscarries and declares she doesn't want to try for another, he pretends to agree. Then the magazine he is working on, and he ends up as the new agony uncle on a teen magazine. Amongst the petitions for help, a letter arrives from a 13-year-old girl, Nicola, claiming to be his daughter.

Dave is a decent bloke, a sensitive boyfriend, but finds it difficult to rock the boat with Izzy. Izzy is not a cold woman, but after suffering a miscarriage is understandibly reluctant to try again, in case it happens again. It is their lack of communication which causes the tension, more than the arrival of Nicola.

Gayle manages to pull off a realistic family / relationship drama with flashes of humour, especially as a 30-something-year-old man struggles with working for a teen magazine. The musical references do date the book a bit, but as they are bands I remember, I liked them.

This book caught my eye because of the title, I spent a good while standing in front of Picasso's painting when I was 18 on my first visit to Spain.

Boling follows a Basque family's story from the late 19th Century, to the bombing of Guernica in the Spanish Civil War and what happened after. Through Navarro family, we get a glimpse at life in the Basque Country. Miguel comes from a long line of fishermen, but, because of his susceptibilty to seasickness, he decides to take work on land. With the Civil War in full swing, Miguel is forced to leave and goes to Guernica, a very important town in Basque culture. Here he meets Miren, the daughter of a local farmer.

Through his fictionalised history, the author gives us an idea of what Basque families went through in this period.The book is a little too convenient at times, as history is favoured over the plot, but overall I would still say that this book is worth a read.

A good story based on a word many of us have heard, the name of a painting some of us have seen, and of course a Basque town.

A 1001 book, very funny. Flora is orphaned and decides to fall on the charity of her relatives in Sussex, as she says, there is no social taboo about sponging off your relatives.

The Starkadders live up to the stereotype that the very sensible Flora fears, not only is cousin Seth a brooding country skirt-chaser, cousin Reuben seems to think she is there to take over and the ancient farmhand Adam is obsessed by his decrepit cows. The womenfolk are not much better, Aunt Judith is rather too involved in Seth's life, cousin Elfine is in love, but has a worrying penchant for poetry and unbrushed hair. And if all that wasn't enough, there is the crazy matriarch upstairs. Flora really has her work cut out for her.

Great fun, I will definitely be looking out for more of her work.

I jumped around a bit in the book as there were certain situations that were more interesting or better known to me. As I had just finished The Rose of Sebastopol, it seemed best to start with The Fourth Order (Balaklava) and as the fall of the Berlin Wall was one of THE most important events of my childhood, the second last section was next. The stupidity of generals, unsuitable men or men blind to the reality around them, if they were even anywhere near the battle. Another aspect that Durschmied shows us is the development of warfare.

Not always fantastically written, but good as a way to get into the subject.