H - and we're off to ...?

I've had this book on my shelves for a long time - almost twenty years so thought it was about time we head over to Hong Kong. This book is set just before the handing back of Hong Kong to the Chinese and needs to be read in context. It gives a great insight into both the British and Chinese hopes and fears as well as prejudice and inherent racism on both sides. I found it a fascinating read despite the fact, or even because of the fact, that none of the main characters are particularly likeable. It is a novel of its time and does a good job describing the period.




Ninety-nine years of colonial rule are ending as the British prepare to hand over Hong Kong to China. For Betty Mullard and her son, Bunt, it doesn't concern them - until the mysterious Mr. Hung from the mainland offers them a large sum for their family business. They refuse, yet fail to realize Mr. Hung is unlike the Chinese they've known: he will accept no refusals. When a young female employee whom Bunt has been dating vanishes, he is forced to make important decisions for the first time in his life - but his good intentions are pitted against the will of Mr. Hung and the threat of the ultimate betrayal.

Julie Ryan is the author of the Greek Island mystery series, Jenna's Journey, Sophia's Secret and Pandora's Prophecy. You can find out more about her here https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00F0VYX34

G is for .... well where else would I be?

If it is in your nature to put others before yourself, what do you do when someone makes a play for the person you have secretly loved for years? 

Maria is illiterate, and Cosmo, the village postman, is obliged to read the love letters he delivers to her. He stammers over the words and blushes at the feelings he cannot bring himself to voice. 

However life is not always predictable and a sudden twist in events throws him in the role of village hero. 

But will this change be enough to enable him to overcome his shyness and declare his feelings to the woman he has loved all his life, and will she even be interested after all these years?

Where else would our travels take us this time but Greece? I've been a fan of Sara Alexi since stumbling across her first book 'The illegal gardener'. She blends her knowledge of Greece with an insight into the Greek psyche. Beneath the apparent simplistic style lies a deeper layer that the reader can relate to on a personal level, revealing as it does human nature with all its foibles. As well as telling a darned good story there is inevitably a dilemma involved which will reveal the true mettle of the protagonist. I particularly enjoyed the story of Maria and Cosmo and look forward to the next book in the series.




Best selling author Sara Alexi was born in Oxford, England. After travelling widely she now splits her time between England and a tiny rural village in the Peloponnese, in Greece, where she has renovated a stone farmhouse, whilst observing the Greek way of life and absorbing the culture.

As a qualified as a psychotherapist Sara ran her own practice for years. Her artistic nature was, during that time, confined to painting and she exhibited widely. Her move to Greece was the catalyst that began her writing.

Her 'Greek Village Series' has been very well received and provides a keenly observed, compassionate insight into the Greek people and culture, and the human condition in general.

Julie Ryan is the author of the Greek Island mystery series, Jenna's Journey, Sophia's Secret and Pandora's Prophecy. You can find out more about her here https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00F0VYX34

F is for ...?

On my travels this week. it's off to France we go, or rather France, Tasmania and England. 'The French Promise' not only takes us round the world on an adventure in its own right but also deals with the Second World War and its repercussions in Europe afterwards. Throughout runs the thread of romance, buried secrets, tragedy, love and lavender fields. Multi-layered, it was difficult at first to work out the connections between the different families but the ending had me gasping. It didn't work out as I thought it would but then that's the beauty of fiction.

Luc and Lisette Ravens – a former French resistance fighter and a one-time British spy – have somehow survived the war, but recovering from the horrors of those years is a challenge they're yet to overcome. Casting their fate to the winds, they sail to Tasmania, hoping to rebuild their lives and plant new lavender fields in a land that's full of promise.

In his darkest hour, Swiss law student Max Vogel learns a confronting truth. A long-held family secret links him to the Ravens on the other side of the world, and he finds himself holding the key to his own future and to Luc's troubled past.

Together they return to Provence, so Luc can fulfil the promises by which he has been bound – to his beloved Lisette, to his Jewish family, and to the one man responsible for ripping so much from his life. With the future generation of lavender keepers in his care, Luc must lay to rest the ghosts of years gone by so that they all might live and love again.

From the south coast of England to the rugged farmland of northern Tasmania and the lively streets of postwar Paris, this is an extraordinary story of courage, determination and everlasting love from an internationally bestselling author.

 

Fiona writes best selling historical adventure-romance alongside the heroic-romantic, often brutal, fantasy she built her career upon. She lives in Australia but frequently roams the world meticulously researching the locations and gathering material for her historical novels that have international settings. Her books are published worldwide and in various languages. 
Her most recent historical fiction has gathered such a following that she is now hosting a tour in 2014 to Paris and Provence so eager readers can walk in the footsteps of her characters.

Julie Ryan is the author of the Greek Island mystery series, Jenna's Journey, Sophia's Secret and Pandora's Prophecy. You can find out more about her here https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00F0VYX34

If you want to come with me on my journey round the world, then leave a comment with a book suggestion for a location beginning with K or L.

E takes us to...?

T














In a mysterious village deep in the mountainous desert of Upper Egypt, a handful of men jealously guards some of the most precious secrets of the Pharaohs. And the most fabulous of these is the Stone of Light. 

This time we're exploring Ancient Egypt as Christian Jacq evokes a fascinating period in history. As a child I loved reading about the achievements of this civilisation. Christian Jacq goes one step further however, initiating us into the minutiae of everyday life. If you love history or Egypt then you'll love this book. Wonderful setting, superb characters and a real flavour of the time.

Christian Jacq

Born in Paris in 1947, Christian Jacq is one of the world's leading Egyptologists. He is the author of many novels on Ancient Egypt, including the bestselling RAMSES series and THE MYSTERIES OF OSIRIS series. His novels have sold more than 27 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 30 languages. Christian Jacq lives in Switzerland.

Julie Ryan is the author of the Greek Island mystery series, Jenna's Journey, Sophia's Secret and Pandora's Prophecy. You can find out more about her here

https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00F0VYX34

Where will D take us?

This time we're off to one of my favourite parts of the world, much loved by British ex-pats, the Dordogne in south-west France. Famed for its food and wine, chateaux and idyllic French villages, this is one of the most visited regions by tourists in France.

It's market day in St Denis, a small town in the Périgord region of South West France. The locals are on the alert because inspectors are expected to make a 'surprise visit' in an attempt to enforce the unpopular and bureaucratic EU hygiene rules. But for Captain Bruno Courrèges, St Denis' Chief of Police, this particular market day turns into something far more serious. 

An old man, head of a local immigrant North African family, is found viciously murdered. Suspicion falls on the son of the local doctor, but Bruno isn't so certain. He believes it to be an act of vengeance, with its motive hidden deep in France's divisive war-time past. As rumour and mistrust grow, Bruno must look beneath the surface of this normally calm community to find a brutal killer.

Martin Walker's book captures the very best of the Dordogne, so much so that you can almost feel the summer heat rising from its pages, smell the fresh market produce and soak in the atmosphere of a typical French market town. There is village rivalry as you might expect and our hero, Bruno, Chief of Police, also has his own problems when his superior is called in when an elderly North African villager is found murdered. Teeming with history this book deals with the French occupation of Algeria and the Algerian soldiers who fought with the French army during WW2 (Algeria being a part of France at the time). I learnt a lot about the period and thought the way in which it related to the problems of immigration today was well done and told through the eyes of different villagers. I also loved the French attitude of cocking a snook at the ridiculous nature of European regulations.

So, whether you fancy a trip through the sleepy Dordogne or a fascinating crime story with a twist then this book is for you. I shall certainly be reading more by this author.

Biography

Martin Walker and his family have had a home in the Perigord region of France since the 1990s. We were drawn by the food and wine and engrossing history of the place and have become ever more connected to this gastronomic heartland of the country by friends and neighbours, dog and chickens, garden and countryside.

And among the friends is our local village policeman (and Martin's tennis partner) who inspired the series of mystery novels based around Bruno, chief of police.

After 25 years as a foreign correspondent for Britain's The Guardian newspaper, and then another stint in think-tanks in Washington DC and as editor-in-chief of United Press International, the sweet life of the Perigord is a delight. 

Still a senior scholar of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre and a senior fellow of the Global Business Policy Council, both in Washington DC, Martin stays connected to the world of global economics and policy. And from giant American wine concerns to Chinese businessmen, from Basque terrorists to animal rights activists, from New York hedge funds to the global arms trade, this wider world keeps intruding into the tiny corner of paradise in Perigord that Bruno is sworn to protect.


Julie Ryan is the author of the Greek Island mystery series, Jenna's Journey, Sophia's Secret and Pandora's Prophecy. You can find out more about her here
https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00F0VYX34

Next stop is a country, city or region beginning with E. If you have any ideas for a book set in that location please drop me a link in the comments below.

Where shall we go for 'C'?

This time we're staying a little closer to home and visiting a beautiful part of the United Kingdom; a place that has special memories of childhood holidays, dramatic scenery and more recently a certain Mr Aidan Turner aka Ross Poldark. Of course, I'm talking about Cornwall, an area that we love to visit as a family in our trusty camper van.
For sheer escapism, we're travelling back to the eighteenth century, a lawless time of smugglers and robbers. In Victoria Cornwall's book, she introduces us to thief taker Jack Penhale and thief's daughter Jenna, who is on the wrong side of the law. Whilst essentially a romance, the historical aspects are well researched and add another dimension to the story. With Jenna's brother Silas making demands on her to join the smugglers, there is a dilemma. Who can she trust?

Hide from the thief-taker, for if he finds you, he will take you away …
Eighteenth-century Cornwall is crippled by debt and poverty, while the gibbet casts a shadow of fear over the land. Yet, when night falls, free traders swarm onto the beaches and smuggling prospers.

Terrified by a thief-taker’s warning as a child, Jenna has resolved to be good. When her brother, Silas, asks for her help to pay his creditors, Jenna feels unable to refuse and finds herself entering the dangerous world of the smuggling trade.

Jack Penhale hunts down the smuggling gangs in revenge for his father’s death. Drawn to Jenna at a hiring fayre, they discover their lives are entangled. But as Jenna struggles to decide where her allegiances lie, the worlds of justice and crime collide, leading to danger and heartache for all concerned.

Biography

Victoria Cornwall grew up on a farm in Cornwall. She can trace her cornish roots as far back as the 18th century and it is this background and heritage which is the inspiration for her Cornish based novels.

Victoria is married, has two grown up children and a black Labrador, called Alfie. She likes to read and write historical fiction with a strong background story, but at its heart is the unmistakeable emotion, even pain, of loving someone.

Following a fulfilling twenty-five year career as a nurse, a change in profession finally allowed her the time to write. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and the Historical Novel Society.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thiefs-Daughter-Choc-Lit-ebook/dp/B01MT550QT

If you have any suggestions as to where we visit next, please leave a comment with the name of a book set in a location beginning with D.

Julie Ryan is the author of the Greek Island mystery series, Jenna's Journey, Sophia's Secret and Pandora's Prophecy. You can find out more about her here https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00F0VYX34

B is for ...?

Many thanks if you're following this blog in which I aim to read my way around the world. The last book took us to the South of Spain, Andalusia in fact, but where shall we go this time?
I fancied a change of scene and then as if by magic, whilst scrolling through my unread books on Amazon, I came across a little beauty; a book that combines the past ( 1950's) and the present, set in what was a beautiful, cultural and historical middle Eastern city more likely known in the West today for the sheer devastation caused by bombing and terrorism.
Today we're off to Baghdad and the book that has taken me on this magical journey is 'The gardener of Baghdad' by Ahmad Ardalan.
I loved reading about the Baghdad of old as well as the developing romance between Ali the gardener and Mary, the daughter of the British Governor. The story is told through the eyes of Adnan, a bookseller ready to pack up his bookstore after the latest bombing when he comes across Ali's memoir. This is a book that works on many levels; first and foremost it's a romance  but it's also deeper than that embodying cultural differences, nostalgia but above all it's the story of hope. The writer not only expresses hope that true love can ultimately triumph but also that good can come from evil and that we learn from the mistakes of the past. Although saddened by the picture of modern day Baghdad that is painted, I am heartened as well by the hope of the author that one day the warring factions will stop fighting and come together to rebuild the city. It may seem far-fetched at the moment but just like the path of true love, we have to believe in the future.

The gardener of Baghdad
Two people, one city, different times; connected by a memoir. Can love exist in a city destined for decades of misery?

Adnan leads a weary existence as a bookshop owner in modern-day, war-torn Baghdad, where bombings, corruption and assault are everyday occurrences and the struggle to survive has suffocated the joy out of life for most. But when he begins to clean out his bookshop of forty years to leave his city in search of somewhere safer, he comes across the story of Ali, the Gardener of Baghdad, Adnan rediscovers through a memoir handwritten by the gardener decades ago that beauty, love and hope can still exist, even in the darkest corners of the world.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardener-Baghdad-Ahmad-Ardalan-ebook/dp/B00M91LJGW

If you want to come with me on my journey around the world I'm looking for books set in a location beginning with C or D. Please leave a comment on this page with your suggestions.

Julie Ryan is the author of the Greek Island mystery series, Jenna's Journey, Sophia's Secret and Pandora's Prophecy. You can find out more about her here https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00F0VYX34