Pittenweem Library reviews
Raymond Chandler started writing after being sacked from his position as a top executive in an oil company for drunkenness and failing to turn up for work. His first stories were published in the 1930s in the pulp magazine Black Mask. In his own words, ‘I spent five months over an 18,000 word novelette and sold it for $180. After that I never looked back, although I had a good many uneasy periods looking forward.’ We have five of his novels in the library.
The Sisters of Auschwitz appeared first in Dutch as 't Hooge Nest' – The High Nest being the name of the house where two Jewish sisters, at enormous risk to themselves, hid people fleeing from the Nazis during the Occupation.
The life and work of John Lloyd will be of particular interest to people who know him from his Anstruther days and have followed his career as foreign correspondent, journalist and editor.
Scotland: Her Story offers a new perspective on Scotland’s history drawn from records, diaries and memoirs that tell the story of the nation through the lives of women down the centuries.
According to The Independent’s reviewer Lissa Evans is ‘that rarest of gems amongst writers: not just a real storyteller, but one who makes the entire process seem effortlessly simple’.
Jeanine Cummins has attracted a huge amount of controversy in the States for her latest novel. Despite her Irish / Puerto Rican heritage, as Pat states in her review, Cummins has been heavily criticised to the extent that the book’s publishers cancelled a book tour because of fears for her safety.
Although Isabel Allende has lived in California since 1988 and is now an American citizen she undoubtedly knows about the trauma of exile.
Paul Auster worked on his huge novel 4 3 2 1 seven days a week for three years writing in longhand. It was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize.
Helen Macdonald states that her latest book represents a ‘love for the glittering world of non-human life around me’ and that the short essay form can create a ‘fierce, concentrated attention’ that longer works may not achieve.
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell, the much lauded novel by the British author Maggie O’Farrell now lives in Edinburgh.
