Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (4524)

Content

ClareR (5950 KP) rated Kololo Hill in Books

Apr 20, 2021

Kololo Hill

Neema Shah | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Kololo Hill is a moving story that centres around a family and their lives before, during and after the rise of Idi Amin in Uganda.
Asha is newly married to Pran, and lives with his parents, Jaya and Motichand, and his brother Vijay. The family don’t take Idi Amin’s threats seriously when he initially says that all Ugandan Asians must leave Uganda within ninety days, with nothing except for what they can carry, or face the consequences. But when the soldiers arrive and the violence starts, there can be no denying what they must do. Except they all have different passports. Motichand and Pran have Indian passports, Asha, Jaya and Vijay’s are British. And the British won’t allow them to stay together.
It isn’t just Asians whose lives are in danger. December, the family’s houseboy, is in hiding in their house, as the area he comes from is exterminated by the military.
The danger and fear were tangible when I was reading this book. It’s dangerous to even leave their houses or open their doors, and there is an ever present fear of violence and rape. Even when leaving for the airport, soldiers set up checkpoints so that they can extort as much money as possible form people before they leave.
And then there is the stark contrast between their lives in Uganda and England. Jaya, Asha and Vijay are initially given accommodation in an army barracks before they are placed in houses in (in their case) London.
They go from sunshine, warmth, comfort and colour, to cold, dreary, grey England, where the locals are hostile and accuse them of taking their jobs, or in the case of Vijay, who has part of his arm missing, won’t give him a job because of disability, even though he wants to work.
I was riveted to this book and really didn’t want to put it down. It poses the questions: what is home? Is it the place where you were born? The place where you live? Is home the people who you are with?
There were so many gasp out loud moments in this book. It deserves all the hype around it - and more.
Many thanks to Picador for providing me with an e-copy through NetGalley.

Kudos

ClareR (5950 KP) rated Where Every Man (Inspector James Given #4) in Books

Oct 26, 2020

Where Every Man (Inspector James Given #4)

Charlie Garratt | 2020 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Where Every Man by Charlie Garrett is set in rural France at the beginning of the second World War. James Given has retired from the police force back in England and has moved with his wife Rachel, to work on a farm. He seems happy with the work, and their plan is to move south with the good weather. This looks increasingly less likely as time progresses because of the approach of the German army towards France’s borders. Regardless, James and Rachel love their lives in the small French town, and consider staying anyway. Rachel teaches local students to play the violin, and it’s one of these students who draws James back in to his role as an investigator when the local librarian dies unexpectedly. The local policeman believes its merely a cycling accident, but it increasingly looks like it’s murder. When James looks further in to the accident, it appears there is a German spy in the village. Before he can do anything about it, the spy disappears. Did the spy have anything to do with the death of the librarian?

This mystery played out so well, and I loved the interactions between James and the violin student. She wants to work as a police officer when she leaves school - much to her fathers disapproval. The students role in the story was a really good way of showing how James approached the task of solving a murder.

I have to say, I read a lot of this with a feeling of mild panic, especially when James goes to visit his uncle and his family nearby. It showed the vulnerable position he and his family were in as Jews in France. Even though James and Rachel have forged passports that showed that they were Christians, there was still that worry for them and their family - and the spectre of the Nazis is hanging over this whole story.

I always enjoy these James Given books, and I’m intrigued to see what comes for him next as war approaches.

Many thanks to Sapere Books for a copy of this book to read and honestly review - I really enjoy this series (I bought books 2 and 3 myself, if that’s anything to go by!)