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ClareR (5950 KP) rated A Shadowed Livery (Inspector James Given Investigations #1) in Books

Sep 16, 2019  
A Shadowed Livery (Inspector James Given Investigations #1)
A Shadowed Livery (Inspector James Given Investigations #1)
Charlie Garratt | 2019 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery
8
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A really well written police procedural
A Shadowed Livery is a police procedural very much in the vein of an Agatha Christie novel. It’s set in 1938, just as the rumblings of war begin and National Socialism and Fascism raise their heads in Germany. DI James Givens has been pulled off the case that he was working on (the murder of a Jewish butcher - the guilty men have been hanged, but there’s still work to be done) and sent to a small village in the English countryside, to wrap up the deaths of three people (mother, son and fiancée) at Grovestock House, where Sir Arthur Barleigh and his family live. DI Given has been told that it’s a simple case of murder/ suicide, but of course it develops into anything but that.

I very much enjoyed this - the style in which it was written felt just right for the time period, and there was great attention to detail. I liked how Given’s background is revealed as the story progresses, and how relevant it was to the time in history.

The mystery itself had me guessing up to the end, and it has a great ending! I love it when I’m kept guessing to the final pages. DI Given is a very likeable character, if a little naive in some ways - but that’s rather nice really. It lends him that human touch.

I’ll be interested to see what happens in the second book as we edge closer to war. I’d like to see how DI Given gets on!

Many thanks to Sapere Books for my copy of this book to read and review. I will be preordering the next book for when it comes out next month (October 2019)!
  
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Hazel (2934 KP) rated Sing, Memory in Books

May 21, 2023  
Sing, Memory
Sing, Memory
Makana Eyre | 2023 | History & Politics
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have read a few books about the Holocaust but Sing, Memory is something quite different.

Focussing on the life of Aleksander Kulisiewicz, a non-Jewish Pole, this tells the story of his life before, during and after World War 2. He was imprisoned in the notorious concentration camp Sachsenhausen and paints a disturbing and vivid picture of the horrors he and other prisoners had to endure from being forced to take part in 'sport', to back-breaking work and endless hours of roll call.

In Sachsenhausen, music and singing were forbidden unless used as a form of punishment however, this didn't stop a secret choir being formed and led by conductor Rosebery d’Arguto, a Polish Jew. Aleksander became friends with Rosebery and as a result of Aleksander's amazing ability to memorise songs, Rosebery asked him to memorise his songs and ensure they are shared with the world after the war.

This became Aleksander's mission - to meticulously memorise songs from all the camp inmates and ensure that he survived so they would not be forgotten. After 6 long years of captivity, Aleksander was free however, his promise to those that did not survive was to become his life's work but also an obsession which, along with the horrendous experiences he endured, affected him and those around him deeply.

Sing, Memory is a detailed story written from meticulous research undertaken by the author with the help of a lot of other people and is a remarkable story of one man's mission to ensure a part of history is told and not forgotten.

Thank you to W.W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of Sing, Memory.