
The Last Days of the Spanish Republic
Book
Told for the first time in English, Paul Preston's new book tells the story of a preventable tragedy...
The Southern Transjordan/Edomite Plateau and the Dead Sea Rift Valley to the West: The Bronze Age Through the Islamic Period (3800/3700 BC-AD 1917)
Book
Burton MacDonald presents an in-depth study of the archaeology and history of human presence over...

Heroines of the Medieval World
Book
The lives and actions of medieval women were carefully controlled and restricted by the men who...

Damned Nation: Hell in America from the Revolution to Reconstruction
Book
Among the pressing concerns of Americans in the first century of nationhood were day-to-day...

ClareR (5885 KP) rated The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle in Books
Apr 9, 2021
Ben Aldridge, the narrator, did his part so well. I believed that he was each of the separate characters - he made each of them sound so different, and he especially made Lavelle sound just how I would have imagined him to.
Two brothers, Benjamin and Edgar are on what is probably the most exciting and daunting trip of their young lives - a Grand Tour of Europe. It was what all the well-heeled young men and women would do at the time, in the hope that they’d make good business and, you never know, romantic connections. However, it quickly becomes apparent that the Bowen brothers are looked down on as being of the mercantile class. This horrified me as a modern day reader. Firstly, that two sheltered, innocent boys should be sent out to travel across Europe alone (must be the ‘Mother of Sons’ in me), secondly, that the upper classes were so bloody rude! They had the power to destroy someone with just a word. I could have scooped these boys up and taken them home, just to remove them from these horrendous people.
This is also the story of Benjamin’s self discovery. He meets and falls in love with Horace Lavelle at a time when men could be hanged as a ‘sodomite’. The author is upfront at the start that he had taken some liberties with this book. Homosexuality was illegal. No-one would take a chance of showing that they were gay. And there is that element of danger, of being found out, in this book despite those liberties.
But it’s such a lovely book - I wanted Benjamin to be happy, and I could see the potential for a train wreck ahead. And that’s all I’ll say! What I will say, is that this is a novel well worth your time!

Mario Van Peebles recommended Night of the Living Dead (1968) in Movies (curated)

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post
Oct 10, 2020

LiveFit with Jamie Eason
Health & Fitness and Utilities
App
As a fitness professional and Bodybuilding.com spokesmodel, I'm often asked, "How do I get in shape?...

English-Russian Travel Phrasebook
Travel and Education
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For those who are planning to spend a vacation in Russian-speaking countries and want to avoid the...