Smashbomb

"When I was a kid I heard all this strange electronic music that came from Germany on pirate radio and on the Peel show and it seemed like music from another planet and I wanted it. Then one afternoon I was listening to Radio 1 and Annie Nightingale played one whole side of Rubycon and it was life changing. I said to her, many years later, "that was incredible!" and she said, "oh John used to do that all the time, he was the first to do that." But it was like Annie became a pirate for one moment and took over the whole of Radio 1. That meant a lot. That was the spirit of making music to me. You do what feels right. If you want to play half an hour, you do it and accept the consequences but you have to do what the music tells you to do. Tangerine Dream made these extraordinary, electronic soundscapes. Is it an animal or is it a machine? Tangerine Dream crossed over that a lot. And then Annie played the entire side and blew my head."

Source

Kudos

Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated The Diplomat’s Wife in Books

Jan 14, 2021

The Diplomat’s Wife

Michael Ridpath | 2021 | History & Politics, Mystery

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Mystery throughout (1 more)

Very interesting

Unexpected ending...

I would rate this 9 stars. I was given the opportunity to read an advanced copy, and I was not disappointed.
It kept me guessing right until the very last chapters, which is very unusual.
It follows Emma and her grandson as they travel around Europe to France, Germany and finally Spain to solve a mystery that Emma has been trying to work out for 40 years... what happened to her brother. Throughout the book she tells her grandson but about her life in the 30s before WWII broke out when she met and married her husband - a British diplomat.
I loved that the font changed when it came to the chapters about Emma’s life in the 30s and when she was with Phil in the 70s, it made it so much easier when I’d put the book down (unwillingly!) for a little while to remember, just by looking, the perspective the book was coming from.
I was very sad about the book ending, as it was such a lovely read and one that was very easy to lose yourself in. I would definitely recommend it!