The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister

It is nearly eighty years since the end of World War Two but I don’t think we will ever lose the chill that runs down our spine when we hear the word “Holocaust.” We are instantly reminded of the six million Jews and at least five million other victims, including prisoners of war, Romany, homosexuals …

Gaia Reading Challenge 2023: I Know This to be True – Greta Thunberg

" People always tell us that they are hopeful. They are hopeful that the young people are going to save the world. But we are not. There is simply not enough time to wait for us to grow up and become the ones in charge." Greta Thunberg Greta Thunberg hardly needs any introduction. As a …

Gaia 2022: The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

The Triffids:… horrible alien things which some of us had somehow created and which the rest of us in our careless greed had cultured all over the world. …somehow they had been bred….(and they) seemed able to profit and flourish on our disaster… The Day of the Triffids was first published in 1951 and adapted …

A Reader’s Life: Looking Back at 2022 and Ahead for 2023

It’s that time of year again when readers like to conduct their annual reading review. This is where we look back over the previous reading year, analyse our data (for those of us who keep stats) and think about our reading goals for the coming year. Goal setting and data analysis sound like serious business. …

Gaia 2022: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

“If a thing is right it can be done, and if it is wrong it can be done without; and a good man will find a way” Anna Sewell, Black Beauty (1877) In this beloved classic by Anna Sewell, strong, handsome and free-spirited Black Beauty narrates the story of his life. Born to his mother …

William Wilberforce – the Conscience of a Nation

A trade founded in iniquity, and carried on as this was, must be abolished... William Wilberforce Official medallion of the British Anti-Slavery Society (1795): attributed to William Hackwood or Henry Webber; produced by Josiah Wedgewood A number of years ago I went to see the film Amazing Grace, the story of William Wilberforce and the …

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg

I know what you’re thinking - this sounds like a dreary story about one man’s catalogue of sins and exhortation to keep on the straight and narrow. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Despite the title, this story by James Hogg turned out to be a humorous, even laugh out loud, Scottish gothic …

Gaia Challenge 2022: The Good Earth

Image by Sasin Tipchai - Pixabay Out of the land we came and into it we must go. Pearl S Buck - The Good Earth (1931) The Good Earth, written by Pearl S Buck and first published in 1931, is a surprising candidate for the Gaia Challenge. Set in China, the book traces the life …

The Betrayals and The Glass Bead Game

Never judge a book by its cover, so they say. But we do. For The Betrayals by Bridget Collins, it was the cover that captured my attention. It's hard to go past gold embossing on a dark cover. Especially an embossed gold antique clock surrounded by golden swirls and dark red flowers. It was just …

Gaia 2022: The Yield by Tara June Winch

Yield itself is a funny word - yield in English is the reaping, the things that man can take from the land, the thing he’s waited for and gets to claim. A wheat yield. In my language it’s the things you give to, the movement, the space between things. (The Yield - Tara June Winch) Profoundly …