Homage to Mistress Bradstreet - John Berryman

Advantages: Spares you the agony and full details of John's illness
Disadvantages: Too "Theatrical" in places , a real "luvvie" book

..., Sheila had a relatively normal upbringing apart from the odd hiccup due to the War. John however had to grow up with the knowledge that his mother had deserted the family and when he tried to find her, she sent him away with a sixpence. John vowed he would never live like this again. The girl as she calls herself, went onto Rada after a varied education; it was her Quaker head mistress that spotted her potential. John mean while was putting his talent on the street and earning a few pennies for his family by comedy acts and impersonations. John's head master knew this boy was destined for more than cotton spinning in Manchester and pushed him into the classics. This was his forte and he progressed from strength to strength. As the book progresses both John and Sheila venture into stage work as this seems to be their forte and you... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: honest life story. funny and also touching.
Disadvantages: none if you have an open mind.

...Well I think I need to start this review with a little explanation. My friend Lorna is a professional mistress!! I have known Lorna from our days at school but only got in touch again when she emailed me after seeing I was on my old school directory on My Space. I used to live next door to Lornas first husband and remember she was just a little on the wild side then!! Since getting in touch we haven't met but swap regular "did you hear about……" emails. Now the reason im saying this is to justify why I feel the need to right a review on Lornas first book detailing her life from school to present day. Now im really not sure how this review will go down on here but to be honest if you are still reading after seeing the book title then you really should be open minded enough to not judge this book by its cover. There are many... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Good story line with inetersting characters
Disadvantages: Can be a bit grisley

...Mistress of the Art of Death is a historical thriller surrounding the grisly murders of several children in Cambridge. King Henry II is not happy as along with the awfulness of the murders, the Jewish community on whom he relies for a lot of his income have been blamed for the murders and have had to hide out in his castle in fear of their lives from the angry villagers. Henry is driven to ask his friend and ally the King of Sicily for assistance which he sends in the form of Simon, a formidable Jewish investigator, Mansur an Arabic servant and Adelia Aguilar, a female doctor who specializes in what is basically forensics but which they call at the time the Art of Death. Although In Salerno in Sicily, female doctors are quite common, this is not the case in twelfth century England, and therefore Mansur has to travel... Read review

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