The Queen Mother - Anthony Holden

Advantages: You become hooked to the realistic plot and characters
Disadvantages: Strong language, and quite short, you'll be sad to reach the end

...brother living away from home Allie - Holden's dead younger brother Phoebe - Holden's younger sister Holden's mother and father - Not really appear Mr. Antolini - Holden's old teacher Mrs. Antolini - Mr. Antolini's wife A prostitute and her pimp Some nuns 'The Catcher in the Rye' is both a presentation of an alienated adolescent, but also the 1950's era and nation in which the novel was written. The novel presents the very business of growing out of childhood innocence being a pathway, not to experience, but to corruption. Salinger wrote, he indicated, of "love and squalor," and love and squalor dominate the time in which the novel was written; a time of nuclear threat, lost historical optimism, and human evil. The time, and experience, reveals to Holden the fragility of innocence, the corruption of human decency and self... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Witty romp
Disadvantages: May suffer in comparison to Simply Divine

...quibbles seemed unimportant - I noticed lots of witticisms and amusing incidents which had passed me by on my first reading. Wendy Holden is one of the best writers of a certain sort of comedy, which involves lots of rich men (some gorgeous, some less gorgeous), assorted caricatures of the upper and upper-middle classes, parties of varying degrees of embarassment, and an average-looking, middle-class and relatively normal heroine stranded in the middle of all this absurdity. This comedy, based on very funny renderings of social stereotypes, might be enjoyed by people who like the Telegraph stereotypes column or Jilly Cooper novels. If you liked Holden's other offerings you'll probably enjoy this one too -my mother actually thought it was the funniest of the three novels, possibly because she's a teacher in a primary schools and recognised... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Gives an unbiased and informed view of Charles years from 40 on.
Disadvantages: None that I can think of

...Being a history addict, I am of course kept riveted by books on the subject and the story of our present day history intrigues me. Future generations will, I am sure, be hungry for accounts on the love triangle between Charles, Diana, and Camilla and the tragic outcome. Anthony Holden's account certainly, to my mind, is one of the best and most truthful. From page one onwards he holds the reader's attention with his easy to read style and colourful descriptions. Having been close to both Charles and Diana at some point, he gives an impartial account of both sides of the marital discord between them and he actually forecast that the marriage was in trouble long before the book Diana her True Story was ever written - thus incurring the wrath of the Royal Household thereafter and being snubbed from future press events (Holden is... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful