Blue Archipelago Reviews - Book Reviews

The Long Way Home by Andrew Klavan

Charlie West went to bed one night an ordinary high school student. He woke up a hunted man. Terrorists are trying to kill him. The police want to arrest him for the stabbing death of his best friend. He doesn’t know whose side he’s one or who he can trust. With his pursuers closing in on every side, Charlie makes his way back to his hometown to find some answers. There, holed up in an abandoned mansion, he’s joined by his friends in a desperate attempt to discover the truth about a murder he can’t remember-and the love he can never forget.

The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Angels Anglada

In the winter of 1991 a musician is captivated by a marvelously pitched violin, when he asks how she obtained it the woman reveals the remarkable story behind it’s origin…

The violin is the creation of a luthier named Daniel who was imprisoned at Auschwitz. The luthier and his violin are the subject of a cruel wager that could be the difference between life and death.

The Baker Street Phantom by Fabrice Bourland

It’s the spring of 1932 and Londoners are being terrorised by a series of brutal murders in the English Capital just as the private detective agency of Messrs. Singleton and Trelawney opens its doors in Bloomsbury.

There first client is an extremely worried Lady Arthur Conan Doyle who tells them of mysterious goings on at 221 Baker Street and warns them that mankind is in terrible danger.

The ensuing investigation takes the unlikely heroes into a world of seances and spirits where they are forced to rethink the boundaries between reality and fantasy. The question is of course, can they solve these bloody crimes…?

Golden Rainbows by Christine Brannen Reilly

When you’re caught up in the trials and tribulations of every day life where everything seems like a constant battle it takes someone like Mikey Reilly to make you realise that life is something you should be thankful for.

Diagnosed with cancer at just eight months old Mikey became a constant visitor to the Children’s Hospital where over the years doctors and nurses battled against the disease.

But during that time he never complained about the hand that life had dealt him, instead he was a beautiful, courageous and outgoing little boy who stole the hearts of everyone he ever met.

Through the stories that Christine has so gracefully shared with the world I felt like I came to know Mikey and loved reading about his Valentine’s Day “date” with one of the support team, and his beautiful friendship with Summer Sanders. As a fellow lover of Disney World the recollection of him dancing with the princesses in the parade will stay with me and I’ll think of Mikey next time I’m standing on Main Street USA.

Between Me and the River – Living Beyond Cancer: A Memoir by Carrie Host

When this mother of three received the shocking diagnosis that would change her life she felt like she was dropped into a raging river; a river which she refused to drown in as she worked with her doctors in conjunction with natural medicines to try and fight this incurable cancer that had taken over her body.
Carrie Host has poured her heart and soul into this book; sharing with her readers the most intimate details of her fight against carcinoid cancer. From her thoughts and feelings to her interactions with her family and the details of her surgeries Carrie has documented her fight against this life-threatening disease in a journal style memoir.

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

The novel is written from the perspective of Dorrit Weger, a childless writer who lives alone with her dog and is close to the poverty line. On her 50th birthday she is taken to a special unit – a reserve unit for biological material – where she must live out the rest of her life. These units have been set up to cater for dispensable people – women aged 50 and men aged 60 – who are childless or don’t have a job which contributes to society. These people don’t have anyone who loves or needs them and aren’t considered useful to society, so they serve the community by undergoing various tests and studies – imagine animal testing performed on people. Eventually they donate organs to the needed citizens – those who are loved, raise children and contribute to the economic growth of society – who need organs from healthy bodies to survive.

Sixtyfive Roses: A Sister’s Memoir by Heather Summerhayes Cariou

On her death bed, at the age of twenty-six, Pam implores her sister to write their story. To tell the world what they lived through. It is some years later before Heather puts pen to paper, to tell the story that “lies somewhere between truth and memory”. But the story she tells is powerful and insightful. Of the sheer determination on the part of her parents, who found the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in an attempt to help Pam and other children who suffer with CF. Of her turbulent teenage years, where she finds herself torn between emotions of guilt for being healthy and anger and jealousy towards her sister. Of her younger brother Jeff, who is also born with CF, but lives in the shadow of Pam, whose disease is more virulent and life threatening.

Sunday Salon: When they turn a great book into a movie…

This week’s Sunday Salon post examines the phenomena that is “bestselling books brought to life on the big screen” and ponders why the movie producers always have to mess with the story…