[ebooktalk] CURRENT READING
- From: "Steven Bingham" <steven.bingham1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 09:41:27 +0100
Hello
Having at last finished After Mary by Katherine McMahon I have moved on to
another book from Calibre It is called the Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd. I
requested it after it was recommended by a friend who still lives in 1957. I
did not know until I looked Oswald Wynd up on Fantastic Fiction that he is
the same person as Gavin Black. I have liked several of Black's
comparatively gentle thrillers. They are very much of their time in the
middle of the 20th century.
Going back to After Mary it was dreadful. One of the few books I have ever
read where I have been disappointed that nothing really nasty happened to
the heroine. I had little sympathy with many of the characters and no
sympathy with their cause. However, the book was well written and the story
quite well constructed. One comment on the subject matter, the struggles of
English Catholics in the early 17th century, it was rather distrurbing that
the language and thoughts of the Catholic rebels were identical to the type
of language used by modern day religious extremeists. When discussing the
possible outcome of the gunpowder plot the text ran something like:
"Yesyou would have killed the king and hundreds of innocent people."
"They are not entirely innocent, they support the king."
And
"Individuals don't matter in the greater struggle."
Whether the author has deliberately chosen to use such language or whether
it is the result of her research I am not sure but the similarities were
striking and frightening.
Steve
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