"The war may have been fought on battlefields, but it was won in libraries."
It's hard to imagine, but during World War II, the U.S. did not yet have a"The war may have been fought on battlefields, but it was won in libraries."
It's hard to imagine, but during World War II, the U.S. did not yet have an intelligence department. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was formed (and later became the CIA), and the most unlikely of people were recruited to be trained as spies: librarians, historians, and literature professors.
Book and Dagger is undeniably well researched. It gives an in-depth account of the training required to work as OSS spies, and it provides detailed histories of individual spies and the varied work they performed in the field.
The book mostly centers on male spies, as records of female spies were scant or poorly written. "In memoirs that men wrote about the war years," writes Graham, "the names of women are, likewise, often absent—they're 'a shapely analyst,' say, or 'a woman from Harvard.'" Even so, Graham manages to includes information on some cunning, highly intelligent female spies, including Adele Kibre.
I picked up Book and Dagger hoping it would overflow with fascinating spy tactics and little-known historical facts about the invention of modern spycraft, and it did not disappoint....more
...mainly because it teased a mermaid character, and I'd love to read more upmarket fiction with mermaids, but alas,I had high hopes for this book...
...mainly because it teased a mermaid character, and I'd love to read more upmarket fiction with mermaids, but alas, she's barely in the story.
Nonetheless, The Leper's Companions reads like a patchwork fairy tale. It follows an unnamed narrator who’s lost someone she loves. In her grief, she creates a past in a fifteenth century village filled with unusual people. That includes a leper, a mad woman, a beached mermaid, a shaggy-haired man who lives in the forest, and a woman who eats a map to sate her longing for faraway lands.
Much like Blackburn's novel The Book of Color, the characters in this book are unnamed, so I found it difficult to feel invested in the story. Even so, there’s something drowsy and dreamlike about Blackburn’s writing style that I really admire. ...more
Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.
It is the time of Queen Victoria's reign over England, and LClick here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.
It is the time of Queen Victoria's reign over England, and Lord Alfred Fitzwilliam is a reputable scholar who specializes in Roman and Anglo-Saxon history, with special attention paid to the dark ages and Arthurian lore. When he is commissioned by a secret organization to recover a long-lost artifact, he learns that his knowledge of King Arthur might lead him to a relic that could change the course of history and save his dying wife.
Alfred Fitzwilliam is an endearing protagonist for his many favorable traits. He is charming, perceptive, empathetic and friendly to all, including subordinates. He has excellent taste in spirits and an enviable library; in fact, his reverence for his library - a collection that includes tomes that are centuries old - will resonate with all bibliophiles.
The Camelot Shadow has a wide range of supporting characters, each memorable for their notable differences in personality. A particular favorite is Henry Milner, a man with grapheme-color synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon that allows people to perceive colors when looking at words or numbers. He also has a general synesthesia that grants him the ability to associate unique meaning for individual words, so his declarations are often amusing.
The dialogue is superlative throughout, hearkening to the Victorian era in ways both eloquent and cunning.
"I must say, it's such a delight to dance with a true artiste, one who hasn't traded in his beautiful blade for the amateur stench of gunpowder." He shook his head mournfully. "Such a shame - we practice a lost art, my friend."
Lyrical passages are evenly distributed and play with one's senses in delightful ways:
The ancient tome that currently rested in his lap was among the most prized in his vast collection, and as he carefully turned a vellum page, he marveled once again at its smooth feel, like the leaf of an orchid, and at the elegant script that covered its surface.
Even with his senses enmeshed in the present - the chill from the door, the hot ceramic mug, the quiet hum of conversation, the rich, acrid smell of burnt coffee, the pleasantly bitter taste - he found his mind slipping away to the past.
While there's no shortage of sword fighting, talk of sexual exploits, or drinking of scotch, The Camelot Shadow is threaded with questions of a more serious nature concerning the moral implications of various acts or deeds that are not listed in this review for fear of spoiling the plot.
With supreme effort, he managed to block out the distracting sounds and imagine the verdant rings of trees that must once have stood here, the gurgling trickle of a rain-swollen stream, perhaps even a mist-covered rainbow arcing between the rounded hills that crested over the horizon. Before long, however, his tranquil flight of fancy was interrupted by the imagined clash of steel and the screams of dying men, doomed to spend the final moments of their too brief lives wondering why they threw their lives away for a cause not worth dying for.
Lives are at stake and no one can be trusted in this rousing adventure based on Arthurian lore.
Merged review:
Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.
It is the time of Queen Victoria's reign over England, and Lord Alfred Fitzwilliam is a reputable scholar who specializes in Roman and Anglo-Saxon history, with special attention paid to the dark ages and Arthurian lore. When he is commissioned by a secret organization to recover a long-lost artifact, he learns that his knowledge of King Arthur might lead him to a relic that could change the course of history and save his dying wife.
Alfred Fitzwilliam is an endearing protagonist for his many favorable traits. He is charming, perceptive, empathetic and friendly to all, including subordinates. He has excellent taste in spirits and an enviable library; in fact, his reverence for his library - a collection that includes tomes that are centuries old - will resonate with all bibliophiles.
The Camelot Shadow has a wide range of supporting characters, each memorable for their notable differences in personality. A particular favorite is Henry Milner, a man with grapheme-color synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon that allows people to perceive colors when looking at words or numbers. He also has a general synesthesia that grants him the ability to associate unique meaning for individual words, so his declarations are often amusing.
The dialogue is superlative throughout, hearkening to the Victorian era in ways both eloquent and cunning.
"I must say, it's such a delight to dance with a true artiste, one who hasn't traded in his beautiful blade for the amateur stench of gunpowder." He shook his head mournfully. "Such a shame - we practice a lost art, my friend."
Lyrical passages are evenly distributed and play with one's senses in delightful ways:
The ancient tome that currently rested in his lap was among the most prized in his vast collection, and as he carefully turned a vellum page, he marveled once again at its smooth feel, like the leaf of an orchid, and at the elegant script that covered its surface.
Even with his senses enmeshed in the present - the chill from the door, the hot ceramic mug, the quiet hum of conversation, the rich, acrid smell of burnt coffee, the pleasantly bitter taste - he found his mind slipping away to the past.
While there's no shortage of sword fighting, talk of sexual exploits, or drinking of scotch, The Camelot Shadow is threaded with questions of a more serious nature concerning the moral implications of various acts or deeds that are not listed in this review for fear of spoiling the plot.
With supreme effort, he managed to block out the distracting sounds and imagine the verdant rings of trees that must once have stood here, the gurgling trickle of a rain-swollen stream, perhaps even a mist-covered rainbow arcing between the rounded hills that crested over the horizon. Before long, however, his tranquil flight of fancy was interrupted by the imagined clash of steel and the screams of dying men, doomed to spend the final moments of their too brief lives wondering why they threw their lives away for a cause not worth dying for.
Lives are at stake and no one can be trusted in this rousing adventure based on Arthurian lore....more
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