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It is irritating that critics still feel that anyone could think the reader in this day and age would not be able to feel the resonance of a character's voice just because it's realistically spoken in a period's language. Cockneyed accents, usage of Victorian terms and thoughts, combined with the despair of being alone in a large, uncaring, and unseeing city only enhances the beauty and strength of protagonist, Enola Holmes.

If thinking that students and middle aged students cannot follow Nancy Springer's new book because of the terminology and such, take heart. She explains in detail many times what things are even while making this odd quirkiness just another delightful part of Enola's 14-year-old, inquisitive voice. Believe her, she does not underestimate her readers and neither should you.

Enola spelled backwards forms the word, alone. And that is exactly how Enola feels. Having run away (which is why I call her a protagonist) from being sent to boarding school by her particularly emotionless older brother Mycroft Holmes (yes, that Mycroft Holmes), she now lives in London as a "person who finds lost things" during the day and "Sister of the Streets" by night. (Get your mind out of the gutter, this book is aimed at fifth graders.) "Sister of the Streets," a mute nun who feeds and offers comfort to the lowest of the dredges of the poor only reveals the heart-breaking seedy side of London. Springer's details to everything London could and was during this period never gets glossed over. London, harsh and devoid of warmth, but into it Enola ventures and manages with a perserverance felt anew each time she comes out of her adventures successfully.

In this installment, Enola becomes stronger, but lonelier. Learning that her other brother, Sherlock Holmes may have actually been affected by her disappearance, she finds herself faced not only with loneliness, but stabbing pains of guilt and remorse. In the midst of this emotional turmoil, she still searches for a Lady on streets where Jack the Ripper and other frightful characters roam. Each new day, she approaches life warily but determinedly and her sheer pluck at desiring to help the plight of others make her a true heroine worthy of admiration. The mystery surrounding her never seems contrived and the danger very real. Every new situation offers more mystery, more puzzles enticing the reader to be buffeted along in eager anticipation of what could possibly come next!

A long standing Sherlock Holmes fan, this book whets my appetite for more of his interaction with Enola. Each book, he corners Enola in ways of his making and sometimes not of his making. Yet like the last book, Enola must discard her old persona and create a brand new one to escape detection. A brilliant twist to an already enigmatic heroine. One day will she ever be able to live as she is surrounded again by those she loves and not disguised, uncertain and alone? Only Springer knows, but I for one am as anxious for her as her brother, Sherlock Holmes!

The year is 1889. Fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes always thought very little of her mother, but once she disappeared - on her birthday, no less! - Enola realized just how very much she truly wanted her mother by her side, and felt as if she had been plucked into a lonely existence. That is, until her older brothers - Sherlock and Mycroft - came about, attempting to turn her into the proper young lady she has strived so hard not to be. Refusing to conform to the standards of society, Enola takes her life into her own hands, and escapes the clutches of her controlling siblings to embark on a high-risk life among the streets of Victorian London. Others of her young age may be frightened, but to Enola, frightened isn't even so much a part of her vocabulary.

Working as a perditorian, Enola is convinced that she will be able to kill a large part of her days, but business is slow. Luckily, she has her mother's ciphers to piece together, constructing secret messages to communicate with her lost parent. Using a handful of aliases, and disguises, Enola has managed to keep the coppers off her trail, but it may not stay that way for long. Sir Eustace Austair's teenage daughter, Lady Cecily, has recently disappeared from her privileged life. The only clue to her disappearance being a large ladder placed against her windowsill. Enola, being similar in age to Lady Eustace, is convinced that she has the ability to locate the girl and return her to her cushy lifestyle. But upon some investigation, Enola comes to realize that Lady Cecily may not want to be found. The girl is a magnificent artist who manages to capture the hopelessness and sadness of the London street folk, and seems bent on ranting on about the horrible times these individuals experience after being cast out from their homes. Enola wonders if the girl hasn't purposely runaway to live among these people. But with a few interviews, she comes to believe that something more sinister is at work here. Something involving magic and hypnosis. Maybe even kidnapping and threats. Enola knows that it's up to her to rescue Lady Cecily, but, if she's not careful, doing so may cost her, her very own life.

I fell in love with Enola Holmes when she debuted in THE CASE OF THE MISSING MARQUESS, and I have only grown to adore her more since completing THE CASE OF THE LEFT-HANDED LADY. Nancy Springer has done such a splendid job of bringing Enola, and the 1800's to life. Enola is such a spirited, hardheaded, brave, independent young woman, whose determination to prove her brothers wrong, and fulfill her mothers prophecy - that she will do quite well on her own - is thrilling. The maturity that she displays in each and every situation is both humorous and remarkable; while Enola's ability to fool just about anyone leaves the reader praising her for her handiwork. The backdrop of Victorian London makes the tale even more lovely, as you are treated to cobblestoned streets, unscrupulous individuals, and drizzly, windswept evenings; along with countless historical facts that leave you feeling as if you've just had a history lesson - albeit a fun one. Left or right, you won't be able to keep your hands off this book!

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

While written for young adults, the Enola Holmes books have a lot to recommend them for readers of any age. This is the second book in the series; I strongly recommend that you read "The Case of the Missing Marquess" first. Nancy Springer has created a smart, brave leading character, while still being true to the spirit of the Conan Doyle stories. When I heard about these books, I rolled my eyes at the idea of Sherlock holmes' younger sister. But Springer does a fine job of making the characters and relationships plausible. I'm looking forward to Book Three!

I really like the first book in this series so naturally I bought the second. I liked the first one better but this book was still worth the read. Like a previous reader stated, Enola is an interesting character who's fun to spend a couple of hours with. Some of the content is a bit mature of younger readers, and I wouldn't recommend it for sensitive children under the age of 12, but otherwise it's a good read.

This is the second book in the series and I have enjoyed it even more than the first. It is an excellent picture of the Victorian era through the eyes of a 14 year old girl. Enola Holmes has already proven a match for her brilliant older brother Sherlock and certainly much more likable that Mycroft the eldest of the lot. It is hard to believe a girl this young could survive in London during this time, even with money left her by her mom. Nancy Springer brilliantly makes a good case for Enola's survival. It is a tale that even the most hardened Sherlockian would approve. Now to pass it on, like the first, to my 14 year old grand daughter.

Catalan cuisine is ancient. It earliest roots go all the way back to the Romans who occupied northeastern Spain.

It uses many of the same ingredients as other Mediterranean cuisines -- tomatoes, eggplant, garlic, beans, pasta and all kinds of meat -- but it combines them in unexpected ways.

Who would expect salt cod with honey, for example? Catalan cuisine has it, and Colman Andrews presents its recipe here. And who would expect a restaurant which specializes in salt cod? Andrews tells us that Barcelona has one.

He says that one very unusual -- indeed unique -- feature of Catalan cuisine is its habit of mixing olive oil and lard together, in the same dish, as a cooking oil. Catalans also use butter as a cooking fat, making for rich, nourishing, tasty dishes.

Catalonia has both mountains and seashore. So one may find spiny lobster stew (Civet de Llogosta) on the one hand and Andorran-style trout (Truita de Riu Andorrana) on the other.

`Catalan Cuisine, Vivid Flavors from Spain's Mediterranean Coast' by the very notable culinary journalist and editor, Colman Andrews, contributes to Spain's cuisine's being the third best documented European cuisine, after Italy and France. Andrews is an important figure in culinary reporting less from his books than from his position as editor of the excellent `Saveur' magazine which, with `Cooks Illustrated', should be one of the two magazines a foodie really should be reading.

`Catalan Cuisine' is as good or better than Andrews other ethno-culinary volume, `Flavors from the Riviera'. Like the earlier volume, its strengths lie primarily in history and a focus on ethnographic accuracy (without loosing too much in the way of practical cookery). For example, Andrews' recipe for the Catalan version of `tortilla espagnole' (potato frittata or omelet) is different from every other recipe I have seen from Spanish culinary experts such as Penelope Casas and Janet Mendel in that it contains no onion. This omission makes the dish a lot less interesting to me as food, but it reveals something which sets Catalan cooking apart from the rest of Spain.

In `Delicioso', Ms. Casas identifies Catalonia as the land of the casseroles. On first blush, there is little evidence of this attribution in Mr. Andrews' book. `Casserole' doesn't even appear in his index. But then, we recall a paragraph early in the book where Andrews identifies the most important cooking utensils in Catalonia. After the ubiquitous paella pan, there is the `cassola' (in Catalan, or `cazuela' in Castilian), an earthenware dish with deeper, straighter sides than a paella and an inside glaze. I really regret that Mr. Andrews didn't find his way clear to give us a picture of this dish, as I visualize it as a sort of `Tarte Tatin' dish a bit over 12 inches in diameter and about two inches deep.

One of the more interesting aspects of Andrews' books is that he always illuminates interesting historical and geographical aspects of his subject. On the Riviera, we learned that for a large part of its history, the French Riviera was politically a part of Italy. Here, we learn that the Catalan influenced region, `paisos catalans', extends into southwestern France, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Andorra, and even a corner of Italian Sardinia. The evidence of this influence is the range of the Catalan language (`Spanish' is actually Castilian, one of the four official languages of Spain, including Basque and Galician), which is not simply a Spanish dialect, but a language of its own, as similar to Italian and French as to Castilian. This is due to the fact that Catalonia was the center of Roman influence in their province, `Hispanolia', and Barcelona was the principle Roman seaport to this region, through which was introduced olive and grape cultivation techniques.

Andrews' primary premise in this book is that Catalan cuisine is at least as distinctive in European food as, for example the cuisine of Campagnia (Naples and Southern Italy). To this end, his organization is highly analytical rather than simply being a collection of representative recipes. The flagship of things distinct about Catalan cuisine may be the four classic sauces of the region, `allioli', `sofregit', `picada', and `samfaina'. While each has some similarities to sauces well known to French and Italian cuisines, the real importance lies in the differences. `Allioli' in Catalonia is made exclusively with garlic and olive oil plus salt (All Catalan food is heavily salted). Other minor ingredients such as vinegar and herbs are allowed (making it seem very much like vinaigrette). The similar Provencal sauce, `Aioli which includes eggs is dismissed as `fancy mayonnaise' which, by the way, Catalans claim was invented in Minorca and not the French city of Mayenne. `Sofregit' is similar to the Italian `soffritto' and the French `mirepoix'. `Picada' is very similar to the `pesto' of nearby Liguria in Italy. Samfaina is similar to ratatouille, cooked down to the consistency of a relish.

Next, practically a third of the book is taken up by `Part Three: The Raw Materials', in which Andrews discusses and presents recipes for the fifteen most important ingredients, which are eggplant, nuts, anchovies, rice, poultry, salt cod, mushrooms, wild game, snails, legumes, organ meats, olives and olive oil, eggs, seafood, and `the pig'. To the logical among us, this may seem a bit messy since one would think that anchovies and salt cod would fall under `seafood', and that organ meats would fall under `the pig', but it all works well enough, as the categories are a way of organizing recipes and not a guide to the Barcelona commodities market.

I really like the fact that aside from having an excellent bibliography, the book refers to several important books on related subject not only to support a point, but also to refer one to important recipes Andrews does not include himself in this book. His most important references are to Penelope Casas' `The Food and Wine of Spain' for recipes on sausage making. This is symptomatic, in that Parsons has no recipes for `basic' techniques such as pasta, pastry, bread, or charcuterie (sausages), in spite of the fact that both pasta and sausage and ham are important Catalan culinary products.

Andrews makes up for his unusual organization by providing an excellent Appendix of `Recipes according to Category' and other useful sources for Spanish tourism and shopping.

I think it's ironic that at the top of the cover is a blurb by the famous Barcelona chef, Ferran Adria praising the book, while there is not a single reference to Adria or El Bulli in this 1988 original book.

A superb culinary essay. Excellent for lovers of Spanish food and foodies in general.

This study of Catalan cuisine provides an in-depth and excellent approach to the foods and customs of the Spanish province. No color photos, but the book is packed with not only recipes, but observations of the culinary traditions which make Catalan cuisine unique. An outstanding reference.

In Catalan Cuisine, Colman Andrews draws upon the great cooking traditions of Spain's Catalonia region. This superb collection of regional dishes showcases the simple and vibrant flavors in hundreds of Catalonia's best and beloved recipes ranging from Valencian Paella with Shellfish; Eggplant Flan; and Sweet Red Peppers Stuffed with Duck, to Salt Cod with Garlic and Paprika; Pork-Stuffed Apples, and Cinnamon Ice Cream with Warm Strawberry Coulis. The recipes are "kitchen cook friendly" and will turn any family meal into a celebration of taste and delight.

I am a Catalan person living abroad, and sometimes it is difficult to explain friends that Catalan food is something different to what everybody knows as Mediterranean food, since being totally Mediterranean, it is not Italian nor French. This books discovers the authentic taste of Catalan food, that, as the author says, HAS TO BE DISCOVERED. Try it and enjoy your meals. I can say that CATALAN FOOD IS ONE MILLION BETTER THAN ITALIAN AND FRENCH. It keeps simple and accentuated flavors with simple raw materials, but obtaining an PERFECT COMBINATION.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE AUTHOR, and please continue plublishing thousands of more recipes of Catalan food.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RW03AHG99HWJE Food Critic Kim O'Neill Review of the book CHOCOLATE FRENCH

If you have friends who truly love chocolate...this book is perfect. We presented Chocolate French twice and it was will received on both occasions. Chocolate French is great if you are looking for that unique gift for the holidays.

This is truly a unique publication. Not only is it well laid out but also ties in multiple disciplines in a single book, including history, culture and cooking. The recipes are easy and don't require you to clutter you kitchen with ingredients. I would highly recommend this book. For you local San Franciscans I would combine another publication by Crump - The Cafes Of San Francisco with this one and it would make a great gift - the holidays are around the corner!!

MERCI BEAUCOUP to all the reviewers and to the two magazine reviews that highly recommended this wonderful book!! I have been so enchanted with everything about it, albeit that being a Francophile hasn't hurt. It had been one of the recommendations from Amazon, and after being intrigued by a little peek into its content, the reviewers made my decision easy. Voila......how much fun it is!

It's not a large book, almost pocket size in fact. And it's not a recipe-only book either, though it has enough recipes within to add to the already interesting musings of the relationship between the French and chocolate.

Photographs of French life, French patisseries and chocolatiers, along with the written musings (both in French with most given their English translation) of those who have gone before, or who are here now, dot the chapters of this incredible guide to all that is worthy of French chocolate. And lest you not be particularly proficient in French, there are various pages of assistance with understanding French accent marks, and, adverbs of quantity (though, is there such an error as wanting too much chocolate?). There is also a lovely section within the end of the book that gives you an English translation of the French vocabulary of ingredients, expressions, verbs, and general chocolate terms. Recipe contributors, recipe ingredient resources (from all over the world) help to round out your veritable tour of the chocolate delights of France.

As you begin your perusing of this guide, you are given hotels, bistros, and other assorted places that serve various chocolate delights. An interesting aspect of these mentions, is that they include places other than France, that pay homage to chocolate, such a Switzerland and the creations made there, or Chicago, and its shops and schools devoted to the art of being a chocolatier, as well as San Francisco, New Orleans, Louisiana, Connecticut, and Tokyo to name a few.

The sections of this book are divided into:

Recipe Index
Foreward
Introduction
History of France and Chocolate
Recipes
Vocabulary
Resources

The book also goes into how chocolate has tranferred itself into movies such as "Chocolate" starring Julia Ormand and Johnny Depp. Or how it has made its way into the fashion industry.........ever seen a chocolate dress?

A chocolate dress you say? Well, they may not give you the recipe for that, but they will give you the following jewels:

Chocolate Ganache
Pralines
Chocolate Sauce
Chocolate Tartlet with Coffee Cream
Warm Chocolate Puddings with Pistachio Cream and Pears
Chocolate Croissant Pudding w/ Toffee Sauce, Strawberries, and Pecans
Chocolate Fondant w/ Orange Confit and Raspberry Sauce
Marquise au Chocolate
Chocolate Mousse Charlotte
Chocolate Red Wine Soup with Strawberries
Buchon Chocolate Tart
Warm Chocolate Cake with Vanilla
Chocolate Bing Cherry Cake
Mexican Chocoalte Truffle Torte
Chocolate Macaroon a l'Ancienne
Dipped Camembert and Chocolate Sandwich
Grandmother's Chocolate Mousse
Chanel's Crepes
Chocolate and Vanilla Madeleines
Chocolate Chip Madeleines
Monique's Chocolate Brique
Red Fruit, Chocolate and Vanilla Clafoutis
Chocolate Sorbet
Lamb with Dark Chocolate Sauce
Chocolate Mousse
Chocolate Pave
Bittersweet Chocolate Decadence
Warm Chocolate Cake w/ Chantilly Creme and Raspberry Sauce
Phyllo Cups w/ Chocolate Mousse, Raspberries, and Poached Pears
Banana Pearl
Pink Poodle
Miss Celle's Bananas Foster avec Chocolat
Chocolate Espresso Souffle
Chocolate Pava
White Chocolate Bread Pudding w/ White Chocolate Kahlua Sauce
Chocolat Chaud w/ Creamy Melted Bars of Dark Chocolate
Chocolate French Toast
Pear and Chocolate Tart
Petits Pots au Chocolat
Creme Brulee au Chocolat
Pate a Choux
Profiteroles
Eclairs
Pate Brisee
Chocossisson-Chocolate Sausage
Piedmontese Truffles
Swiss Dreams
Couscous Sucre w/ Honey, Raisins, and Cacao
Creole Hot Chocolate
Banana and Chocolate Tart
Chocolate Quad

I would also like to mention The "L'alliance Francaise" which is given quite a good mention in the "Let Them Eat Chocolate" section of this book. L'alliance Francaise is a organization that Francophiles can join that celebrates the exquisite culture of France by giving French language classes, tours, festival, cooking classes, etc. with chapters located all over the United States as well as other places in our world. This particular section was written by one of the instructors at the Alliance in Connecticut. For me, this information alone was worth the price of the book.

OK then............see what everyone was talking about? Wonderful, isn't it? As I said previously, this is not a recipe book of sorts, but a multifaceted journey into all that weaves itself into the affair of France and sinful, decadent, addictive chocolate.

I received this book as a gift and was very pleasantly surprised with the book. I loved how the author weaved the culture and history of chocolate of the French with some amazing recipes from around the world. I also enjoyed the vocabulary, which has allowed me to impress my friends with my new knowledge of the nuances of chocolate. If you know someone who is a chocolate fan, this book is for him or her.

I found this book to be of great value especially to students of the Caucasus in the West, to whom the name Circassian has very little meaning. Jamoukha has done a worthwhile service in collating the information about the Circassians as a valuable and comprehensive reference work with an impressive biliographyMuridism: A Study of the Caucasian Wars 1819 - 1859. I recommend it highly to all those interested in North Caucasian culture and history.

The Circassians had constituted a well known culture until the end of the XIXth century, when they were scattered across the world and became one of many unfortunate diasporas. Had I been asked a couple of years ago about the Circassians, I would have said that this culture was becoming a subject for historians. With Amjad Jaimoukha's book, I am beginning to believe that this culture will survive, not only in history books, but within its members and by its members. "The Circassians : a Handbook" is a scientific review, free of hearsay and a-priori assumptions, in which the author was able to combine history, tradition and future prospects representing the different views of the many tribes that constituted the Circassian entity. The reader for whom the subject is familiar will still discover in this book details that are only known to 'insiders', whereas the novel discoverer will learn about the many aspects that characterised this culture. The bibliography at the end !of the book is a masterpiece of completeness, and has never been as thouroughly investigated and presented. The Circassian sayings will demonstrate, if need be, the universality of wisdom amongst different cultures. From a Circassian point of view, I am very proud to see one of us presenting our heritage as it was originally perceived by our fore-bearers : a culture and not a religion, a nation and not a race, a future and not only a past. I strongly recommend reading this book to gain a better understanding of the current events taking place in the Caucasus but also in the many areas in the world where emigrants have sought refuge.

The Circassians are one of the world's forgotten peoples. This volume provides in itself a most useful source for a wide variety of information about them and, thanks to the rich bibliography (see another on the author's website), gives readers the opportunity to find out even more from works of narrower but deeper focus.

The Circassians historically spread across the N. W. Caucasus, speaking a language that was closely related to, but mutually unintelligible with, Ubykh and Abkhaz(-Abaza). The Ubykhs lived compactly around today's Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, whilst to their south(-east) lay the ancestral homeland of the Abkhazians. Though contacts existed with the Graeco-Roman world and then with Genoese traders a millennium later, it was not really until an expansive Tsarist Russia started to vie with Turkey for control of the region from the late 18th century that Circassia again impinged on the European conscience. A number of moving accounts have been left by such British visitors as James Bell, John Longworth and Edmund Spencer, which contributed to heightened awareness of the noble Circassian-Ubykh-Abkhazian resistance to the Russian aggressor and sympathy for their cause amongst many in Britain and Europe during the 1830s -- just as the parallel battle for freedom led by Shamil in the N. E. Caucasus excited great admiration. But the inevitable happened in 1864 when the N. W. Caucasian alliance was finally defeated and Russia took control. Most of the surviving Circassians and Abkhazians together with ALL the Ubykhs chose to leave their territories and take refuge in Ottoman lands (mainly Turkey). Ubykh died out in 1992, and the future for Circassian and Abkhaz amongst the diaspora is bleak -- in many ways the future of these two languages even in the Caucasian homeland is far from secure.

Amjad Jaimoukha comes from a Kabardian (East Circassian) family in Jordan and has done his people great service in producing this volume. The main deficiency is the absence of any description of the Circassian language, which, to confess a long-held personal belief, I find to be the most beautiful sounding language I have ever heard, and whose loss would be a tragedy not only for the Circassians as an ethno-linguistic group but also for the world of language-study. One or two other points could be made, as indeed I have in a fuller review for the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, but for the purposes of comment here I hope that the book is successful and enjoyed by all its readers.

Abkhazian, Circassian, now I am looking forward to have Ubykh one from same handbook series, I do want to thanks to Amjad Jaimoukha for his extraordinary work.

Excellent Source of information!

I have read all the books I could find about this subject,and
I think that this one is by far the most comprehensive. Clearly
the author has put an enormous amount of work and "IT SHOWS".

David Glantz may not write in the most exciting way or use tons of hyperbole or focus alot on the human facet of his stories on the Russo-German war, however as far as wealth of information on the Soviet side of things go there is no one better equipped in the western world to write about The Great Patriotic War. His access to Soviet military information is unprecedented and his attention to detail of the military operations second to none. When I first began reading Glantz's tomes on the war I had preconceived notions about this conflict. If Hitler had stayed on course for Moscow after the battle of Smolensk, if he had not split Operation Blau into a Stalingrad and a Caucauses dual front and kept those troops together for a concerted drive to the Volga, if Barbarossa had been launched in May instead of late June, if the Rasputista and bitter Russian winter had not intervened, if if if. And i truly believed Hitler could and should have won this war. After starting on Glantz's books around the year 2000 or so, and truly realizing the awesome potential in manpower and equipment the Soviets had, and realizing in these readings how unprepared materially and logistically the Germans were to fight this war my whole mindset has changed. I believe even if the Germans had taken Moscow Russia would still have won this war. Other then the Germans developing atomic weapons before anyone I have radically altered my view on Germany's chances here. The Soviet Union was destined to win this war no matter what the cost. Barbarossa more then anything else, was Hitler's greatest mistake in the war. I owe this new view to the works of David Glantz. His information is incredible, his summaries superlative, his conclusions inescapable. Dry and technical it may be, but for my money there is no better writer on The Great Patriotic War then David Glantz. Remember, Germany lost the war and 90 percent of her casualties on the Eastern front. Remember, the Soviet Union lost 27 million dead and most of her agricultural and economic bases and STILL won this war. She probably could have done so, although at even greater cost, without a second front in Italy in 1943, and in France in 1944. The Russian contribution to World War II must not be downplayed in the west. The war against Germany was primarily a Russian one, and David Glantz deserves accolades for being one of very few western writers to acknowledge this fact.

So, this is something that's only for professionals and hardcore fanatics, but it is highly recommended for them. It contains everything you ever wanted to know about the Red Army between 1941-43, and even more.

OK, nothing's perfect (5 stars means it's as perfect as it could be in our imperfect world), I can tell you one complaint. At one point he claims that command turbulance wasn't that bad even during Barbarossa. He cites statistics. But what I would've needed is some comparison. It's fine to know that less than X% of certain types of commanders were relieved of command, but it would've been nice to read some comparison: how was it with other armies... Without those, the data just hang in the air... (There were a few similar points - it's not much in a book well over 600 pages. So I still give it the 5 stars.)

Excellently detailed book! Some of the information is rehashed from previous Glantz books but put into very good context, especially with the enormous amount of details, tables, statistics, and facts. For those who are interested in learning more about the Eastern Front, and by more I mean really in depth like how many tanks per division/brigade/corps at certain periods during the war, what type of nationalities made up some of the rifle divisions/corps, or how many men were some divisions down to at one time or another (one guards division had 80!!! out of a required paper strength of over 10,000!!), this is a very good investment and you will not be disappointed! He also addresses some of the 'what if's' and 'myths' that have been created around the Eastern Front for the past few decades, so a big help in that respect as well.

Glantz does his usual excellent job on the Soviet military in World War II. He covers the campaigns, and the structure and development of the red army during the early part of the war. Separating much of the formation, commander and OoB material into the companion volume is actually a plus. Both volumes are easier to handle becuase of the size and it is easier to use two books to cross reference material.

Although hundreds of histories of Soviet-German war have been published in the last decade or so, they have for the most part either focused on large-scale operations, told the story from a predominantly German perspective, or, most likely, done both. Another unfortunate result of this has been the number of revisionist works, in some degree or another based on Viktor Suvorov's Icebreaker. In part this was out of necessity due to a a number of factors, including the lack of access to former Soviet archives as well as the repression of histories deemed embarrassing to important wartime heroes. David Glantz has once again answered this dearth of reliable Soviet-perspective war history with his newest volume Colossus Reborn. Using a massive number or Soviet primary sources he has written the comprehensive history of the Soviet-German war.

Glantz' book is divided into three parts to tell this story. The first is a chronological discussion of the first 30 months of war, subdivided into the initial period, which covers the war up to the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad and then the second period, which covers the remaining 12 months. This first part of the book not only discusses the conventional view of the war but also clearly exposes the many Soviet operations that have lay hidden in virtual obscurity since war's end. Glantz also does a fine job showing how the Soviet-German war affected the course of WWII in general. Perhaps out of necessity this part of the book is rather concise. In any case it is still eye opening to have the vast number of counterstrokes, counteroffensives and strategic offensives laid out as they are here. As he himself points out, prior histories of the war have led to an almost constant and simplistic portrayal of operations as smooth periods of Wehrmacht offensives in the summer and Soviet offensives in the winter. He also clearly dispels the myth that the Red Army was simply along for the ride after the surprise attack and shows how Stalin and the Stavka repeatedly during the initial period of war attempted to organize counterstrokes as well as full counteroffensives.

Part two of the book is a very thorough look into the force structure of the Soviet army. This section is as comprehensive as one could possible ask for and retain a modicum of readability. Even as such, it is certainly the most difficult section to work through as it is basically a detailed look into how every aspect of the Soviet forces were reorganized from Front down to battalions in some instances. As such is feels at times to be comprised of endless tables of organization. This should not be overstated however, as this type of attention to detail is what most readers of Glantz have come to expect. Furthermore, it is this level of detail that sets him apart from most other widely published WWII historians. He does not simply explain to the reader that a particular type of unit was employed in a particular defensive or offensive action. He thoroughly explains how that type of unit came to be and gives the prior organization of similar units and why they failed to work.

Part three is a thorough analysis of the leaders of the Red Army and those that they led. The first subsection is broken up primarily into mini biographies of every major general, commanding every Front, Army, and Corps and all of their variants. It does so and gives a very interesting breakdown and percentages by year of the surviving and thriving general staff as well as command failures and traitors. Glantz then gives a very enlightening look into the soviet soldiers; who they were (ethnicity and gender are investigated here) how they survived, why they fought and what methods were used to keep them toeing the line, particularly after the hideous and demoralizing losses of the first six months. This section is probably the most readable of the three and is a very well written look into the human aspects of the war.

Finally, Glantz has once again written a history of the Soviet-German war that is groundbreaking, to say the least. Using sources that only he seems to be able to gain access to, he has delved more comprehensively into the factors that allowed the Red Army to first survive and eventually defeat Hitler's Wehrmacht, than anyone else before him. Yes, this volume reads quite dryly at times and the tables of organization can seem daunting but it must clearly be understood from the beginning that this is not a book for the casual history reader by any stretch. This book is meant for the dedicated historian of the Soviet-German war-those who need more than a basic overview of the military operations and geopolitical ramifications of the war. With all that said the only weakness that this book has are some instances of sloppy writing and subsequent poor editing. At times-particularly in Part I-this poor editing is truly frustrating and frequent. For the most part though, this is never more than a minor irritation. As a whole Glantz can, once again, be said to be the undisputed master of Soviet-German war history.

In your life you most likely face challenges as we all do. Few people have ever been challenged and triumphed over adversity like Viktor Hermann.

If you are a fan of "One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich", here is another inspiring story of one who returned and survived the Gulag!

Hermann, an American is trapped within the Soviet Union and left behind. He is sent to the gulag and only by his wits, strength and inner presence does he manage to return.

This book is a personal memoir, it may not be the most well-written book but its story will not easily leave you. You will see the heights to which the spirit can rise and the depths and depravity to which it can sink.

Highly recommended and a true survivors tale.

Cheers!

I was so moved while reading this book I could hardly eat or sleep.It pounds at your heart and tears your soul and makes you laugh and cry ,like I have never done with reading any book! "This book should be a classic period"! I have read Solzhenitsyn Gulag Archipelago "But" Victor Herman "Coming Out Of The Ice" is number #1. Because I couldnt stop thinking about it for years and years.It leaves an impression at your very soul and you come out alive and on top! Hang on to seat because its a True Story you wont forget as long as you live. Sincerely Chuck Kinney

I first read Herman's "Coming out of the Ice" when I was 14 yrs old. Since my first encounter with the book, I have opened the worn covers many times to re-read my favorite excerpts.

I will pass this book on to my children just as my father did to me. For, this story heralds the triumph of the human spirit in the bleakest sittuations imaginable. We must remember the acts of Stalin and other leaders like him. Only by studying the history of human supression can we move forward into the future with the confidence that the human spirit will triumph.

Tongight when you are eating your dinner in a heated home, remember these words, "Two potatoes Papa?"

I met Victor Herman in 1981 at a small gathering at Rutgers College. He told us all about his experiences, although not in as much detail as in the book. I didn't buy the book at the time because I needed the money to buy food. I saw the TV movie a couple of years later, but I never read the book until recently. And only because I hunted it down. I never forgot the look of intense sadness in Victor's eyes or his story. This is 1984 in real life. Coming Out Of The Ice should be required reading for every high school student in the world.

I am (very untypically) finding it difficult to express how important this book is. It's a story of incredible endurance and perseverance that will help you stop worrying about most of what's troubling you. It's also a reminder that everyone in the world does not think the same way, that other cultures and countries are very different, and that we truly have something special in the U.S. Our society of law, freedom, independence is very precious -- worth defending against enemies, both foreign and domestic. In a time when some Americans seem bent on giving away our democracy in order to feel safe again, this story is a powerful reminder of why we must all stand up for freedom. And if you think these comments are overblown, read the book anyway and decide again when you're done.

A lot of things began in Renaissance Florence: the way businesses keep their books, the way sovereign states relate to each other, the way people use art to tell stories and create beauty. These things and many more elements of modern society have their origins in this smallish Tuscan city. These impulses were born in the middle of the last millenium - during the century or so when Florence blossomed as the intellectual and artistic supernova of the Italian Renaissance. Today, Florence remains densely packed with the memories of that time. Eve Borsook's "THE COMPANION GUIDE TO FLORENCE" is the key to the city. In addition to all the names, dates, places of history, Borsook skillfully weaves in meaning and context so that you may know who painted what fresco in which church - but why it remains meaningful 500 years down the road. You can go to Florence to shop for many beautiful Italian creations. But with this book, you can gain a clear appreciation about why the names,images and achievements from this amazing city's glorious past still resonate in our lives today.

I lived in Florence as a full time tourist for a year in the early eighties. I could divide my year into before and after finding this book; it's that good. The maps reveal every nook and cranny, helping you to see the hidden wonders right before your eyes in this city that is so immensely rich in wonders. The recommended walking tours make your time more meaningful, as the buildings and artwork become not only isolated splendors, but also pieces of the history of this remarkable city. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the latest edition so that I can plan a return visit for next year. Buy yours early and plan your time, and you will have a visit beyond what even the best tour guide could ever offer. Buon viaggio!

Borsook offers a comprehensive overview of the history and culture of the cradle of the Renaissance, and a guide to the many nooks and crannys of old Florence. This book details all the important venues open to the public, plus many that are not. It gives invaluable insight into the context of the city, and site maps to all the important works of art and science.

I read this book before a recent trip to Florence, using it to plan the visit. I left it home, thinking it too heavy to tote along. I won't make that mistake when we return. Forget the guidebooks; Borsook is all you need to enjoy Florence.

A lot of things began in Florence. The way businesses keep their books, the way sovereign states relate to each other, the way people use art to tell stories and create beauty. These things and many more elements of modern society have their origins in this smallish Tuscan city. These impulses were born in the middle of the last millenium - during a century or so when Florence blossomed as an intellectual and artistic supernova of the Italian Renaissance. Today, Florence remains densely packed with the memories of that time. Eve Borsook's "THE COMPANION GUIDE TO FLORENCE" is the key to the city. In addition to all the names, dates, places of history, Borsook skillfully weaves in meaning and context so that you may not only know who painted what fresco in which church - but why it remains meaningful 500 years down the road. You can go to Florence to shop for many beautiful Italian creations. But with this book, you can gain a clear appreciation about why the names and images from this amazing city's glorious past still resonate in our lives today.

A lot of things began in Renaissance Florence: the way businesses keep their books, the way sovereign states relate to each other, the way people use art to tell stories and create beauty. These things and many more elements of modern society have their origins in this smallish Tuscan city. These impulses were born in the middle of the last millenium - during the century or so when Florence blossomed as the intellectual and artistic supernova of the Italian Renaissance. Today, Florence remains densely packed with the memories of that time. Eve Borsook's "THE COMPANION GUIDE TO FLORENCE" is the key to the city. In addition to all the names, dates, places of history, Borsook skillfully weaves in meaning and context so that you may know who painted what fresco in which church - but why it remains meaningful 500 years down the road. You can go to Florence to shop for many beautiful Italian creations. But with this book, you can gain a clear appreciation about why the names,images and achievements from this amazing city's glorious past still resonate in our lives today.

A very interesting and concise history of Greece from the 18th century to the present. It includes detailed examinations of all the major turning points in Greek history in the last three hundred years; the Greek war of independence, Greece under the Nazis, the Greek Civil War and the dictatorship. All of the important passions that have overcome the Greeks are woven into the story as is the story of the destruction of the Greek peoples of Anatolia (The Pontic Greeks and Smyrna Greeks and others) as well as the ethnic-cleansing of Greeks by the Turks from places such as Adrianople, Constantinople and Rumania and Bulgaria. The conflict over Macedonia is highlighted as is the tragic story of the 100,000 strong Greek community of Egypt that was also cleansed by the Nasser regime.

A fascinating history,

Seth J. Frantzman

This is a great book for both an introduction as well as an on-going reference source on modern Greece.
Highly recommend it to students or anyone interested in learning the history of the modern state, without getting bogged down with boring details.

I enjoyed reading the book but in some parts I had difficulties to understand the context. Somehow, Clogg jumps from one subject to the other. Also, there were very difficult historical words which are especially difficult for readers whose mother tongue is not English. Admittedly, the book has not been written for foreign readers but I think that even an English native speaker has a problem to understand words like "irredentism" and "shibboleth" if he didn't study history. Another problem is the title of some chapters. He calls one chapter "The legacy of the Civil war 1950 - 1974" although the civil war in Greece was between 1944 and 1949 or so. How can he call this capter in the abovementioned way if he writes about military rule and the Cyprus conflict? He admitted in a way that Britain and the USA have contributed to the beginning of the Cyprus conflict but he doesn't write much about it. I read the book but sometimes I did not understand it, in particular the context. I wished he would have written also more about the Ottoman rule in Greece or even the beginning of the history of Greece. The book would have been thicker, indeed, but it would have given more information. Also, he should have given the book a slightly different title, for instance "A Concise History of Greece - 1770 - 1990". This would have been clearer because as a reader you think that he has written about the whole history of Greece. However, all in all it was a good book. I enjoyed it.

Now in an expanded second edition, A Concise History Of Greece by Richard Clogg (Fellow of St. Anthony's College, Oxford University, England) is a straightforward, scholarly chronicle of the modern history of Greece, ranging from the Ottoman rule of the late 1700's, to the pressures of Balkan strife and political modernization of the present day. Deftly written and carefully researched, supplemented with tables, short biographies, as well as a listing of the royal houses of Greece, A Concise History Of Greece is an excellent and scholarly survey of the modern growth of the nation which is a strongly recommended addition to academic World History collections in general, and Hellenic History supplemental reading lists in particular.

Richard Clogg is a renowned international scholar who has been writing about Greek history for decades. This work is a popularization (from footnotes deliver me) that should prove very helpful to the layman with more than a casual interest in Greece. It invites comparison with C.M. Woodhouse's also famous history, but I must declare myself incompetent to decide if one is better than the other.

Clogg's section on the Ottoman period is blessedly brief and his discussion of the Nazi occupation and Communist insurection are to-the-point yet incisive.

Perhaps the most exciting feature of the work is the great bunch of pictures gracing nearly every page and showing the days of glory in Modern Greece as well as some of the saddest. The maps are also helpful.

There are no footnotes but the selective bibliography will be useful to most readers. There is also an appendix giving thumbnail biographies of some luminaries in modern Greek history.

For most, Charles Dickens is the only source we've encountered regarding the awful human misery of the early industrial revolution. However, Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx reported on it, too. Indeed, most of their criticisms were far more applicable to the raw capitalism of contemporary England than their native Germany.

Engels stayed in Manchester, the premier industrial city of the time, during the early 1840's to research his book. And he produced a devastating indictment of the truly miserable and life-threatening living conditions he found. Unlike Marx, Engels had a pronounced flair for writing; he makes it a fascinating, eye-opening journey back through time.

The topics he includes cover: struggling labor movements, the denigrating effects of immigration on domestic workers (due to competing subsistence-cost labor), the ignorance and crippling of child workers, the sexual exploitation of women workers, the displacement of male heads of household by lower-cost and more pliant women/children, the unbelievable filth and subhuman housing conditions workers endured, the dangerous and unhealthy working conditions of miners/factory workers, rampant substance abuse, doping of children by babysitters, the total lack of legal redress for the poor, the displacement of labor by machinery, and the role of unbridled competition in perpetrating economic distress.

While we all know communism has failed, its rise was due to these very real and serious problems, some of which remain with many Western workers today. And most of these conditions do very much persist in emerging economies right now. So, even though the book is well over 150 years old it is still highly valid!

The main fault of course with Marx/Engels' communist philosophy is that ALL humans are greedy and lazy - it's just that the clever ones (whether they originate from 'bourgeous' or 'working' classes) will always exploit the others. And it doesn't matter whether the system is capitalist or communist - those at the top will always exploit those below for personal advantage. Probably the best response has been the progressive social reform in Western nations over the last 100 years. (Revolutions and dictatorships usually only lead to mass murder.)

This chilling book is the real-life Oliver Twist exposed.I think Fredrick Engels wrote this book,in part to clear his conscious.And largely, to shed light on the fetid ,wretched underbelly of the 19th century industrial-age society.The nameless toilers working ten to twelve hour shifts,in a factory operation they had no vote or control over.Marx and Engels had many valid arguments for improving the workers lives.Did their end-results justify their means of social revolution? Engels would be amazed at the former textile towns,like Manchester,absorbing the large influx of Asians,Moslims and Africans today.It is still being debated,whether history has proven Engels & Marx right.This book is still a historical classic,thats presumptive findings give the modern reader,reason to pause. So,look all around you. -A Great Book !

Fabuous book. Engels wrote this when he was only 24- and what a tour de force.

The work is detailed, beautifully observed and elegantly written. Despite the depressing nature of the subject matter, the tone is always possible about a better world beyond the evils of capitalism.

Unfortunately 150 years after this masterpiece was written things dont seen to have gotten better under capitalism. Rather, the old evils of poverty, infectious diseases, starvation have been replaced by the modern evils of capitalism: obesity, alienation, mass materialism, depression, plunging fertility and marriage rates and so on...

Engels was the engine behind Karl Marx, one that gave him all the support he could, so to permit Marx to dedicate himself almost completely to the completion of his works. Judging himself many degrees bellow Marx in terms of intelect, Engels nonetheless is capable of writting a book such as this which describes all the impoverishment of the working class in the beginning of the industrialization in England, being helped by some well porputed factories labor fiscalization agents who allowed Engels to flip trough their reports. Strong terms like "the dark satanic mills" describe fully what were the working conditions of the time in a so rich country as England. An historical document lest no one forget what can happen again if the free hand of capitalism is allowed to run free of any barriers.

Friedrich Engels' classic "The Condition of the Working Class in England" was written when he was only twenty-four, and had but recently abandoned his Calvinist upbringing for a more critical, socialist, point of view. Yet this book reads as if it were written by an experienced political commentator or a radical sociologist, without actually at any point becoming melodramatic or dense.

Engels' main purpose is to confront the bourgeoisie with the reality of their mode of production and to contrast this with the rhetoric of "free choice" and "civil liberties", as well as the capitalist apologia of the political economists of his day, in particular Andrew Ure. With great insight into both the causes and effects of the capitalist system, Engels catalogues the endless want, filth, despair and misery experienced by millions of labourers every day in 19th century England. He pays attention to housing, to factory safety, to unionism, to the physical condition of the workers, to alcoholism, the state of the Irish underclass, to prostitution and disease; in short, all the ills attendant on industrialization.

What gives this book such power is that Engels on the one hand proceeds in an analytical manner, making use above all of sources from the bourgeoisie itself and from Parliamentary reports, in explaining the functioning of the capitalist system and the competition between capitalists and between labourers. On the other hand, he writes in a particularly readable manner and at no point bores the reader with the mere summing-up of statistics. On the contrary, every analytical truth is accompanied by a vivid description, taken from Engels' excursions into working-class neighbourhoods, of the terrible state of humanity that the economic laws of capitalism cause for a great number of people.

For those interested in political economy, it may come as a surprise to see how much of the functioning of capitalism Engels already understood at such an early point in the development of theory. This gives the lie to the many theorists who would later claim that it was Marx only who worked on economics and that Engels was a mere epigone; this book should be a vindication of Engels. His later sketches of the political economy and of the historical development of capitalism would lay the foundation for both the Communist Manifesto and Marx' economic works. But the core insights that would create the modern theory of socialism are for the first time fully expressed here, and in a most appealing and shockingly effective manner.

In other words, an absolute must read for every person of intelligence.

It is 1741; Otis Gardner is the Coram Man, a cruel, sadistic trader who makes his living from the disposal of unwanted infants and by selling older children into slavery. Together with his half-wit son Meshak, he travels from Gloucester to London, collecting children under false promises of delivering them to the famous hospice founded by Thomas Coram.

Alexander Ashbrook, disinherited heir to a large estate, is unaware of the existence of his illegitimate son Aaron, a child given away in infancy and brought up in the Coram hospice to avoid scandal. Aaron, also oblivious to his father's identity, befriends Toby, a young boy saved from an African slave ship, and the childlike Mish who brought him to the orphanage all those years ago.

Set in eighteenth century Britain, "Coram Boy" is an epic tale of good and evil and the relationships between a father and a son. The plot is complicated yet compelling enough to make this novel impossible to put down. Jamila Gavin weaves a powerful story that explores the darker side of life in the 1700s and which combines romance, history, tragedy and hope. Beautifully written and filled with a cast of colourful and memorable characters to bring this eighteenth century world to life, Coram Boy is both a unique and special book. Although difficult to get into, this is ultimately an extremely rewarding read that has a wide appeal, although some readers may find the content of infanticide disturbing. Overall, this is definitely a five star book, and I would highly recommend it to both teens and adults .

~Jenna~

Otis Gardiner is a peddler in London who persuades young women to pay him for bringing their babies to the famous Coram Hospital, a place where unwanted children can receive proper education and have a successful future. However, after Otis got paid, he would kill these babies and later on blackmail the women who entrusted him with their babies for more money. His son, Meshak, saved a baby that he was about to kill and escaped to the Coram Hospital and stayed there for the next eight years. The baby was named Aaron Dangersfield and was very talented in music, like his father, Alexander Ashbrook. Alexander discovered that Aaron is actually his son in a meeting with his wife and sister, but Aaron was already being sent on a ship to America to be sold as a slave. Someone rescued Aaron from the ship shortly after it parted. Finally, Alexander reconciled with his long lost son.
I think this is an unbelievably awesome book. It involved many characters that each has their own small story in this book. For example, Aaron Dangersfield¡¦s foster father is a simpleton, and he often dreamed of living with the kind angles in the chapels away from his cruel father. Aaron¡¦s real father was kicked out of his family for living a life as a musician instead of learning how to take care and prosper from his father¡¦s estates. Furthermore Aaron¡¦s best friend, Toby, is an African, and he was being treated like a rare, dark-skin plaything more than a human. All of these small stories add up to be what Aaron has to experience or discover, which is what makes Coram Boy extra interesting.
My favorite part of this book is the epilogue. In the epilogue, Meshak was finally able to be with his imaginary angels after all the suffering he went through. He is a simpleton and was being treated cruelly by his father ever since he was born. He doesn¡¦t really mind being mistreated by his father, but he does feel mad when he saw with his very own eyes that the girl he admired fell in love with somebody else. Therefore, he saved that girl¡¦s baby boy and loved him like his son. At the end, when even the boy that he cared about so much went away, he asked his imaginary angels, ¡§Can I be dead now?¡¨ With merely five short words, so much is being remembered and expressed.

Otis Gardiner is a peddler in London who persuades young women to pay him for bringing their babies to the famous Coram Hospital, a place where unwanted children can receive proper education and have a successful future. However, after Otis got paid, he would kill these babies and later on blackmail the women who entrusted him with their babies for more money. His son, Meshak, saved a baby that he was about to kill and escaped to the Coram Hospital and stayed there for the next eight years. The baby was named Aaron Dangersfield and was very talented in music, like his father, Alexander Ashbrook. Alexander discovered that Aaron is actually his son in a meeting with his wife and sister, but Aaron was already being sent on a ship to America to be sold as a slave. Someone rescued Aaron from the ship shortly after it parted. Finally, Alexander reconciled with his long lost son.
I think this is an unbelievably awesome book. It involved many characters that each has their own small story in this book. For example, Aaron Dangersfield¡¦s foster father is a simpleton, and he often dreamed of living with the kind angles in the chapels away from his cruel father. Aaron¡¦s real father was kicked out of his family for living a life as a musician instead of learning how to take care and prosper from his father¡¦s estates. Furthermore Aaron¡¦s best friend, Toby, is an African, and he was being treated like a rare, dark-skin plaything more than a human. All of these small stories add up to be what Aaron has to experience or discover, which is what makes Coram Boy extra interesting.
My favorite part of this book is the epilogue. In the epilogue, Meshak was finally able to be with his imaginary angels after all the suffering he went through. He is a simpleton and was being treated cruelly by his father ever since he was born. He doesn¡¦t really mind being mistreated by his father, but he does feel mad when he saw with his very own eyes that the girl he admired fell in love with somebody else. Therefore, he saved that girl¡¦s baby boy and loved him like his son. At the end, when even the boy that he cared about so much went away, he asked his imaginary angels, ¡§Can I be dead now?¡¨ With merely five short words, so much is being remembered and expressed.

Books are like baskets, with sturdy sides and empty spaces in the centers to fill. It's rare to find a novel so well-crafted that its story fills the basket up to the brim, but I have. Coram Boy is one that shines because of its powerful story, life-like characters, and the many emotions portrayed throughout the tale.
Alexander is a rich, talented choirboy who spends his life enveloped in music. Thomas, his best friend, comes from a poorer family, but is also devoted to melodies. There is one difference: Thomas is free to become a musician, but Alex can only look forward to becoming the master of his huge mansion. When Thomas is invited to spend the summer at his friend's house, he discovers that Alex holds a great passion for Melissa, the maid's lovely daughter, while at the same time dislikes his father for not letting him follow his musical talent. However, none of them know that another person trails Melissa too: Meshak, the unloved son of a man who makes money out of selling babies to become slaves. To everybody's shock, Alex runs away from his father's grip to become a musician, and Melissa, barely a child herself, gives birth to his baby. The baby is handed over to the `slave-dealer' secretly, but Meshak snatches it away, and cares for his angel's child as if it were his own.
Eight years later, the child, called Aaron, is taken as the now famous Alexander Ashbrook's apprentice without knowing that they are related. Meshak's father is still on the lookout for young boys and girls to become slaves. He gets his hand on Aaron and plans to ship him across the sea. Will the innocent Aaron become a slave? Will he find out that his mother and father are still alive? Will Alexander discover that he has a son to love?
In a way, the characters in the novel are examples of people in real life. There are conflicts between fathers and sons, between girls and boys, and between best friends. These work out in the end because the characters feel a push to make things right again, even if it's a few years late. You can also learn numerous life lessons from this book. I found out that people with bad intentions never win in the long run; their bad hearts stick out like a piece of coal in gold! I also learned that you should always be optimistic, because you never know if your life will turn a bend that will change your life forever!
Out of the many characters in the book, whether old or young, I must say that my favourite one was Thomas, Alexander's friend. He felt sympathy for Alex when his family problems became bigger and helped him without any questions. He raised the suspicion of Meshak's father when many children started disappearing. He started the question of whether Aaron was his best friend's son. He raised many spirits with his sense of humour. Without him, how could the story have gone on?
Why did I choose this book and not a fat juicy one then? I leafed through the novel and discovered that it was the proud winner of the Whitbread Children's Book Award, and decided to give it a try. Even though the novel isn't as thick as some as the other ones, it's packed with precious lessons for life and stories you'll never forget!
I love this book with all my heart; I love the plot and the way the ending is a complete and breathtaking surprise! I recommend this book to the whole world, because everyone on Earth deserves such a great book!

Set in the eighteenth century, Coram Boy is a story of love, crime, tragedy, heartbreak and miracles. It is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read and one of my all time favourites. I am always reading it aloud, just because the words are so nice. The characters are very clear and made to love or hate. The author shows such depth of knowledge and expresses so much emotion! It is a complex, exciting novel and the end will make you cry! I love it to bits. I'm sure you will to.