Windsor Books

I was really intrigued by this book, the use of voice and mood are superb! and the plot twists and turns that keep you reading and anticipating. I also LOVED that it was and authentic main character an that sexuality is explored so intelligently AND described in such a way that makes you feel it with them! Vine/Rendall is a great writer!

I almost can't believe that this story is so great. It's an amazing story, with incredible characters. You enjoy every aspect of this journey. I live in Mexico and my profession is literature related, and this completely blows my mind. I completely recommended. Besides, the service is very fast. Amazon never disappoints me.

This dense elaborately plotted book is perhaps the best I've read by Rendell/Vine, and that's saying a lot. A bit deus ex machina in places, but the characters are so finely and richly portrayed, and I became so emotionally involved in the plot, I didn't care. The settings, particularly that of Alaska, are also wonderfully drawn. Highest recommendation to anyone who loves a good mystery novel that also holds its own as quality mainstream fiction.

So far I have read only three of Barbara Vine's novels. I was dissapointed by THE BRIMSTONE WEDDING and ANNA'S BOOK, but I will keep coming back to Vine/Rendell on the strength of this beauty. A dark, angst-filled, and twisty tale of slippery love. People who give it, people who don't. For these characters, acheiving love is like pushing two ends of the same magnet together...the more they try to be together the more frustrated they get, the more frustrated they get...well, you'll see what happens when they get frustrated.
Actually the big twist in the middle of the book I saw coming a mile away, but I still was swept along in the sheer masterful plotting of it all. Rendell/Vine neatly bridges the gap between gooey pulp and high-brow literary. This one is a flat-out gem.

I have read most of Ruth Rendell's books written as Ruth Rendell, but this is my first one written as Barbara Vine. I don't really know why I waited this long. Perhaps I didn't want to be disappointed because I love Ms. Rendell's writing so much (especially the Inspector Wexford series). Well, I wasn't disappointed with this book, and intend to read all the others. Although this book is darker than the Ruth Rendell books, it is possible to tell that they are written by Ms. Rendell. She is a wonderful author, and her plotting and characterizations are really good. This book is also a little different because it is a love story when all is said and done, but there is the characteristic Rendell twist at the end of the book. The book is also different because everything in it is narrated, so we read about everything "second-hand" so to speak. But that doesn't kill the tension. I find it strangely kept the tension going tighter and tighter as we read through Tim's narrative. We are front and centre for love, death, fear, superstition and hate. Powerful emotions!

I read this book after reading two others by McCaig and was not disappointed; I think this is his best. I love the way his dog characters carry on conversations with each other. McCaig seems to be able to get inside the head of his canines. He brings his personal experience to bear on his fiction and masterfully keeps the reader turning the page with his wonderful ability to keep you in suspense.

I found "Nop's Trials" quite by accident. I had been running searches for books on dog behavior and training, and books on sheepdogs, border collies in particular, and "Nop's Trials" popped up. Thinking it was a book on training sheepdogs and trialing, I bought it. It seems like I always find my favorite books by accident. Donald McCaig's writing style is simplistic, but so lovely that it just sucks you into the story completely. I found myself crying, laughing, running the gamut of emotions. Even now, when I think back on it, I get choked up. I've always admired the border collie for its intensity, intelligence and energy and this book has given me an even deeper respect for the breed. It also opened my eyes to realities that we so often choose not to acknowledge. It's a great, great book.

Nop's Trials, by Donald McCaig, is a heart-warming story of Lewis Burkholder's prize border collie, who is stolen while wandering a bit to far with the puppy. He is then, of course abused by redneck Grady Gumm, who is later killed in the end of the story. Nop, the main character, is then transported all over the place by dog abusers, dog lovers, dog haters, and dog users. This is a story where you will be happy at some times, be sad, cry, and feel the pain of Lewis' determined journey to find his best friend, Nop. If you havn't read this story, I reccommend you read it now!!

Being the dog lover I am, and living with two amazing border collies, I had high HOPES for this book. However, after getting only to page 44, I felt sick and horrified! I couldn't believe I was actually reading this. This is by far the worst book I can remember, and I will not spend anymore time discussing it. My only hope is that I can save someone else from wasting time and dealing with such agony.

If you have or are thinking of getting a border collie this book will give you insight (good and bad) into their head. They aren't like other dogs...but I saw my border collies in "Nop". Excellent way of explaining and describing factual things that sprinkle through this book. If you liked the Lad books of old; Lassie Come Home and others you'll like this book. Highly recommended for dog lovers.

Not the best in the series. Seems like a placeholder to get to the next story. Not much happens.

Fifteenth in the series: Truelove (O'Brian, Patrick, Aubrey/Maturin Novels, 15.)

I love this series, I can't stop reading them. Well written, and descriptive, they really take you to a different world.

If you are interested in sailing, British naval history, or the high seas... then this is a great historical fiction series. The single movie doesn't really do justice to this excellent series of novels.

Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels continue to defy convention. In form and structure, the novels really aren't separate stories, but instead consist of separate episodes within a much larger narrative. While with most series of novels, the author builds each novel as a self-contained narrative, with each story building to its own particular climax. Not so with these novels, which often end on a point of minor transition but hardly the high point of the novel.

"The Nutmeg of Consolation" continues in this line. At the end of the last novel, "The Thirteen Gun Salute," Aubrey, Maturin, and the crew had been stranded on a proverbial desert island, populated only by pigs, ring-tailed monkeys, and birds. "Nutmeg," fittingly enough, opens with a game of cricket as if no time had passed from one novel to the next. The "first act" of "Nutmeg" sees the most action in the novel, as Aubrey's crew comes under attack by a numerically superior force of savages (O'Brian is hardly politically correct), led by a fierce warrior-queen. O'Brian writes thrilling battle scenes, and this is no exception.

Eventually Aubrey and Maturin return to civilization. In dire need of a ship are able to locate the titular Nutmeg of Consolation, a small Dutch ship that in physical appearance would be a mere sloop, but thanks to Aubrey's status as post-captain the Nutmeg qualifies as a frigate. Desperate to halt French progress in the area and eager to prove that the British rule the seas, Aubrey takes the Nutmeg out in pursuit of a much larger French ship. In a chase that spans for hundreds of miles, O'Brian gets plenty of opportunity to capture the daily life aboard ship as only he can.

This episode then gives way - after a joyous reunion with Tom Pullings - to a trip to Australia and Botany Bay. Here Maturin is able to indulge his whims as a naturalist, but not after getting himself and his crew into hot water with the local army forces by thrashing an army man in a duel. Aubrey features less prominently in this portion of the novel, thanks in large part to his taking of a double-dose of physic without Maturin's approval, and ending up much the worse for wear as a result.

"Nutmeg" is a wonderful book because the journeys and adventures develop at a slow pace. O'Brian allows himself the luxury of capturing the various details of 19th-century life in great detail, in all their humor and sadness. A throw-away tale about an encounter with polar bears is one of the most moving passages in all of O'Brian's works, and his description of Maturin's unfortunate encounter with a platypus is a wonder.

All that is to the good, but I must confess that I was a little hungry for more action by the end of the novel. This probably reflects more on me than on the book, but I look forward to return to a little more cannonfire and broadswords in the coming novels. But to be fair, this four-star rating would probably be a five-star if it had been written by somebody other than O'Brian - he has just set his personal bar so high.

Who is Paulton and why did Maturin want to visit him? Who were the "men and women on the lists?" Who is Padeen and why is Maturin so particularly concerned about him? Is Padeen also known as Coleman? Why would O'Brien give us a hundred pages with nothing more than the sights, sounds, and smells of Botany Bay, unconnected to any story line? What did O'Brien feel he contributed to the story with the addition of the island children to the story? If the essence of the writer's craft is to create and maintain tension, to keep the reader riveted, to entertain, to inform, then even the most avid O'Brien fan must admit that The Nutmeg of Consolation falls short. I will admit that I found some of the Aussie argot amusing, as when we learn that "purple dromedaries" translates as "little, small, bungling pickpockets." But trudging through the final chapters alongside colorless protagonists, I am sure that the reader will be as happy as are the protagonists themselves by the prospect of returning home. This was the next to last book in the Aubrey-Maturin series, and I can't help suspecting that O'Brien's creative light had dimmed.

This is one of my favorite Danielle Steel novels. Most of the characters in her early books were normal people, not royalty or heiresses, and Samantha Taylor is a wonderfully written character, a regular person who triumphs over all the bad things that happen to her.

I highly recommend this book to other Danielle Steel fans.

I had read this novel before and enjoyed it. Good story line and message with hope. When a relative became paraplegic and faced loss of her dream to ride horses, I gave her this book. Then, I ordered a new copy for myself.

Another Danielle Steele hit. As usual she writes a great story with plenty of drama and the story reads great, however, I will leave the reading up to you and would rather discuss her hidden message as I see it. How great of Danielle to use her book as a forum and show the world how even in our worst moments, we can find a way to pull ourselves together and find meaning in our lives by helping those less fortunate. Danielle shows a great way that actually exist to help paralyzed children feel freedom by riding a horse. Very well told and so very true to life. This is a great story and a must read.

I have read several of Ms. Steel's books and they usually have had some heart-wrenchingly sad plot that was upsetting at the end. This book, however, was so uplifting. Even though it was a work of fiction, it made me feel that "Yes!People are out there over-looking their own misery to help others."
This is a book that you will not forget.

This was the second Danielle Steel book I have read and it was by far better than her novel, "The Wedding". The writing style in "Palomino" flows engagingly. The plot weaves through emotional and physical tragedies that eventually work toward unimaginable inner fulfillment for Samantha. As she struggles courageously against the enormous odds, she begins living life not just for herself, but to benefit hundreds of "disadvantaged" children.

Sam's relationship with the foreman, Tate, proved real... but I had a problem with the shallowness of its beginning. Ms. Steel too easily moves her characters into bed with each other and while they enjoy being in each other's arms, a believable conveyance of deep friendship and relationship is lacking. In this book, as in "The Wedding, Ms. Steel's main female character overuses cussing to express herself -- whether the emotion being expressed is anger or mere flippancy. Is it realistic that Samantha would cuss more frequently and crudely than the rough ranch hands she works with? She does. And it damages the potential charm and femininity this "beautiful" heroine could have.

Nominated for England's prestigious Booker Prize and largely inspired by her own retirement, Quartet in Autumn is the book that catapulted Barbara Pym back into the glow of the literary spotlight. For well over fifteen years, Barbara Pym was shunned by the fickle publishing and writing community for books that seemed too out-of-date and not aligned or in vogue with the political, social and economic happenings of the times. Now, though long since deceased, she is often compared and rightfully exulted to being the modern-day Jane Austin. Her books, irrelevant of the critics, do show that she was indeed a master of sparse language, intricate yet subtle plots as well as a dissecting and analytical mind to a plethora of human issues that affect us all. She was an artist of true literature.

Quartet in Autumn is the story of four aging office workers, two of whom are nearing retirement. One is a widower who is not all that family oriented, and the others are all spinsters. No marriage. No kids. The four characters are: Marcia Ivory, Edwin Braithwaite, Letty Crowe and Norman. There is nothing whatsoever remarkable about any of them; they are simple and ordinary. What glues them all together is their office job, work that can be replaced by the advancement of computer technology. One would refer to these four as aging dinosaurs symbolizing a bygone era, and that is how Pym evokes their individual essence. All four characters put up a front, harden their hearts, in order to survive losing or being on the cusp of losing the one pivitol lifeline that gives their overly ordinary existence meaning--their office work. Yet, when Marcia and Letty do end up retiring, the dynamic of the four office worker's relationships change. And each one must confront what it means to truly be alone, to be lacking the warmth of human bonds and involvement in something bigger than themselves. That is an issue that each one confronts. And it is in the complexity of this single issue where Barbara Pym shines in juxtaposing each character atop a difined concern. The evocator is not society; it is the self. And that is what each character must confront, some successfully and others less so. Granted, when people retire, they don't all immediately jump the boat and head towards the senior center for fun, for not everyone operates that way, and the character of the interfering social worker Janice Brabner represents that fully.

Quartet in Autumn raises a bunch of questions about what it means to retire. What does it mean for the individual who is not the go-getter with the opinion that life begins at sixty or seventy and jets off on an international tourist package with other like-minded senior citizens? Especially in this day and age where our seniors are redefining what it means to be old, Quartet in Autumn is the book that proffers the opposite opinion and or approach to the age issue. And it is equally important, for it showcases that you are in many respects as old as you act and carry yourself. Being a character in a Barbara Pym novel may not be a wonderful thing, but they eventually see the light and improve themselvew, despite the mounting obstacles. The readers of Barbara Pym's classics are certainly all the better and grateful for it!

This is the third Pym novel I have read. My reaction each time has been the same. After the first fifteen pages I hear myself asking, Why am I reading this novel? Who are these people? Who cares? But later that day or the next there I am reading along, not quite as judgmental as I was at first, but still asking myself, what am I doing here? Certainly by the second book, I recognized there was a process repeating itself. When I realized, I am no longer reading a novel, I am inhabiting this world, she has made me a voyeur without embarrassment, without judgment.

I am not going to compare Barbara Pym to this writer or that. I am not going to tell you she is better than X or Y for these reasons. I am going to tell you that few writers have ever matched her ability to inhabit her characters so completely, so fully to give them vitality and nobility even when these are precisely qualities they do not possess.

Reading Barbara Pym reminds me of reading the great English naturalist Gilbert White (1720-1793), a brilliant observer whose modest commentary belied his knowledge and genius. Like White, Pym offers us the world of people just like us -- well people just unlike us but ordinary, like us. She is of course remarkably sly but you do not have to be concerned with her slyness to appreciate her genius. Leave that to the graduate students who will flense her characters, draining the extraordinary lives she is offering us.
Finally, in the time we live, where breast cancer has become epidemic, Pym who herself finally died from this affliction, introduces and explores this existential drama with extraordinary finesse. It is a privilege to enter the worlds she offers us. I feel like a housebreaker with permission.

I have read this book many times and always find something new in its prose to admire and reflect on, especially since I'm reaching retirement age myself soon. Most people who have commented on the book describe the characters as morose, lonely, and even pathetic but they don't strike me that way at all. It's true that Pym underlines in this novel some realities of old age and shows us various aspects that can be problemmatic as we age such as loss, regret and sadness. However, I think the four characters in the book describe for us a cross section of typical single lives, the choices they made and how they have adapted to the events that resulted from these choices. Because they did make choices, such as not marrying, not choosing successful careers, not having children and so forth. Most of us live unreflected lives and drift along hoping it will all turn out and I think Pym's characters in this book do just that. They hope for the best and get on with living in spite of their various limitations; the kind we all have. The tone at the end is rather positive, modest success for all except Marcia who has died.
I've read that Pym is Letty in the book. The character was closely modelled on Pym herself. For this reason alone it's worth reading if you have come to enjoy the author's gentle intelligent novels as much as I have.

There was a point in this novel, around page 50, when I thought of abandoning the book. It is a slow paced story about the retirement of two single women who are living in urban England around 1980.

There are four main characters: two older women and two slightly younger men. They all work in the same government office. They have different interests outside of work, but they are all single and they are near retirement age. Those characteristics are the common element in the story. The two women retire.

The story follows the months leading to their retirement, the retirement party, and an indefinite time afterwards. The writing is excellent and I did finish the book and I read every word. Overall one is impressed with Pym as a writer, but this is not an exciting read. It is a solid novel, well balanced, and well thought out. The characters are moderately interesting, but, there is not a lot of drama until near the end, and then there is a surprise ending.

The novel is set in contemporary England and tries to set out a realistic tale of two retiring women. The author uses the novel as a vehicle to discuss the challenges of retirement including medical problems, especially for single women. In that way it is interesting and I guess timely for the aging Pym. Also, she gets a chance to work in breast cancer for one of the women. All in all, it is very realistic. There are a few problems that hurts the story. The time scale is not clear, especially for the rapid deterioration of one of the women. Is it months or is it a few years? Also, the women are a lot more interesting than the men.

This a good and entertaining read, but not a great novel.

Or maybe more. Some of her books are better than others, but they all take me to that place in my mind that I call "Nothing Ever Happens in an English Village". Of course, all of life goes on in Barbara Pym's books, but somehow.. Oh, never mind, just start with Excellent Women, then read all the rest of her books, (buy, don't borrow, you'll want to keep them where you can get your hands on them, and not returning someone else's Pym would be a terrible thing) and, like all true Pymmers, gently curse the publishers who didn't want her books for such a long time, possibly depriving us of a few more precious novels.

Thornyhold was lent to me by a close friend, It was a charming story that seemed to always be leading up to a revelation and once it finally did it was like that's it!? I enjoyed the description of the house and the countryside more than the story line, but I wish the Author would have developed the character of the Aunt a bit more - I felt it could be much more descriptive. I'm not sure if the Author ever wrote a prequel but I feel like one would be mildly entertaining. The ending was happily ever after but too predictable for my liking. This is meant to be a simple read - Also might be good for a preteen.

After you're read this book. I read it when it first came out, and have loved it since, and periodically reread it. It is a romance, of sorts, and a gothic, of sorts, but I'm not one for gothics or romances, so that isn't really the attraction. When I read it, I empathized with the main character, who as a child wished for nothing more than a country life with animals and is left a mysterious legacy to fulfill that very wish. The romance, when it comes, is welcome, but she was doing very well just on her own. If you would love to tend a garden and a cottage, in a largely deserted wood (with a market town a few miles bike ride away), then this is the book for you. The author dwells lovingly on the simple sweets of putting the long neglected house to rights, marketing for her rationed goods on her bike, making bramble jelly, nursing back to health an abused recue dog. It sounds like an idyllic life. If you long for something less frantic and busy than the modern world and a modern job, you may wish for something like Miss Ramsey, who was given as a legacy a cottage, a garden complete with herb beds,surrounded by a woods and a river, with plenty of room for animals and a bit to live on so she doesn't have to go out to work. That's the real magic of this story. The romance is nice, but not the real attraction of the book for me. An idyllic read, for those that would choose the same quiet, self fulfilling life.

Young Geillis Ramsey comes to Thorneyhold to begin a new life. Alone and vulnerable, Geillis soon begins to feel a hint of something sinister in this otherwise idyllic setting. Thorneyhold is full of magic, but is it good magic or is it evil?

I've reread this book several times. The rural setting, the wonderful old house, the concept of simple magic, all delight me.

If you enjoy this book, I would suggest Elisabeth Ogilvie's "Theme for Reason". Like Mary Stewart, Elisabeth Ogilvie creates wonderful settings populated with interesting and likable characters. Highly recommended.

I am a big fan of Mary Stewart, and I bought this book ages ago after reading The Hollow Hills, etc. I came across it while going through old books destined for the library book sale, and it soon found it's way into the discard box. I expected much more than a dreamy, slow story about a woman who seems all-too-accepting of the random elements of magic in her life. The first half the book was almost uneccesary--slow and sad--and the second half reminded me of a cheap period romance.

While I do believe this is fitting for readers looking for a relaxing, flowery experience, it is a very bad choice for those of us expecting something engaging and exicting.

I absolutely LOVED this book! Once I started it I couldn't put it down until I finished it. It has the perfect blend of spells, potions, romantic love, family love, humor, and mystery as Gilly comes to terms with her childhood memories. I did not want this wonderful story to end.

I was a little disappointed in this book. It didn't have the power the others had, probably because Merlin/Nimue wasn't in it much. The ending was very sad & didn't tie things up well.

I love love love this book! The characterization of Mordred is great and the events retold are masterfully written and wonderful. I really really loved this book. I haven't read any of the other Mary Stewart Merlin books, but I definitely will after reading the Wicked day. Even if you are not a fan of Arthuriana, this book is inticing and entertaining.

The only letdown is the ending, which never really worked for me, BUT the rest fo the book is great, so this can be forgiven.

The fourth book in Mary Stewart's Arthurian saga, with a difference.
This book is not about Merlin, but about Mordred. The boy is lied to
and manipulated by an over-ambitious mother.

This will end in war and bloodshed, and Merlin is no longer around to try and prevent everything tumbling down.

Mary Stewarts The Wicked Day offers an alternative version to the much heard Arthur, Mordred relationship. An excellent follow up to the Merlin/Arthurian trilogy. Readers who have read the first three books will not be disappointed by the fourth.

A sad ending to Mary Stuart's tales of Arthur and Camelot. This book back-tracks a bit from where the trilogy ends, starting with Mordred as a young boy first being introduced into Morgause's palace and web of intrigue.

A very pleasant book to read, the author has a very nice way of setting a scene and bringing the reader into it. I would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't so recently read another tale on Arthur, Queen of Camelot. I came across many instances where the books were telling the same story and found myself skipping through those sections.

I had never read anything by Patricia Gaffney, but the cover promised that it was different somehow, and indeed it is! Can't remember when I have enjoyed a story more. Not only do I highly recommend this book, I can guarantee that I will be reading more by this author in the very near future!

This is a wonderful, spellbinding book. The book maintains an excellent balance between storyingtelling and romance. Each plot turn is well developed but never overdone. Ms. Gaffney is a very talented writer. I loved this book!

"Wild at Heart" was different, but not what I wanted it to be. I was very excited by the idea of this book: A man living in the wild falling in love with the daughter of the man studying him. I thought that sounded so different and intriguing. Sadly, the idea was just barely touched upon and the uncivilized Michael was no wild man at all, but very civilized indeed. All in all, this book wasnt bad, but very mediocre. Not a keeper.

This book is completely unbelievable, but who cares when the hero is so wonderful? For some reason, I enjoy stories about "wild" people adjusting to life back in civilization. I read Alice Hoffman's Second Nature (Gaffney's admitted inspiration for this book) many years ago, and I've also seen the great Truffaut film, The Wild Child. Gaffney's book is interesting because, being a romance novel, it has a happy ending - the wild man adapts to society and finds a home.

This story takes place in 1893 in Chicago during the World's Fair. The hero's name is Michael MacNeil and as a young boy he was on a rafting expedition in Canada with his aunt and uncle in which no one survived but him. He spent the next 18 years living in the wild, alone except for animal friends. Then he is found and locked up as a human "oddity." The heroine, Sydney, meets Michael because her father is an anthropologist who wants to study him to prove whether human beings are innately good or bad. Eventually, her father abandons his study of Michael, and Sydney and her two brothers decide to help him learn to adjust to the civilized world.

This book had a lot of really cute scenes, and I loved how slowly and believably Sydney and Michael fell in love. I also loved the characters of her two younger brothers. Where I think the book dropped the ball a bit was in its characterization of the time period. Gaffney points out how horrible it is that Michael is caged at first - but when Sydney and her family visit the World's Fair, there is no mention of the hundreds of people who were similarly on "display" at the Fair. The character of Michael has a HUGE problem with animals being caged at the zoo, but there are no comments about the Exposition's Midway Plaisance? I personally find the objectification of people at the 1893 Fair far more objectionable than a zoo (although a 1893 zoo was bad, too) and I wish it had been addressed.

That's sort of a minor problem, though, when the overall romantic wonderfulness of the book is taken into account. Highly recommended!

After reading the rave reader reviews, I was disappointed by this effort by Gaffney. I expected primal passion and a strong unorthodox hero, but got an overly tame wolf cub controlled by an insipid heroine, in a sappy syrupy romance eclipsed by domestic dramas. The younger brother Philip was more intriguing than the hero and would have been better romance material with his dissolute ways, but even he gets Disneyfied at the end. I had a tough time finishing the book and skimmed the final bedroom scene. There is virtually no romantic or sexual tension between Sydney and Michael. Such happy people, such uninspired and uninspiring romantic drama! For a better take on the primitive male tamed by a strong, intelligent woman, read Katherine Sutcliffe's "Devotion" or better yet, Lisa Kleypas' "Flowers from the Storm," the smartest, sexiest romance ever written. For a better Gaffney novel, try "Lily" or "To Have and to Hold," complex and erotic love stories.

It's a dismal commentary on the state of contemporary readership when this book has not been reviewed on Amazon for almost five years. After Rain is top-shelf literature, an excellent introduction to William Trevor's mastery of the short story. Of particular note are: Timothy's Birthday, Gilbert's Mother, A Day and Marrying Damian. (Curiously, I found the title story somewhat muddled, but I'm convinced I missed something and I'll be re-reading it soon.)

As others here have mentioned, what distinguishes Trevor is his ability to handle a great variety of points of view (frequently within the same story) and his lack of condescension as he subtly presents the failings of his characters. A great eyewitness to the human drama. I seriously believe these stories are the equals of those in Joyce's Dubliners.

Like Grieg in the musical sphere, and Cheever in the literary one, William Trevor seems to be at his best in the smaller forms, where his sharply etched insights and compellingly profound characterization can glitter without the "imposition" of relaxation dictated by the novel. Reading his "Collected Stories" was among my favorite literary "events" of the past 20 years (since reading, of all things, Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" [talk about strange bedfellows!]), and if the present volume seems a bit less well-stocked with masterpieces than the earlier, larger collection, it also shows Trevor polishing his craft to an almost superhuman degree. Every word tells.

A couple of the stories in "After Rain" struck me as surprisingly weak: "The Piano Tuner's Wives," in which an elderly man's second wife contrives to distort his happy memories of his first, seemed architecturally imbalanced: the second wife was drawn with less fecundity than the first and as a result the cutting insights of the story's end seemed like the proverbial "too little, too late." The other relative disappointment for me was "A Day," in which a married woman meditates on her husband's infidelity. Maybe it was that the central character seemed annoyingly passive, but to my mind Trevor added little to a situation that has been visited many times before.

The bulk of the remainder of the stories was exceptionally fine, though, particularly "A Friendship," which limns the dissolving of a lifelong relationship between two women at one of their husband's instigation.

However, the real gems of the collection, in my opinion, were "Child's Play" and "Lost Ground," which may be among the finest short stories written. The first is spare and knife-edged, the second weighty and full of tragedy. In "Child's Play," two children of divorce play act, with uncanny accuracy, their parents' sordid affairs, but when something happens to threaten the children's own relationship, their sudden reversion to reality proves more poignant and devastating than any play they can put on. "Lost Ground," the longest and perhaps greatest story in the collection, tells the tale of a Protestant family, one of whose sons is visited by, and asked to carry the word of, a Catholic saint. By encapsulating the religious conflicts in Northern Ireland in the guise of a single family, Trevor manages to comment on the intolerance of humankind while presenting a family drama of piercing sorrow.

I read recently that some people find Trevor's works offputtingly depressing. Maybe so; there are no happy endings here and virtually no happy people. Perhaps his truths are just too painful for a few to face. But then, sometimes, life is that way too.

Following on the heels of his beguiling Felicia's Journey, the incomparable Irish storyteller, William Trevor, brings us a collection of 12 poignant tales that illuminate the human condition.

Acknowledged by many to be the master of his oeuvre, Trevor commands our attention with dignity and subtlety. Amazingly adept at shifting perspectives from male to female in varying locations and scenes, the author's championship form is evident in After Rain.

His initial offering, "The Piano Tuner's Wives" is an incisive rendering of a middle-aged second wife's jealousy. Haunted by the happiness her husband once shared with another, she seeks to establish her place in surprising ways.

A lifelong bond between two women is broken in "A Friendship" when the clever plotting of one backfires. Timothy, the gay protagonist, in "Timothy's Birthday" seems to seek to punish his parents for their perfect marriage. He refuses to visit them for his birthday celebration as he has always done. Instead, he sends a friend with an excuse. The disreputable Eddie delivers his hurtful message, then steals from the older couple.

Trevor's spare prose shimmers in this story's summary paragraph: "They didn't mention their son as they made their rounds of the garden that was now too much for them and was derelict in places. They didn't mention the jealousy their love of each other had bred in him, that had flourished into deviousness and cruelty. The pain the day had brought would not easily pass, both were aware of that. And yet it had to be, since it was part of what there was."

Another story takes place in the fields of Ireland today. Here, Trevor displays his gift for knowing the female heart as a young woman challenges the culture and mores bred into her parents' bones.

Trevor's work is meat compared to the broth of some of today's fiction. He continues to astound as he explores the complexities of family relationships with sympathetic candor. After Rain is one more triumph.

- Gail Cooke

"After Rain" is a stellar proof that William Trevor is one of the most respected Irish short story writers. As a literary artist, Trevor is known for his elegant and hushed rendering of the psychic state of his characters. In addition, Trevor is also a humanist of great empathy, allowing him to uncover hidden or neglected angles of seemingly pedestrian situations. One story in this collection, "Gilbert's Mother," amply demonstrates Trevor's empathy. The story opens with a crime scene, told from an objective, clinical tone akin to a newspaper report. Just when you expect the next scene to develop the mystery further, Trevor switches the lens to a bystander, a woman, who, for the remainder of the story, contemplates whether her troubled son would be capable of committing such a crime. Trevor developed her skillfully, weaving with ease strained dealings between mother and son, as well as painful details of her past. The true crime to be solved here is how external circumstances beyond our control irrevocably sever our emotional ties from our loved ones, preventing us from ever knowing them fully.

A few pieces in this collection seem less inspired and not as well-executed. Some authorial comments that serve to wrap up stories seem forced. And as much as I admire Trevor the stylist, the elegance of language may border on the self-righteous when situations described do not warrant such treatment--minor quibbles in an otherwise fine collection.

Highly Readable, Highly Enjoyable. Just what you would expect from Trevor. In a clear and simple style he writes about ordinary lives, and when you finish you realize there is nothing ordinary about them.

This novel deals with racial issues and must be approached with an open mind. It is presented from the viewpoint of a black investigator, Easy Rawlins. The setting is the Los Angeles area in the early 1960s. Civil rights are just getting into motion.

Easy is a wannabe real estate mogul who is short on cash. He needs to support himself and two children that he has taken in (unofficially adopted). He needs money, and has been approached to find Black Betty - the nickname of a woman whom he knew in Texas when he was a child. He has a reputation for being able to find people.

It is a complex case. There are questions about just why people are looking for Black Betty. A number of people are killed along the way, and relationships are established as the story moves along. There are some very ugly people, including racist police officers. This was well before the time of Rodney King when events could be picked up on video.

Things do not necessarily end well. You will get a good view of some of the underside of society and people's social attitudes. There are some side plots. Some guilty people are punished, sometimes in ways they would not have expected.

Mosley's Easy Rawlins series of crime novels are collectively a great read. Novel by novel Mosley takes us from the optimistic, sunny post-war LA toward a bleaker, jaded experience - so by the time we get to Black Betty in the early 1960s, Rawlins has worked for 15 hard year trying to better his family, and yet still he keeps getting dragged back into his past - this time to earn a couple of hundred dollars to find the whereabouts of a housemaid whom he once knew as Black Betty.

This time the tension is ratcheted up a notch because of the risk to Rawlins' family of adopted kids, and because of the return of his violent friend Mouse, just out of jail and eager to blow the heads off the people who put him there.

But where Mosley scores is in his faithful recall of the events of the early 1960s - there is mounting Black Anger, the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening and the news bulletins feature a fiery Martin Luther King and...later in the novel, the death of JFK. I've seen many noverls where history is wheeled in to lend gravitas to the narrative, but nobody does it better than Mosley. Seen from the tired, indignant viewpoint of Ezekiel Rawlins, our modern history weighs heavily. I loved this novel and this next summer I'm going to re-read the Rawlins series once more. Five stars? Not enough. Mosley is a literary treasure and Black Betty rates as one of his finest.

I don't generally like crime fiction. There's a sentence to alienate most of the people reading this review! However for some writers - the great ones - the genre they write in is irrelevent. It cannot be denied that Mosley is a great writer, who has shown equal facility in tough but politically and socially literate crime writing and also in witty and wise post-modern science-fiction.

Black Betty is a fine demonstration of his craft. His particular skill is in weaving the world into his tales. The mystery is well-constructed and satisfyingly tangled, featuring multiple murders, corruption and racial and class divisions. However the central plot is framed both by the atmosphere of early 1960s America with the rise of the civil rights movement confronting old prejudices, and by the dense web of family and social life within the families of ordinary, mainly (but not entirely) black, working class Americans.

In theory Easy Rawlins' role in the investigations in which he is involved is limited to where white men fear to tread - the black community. However the networks of corruption and deceit he uncovers inevitably take him outside this world, in this case into the bizarre and emtionally-stunted world of white land-owners and their complicated relationships with their black and latino servants, as well as a corrupt and racist police force and legal system.

Easy is also personally involved - Elizabeth Eady AKA Black Betty - the woman whose disappearance he is hired to investigate was a teenage crush of his, a woman who inspires obsession in many, which turns out to be her tragedy. At the same time, Easy has to contend with several other difficulties: the release of his psychotic - but often useful - friend, Mouse, from prison, bristling with anger and the need to revenge himself on the man who sent him down; the ongoing silence of his eldest adopted child Jesus, who has chosen not to speak as a result of the trauma and abuse from which Easy rescued him; the suspicious collapse of the real estate businesses in which he has invested his occasional earnings; and various other ongoing personal and social difficulties. Easy Rawlins has a well described and believable, if unconventional, family and a life beyond the crimes he is occasionally employed to solve. He is a fascinating character who has grown with successive novels; full of desire and anger but compassionate, wise and often painfully self-aware.

I would rate Black Betty as the best of the Easy Rawlins tales. What is particularly great about it is Easy's story of personal survival and compromise in an unfair world where a black man cannot sit back and enjoy what he has without someone trying to destroy it. Easy does get to the bottom of things, but it is at immense cost to all those involved including himself, and in the case of Mouse - well, as those who know the character will be aware that there is very little in the world that will stop him doing what he has set his mind on.

This is ultimately a tale cut about with sadness and rage, and a mighty fine and and jolting read it is too.

Walter Mosley doesn't just write mysteries. He creates a historical landscape peopled with vibrant and authentic characters who like most of us are flawed and lacking in some way. "Black Betty" is Mosley at his best. The mystery is enthralling and many layered, the atmosphere electric, and the villains exquisitely evil.

The time is 1961 the era of Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, and the beginning of The Civil rights movement. Easy Rawlings is raising two adopted children on his own, and his secret real-estate empire is sinking. He has no idea how to solve his financial problems until a sleazy private eye Saul Lynx approaches him with a job. Lynx offers Easy $200 to track down a former acquaintance of his, Elizabeth Eady, aka Black Betty. Betty a beautiful and sensual woman has vanished from her wealthy employer's home in Beverly Hills.

Easy's search for Betty will uncover a trail of chaos and murder. To make matters worse, Easy's psychopathic best friend Mouse is also out of prison determined to find and execute the man who betrayed him. However, this book is much more than a murder mystery; it is a journey into the heart of racial bigotry and the paradox that is the human race. The language is vibrant and moving:

On the bus there were mainly old people and young mothers and teenagers coming in late to school. Most of them were black people. Dark-skinned with generous features. Women with eyes so deep that most men can never know them. Women like Betty who'd lost too much to be silly or kind. And there were the children, like Spider and Terry T once were, with futures so bleak it could make you cry just to hear them laugh. Because behind the music of their laughing you knew there was the rattle of chains. Chains we wore for no crime; chains we wore for so long that they melded with our bones. We all carry them but nobody can see it-not even most of us. All the way home I thought about freedom coming for us at last. But what about all those centuries in chains? Where do they go when you get free?

This is not merely a fast paced and gripping mystery but a powerful story of one of the saddest aspects of American life. Mosley does not preach nor condemn, he merely presents us with a historically accurate account of an era in which this mystery story unfolds. I highly recommend this story.

Raymond Chandler made the definitive statement about L.A.'s Santa Ana Winds at the beginning of his short story "Red Wind." In Easy Rawlins' L.A., the hot, dry winds that fill the lungs with cactus dust and make the skin peel around the fingernails never seem to stop.

Easy is in search of an erotic dream woman from his childhood who is being sought by one of those rich white families who have more skeletons than clothes in their closets. Around the same time, the very dangerous Raymond "Mouse" Alexander is released from the pen; and Easy's attempt to make a killing in the real estate market run up against a brick wall.

There are plot threads aplenty, and enough characters to fill a passenger liner. Mosley is too good a writer to leave any threads untied, but I do get lost at times with some of the characters. One bad dude is not heard from for a hundred pages when he commits a particularly heinous murder at the very end. "Oh, yeah, wasn't he the guy that ...?" Sometimes, I would have welcomed the list of characters, complete with nicknames, that occasionally accompanies an 800-page Russian novel.

What makes this a minor complaint is that Mosley has such a great sense of place and so much feeling for his characters. We don't meet the character he calls "Black Betty" until the end of the novel, but we keep seeing vignettes from Easy's past that keep building up the suspense, and any expectations are more than fulfilled by an ending that is bloodier than the last act of Hamlet.