England Books

Ms. Grabien has a wonderful way of mixing history and music into a tense ghost story. I do wonder a bit, how many times she can make this formula work. But, there's a interesting cast of characters and well-done descriptions that add to the suspense. My only small complaint was the use of French without translation. But, for paranormal fans, it's a good read.

This was a very good book. Fast read. Wonderful ghost story like ghost stories should be done. I have bought and started reading the 2nd book and loving it. I hope to see much from this author.

I've now read all three of Grabien's Haunted Ballad books (sadly, out of order), and while all are enjoyable, this is the most riveting. Her characters are extremely well-drawn and likable, which always adds to my satisfaction with a novel. Moreover, her writing style is fun to read, full of description and showing a beautiful command of language. The best part of this novel, however, is the plot. It twists and turns smartly, builds well, and has a great ending!

I wouldn't be surprised if Deborah Grabien's characters walked off the page and into my living room, that's how absorbing her writing is. Right from the start you're swept up in her characters' lives; you root for them to solve the mystery and are sorry to see them go at the end of the story.

When I was a kid growing up I always wanted to go on a camping trip with Louis L'Amour just so I could listen to him tell tales around the campfire. With Grabien I'd want a scrumptious meal and fine wine; she's the kind of writer you want to settle in to enjoy.

This is the second book in a series of mystery novels. You don't need to read them in order, but you are going to want to read them both so you might as well buy "The Weaver and the Factory Maid" too while you're at it!

Theater producer of the traveling troupe The Tamborlaine Players Penelope Wintercraft-Hawkes and folklorist and building restorer Ringan Laine never expected to deal with ghosts again after the exorcism of the latter's home. Penny is ecstatic when she learns she inherited Bellefield, a theatre on Hawthorne Walk in London. She hires Ringan to restore the place as she plans to put on the play Iphagenia.

However, from the moment that Penny sets foot in her new theatre she hears voices and sees visions of a woman on fire asking for a priest. The angry ghost hurt Ringan and indirectly caused the death of an art restorer. Until they can get rid of the ghost they cannot restore the place nor rehearse the upcoming production. With each passing day, the ghost grows stronger intending touse Penny as the means to leave Hawthorne Walk.

Deborah Grabien has written a fabulous ghost story in which the seemingly mean-spirited ghost will elicit fan empathy. The protagonists are likable and complex while brave enough to try to banish the ghost. Historical tidbits from the reigns of Richard II and the Regent John of Gaunt provide an authentic anchor to an enjoyable paranormal tale. Readers who enjoyed THE FAMOUS FLOWER OF SERVING MEN will want to obtain the first novel starring Penny and Ringan, THE WEAVER AND THE FACTORY MAID.

Harriet Klausner

This story is great for people looking for a book that gets you thinking. I rather enjoyed reading this book and am currently looking for other books written by KAtherine Hull and Pamela Whitlock.

The Far Distant Oxus and it's sequels were among my favorite childhood books. I recently re-read them and was once again swept into a world in which children create their own adventures, a river, the forest, the moores are an invitation to adventure and life is filled with endless possibilities. The relationships between the children are very real, with just a tinge of mystery. I found myself nostalgic for a childhood that I never had after reading them again. Written by teenagers, the book lacks any sentimentality, rather the authors' youth seems to have lent an authenticity to the thoughts and feelings of the featured children. I wish someone would publish it again.

This is a book I discovered as a child in 1938, together with the other two books in the series, "Oxus in Summer" and "Escape to Persia". The child's view of the world as endlessly exciting and the kinds of adventures the children have are so authentic that I doubt any child could resist them. In the present climate the freedom these children have, the imagination, the absence of cruelty or danger, the connection to animals and to each other is enormously refreshing. The book was out of print for a long time but was reissued in 1978 with a fascinating forward by Arthur Crowe Ransome, through whose efforts it was originally published. These books were favorites of mine in childhood and when I used to read them aloud to my own children. I still own all three and now read them to my grandchildren. I have never met a child who had a chance to read this book who didn't love it.

This is a book I discovered as a child in 1938, together with the other two books in the series, "Oxus in Summer" and "Escape to Persia". The child's view of the world as endlessly exciting and the kinds of adventures the children have are so authentic that I doubt any child could resist them. In the present climate the freedom these children have, the imagination, the absence of cruelty or danger, the connection to animals and to each other is enormously refreshing. The book was out of print for a long time but was reissued in 1978 with a fascinating forward by Arthur Crowe Ransome, through whose efforts it was originally published. These books were favorites of mine in childhood and when I used to read them aloud to my own children. I still own all three and now read them to my grandchildren. I have never met a child who had a chance to read this book who didn't love it.

I first read this book when I was about 11 - I discovered it in my local library, and ended up borrowing it again and again. I have recently managed to track down a second-hand copy but sadly this is a U.S. edition without the authors' charming illustrations. I loved the Arthur Ransome books as a child but I loved this more - so vividly written, and the children seemed so real. One very memorable scene (to me) was when they were reflecting on their own adventures and realising that they would soon be grown up and that their lives, and the countryside in which the book is set (Exmoor) would soon never be the same again. This was very astute for two teenagers to have written shortly before the outbreak of World War II, especially when you look back 60 years later.

I bought this book in London and I couldn't put it down! I was exciting reading about places that I was visiting with wonderfully descriptive scenes. There were many nights of reading until the wee hours of the morning.

Sean Bryant
St. Louis

Gray's gifts as a dramatist are in evidence throughout this fine novel. The dialouge and period detail are marvelous. Strange that this ambitiuous entertainment didn't get the reviews lavished on Mr. Timothy which was fine but not as well-written.

This book I would recommend without doubt and is a very enjoyable read. The description of 19th century London and the characters are accurate and interesting.

With no small amount of national pride, I'm thrilled to report that mere superlatives somehow seem insufficient to convey Gray's debut success with The Fiend in Human.

Edmund Whitty is a profligate, dissolute freelance journalist who has succumbed to every known Victorian vice save womanizing - snuff, cigarettes, gin, opium, laudanum, and Acker's Chlorodine (a potent mixture of opium, marijuana and cocaine in alcohol!) Despite having achieved a measure of journalistic fame and public notoriety by assigning the moniker "Chokee Bill" to William Ryan, currently awaiting execution for the strangulation and grisly mutilation of five ladies of questionable virtue, Whitty struggles with an ongoing desperate need to produce the income required to stave off gambling debtors who won't hesitate to use a physical beating to persuade payment. In the course of searching out new "crisp copy", lurid sensational pieces he can submit to his tight-fisted editor, he meets the impoverished Henry Owler, a "patterer" who wishes to render Ryan's last confession before his hanging into "true crime" verse. But Ryan (not unlike other convicted criminals, of course) protests he is innocent and circumstances begin to persuade Owler and Whitty that Ryan is indeed telling the truth. The signature white scarf killings have continued, swept under the carpet and hushed up by one and all - the police, the merchants, the petty criminals and even the poverty stricken residents of the local neighbourhood! Whitty in a desperate bid to achieve real fame in a fading, limpid journalistic career and financial freedom from the debtors who are relentlessly hounding him, decides to stake all on proving Ryan's innocence.

Gray has masterfully married the ascerbically witty, comic and always flowery Dickensian dialogue with Anne Perry's superb, elegant atmospheric descriptions of Victorian London life and then improved both by taking a step down into a much grittier, earthier representation of real characters living real lives. Two gentlemen Oxford swells pass wastrel days around gaming, sex and booze. The pain and wretched difficulties of daily life in a London slum are portrayed in exquisite, graphic detail that might warrant a warning to sensitive viewers were the medium television instead of a novel. Older female chaperones, quaintly termed "confidential friends", are employed to protect the nominal virtue of young ladies of marriageable age. The surviving local champion bare-knuckles boxer is portrayed as a friendly publican quite capable of acting as his own bouncer. Steet walkers and hookers are picked up by "gentleman" johns with a ritualized stylized dialogue and negotiation that, by today's standards, is absolutely hilarious.

You'll be treated, for example, to Gray's wonderful Dickensian variation on a simple theme that you and I would have written as simply "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder":

"For in truth there exists no young female (charwoman or countess, schoolgirl or flower-seller) in London who does not exist in some male mind as a tantalizing fantasy, in whose honour some schoolboy does not regularly engage in self-abuse - fantasy which, when he becomes an old boy, he will seek to make real. Hence, the relation between the brothel and the theatre: success in both depends upon one's observation of the world, of the human mind, as well as one's own outward identity in the calligraphy of sex."

The whodunit succeeds admirably with a couple of superb twists reserved until the final pages. In fact, the final twist, a brilliant piece of mis-direction by Gray, is held in reserve until the very last paragraph! On a somewhat deeper level, Gray manages, like Dickens, to also make probing critical comment on a number of issues without disrupting the flow of the story in the slightest. For example, his criticism of the ethics of journalists and the vested interest they have in creating news where none necessarily exists is quite apparent.

What a find! The Fiend in Human qualifies as perhaps the finest, most enjoyable read I've had the good luck to encounter over the last few years!

Paul Weiss

With no small amount of national pride, I'm thrilled to report that mere superlatives somehow seem insufficient to convey Gray's debut success with The Fiend in Human.

Edmund Whitty is a profligate, dissolute freelance journalist who has succumbed to every known Victorian vice save womanizing - snuff, cigarettes, gin, opium, laudanum, and Acker's Chlorodine (a potent mixture of opium, marijuana and cocaine in alcohol!) Despite having achieved a measure of journalistic fame and public notoriety by assigning the moniker "Chokee Bill" to William Ryan, currently awaiting execution for the strangulation and grisly mutilation of five ladies of questionable virtue, Whitty struggles with an ongoing desperate need to produce the income required to stave off gambling debtors who won't hesitate to use a physical beating to persuade payment. In the course of searching out new "crisp copy", lurid sensational pieces he can submit to his tight-fisted editor, he meets the impoverished Henry Owler, a "patterer" who wishes to render Ryan's last confession before his hanging into "true crime" verse. But Ryan (not unlike other convicted criminals, of course) protests he is innocent and circumstances begin to persuade Owler and Whitty that Ryan is indeed telling the truth. The signature white scarf killings have continued, swept under the carpet and hushed up by one and all - the police, the merchants, the petty criminals and even the poverty stricken residents of the local neighbourhood! Whitty in a desperate bid to achieve real fame in a fading, limpid journalistic career and financial freedom from the debtors who are relentlessly hounding him, decides to stake all on proving Ryan's innocence.

Gray has masterfully married the ascerbically witty, comic and always flowery Dickensian dialogue with Anne Perry's superb, elegant atmospheric descriptions of Victorian London life and then improved both by taking a step down into a much grittier, earthier representation of real characters living real lives. Two gentlemen Oxford swells pass wastrel days around gaming, sex and booze. The pain and wretched difficulties of daily life in a London slum are portrayed in exquisite, graphic detail that might warrant a warning to sensitive viewers were the medium television instead of a novel. Older female chaperones, quaintly termed "confidential friends", are employed to protect the nominal virtue of young ladies of marriageable age. The surviving local champion bare-knuckles boxer is portrayed as a friendly publican quite capable of acting as his own bouncer. Steet walkers and hookers are picked up by "gentleman" johns with a ritualized stylized dialogue and negotiation that, by today's standards, is absolutely hilarious.

You'll be treated, for example, to Gray's wonderful Dickensian variation on a simple theme that you and I would have written as simply "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder":

"For in truth there exists no young female (charwoman or countess, schoolgirl or flower-seller) in London who does not exist in some male mind as a tantalizing fantasy, in whose honour some schoolboy does not regularly engage in self-abuse - fantasy which, when he becomes an old boy, he will seek to make real. Hence, the relation between the brothel and the theatre: success in both depends upon one's observation of the world, of the human mind, as well as one's own outward identity in the calligraphy of sex."

The whodunit succeeds admirably with a couple of superb twists reserved until the final pages. In fact, the final twist, a brilliant piece of mis-direction by Gray, is held in reserve until the very last paragraph! On a somewhat deeper level, Gray manages, like Dickens, to also make probing critical comment on a number of issues without disrupting the flow of the story in the slightest. For example, his criticism of the ethics of journalists and the vested interest they have in creating news where none necessarily exists is quite apparent.

What a find! The Fiend in Human qualifies as perhaps the finest, most enjoyable read I've had the good luck to encounter over the last few years!

It's a history book and a cookbook all in one. The biggest selling point for me is the accuracy of the recipes. Can you believe it contains a mincemeat recipe that actually contains meat! That's a rare gem these days. If you love food history as much as you do a good dish you will want to own this book.

As someone who loves to cook and is fascinated by early american history, I was extremely pleased by the content of this book. It is not merely a cookbook but a history book as well. This book can be enjoyed by children and adults equally.

Wonderful! Curtin and Oliver put together a unique collection of exquisite and easy to follow recipes. The history behind the national holiday is also explained with interesting details and complements nicely the culinary section. Whether the reader wants to learn more about the tradition or wants to impress friends and family at the dinner table, this is the book to read!
Giving Thanks. A book to have and a book to give!

A fantastic book to read! The recipes we tried were outstanding-easy to read directions & the history behind each dish was a treat to read. I am looking forward to using these recipes at our Thanksgiving this year.

This is a fun book. The book has great trivia and history, and a great variety of the old traditional recipes. But along with that, are the recipes created by the different cultures of our "Melting Pot", who adapted their own wonderful tastes and flavors to their Thanksgiving celebration. This year, my family is going use only recipes in this cookbook to make a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.

Susan Howatch may be a woman with training in the law, but she gets inside the mindset of male priests in the Anglican Church (Episcopal Church in the U.S.) better than anyone else. This is a mystery, a suspense novel, a love story and a deeply psychological look at spiritual direction all rolled into one. The book begins with a man having a vision of a small country chantry (chapel). Outside the chapel is a unique suitcase. Is this god telling him to pack his bags and leave the monastary he has known for so many years? After intense spiritual direction, that I found riveting, he decides to leave. He goes on holiday, and while walking down the hall of the inn he is at, he see the suitcase of his vision! He has to meet the owner of the valise. She turns out to be a beautiful woman (much younger than himself). Will love ensue? What is god's will? This book will encourage you to consider the power of prayer and god's direction for your life. It will call you to wrestle with the possibility of healing and evil. This book began my love affair with each of the books in the "Starbridge" series. It could be the start of something special for you, too.

The second in the series of Starbridge books - Glamorous Powers - is the one I liked the best. IN this book we get to know Jon Darrow, who figured in the first volume Glittering Images as Charles Ashworth's spiritual director, more intimately. Whereas in Glamorous powers, seen through Charles Ashworth's eyes, he was the perfect super priest who knew everything, here we actually get under Jon's skin and see him as he sees himself: as a flawed, confused man with many problems, in particular concerning his relationship with women. Jon had spent several years in a monastery as a monk, but now, in his sixties, he receives a calling from God to leave the monastery and fulfil a mission in the world - but he doesn't know what. Nor is he certain if that mission includes marriage.
For anyone with an interest in Gnosticism and mysticism, this is a particularly interesting book - but such an interest is definitely not a pre-condition for reading and enjoying it! I'm not the only Howatch reader to have this as their favourite in the series. (...)

With the 2nd book in Howatch's Anglican trilogy, we explore the story of the monk who was the therapist in book #1. He is also 60 years old, a psychic and a vision from God sends him back into the world and out of the monastery. There is a great deal of counselling and angst in this novel as well. There isn't enough different about this novel to make it the same fascinating read as book #1 though. I've already bought book #3 and I hope we follow a different pattern with that one. He does find a new woman as part of his vision from God as her bag and her estate were specifically seen in it. The Anglicans must spend more time in analysis than Freud himself ever dreamed possible!

This review is for the first Ballantine Books paperback edition, November 1989, a volume of unknown origin found while cleaning out the bookcase. I decided to read it only because Amazon.com customers rated it five stars. Although I was raised as a Roman Catholic, and at age thirteen spent a year in the seminary, I soon became disenchanted with, and largely disinterested in, organized religion. Notwithstanding this bias, I'm glad that I read GLAMOROUS POWERS.

The plot opens in Grand Chester England at a quarter to six on Friday morning, May 17, 1940 in the cell of Jon Darrow, who for the past seventeen years has been a monk in the (fictional) Anglican Fordite Order of Saint Benedict and Saint Bernard. Jon is having a vision. He interprets this vision as God's instruction to leave the order and embark on a new, unspecified calling. Before Jon can leave, however, he must convince the Abbot General, Francis Ingram that his vision was a communication from the Holy Spirit and not an aberration of a disturbed psyche. There follows a fascinating mental dual between Jon and Francis.

This deep and literary exploration of psyches pervades the story. Before each chapter and section, the author liberally quotes from the works of W. R. Inge, particularly MYSTICISM IN RELIGION. Jon has mystical (glamorous) powers, healing powers, which Francis thinks are often nothing more than "parlour tricks." I thought of "Anglo-shamanism."

Although the story evolves within the institutions of religion, it does not tamper with faith or belief, so the reader need not worry about being upset by heresy or theological debate. The author confines polemic disputes between Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics, Low Church and High Church, to ritual, and treats these as external conflict rather than internal struggle. This story is not about religion, but about the psyche, with pervasive emphasis on the guilt and anger emanating from parental failures.

Jon Darrow has problems, "dis-ease" he would say. The larger than life character is Francis Ingram who unravels Jon's troubled psyche without revealing his own disturbances. At one point Jon shuns Francis and mires himself into a muck of troubles, and at page 296 I made a note that the story was getting a bit tedious. It revived, I thought, around page 339 with the return of my hero Francis. Indeed, the acerbic and witty letters written by Francis to Jon are splendid examples of writing at its very best.

One only gets small hints in 'Glittering Images' that there is a lot more to Jon Darrow than meets the eye, 'Glamourous Powers' is his story. After leaving his order after seeing a vision, Darrow tries to work out his vocation and in his attempt lets his ego and spiritual arrogance get the better of him which leads to tragedy, but also the offer of spiritual renewal afterwards. An excellent look at how spiritual leaders and mentors have their own failings and the fact that they also need to be helped and disiplined. It is an excellent argument against those who are completeley against charismatic renewal, but also against those who are totally for it without seeing the warning signs and the need to be answerable to someone who you trust but who who you also don't have a cosy relationship with.

I liked this book, but as good as it is, I thought the second book in this series (Beyond the Sacred Page) is better. Perhaps this is just subjective. I guess I was hoping to see more of John Wycliffe intertwined in the story. Instead he's kind off on the sidelines as the other characters interact. Gripping story, however. Read it.

this is one of the best books i have ever read i finished it in 2 days! has everything one would want in a novel .. as a Christian definetly influenced the way i will see the bible.. A MUST READ

Wow...this book was really great! I had never read anything by Jack Cavanaugh before, and I really don't know who he was - but this book totally blew me away. You get totally drawn into the story and you feel connected to each one of the characters - when one takes a blow you feel it! My favorite part of this book is how God is highlighted as the main focus -then there is this tender romance underlying it - that...wow, just tears at you! It's a great book, I highly recommend it, you won't be disappointed!

Jack Cavanaugh is one of my favorite writers of historical fiction--this book is yet another example of why he's so good at his craft. Facts and figures are woven into the fabric of the story, not stitched on top like superfluous trim. His homework is obvious, yet never overshadows the story or the characters. It's a powerful rendering of the Wycliffe history, told with a pastor's heart and a novelist's sense of drama. A wonderful read!

I highly recommend "Glimpses of Truth" to anyone who 1) enjoys a good adventure, 2) likes a tender romance and 3) wants to understand why the Bible is a precious book.

Jack Cavanaugh is a master of historical fiction, bringing to life the people and places involved in major events long ago that still affect us today. One can practically smell the earthy grime of the village of Fearnleah, taste an elaborate dinner prepared for the bishop, hear the hubbub at the annual Christ's Mass celebration. But more than that, we are led through young Thomas Torr's spiritual odyssey in a way that leaves a permanent impression; one can never look at the Bible in the same way.

All in all, this first volume in the Book of Books series is a great read and difficult to put down. But that's the case with most anything written by Cavanaugh!

The first and best of a family saga during the mid 1800s in England, when industry changes everyone's lives.

I can think of few better authors to take along on a long plane ride than Delderfield. God Is an Englishman is the first of a trilogy that runs a little out of gas by the end of the third book, but not in the first. To Serve Them All My Days got me hooked on Delderfield, and this series continued it. I can also recommend his book Diana. Alot of his works are out of print, although you can find them at liabraries, or Amazon's auction site -- or bookfinder.com

I am 15 and I loved God is an Englishman. Historical fiction is my favorite genre and the hours I spent on the 816 pages flew by. I found myself trying to finish my homework as early as possible so that I could get to the book before bed. It was also wonderful because it gave me so much to relate to in my Modern European History Class, where we are studying the same time period. I understand the events that we are learning about much more clearly because of Adam and Henrietta Swann. Everyone should read this book, I can't wait to read the other two!

This book has apparently stood the test of time. While I read it, I had no idea that it had been written 30 years ago. The historic details are magnificent, as is Delderfield's sense of English geography. The story is rather simple and predictable however. And the characters are too perfect. No character is this book is ever in danger of knowing failure, and to me, that detracts from their depth.

This book is a must read for any Anglophile. The story traces the development of a haulage firm that serves all of Enland and Wales and part of Scotland. While that is the major focus, the family life of the founder of "Swan on Wheels" is very much a part of it. In fact, all the characters involved are well presented with divergent and believable personalities.

This is the autobiography of John Bunyon and his life. It is about his life before and after Christ and the grace of God upon his life. John wrote this classic while in prison. He went to prison for preaching the gospel.

I've been looking forward to reading this book for years ever since I read Bunyan's classis Pilgrim's Progress, I've wanted to read Grace Abounding to learn more about his incredible man of faith. I also recently read The Hidden Smile of God by John Piper who introduces the reader to three incredible men of God including Bunyan. So actually reading the journey of Bunyan himself in his own words was thrilled...but difficult at the same time. Bunyan struggled greatly with the concept of grace; he wrestled with understanding how God's grace could be sufficient to save a sinner as great as he. Grace Abounding is a peering into the soul of Bunyan as he goes through this deep personal battle wanting to believe that God was able to cleanse him of all unrighteousness, but constantly confronted with the holiness of the divine.

Just over half way through the book, Bunyan surrenders to the will of God in his life. He finally and fully grasp that the grace of God was truly sufficient. Then his heart is set aflame to share this grace with others and he becomes one of the great preachers and writers of all time, even though he goes on to spend a dozen years confined to prison for preaching contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Personally, it was interesting to see the cultural battle Bunyan faced at the time looking back from my vantage 500 years later to see that America is the beneficiary of his great struggles with the prevailing church of the day. As Bunyan sat in prison, he wrote about the great journey from a metal worker to a pastor of the gospel of Christ - in allegory form for the Pilgrim's Progress and in autobiographical form in Grace Abounding.

I can understand why many believe this book is a classic - the thoughts and insights that Bunyan has into the Word of God were profound and significant. It was amazing to read how Scripture flowed through his mind irrigating every thought so that his life bore much fruit. I wouldn't recommend the book to a younger reader, it is a difficult read, but well worth the effort.

Grace Abounding....is an excellent autobiography of John Bunyan and his spiritual struggle to obtain assurance of his salvation in light if his belief that he had committed the unpardonable sin. Recommended to anyone who may be facing the same struggle with this question. Each paragraph of the text is numbered and, thus, it is easy to put the book down at any point and pick it back up later without losing train of thought. Since the book was written over 300 years ago, it is interesting to have insight into the thoughts of a Christian who lived during that time and to compare with current Christian thinking.

A lot of us are familiar with John Bunyan as the author of The Pilgrim's Progress, whose influence in Christendom is second to the Bible. Bunyan was a preacher, a prolific writer and a shining saint for God. However when we read this book we find out that he was an atheist and infidel in his youth, enjoying sin and rebellious towards God. Inwardly he suffered from tormented nightmares of demons and judgment, but outwardly he went on pretty much as any other sinner, taking delight in sin and being the ringleader of mischief. Several times he nearly lost his life, and even though there were several close calls, still he did not turn to God. After his marriage, he participated in religious activities, went through the motions of attending church and generally lived as he pleased, each time successfully shrugging off pangs of guilt. One day, after church, while playing a sport, a voice seemed to call out to him from heaven to his soul, which said, "Wilt thou leave thy sins and go to heaven, or have thy sins and go to hell?" Bunyan was convinced it was the Lord Jesus looking down on him in displeasure. What follows details his sinking into despair, his desparate attempts at working his way into God's good graces, and his struggles with temptation and doubt. In a strange sort of way, it is comforting to read about Bunyan's struggles and identify with them because you can see how he turned out so greatly used by God. He rationalized, made excuses and tried every way to justify himself. Bunyan did not try to gloss over his motivations but gave an honest account of his struggles from avowed sinner, to religious hypocrite before he was finally converted. He describes in great detail his doubts and despair, his yearning to be converted to Jesus Christ, and then being assured of his salvation by reading the Bible and praying. Reading this book will help you realize how God's grace can abound and save even the most wretched of sinners and gives us abounding hope.

I can't say that I have read this book...yet, but what I can say is that anyone who endeavours to read any work of Dr. Haykin is in for a real treat. He was my prof. for Church History, and a man whom I am thoroughly impressed with. He is a humble, diplomatic, professional person with a strong heart for God and His glory.
His knowledge on Church History is incredible, especially his understanding of the Reformation, the Puritans, and the Particular Baptist movements. But he cannot be limited there even. I could literally listen to him speak for hours.
I strongly recommend anything by Dr. Haykin as you will become well informed on the topic that he writes about, whether it's Cromwell, Bunyon, Edwards or anyone else.

God bless and enjoy.

This book is fabulous. I work as a travel nurse and recently spent 6 1/2 months in Maine. I had never been there before and spent several hours at the bookstore going through various Maine travel books before settling on this one. I certainly made the right choice. It was a wonderful resource. I spent hours reviewing the information in this book over the course of my time in Maine. I plan to go back to Maine next summer and will take my book right back with me. The information on shops, restaurants and points of interest was valuable and very accurate.

I've spent time at the book stores recently researching books for my upcoming trip to Maine. My wife and I plan to spend 4 nights and 5 days there and wanted plenty to see and do where we wouldn't necessarily meet thousands of other travelers since I'm not too much into the whole crowd experience. Brandes' book is so well researched that you can't go wrong with it!

While other typical books that are similar, such as Fodors and Frommers, have quite a bit of information in its own right, I think that this particular Moon Handbook is better equipped to give better detail of interest whether site seeing, dining, entertainment, lodging, etc.

I recently completed a Web site for a bed and breakfast located in Machiasport (down east) and had to do quite a bit of research on the area to enhance their site. My research was conducted primarily via the internet over the course of a few days. I'm glad to say that after I received my book and compared information, everything I could find on the Web in and around Machiasport was already included in sufficient detail in this book! I would have saved myself a few days of searching.

If you want to tour Maine or already live there but need to places to explore, the second edition Moon Handbook on Maine is the way to go.

When I vote with 4 stars, that means the product was excellent. When I vote with 5 stars, it goes beyond excellence in my view and is considered best in class. This book is "THE" authoritive book on touring Maine. Excellent purchase!

First of all, I have to mention that I live in Maine. And I can tell you from experience that the beauty of Kathleen Brandes' book lies in the sheer span of coverage, which is considerable, matched with a propensity for detail, which is astounding! Even the "Native" Mainers will find much to enjoy in this book. This is a rich, dense, and completely user-friendly volume, folks!
I'll give you an example. I'm a photographer based in the Bangor area. I bought this book for my personal library which aids me in seeking out photographic areas of interest. Last week I traveled to Lubec, Maine - and I used this handbook for lodging and dining info. I located the Eastland Motel in Lubec based on this handbook, and met the proprietor - Lee Aragon - who cheerfully provided suggestions for exploration in the Lubec-Eastport-Campobello region. I mentioned to Lee that I had read about her in The Maine Handbook...and that she was correctly described by Kathleen Brandes as a "Lubec booster". Lee was tickled pink by this, and by extension, I was able to get some nice local insights that I would never have known about otherwise.
Paging through this Maine Handbook, you get the feeling that Kathleen Brandes is a scholar of "All Things Maine", and she is enjoying every minute of it. And who can blame her? Maine truly is.....well.....the way life should be.
Buy the book, come to Maine....and if you already live here, buy the book anyway! It has become something of a "state bible" for me. Can't image traveling without it.
And there is something in this book for everyone. Kathleen has you covered, whether you are single, married with children, an armchair traveler or someone who simply wishes to know more about the Pine Tree State. Longtime locals and prospective tourists alike would do well to mine this gem of a book. I have two dog-eared copies....one for home, and one for my car - enough said.

This book has become an invaluable source! I've now travelled to Maine twice and brought the book both times. Brandes provides a wealth of information, especially for those things off the beaten path. The book includes very helpful maps - on my last trip I left my Maine atlas at home and found the maps included in the book to be quite helpful. The spine on my book is really starting to see some wear - I enjoy reading it even when I'm not travelling. I highly recommend this book, especially if you are planning to travel to the northern, less populated regions of Maine.

I LOVED this book. My family and I travel Maine each year and this book is THE guide (along with the Maine Atlas). It has helped us refine our experience in Maine to a very satisfying level.

The guide to natural sites/walks/boating is still wonderful.

However, if you've been to Maine before, you know that businesses come and go with alarming rapidity. This is especially true in the Eastern Coast. Most of the restaurants listed in the guide are long gone or under different managements, so don't count on finding a place to eat based on this guide.

George Harvey Bone has a complicated mental disorder: he has schizophrenia, in which he has a split personality, which comes over him at unexpected times. George is deeply involved with the "Hangover Square" set of Earl's Court, London, where he's in love with the beautiful but dangerous Netta Longdon, who treats him despicably. Her whole set, George included, spend their days in idle dissipation, drinking and carousing all the time, as Europe teeters on the brink of the Second World War. But George has one mission: to kill Netta and her friend Peter.

What's so wonderful about this book is that Patrick Hamilton gets into George's head wonderfully, and he transitions back and forth between George's "moods" easily. Every time that George slides into his second personality, he finds himself forgetting his mission. The tension in this thriller (a word I ate to use because it conjures to my mind commercial fiction) arises from this: will he or won't he commit murder? Therefore, the ending of this book came as a complete, shocking surprise to me. Its easy to see why so many authors envy Hamilton's writing ability; this novel is a nearly perfect expose of lower-class London at the end of the 1930s and the effect of mental instability on one's actions. The travesty about this book is that it's poorly edited.

Hangover Square is centered around a group of young Brits drinking their way through 1939. It has a plot that slowly builds and eventually serves to expose the motives of all those involved. It recalls the tone created around drink in The Sun Also Rises but with deeper character development (and as far as drinking goes- these guys are right there with that infamous group).

At its core is the book's main character, George Harvey Bone. George is obsessed with Netta Longdon for reasons that, I must admit, are completely unclear to me as she is one of the coldest and calculating women imaginable. A true femme fetale, really. She keeps punishing George and the poor sap just keeps coming back for more. In the midst of all this George has bouts with schizophrenia and 'moods' that severely hamper him and ultimately cause him to plot his revenge on everyone that he perceives as ever having wronged him.

Lots of novels have been written around drink with young drunks at their core, but nothing I've read has gone quite this deep into the allures of inebriation. However what really elevates Hangover Square is the manner in which the subtle charms and peaceful bliss of sobriety are unearthed. One character sums it up by wondering if the hangover and the night before occurred in reverse chronology, would we even drink in the first place ? This inner calm of sobriety might be best exemplified by George's golf outing. It is an afternoon that proves to be both his escape from his mates and a confidence builder to be rewarded later by an 'in crowd', that opposed to his clique, actually has redeeming qualities to them. For the time being, he is validated.

I found Hangover Square in an odd way. I read a scathing review of a new novel by the book critic of The Atlantic wherein he blasted the new release that everyone else was raving about. His blanket negativity, in some weird way, fascinated me. So I looked into the guy and saw that he pretty much hated EVERYTHING. The web is a wonderful thing, so I took it on myself to find something- anything, that this critic found acceptable. Eventually I found something that he actually liked and it was Hangover Square, so I thought I'd read it. I am grateful that I did.

The journey is the reward here. 'Literary thriller' is an overused term, but here it is a very accurate description as plot, characterization and a life outlook all combine brilliantly. Patrick Hamilton's writing style is a direct one and a pleasure to read. The book grabbed me from the beginning. It covers all the bases and contains some wonderfully euphoric passages, but know that in the end it is a sad tale with a sad ending.

A great book - read it.

Patrick Hamilton's 1941 novel, Hangover Square, is confirmation that hangovers form the foundation of alcoholism. Palliation of symptoms is only a drink away. The main character, George Harvey Bone leads the reader into a world of drink-inflicted physical illness, and we understand it as a way of life for all the important characters. But, George has an additional illness, schizophrenia, that creates another world available only to him and to the reader. Hamilton's writing is seductive, and the reader accepts and wants to enter this second dimension. We want George to go beyond the hangover and "click" into his special psychotic state. It is in this state that George achieves a peace he cannot get any other way, safe from the chaos of hangover square and his obsession with Netta. Safety, however, is governed by evil, and readers are confronted with the peace of their own evil desires.

Hangover Square is a novel of physical and mental sickness that shows parallels with the so-called normal lives of readers. Hamilton's wonderful insight into the human comedy/tragedy makes this novel come to life even though, on the surface, readers do not feel that they have much in common with the characters. This insightful style is evident in another Hamilton novel, The Slaves of Solitude (1947). I predict that when readers enter George's two worlds, they will discover that they are only one drink and one click away from illness and madness.

Criminally unknown and unheralded stateside, this book ranks alongside Julian MacLaren-Ross' "Of Love & Hunger" as a 20th century classic and, on the evidence currently cluttering up the bookshops and Oprah's club, will probably remain an unchallenged classic throughout the 21st century.

Set on the eve of WWII, "Hangover Square" is the story of a seriously disturbed man, George Harvey Bone, who's fallen in with a bad crowd. Bone is a solitary gloomy man who lives in a hotel in Earl's Court, London. He has no family--except for an elderly aunt in Hunstanton. George doesn't work--instead he lives off of a modest nest egg and spends his days and nights hanging around a small-time actress, Netta, and her set of male admirers. George is obsessed with Netta, and although he originally impressed her with his ready ability to stand for rounds of drinks, now he's relegated to the status of lowly 'hanger-on.' He is one of "the class of men who desired her, who sought her favours, and to whom she intended to give no favours." He's tolerated--barely--for his money alone.

George is subject to 'moods.' When exposed to an unbearable level of emotional distress, his damaged personality copes by mental escape. He hears a "click" in his head, and then he 'wakes' up with another personality. Whereas George is normally quiet, gentle, and unassuming, his other secret self is cunning and violent. George is aware he 'blacks out' but has no memory of exactly what he does. Once he hears the 'click' he emerges into his other, fractured self, and he's momentarily confused until he finds his bearings: "it was as though he had dived into a swimming-bath and hit his head on the bottom, and was floating about, bewildered and inaudible to himself in hushed green depths."

Netta and her unpleasant friends constantly humiliate George, and in retaliation, during one of his moods, he plots her murder. Netta is blissfully unaware of this, and treats George abominably--using him to bolster her non-existent career. The novel tracks George's existence as he pathetically hopes for a crumb of attention from Netta and also records the episodes in which he flips from one personality to another. Patrick Hamilton's novel is atmospheric and tense as the story reveals George's boozy social world in the grimy smoke filled pubs of London. Netta is a fascinatingly bad yet strikingly beautiful character--a woman who is "sinisterly, devoid of all those qualities which her face and body externally proclaimed her to have--pensiveness, grace, warmth." "Hangover Square" is a gripping story of one man's descent into madness, and the act he deems necessary to gain escape from the unbearable torture of loving a woman who has no conscience. If you like the novels of Patrick Mcgrath, then you'll enjoy "Hangover Square" and its sad, lonely and ultimately complex protagonist. And if this Patrick Hamilton novel grabs your attention, I'd also recommend the DVD "The Charmer" which is based on Hamilton's novel "Mr. Stimpson and Mr. Gorse"--displacedhuman