The House of the Spirits
★★★☆☆
A fable spanning across four generations of the Trueba family
Shadow of the Wind
★★★★★
A mystery, thriller, romance and detective story which will have you gripped from the beginning to the end
The Inheritors
★★★★☆
In a pre-historic world, a simple, close-knit Neandertal family has to contend with the "new people", a group of early modern humans with a very different culture, abilities and weaponry
A German Requiem
★★★☆☆
The third in the Berlin Noir series; WW2 is done, and Bernie is still trying to eke out a living. He is called to Vienna to investigate a case, but is caught up in the complex interplay between Germans, the Allies, the Red Army and former Nazis in hiding
The Covenant of Water
★★★★☆
A multi-generational saga about a large St. Thomas Christian family in Kerala, and the mysterious illness that affects each generation of a family.
Train to Pakistan
★★★★☆
Mano Majra, a sleepy village is caught in the crossfire as it sits right on the fault line where a great nation is being divided in two.
The Pale Criminal
★★★☆☆
Tracing a blackmailer leads Bernie Gunther to the trail of a series of missing young girls... and a plot to discredit Jews that goes all the way to the top
March Violets
★★★★★
Bernie Gunther, a private detective in 1930’s Berlin, has to solve the murder of a billionaire’s daughter
Flood of Fire
★★★★★
The conclusion of the magnificent Ibis trilogy, and another foray into the language and history of the British Raj
Little Women
★★★☆☆
A coming-of-age novel set around the American Civil war, detailing the lives of four sisters from childhood to womanhood.
River of Smoke
★★★★☆
The Ibis completed its maiden voyage, taking labourers to Mauritius. The narrative shifts to Canton, and talks about the events that lead-up to the first Opium War
The Scarlet Letter
★★☆☆☆
In Puritan America, a young woman is accused of adultery, and is sentenced to wear the letter “A” on her outfit...
A Christmas Carol
★★★★★
A classic which has lent so much to our everyday parlance, and likely started the very concept of “Christmas Spirit”
Sea of Poppies
★★★★★
The first book of the Ibis trilogy, a delightful epic set in the 1830’s, telling the stories of several people whose lives intersect with the ocean-going vessel “Ibis”