The Gate of Angels is the fourth in my catching up of Penelope Fitzgerald novels and they just get better and better. Not a long book but one full of character and humour. Cambridge in 1912 is a wonderful setting. Her dialogue, of which there is plenty, is superb, so realistic and witty. Sometimes the simplest of prose can be devastating, at other times it is captivatingly intellectually brave. Some of the physics goes over my head, but it never loses my interest. I have two more of her books to order.
Such a well constructed story, the cold war sequel to the equally good The Girl who Fell from the Sky. The new book Tightrope is full of great characters. Even the heroine's family are well drawn. The first half is quite harrowing as Marion recovers from the consequences of the ending of the first book. But the way her talents and training come slowly into play in the second half is very clever. Such an easy fast read, I thought that the prose must have been very plain. But I was wrong, it sparkles when it needs to. At an RAF party the CO's wife Beryl gives Marion some advice that only a great writer could have put into words. You don't have to read the first book, but I recommend that you do.
Not my kind of book I'm afraid. I occasionally try the odd thriller and I'm often disappointed. There was quite an interesting premise in Disclaimer that made the first third tolerable, but then it's just plot, plot, plot, twist, twist, twist, repeat, repeat, repeat. "Shades of Gone Girl" on the cover and I found that book equally poor.
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