I bought my copy of The Wolves of Savernake as a ‘blind-date’ book – it was wrapped in brown paper, with only a tag that read “Historical novel where you can delve into the medieval world of Savernake Forest! Intrigue, crime, detective.” I picked it up from the used bookstore at Avebury Stone Circle, which as it turns out, was an incredibly appropriate place to buy this book. Synopsis of The Wolves of Savernake Set in the Wiltshire countryside following the Norman conquest, The Wolves of Savernake follows Ralph Delchard and Gervase Brett, two men commissioned by William the Conqueror to…
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Margaret Forster once wrote that Daphne du Maurier ‘satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied too the exacting requirements of “real literature”, something very few novelists ever do.’ Having read Rebecca a year ago, I knew that du Maurier was particularly talented when it came to creating suspenseful stories, books that have lent themselves to being not only re-read but also re-adpated, again and again, making du Maurier one of the most beloved English language authors I have covered. But it was reading Jamaica Inn this summer that I realised how right Forster was. It’s difficult…
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I don’t feel very connected to my culture. I am the grandchild of Indian immigrants on both sides of my family, and truthfully, I’ve always felt a little more English than Indian. I observe some of the festivals, but barely speak the languages. I consume the food, but not the religion. I know that it’s a little sad not to feel my cultural roots, but I recognise that much of this is by choice – I can blame my parents for not teaching me Hindi growing up, but I can’t really blame them for the fact that I, at 26…