I ever read. I am stunned that it has gone out of print. This book got me hooked on perennial gardening as a recent college grad with a postage stamp yard. Frederick McGourty is a devoted and experienced gardener with a wit. He is funny and very informative and the photos of his Connecticut borders are wonderful. He talks about plants as one would discuss neighbors, family, acquaintances and close friends. I have been recommending this book to friends and family for 10 years and own two copies, neither of which I allow out of my sight for more than a few months. If you are a new gardener, track this book down and it will save you years of frustration. If you love to garden, buy this book, don't lend it out, and treat yourself to a great winter read which will recommit you to a rewarding pasttime. If Mr. McGourty ever writes another gardening book I will snap up two copies in a second. He is a national treasure.

This book is a real treat for readers who wish to obtain an intimate glimpse into the customs, society, manners, and life of an upper middle class English family of the 15th Century.

The book presents a series of letters between various members of three generations of the Paston family, residents of the East Anglica area of England, principally Norfolk. The editor (Roger Virgoe) does a masterful job of weaving explanatory material, diagrams, and art work among the letters to make their contents
more meaningful to the modern reader.

The letters are presented in more or less chronological order and their contents reveal clearly the joys and trials of this family as they dealt with marriages, lawsuits, disease, and other relationships and concerns in many cases not unlike those we encounter in our own lives today.

The letters vividly convey an impression of the diversity of peoples and customs of Eastern England in Late Medieval times. The book is eminently readable and can be thoroughly enjoyed by either the casual layman reader or medieval historian.

This is a terrific book that contains hundreds of pictures and a brief history of South Norfolk, Virginia - now a part of Chesapeake, Virginia.

The book contains photographs from the 1880s to the 1960s and is divided into the following parts: Downtown South Norfolk, Business and Industries, Goverment and Public Safety, Churches, Residences, School Days, Sports Teams, Portlock, People and Points of Interest and Winter Memories.

The book does a great job of including most everything of import. This book is definitely nostalgic and is a must if you grew up in South Norfolk or spent any time there.

A very well presented book with illustrations and history of the signs on every page. A lot of work went into its preparation and it is worth possessing

This is a story of connected events which involves life and death situations in a world of blackmail, drugs and big money. In this corrupting world people begin to owe others but sometimes the price becomes their own life. When you get involved in criminal activities like these you pay a high price. The author Winona Sullivan has very well coincided two plots in one story. This mystery is a vow of chastity, a vow of sanctity and a vow of silence.

Feeling a bit blue? Well pick up this book and you'll be cheered up in no time. It's funny and smart, and even better, the sequel is just as good.

I read both Hens Dancing and Summertime & enjoyed them immensely. I love this type of fun "women's fiction" book. The book is in diary form and follows Venetia through a year of her life as an eccentric single mother of three. The setting is small town/rural outside of London. She is an artistic type character who can't seem to ever get herself as together and organized as all the other mothers at her childrens' school. The house is never clean, the laundry is never done, her love of gardening never seems to result in a beautiful garden, and random pets & other animals are always creating havoc. It was great fun! I highly recommend this book as well as the sequel, Summertime.

Here's the perfect book to tuck in your bag to pull out and read while waiting for another child to finish a lesson. Although hysterically funny is a dry, British sort of way, it is subtly inspirational and infuses one with a can-do attitude. Even on the most hectic days, I am grateful I have never had to use the dog's leash for a belt!

Clare Francis specializes in dysfunctional families with disturbing secrets. In "A Dark Devotion," Grace Dearden, a young wife and mother who lives in Norfolk, England, suddenly disappears. Alex O'Neill, an attorney and an old friend of Grace's husband, Will, steps in to help. Alex's services are needed, since the police suspect that Will may have had something to do with Grace's disappearance. Alex begins an investigation of her own, hoping to find out what really happened to Grace.

Alex's interest in the case is not entirely professional. Her marriage is shaky, since her husband, Paul, is a drunk who is deeply involved with some disreputable characters. Alex still has feelings for Will, whom she loved when she was a young girl. As she delves into the complexities of this case, Alex begins to uncover the truth behind the Dearden family façade.

Frances sets up her story well, and she populates "A Dark Devotion" with intriguing characters. Alex is a smart, compassionate and tenacious lawyer, whose experience with the criminal justice system makes her a valuable ally. Although Alex cares for Will, she tries not to allow her emotions to color her perceptions. Other notable characters are Alex's weak-willed and shallow brother, Edward, Will's fragile mother, Maggie, and his vulnerable little boy, Charlie. Francis makes us care about these people and we are eager to find out how things went so dreadfully wrong for this "picture perfect" family.

The book is weakest at the end, when startling revelations come one after another. Francis, like so many authors in this genre, wants to surprise the reader with twists and turns, but she lays on the contrivances and the melodrama too thickly. Still, most of "A Dark Devotion" is a literate and engrossing novel that will have you turning pages quickly to see how the mystery is resolved.

London attorney Alexandra O'Neil is upset with her husband Paul, also a lawyer, because he has a propensity for defending those who are guilty. For instance, his latest client, Mr. Ronnie "lifelong felon" Buck nearly killed a cop, but Paul got him acquitted based on a stategey of self-defense. Even worse to Alex is the post-game gala gloat.

From her hometown in Norfolk, Will Deardon calls Alex to help him. His wife Grace vanished and the police are looking closely at him as a suspect in the disappearance of his wife. Alex has mixed feelings about taking the case because Will was her first love before he married Grace. However, she also wants him safe and the real perpetrator caught. She travels home to give him legal council only to begin to believe that the man she represents is guilty of a heinous crime.

A DARK DEVOTION is a cerebral legal thriller that readers will appreciate, as the tale never loses sight of its prime theme. The audience will ponder the issues of whether everyone, even the guilty, should have proper legal representation and how far should an attorney go to defend their client. Alex is a great lead player and the support cast especially her spouse and client, enable readers to see deeper into moral dilemma. Fans will quickly develop a deep devotion to Clare Francis with works like this one.

Harriet Klausner

This was my first encounter with this author and I loved the book. The contrast between Norfolk and London was well drawn, the vivid description brings Norfolk to life. The characters are believable, but perhaps the women are stronger and more 'real' than the men. The plot is good, not too obvious - but not exhausting! I will certainly read more from this author. I am less certain about Harriet Walter the narrator, I did not find her voice very easy to listen to, and I did not feel she had sufficient range to do justice to the reading.

By turns lyric and gritty, witty and unsparing. S. T. Haymon writes with skill and a deep knowledge of the human heart. Her characterization of Ben Jurnet grieving for his fiance is unsentimental but so engaging you feel you must grieve too. What a wonderful writer.

From the very first line of this book, I was immersed in a hypnotic, lyrical, uncompromising book where real people did very real things -- the grief process Ben went through felt so real, so poignant. I was spellbound. I'll look for everything else the author has written -- I felt privileged to read work of this high caliber

I had heard that the American edition had been edited, so I read the English edition. I then looked through a copy of the American edition, looking for differences. The differences aresignificant; even a casual inspection turns up major differences in the ending of the novel. The true identities of at least two major characters (and one minor character) are not revealed in the American edition. (Surprisingly, the Kirkus review quoted above seems to refer to the English edition.) Furthermore, the ending of the American edition is extremely compressed, giving it a noticeably different tone from the rest of the novel. I don't understand why the Americanpublishers would make such changes. If they wanted to make the novel shorter or more accessible, they could have cut some of the descriptive passages; instead, they chose to alter the ending, which serves only to weaken the novel. I also wonder why there is no indication that the American edition has been edited. I thought there was a requirement to note that an edition has been abridged or otherwise revised, but apparently there isn't. If you want to read this book as the author intended, read the English edition. It's worth your while.

The core theme is John Lempriere's work on his dictionary of proper names of the antique. I have followed his pen filling the papers from "Aaras'sus" to "..." - the surname of Juno, when presiding over marriages, enthusiastically. I have been animated to reread Ovid's "Metamorphoses". It has been wonderfull to have the ancient Greek (Roman) mythology back in Norfolk' s novel- in different times, in different shapes, the novel's characers as their actors. (Metamorphoses at all!) But instead of mythology's density and complexity within the novel, maybe it' s only an episode. You can follow another track - the historical background covering two centuries from the founding of the East-Indian Company to the dawn of the French Revolution. Be a historian ! Make a journey with coaches, on ships or just fly and settle down at the Sea of Azow, and find out why the fish are gone there ! Follow gulps, orange trees, women selling apples, ships, occean currents, weather systems (warming foehns in the Klagenfurt Basin make me think of Robert Musil ?). You can also read a geometry. Be a skillfull mathematician to construct broken circles or to understand Loui's XIV first tutor of mathematics telling him that parallel lines - parallel episodes - meet at a point infinitely distant from the observer - the reader - or more obviously in the reader's mind - in the novel. You become a vigilant, attentative reader, but sometimes you will find yourself bewithed by Norfolk.

And I have not even touched the plot!

Buy Norfolk's debut novel, read it and enrich your library.

Norfolk's first time out - LEMPRIERE'S DICTIONARY - is an amazing novel. Maybe I should say stunning, or fantastic. A wonderful blend of intrigue, history, romance, revenge, partying, and political machination combined with very well formed characters and exciting action. I could go on & on & on, but READ THIS BOOK!!!! It is a joy and a pleasure to read, and I gave some copies away as gifts one Christmas & everyone told me how much they liked it a few weeks later. THE POPE'S RHINOCEROS is uneven, but LEMPRIERE is perfectly defined & spelled, so to speak (Sorry!). Read it!

Whether or not you enjoy this latest Agatha Raisin mystery novel is going to depend on just how much affection you have for Agatha, and how much of a fan you are of this series and M. C. Beaton's style of writing. I'll admit to be a staunch Agatha Raisin fan, so my feelings about the latest Agatha Raisin mystery novel are probably a little biased. If you're curious about how Agatha and James' relationship will pan out, then this latest novel, "Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell" will probably entertain; however if you're looking for a really good 'cozy' murder mystery set in the country, this book may be a bit of a disappointment.

Agatha and James are finally married. But it's turning out to be the marriage from hell, as James constant criticism wears away at Agatha's self assurance and leaves her miserable. Their fights are grist mill for the village, and matters go from bad to worse when James suddenly sets up a flirtation with one of his old flames, Melissa Shepherd. And then James disappears, his house is in a mess, and there is a blood stain at the doorstep. And Agatha finds herself to be the chief suspect in her husband's disappearance. Worried about James and determined to clear her name, Agatha sets out to find James, but stumbles across Melissa's dead body instead. And now Agatha has find James and prove that he had nothing whatsoever to do with Melissa's murder. Has James's disappearance anything to do with Melissa's murder? Where can James have got to? And is he still alive? Grimly, Agatha clings to the hope of finding James alive as she begins one of the most important investigations of her life.

Mystery wise, this latest Agatha Raisin mystery novel is a little frustrating. The plot does not unfold smoothly, but in a rather circuitous manner instead, that almost mirrors Agatha's depressed and numb frame of mind. Agatha and her sleuthing friend, Sir Charles Fraith, move to and fro between suspects, uncovering bits of information that paint a rather alarming picture of Melissa, but which land them no closer to a solution to the problem at hand, until the last few chapters where Agatha makes an intuitive guess and hits the jackpot. Entertaining perhaps, but the solution blindsided me -- perhaps I should have read the book more carefully. On the other hand, I've been dying to see how the marriage between James and Agatha would pan out, and how long it would take before Agatha admitted to herself that James did not have what it took to make an ideal husband. Some fans have complained that Beaton had changed James from a charming and distinguished man to a short tempered fiend. However, James has never really treated Agatha well, even in the first few books. So that his descent into husband from hell did not really surprise me. I just kept waiting for Agatha to wake up before it was too late.

What makes "Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell" so very, very readable, is of course its heroine. Fractious, yet endearing, one cannot help but hope that Agatha will find the happiness and companionship she so desperately craves. And Beaton's ironic prose style frames Agatha's quest for happiness brilliantly. And this is what will definitely propel me into reading the next Agatha Raisin mystery novel.

This is the 11th book in the delightful Agatha Raisin series. Ideally, the books should be read in sequence, starting with the first and my favorite, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death. These books are light reading and a pleasant way to spend an afternoon or evening. At the title implies, Agatha and her new husband, James, discover that their marriage was a mistake. James then disappears after being attacked and is also suspected of murdering his rumored mistress, Melissa. Agatha, ever the amateur sleuth, is anxious to solve the crime and also clear her husband's name. She sets off with her old friend, Sir Charles, to do both. In addition to amateur sleuthing in the quaint villages around the Cotswolds, Agatha is grappling with getting older and feels "the autumn of her life stretching in front of her." We will have to wait for book #12 to find out how Agatha is coping with being single again.

Agatha Raisin has chased after James Lacey for years hoping he will marry her. She finally succeeds, but after the honeymoon, James begins to criticize everything Agatha does, from her desire to work to her smoking to her clothing. The marriage disintegrates and Agatha moves back into her cottage next door to James.

One day James turns up missing, and blood is found all over his car and house. At first the police suspect Agatha, but that changes when the woman James is dating turns up dead. Law enforcement now believe that James killed Melissa before vanishing. Agatha disagrees and, accompanied by Sir Charles, tries to find out who really murdered Melissa.

AGATHA RAISIN AND THE LOVE FROM HELL is a fascinating tale of greed, insanity, and revenge. Agatha is a firebrand, not afraid to speak her mind even when it offends someone else. The mystery is solved using a slow, systematic sleuthing style supplemented with a touch of guesswork and luck. Readers will enjoy this tale especially due to its stunning climax.

Harriet Klausner