Two for Sorrow – Nicola Upson

Read as part U of the “Along the Library Shelf” reading journey

Chosen because

Very limited choice for U, but this looked a meaty crime thriller with one or two unusual features.

The Review

As the book opens in 1930’s London, Josephine Tey, an author, is drafting chapters for her latest book, not her usual detective novel but an account of a real crime from 30 years previous involving some notorious ‘baby farmers’ and the impact on those who were present at their execution in Holloway Gaol.

At the same time she is, rather reluctantly, caught up in the glamorous whirl of London society, for her centred on the splendid Cowdrey Club which provides a pied-a-terre for independent, professional women such as her and also supports the adjacent college of nursing.

Conveniently for a crime writer she is pally with Inspector Penrose of the Yard; he clearly holds a torch for her, as do a couple of her lady friends, but she’s keeping all (and I mean all) her options open. In the meantime it’s all very genteel with afternoon tea, visits to the theatre and dress fittings for a gala ball at the club, until a shockingly contrasting crime is perpetrated and Penrose’s investigations unearth a possible connection to Tey’s work in progress.

Is it just coincidence (unlikely) or is the aftershock of the 30-year-old crime still reverberating a generation later? Penrose does the detecting while Josephine’s concern is sorting out her own personal life.

It’s a clever, pleasingly complex, crime novel given depth by the inclusion of accurate period detail (the baby farmers, the execution, the Cowdray Club and even Josephine Tey all existed as portrayed). Upson unpicks her tangled threads with a nicely paced precision, punctuated with occasional, unexpected, intrusions of violence and passion, to arrive at a satisfying ending not without a surprise or two along the way.

Read another?

This is the third book featuring crime novelist Josephine Tey’s adventures, and frequent references in this book to past events has made me curious for the full back story; and there is nothing in this one to put me off seeking out ‘An Expert in Murder’ or ‘Angel with Two faces’.

The Man Who Cycled The World – Mark Beaumont

Mark Beaumont had done a few long distance rides, including Land’s End to John O’ Groats while still at school and Sicily to Innsbruck during his pre-university gap year, and as his degree course neared its conclusion the idea of cycling round the world began to take hold. But not just cycling, racing to set a new record.

On graduating he spent 31 days cycling 2,700 miles around Scandinavia and the Balkans, leading him to believe 100 miles a day was a sustainable pace; at that rate the 18,000 mile ‘True Circumnavigation of the Globe by Bicycle’ looked possible in 180 days. Adding a day off per fortnight for rest, recuperation and intercontinental transfers would still total only 195 days, some 81 days less than the existing Guinness world record.

Though looking physically feasible the logistical planning and securing financial backing for the trip would be as big a challenge, but within 12 months he was sufficiently prepared to set off from Paris with loaded bike and a mobile phone his only contact to his ‘base camp’ operated by his mother, Una, in Scotland.

This pre-race stage is covered only briefly in the book which soon dives into the realities of the ride with three main themes emerging.

First there’s the day by day grinding out of the miles – the route, the road surface, the terrain, the weather, the mileage and the time, the condition of the bike, the wear and tear on the body (particularly that bit in most contact with the bike), getting enough to eat and finding somewhere to sleep – which all combines to give a real feel for the scale of the task and respect for the physical and mental effort involved.

Secondly the unfolding cultural diversity is related; he’s racing not touring so there’s no time to seek out universal truths, he just shares his experiences, acknowledging the narrowness of his perspective.

The third strand is dealing with the bureaucratic and organisational frustrations of international travel, particularly border crossings, intercontinental flights (with a bike), and the mobilisation of help in far flung places for a moving target (tracked by GPS) from a network of friends of friends, embassy contacts, and the global cycling community (often supplemented by random acts of kindness by strangers met en route). This is all coordinated by Una at base camp, whose short postscript gives a flavour of her vital if virtual involvement in the journey.

It’s an enjoyable read if you, like me, are an enthusiastic armchair explorer / adventurer. I took my time, reading a few pages a day, making it almost a real time experience, so that when the 18,000 miles (or nearly 600 pages) were completed (no spoiler here – the title does that) the sense of achievement and feeling of elation were easy to share.

Galapagos – Kurt Vonnegut

The first thing to get out of the way is that the story is narrated from one million years in the future by the disembodied spirit (ghost) of Leon Trotsky Trout (Vonnegut aficionados will make the connection to Kilgore Trout) who died shortly before the events he wishes to relate took place.

Bear with me; the million year perspective is necessary as a central theme is evolution, which takes this sort of time frame to operate. But this is no overblown epic as most of the action occurs over a few days in 1986 around the planned departure date of the SS Bahia de Darwin on the “Nature Cruise of the Century” to the Galapagos Islands.

That things do not go according to plan for the captain and would-be passengers (a strange but interesting mix) is due to a man-made crisis and potential catastrophe inevitable, according to Trout with the benefit of his million year hindsight, as the human brain had got just too big and clever for the good of the species.

His (Trout speaking for Vonnegut) hypothesis is that brain development, having given an evolutionary advantage for millennia is now (1986) doing the opposite, evidenced by irrational and short term attitudes to war, crime, economics, climate change, etc. An evolutionary correction is overdue; and when it arrives, those aboard the Bahia de Darwin heading for the Galapagos may be the raw material on which it has to work.

Those who have read the classic Slaughterhouse 5 will recognise the style and structure; easy conversational narrative, looking backwards and forwards in time, with regular excursions to fill in back stories of more or less relevance to the tale. The frequent references to events yet to happen are at first intriguing, then teasing, but by the end were in danger of becoming irritating.

Based on my sample of two books, read 40 years apart, Vonnegut (who died in 2007) was a writer with something to say, be it idiotic or idiosyncratic, who said it with wit and style. Slaughterhouse 5 has never left my consciousness, and I’ve a feeling Galapagos will stick too.

When George Came to Edinburgh – John Neil Munro

Read as part of the sport reading journey

George is the mercurial George Best who in November 1979, eleven years and countless drinking binges after winning the European Cup with Manchester United, washed up at Hibernian FC in the Scottish capital.

Hibs were struggling at the foot of the Scottish Premier League and chairman Tom Hart, in search of inspiration for the team, settles instead for desperation and signs Best, offering the wayward genius a way back into footballing respectability after years of peddling his name, if not his talent, in short lived appearances for a variety of lower, even non-league clubs and a few nascent US “soccer” teams.

George and model wife Angie (in the sense she posed with clothes rather than provided matrimonial perfection) roll into town, the media circus follows, and attendances rise to see one of the greatest perform albeit in less than glamorous surroundings. He’s overweight and unfit but still has the eye for a pass and the feet to hit it accurately; the shimmer of the hips is still there to beat a man but the pace to leave him behind has gone; the shot with either foot remains deadly. Above all the weakness for the booze and the tendency to self-destruct persist.

John Neil Munro saw it at the time and here, 30 years on, presents a retrospective off that short bizarre period in Hibs’ history. It combines contemporary reports with newly obtained, largely fond, remembrances from fans (who have now found fame), ex-players, the media and an occasional barman.

The book is as short as Best’s Hibs career and concentrates on his impact on the club; his off the field antics are not sensationalised but their effects on the club are evidenced. The writing is easy and to the point; there is some repetition, but Best’s whole later career was a depressingly repetitive cycle of wasted opportunity, and thankfully there is no attempt to over-analyse his problems here.

I found the book interesting having followed football closely ever since my first “Charles Buchan Football Annual” circa 1960. Living in Manchester I saw Best at his best many times at Old Trafford; and at university in Edinburgh I supported Hibs during one of few good periods in the early seventies; so there was a personal element in my enjoyment of the book.

Anyone with an interest in George Best or Scottish Football should find this a diverting and nostalgic read.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – Paul Torday

If you think the book title unlikely imagine the reception the idea gets from Dr Fred Jones, fisheries expert at the quasi-governmental National Centre for Fisheries Excellence.

But the request comes from an influential Yemeni Sheikh and when the Prime Minister’s spin doctor sees some PR benefits and gets involved, Dr Jones has no alternative to working up a feasibility study, aided and abetted by the efficient and attractive consultant Ms Harriet Chetwode-Talbot.

Although the political wind blows hot and cold, the Sheikh’s faith is unshakeable and his purse is bottomless, so Dr Jones’ workable if costly scheme finds itself moving off the drawing board into implementation, the questions are: what will be the political fallout in both countries and more crucially will the fish cooperate?

The tale unfolds through a dossier of documents – governmental and personal e-mails, witness statements, letters, press cuttings and diary extracts. The device works quite well. The existence of the dossier is an early indication that we’re heading for an unfortunate event - personal, political or physical - and a sense of foreboding grows steadily without giving away too much too soon.

Beginning as almost a comedy of manners, as genteel official correspondence bounces around, the book develops, adding touches of pathos as we gain insight into the personal lives of Fred and Harriet, and spirituality as the Sheikh expounds his philosophy of faith, hope and love.

I really enjoyed the first, funny section of the book and raced through the early pages; the later stages were slower possibly due to their more contemplative nature or possibly due to a sub-conscious desire to delay the unknown but inevitable sticky end lying in wait at its conclusion.

It is a good read, thoroughly recommended.