Book Reviews

 

My book pile

I've not posted any book reviews for a long time. So, it's high time I did.

I have a modest 'to be read' pile (there was a splurge of buying around my birthday). The first one I want to mention is The Oystercatcher Girl by Gabrielle Barnby. The story is set on Orkney, a place I am to visit later in the year. I wanted to read something to get a feel for the islands, and this came up in a travel guide I have about Orkney. The author lives there, and the book certainly gives you the idea of a place where people know one another, the bleakness, the beauty, and the weather! 

Christine is the main character. She left the island some six years previously, but has come back as a promise to her unstable sister Lyndsay. But Christine has a secret, one she cannot tell her best friend, Tessa about. The book starts as all three women are attending the funeral of Robbie, Tessa's husband. Things begin to unravel, when Tessa moves in with Christine with her six year old daughter. And then there is the menacing presence of Ronald, Tessa's cousin, who knows more than Christine realises. He's always had a soft spot for Christine and she has always turned him down. This draws things to a dramatic climax at the end. This is a story of friendship, love and secrets in a close-knit community against the stark autumn background of Orkney. And of course there is a twist, but I'm not going to tell you about that.

The second book is The Mercenary River by Nick Higham. I attended an author event in the beautiful library at Southwark Cathedral to hear Nick speak. Soon I was drawn in. Anything about London is of interest to me, and especially the River Thames. I did not buy the book there and then, but later when it came out in paperback. 

This is the story of London's water and sewage. The New River Company were the first main water company to dig canals and bring water through wooden pipes to London. More companies followed, bringing water from various parts of the Thames. The book dwells on the quality of water and how evidence was ignored about cholera. It was thought the disease was airborne. Then there is the Great Stink and Joseph Bazalgette's sewer system; his building of the new embankments along the Thames, and the pumping station at Crossness (a Victorian marvel). This was a very good book to read at that moment with all the hoo ha about Thames Water, paying high dividends to their shareholders and failing to fix leaks. This is nothing new. In the past there was swindling, directors on many water boards drawing salaries, giving contracts to their friends, fiddling the books. And then there was the pollution. You name it, it went on. There was the constant argument about whether water should be privatised or put into public ownership, which is still going on today. I know which I would prefer. 

Apparently you can still walk parts of The New River, and one day that is something I want to do. Reading this book has made me want to check it out more. I remember the filter beds a few miles away from where I live. It has now been turned into a nature reserve. A very interesting book.