Growing-Pains: The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden (1958)

Thirteen year old Cecil Grey and her siblings, sixteen year old, Joss, ten year old Hester, and the littles, Willmouse and Vicky are taken to Compiègne, France one hot summer by their mother. Mrs. Grey whose husband is a botanist and is usually busy in expeditions abroad, feels that the children are becoming unruly and …

Three Vintage Mysteries

With little time to spare nowadays, here are brief reactions to reading of three mysteries. BATS IN THE BELFRY by E.C.R. LORAC (1937) The question that perplexed me after finishing Lorac's Bats in the Belfry was that how could a novel that began so promisingly, that had me gripped almost its entire length, end on …

O is for Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie

Jacko Argyle is convicted of having killed his foster-mother. Two years later, he dies in prison while serving his sentence. After his death, a stranger, Arthur Calagry, turns up at the Argyle household claiming that Jacko was innocent and that on the fateful night of the murder, he had taken lift from Arthur. He hopes …

Pages from the Past: Inqilab by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas

They led him away but from the corridor outside came his mighty roar still shaking the walls of the chamber: IINQILAB ZINDABAD!And in that moment Anwar knew that the still and slimy waters had at last been shaken to their depths. The deaf had, indeed, been made to hear. The Revolution had arrived. India would …