Books
by A N Wilson
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The Potter's Hand |
Inspired to read this by a visit to the Wedgwood Museum, I was not as engrossed as I hoped I would be. As a novelist is allowed, the author introduced invented characters alongside those that were real but he also altered dates and rearranged historical events with which I was less comfortable. However, it provides a fascinating insight into the Wedgwood family, Josiah's interest in science, radical ideas and his search for the perfect pot.
(Christine Miller - bwl 73 Summer 2014) |
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The Victorians |
Copiously illustrated, ranging across the whole spectrum of life in the Victorian era and told in a racy, sometimes gossipy style, this book is for anyone looking for an introduction to the history of that period. Its only flaw is that owing to the vastness of its canvas it tends to flit from one subject to another, leaving you hungering for more detail. But then perhaps that's the whole purpose of the book.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 44 February 2008) |
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Winnie and Wolf |
The Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazi Germany is the background to this brilliant, dense and amazingly informative novel about the friendship of Winifred Wagner and Hitler. It entails a deep analysis of Wagner's operas, the foundation and maintenance of the Bayreuth festival, together with flights of fantasy which, in the context of thorough and competent historical research of the real facts and people involved, are completely believable. A haunting but rewarding experience.
(Kathie Somerwil Ayrton - bwl 55 Winter 2010) |
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Winnie and Wolf |
Winifred Wagner, an English girl married at 18 to Wagner's son Siegfried, forms an extraordinary bond with Hitler, whom she calls Wolf. The story of their unlikely friendship is narrated with deceptive plausibility by the family secretary. Wilson gives us fascinating glimpses into behind-the-scenes activity at Bayreuth where Wolf is received as storytelling uncle and opera lover. But Winnie's blindness to his real nature and to the evil he unleashes leaves one baffled and appalled.
(Diana Davies - bwl 47 September 2008) |
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