Books
by Simon Mawer
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Prague Spring |
Two mis-matched Oxford students hitchhike their way into Prague where their lives cross with an English diplomat and his lover, Lenka. But this is 1968, Russian forces are gathering to suppress Dubček's soft socialism. Atmospheric, with vivid descriptions but with characters so stereotypical that they fail to engage - though they're forever engaging physically. I expected so much more from the author of that other novel set in Czechoslovakia - The Glass Room (bwl 55 & 63).
(Jenny Baker - bwl 91 Winter 2019) |
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The Fall |
A climber falls to his death from the Great Wall, a vertical slab of Welsh rock, compelling his oldest friend to discover why and to confront the past with its secrets, loves, lies and betrayals. Looming over everything is the constant lure of the mountains. Mawer guides you on the friends' every climb culminating in their attempt on the Eiger's north face with its unrelenting heights, freezing temperatures and the ever present fear of avalanches. Rivetting.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 56 Spring 2010) |
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The Girl who Fell from the Sky |
Marian Sutro is young, idealistic and bi-lingual; the perfect candidate to be recruited, trained and parachuted into occupied France; officially a Resistance courier, her real mission involves a nuclear physicist working in Paris whom she knew as a child. From the big adventure of training to the reality of a country where fear stalks every move, the tension builds unbearably. No one can be trusted. No one. A masterclass in espionage fiction.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 67 Winter 2013) |
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The Glass Room |
In a small Czech town, Viktor and Liesel Landauer build their futuristic house, all straight lines, with plate glass windows, onyx wall, white floors and ceilings, the embodiment of light and optimism. But this is the thirties, storm clouds loom, Victor is Jewish and the family must flee. Yet the house remains, casting its spell over all subsequent occupiers. A brilliant novel, fine characters, heart breaking and inspiring by turns. My absolute best recent read!
(Jenny Baker - bwl 55 Winter 2010) |
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The Glass Room |
In Czechoslovakia, with war and Nazism looming, a wealthy Jewish business man and his Gentile wife, commission an avant-garde Architect to build a house. We follow their lives, along with that of the house, the frightening effect on people of power, of bigotry, and what human beings will do to survive. From the very first page, I was immersed in the underlying passions and desires of those involved, and utterly fascinated by the story.
(Polly Sams Plant - bwl 63 Winter 2011) |
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Tightrope |
Readers of The Girl who Fell from the Sky (bwl 67) will welcome this sequel. Marian Sutro haunted by the consequences of her undercover mission, her Nazi interrogation and months in Ravensbruck struggles to adjust to post-war Britain. Then she is contacted by her old handler and recruited to feed worthless secrets to and turn a Russian agent . . . but Marian has her own agenda, the need to serve a greater good . . . whose side is she or anyone on?
(Jenny Baker - bwl 80 Spring 2016) |
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