This book was a bit of an odd choice for me - I grabbed it based on front cover alone and took a risk ignoring the blurb. And it paid off! The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Heidi W. Durrow is to be quite frank one of the most depressing books I have ever voluntarily read but is also strangely liberating and certainly not a story that has been told before.

Rachel Morse is a young girl, half Danish and half American whose appearances set her apart from the crowd. She is caught between two races that are struggling to coexist. As a beautiful black girl with stunning blue eyes, Rachel attracts alot of attention - mostly unwanted-  and has to struggle to redefine herself and separate her new life from the harrowing experiences of her childhood.

This novel is incredibly bold and powerful. It doesn't skirt around the issues or imply unspoken words. It writes every insult and describes every impact. It reacts to every sound and expresses every tension. As with quite a number of my favourite books it gives each character their own chapter in which they can expose their inner vulnerabilities and demons, allowing you to stitch each fabric together and see the devastating pattern unfold.

I cannot recommend this book enough. Perhaps not for those who feel a little bit bleak, but if you do read it I urge you to see it through to the end. Moving and astoundingly beautiful it is one story that will stay with me for a very long time.

Knowing little about the colonial war in Algeria I dived into this novel blindly searching for a history I had yet to learn. Set in 1961 and spanning 50 years, Suzanne Ruta's To Algeria, With Love is a tragically composed account of both political and romantic affairs. The retrospective tone to the novel sheds a regretful light on the protagonist Louise as she slowly but surely unwraps the secrets that she has carried with her on her life journey. 


As a young American  Louise flies over to France expecting a continental education that will set her apart from her idle peers. However the education she receives is not from the stately institution but from the lucid Wally -  an Algerian who has fled the war gripping his country. Working long hours in a factory and sending money home to his wife and children, handsome Wally also acts as an ironic tour guide to lost American students. I found his character hard to grasp as he unflinchingly drifts from mentor to confidante to lover - not to say I didn't like him, I just found his mentality patronizing. More to the point, his affair with Louise  develops as naturally and casually as it possibly can with the North African political turbulence dominating their idyllic French landscape. 


In present day, New York is still coming to terms with the horrific events of 9/11  - a subject which draws both middle-aged Louise and Aissa together as they are faced with colliding cultures. Suzanne Ruta has approached this subject with sensitivity as she draws parallels between the war on terror and the innocent lives taken in Algeria's war-torn past.


Admittedly I read this as an oral history-esque interview with chapters giving independent voices to two main characters: Louise's voice is one of nostalgic sorrow - a woman who is not only coming to terms with her shadows but is also searching for the Algerian son she so regretfully gave up.  Aissa, a contemporary Algerian writer meets Louise in present-day New York whilst he is on a literary tour.  During a loose and undeniably one-sided conversation spanning a couple of years, Louise honours Aissa with the burden of reporting on the current whereabouts of her long-lost son whilst conceding that her choices were predetermined.


This novel is so intricately woven it is almost impossible to give you a full sense of its depth. Somehow you just become part of the pages, making it incredibly hard not to sympathise with the young and foolish Louise however opinionated you may be. 


Highly recommended, not a tear jerker but most certainly one to make you think.

Hurrah! Forward Poetry is releasing an anthology of poems associated with service men and women past and present and That Dark Suit  has been chosen to be in the collection. This has made me quite giddy and ever so slightly gob-smacked. The Colour of War  is being published 30th June 2011 and will be sent to libraries and museums across the UK as well as a selection of military bases. They have also asked for photos so I am sending one of Grandad in his uniform -  we shall have to wait and see what happens. I will post more about it when the anthology is in circulation but for now I am a very happy chappy. 

After a recommendation I decided to try out South Africa's best-selling crime writer Deon Meyer. 13 Hours has the reader clock-watching from the start, hurtling you forwards into the aftermath of a gory murder of a young American tourist. Meyer's main character Detective Inspector Benny Griessel is a recovering alcoholic, bouncing on the pulse of Cape Town and with everything to prove. Allocated as mentor to the younger, fresher generation of police cops, Griessel's every move is tinted with a bitter need to push himself and re-establish his dwindling career. He has just 13 hours to rescue the innocent companion of the murdered traveller and secure his future as a Captain.


Against the clock and with countless police graduates demanding his attention and an international scandal about to blow a hole through the South African tourist industry - this D.I can't afford to lose. Sounds like a perfect plot for a movie, right? Yup, it's already in the pipeline. And if you fail to imagine what Meyer's Cape Town looks like you can head over to www.deonmeyer.com where the author has provided snaps of his chosen locations, validating the landscape of his riveting story.


Read 13 Hours if you're ready to run. This race has already started.