Diana Souhami

I never liked Gertrude Stein -- maybe because of what Hemingway wrote about her. I like her even less now, having read this very good biography. I don't like Alice Toklas either. Nevertheless, this book was interesting and a pleasure to read, and that's unusual because I tend to want to like the people I read about -- feeling that when I am reading about them, I'm spending time with them. The two were interesting characters and their relationship was noteworthy and I guess I always enjoy being taken to Paris in the early part of the 20th century.… (more)

A very good biography that shows her life before the war, how and why she became involved in helping Allied soldiers escape and the circumstances surrounding her death. But there is something strange in this book and in the telling of her story. It is regularly stated that she hated war and that she was against nationalism, which seems to be a substitute for the word patriotism. However as a practical women she didn't really seem to have much time for hate, instead she wanted to help those in need, even Germans. But she went out of her way to help Belgians and British, even when she realised that she would be caught and imprisoned. She wasn't even that shocked when she was sentenced to death., To say that she was not patriotic, as so many do, doesn't make sense. I offer up these quotes from her letters that are on the second last page of the book.

'I am but a looker-on, after all. It is not my country whose soul is desecrated and whose sacred places are laid waste. I can only feel the pity of the stranger within the gates, and admire the courage of a people enduring a long and terrible agony'

'My dearest love to you, my darling Mother. I am glad to think of you all safe and I hope well, with the fleet to keep away all harm from the dear country.'

There was a reason that she was viewed as a heroine and a patriot, and that's because she was.… (more)

Remarkable historical account of alexander Selkirk, the prototype for Defoe's Robinson Crusoe - the true story of how he survived being marooned for 52 months, is an impressive work and an astonishing true story. The author places the facts in the contest of the age - 300 years ago, making the very best of the necessarily sparse source material, to weave a believable and highly enjoyable story line. Selkirk was a flawed character for sure, prone to violence, but he displayed an outstanding survival instinct in the face of a daunting challenge - managing to thrive in the wild rather than succumbing to the pressures and stress of his situation.… (more)