reviews

Surviving survival... Author:  Göran Rosenberg How do you tell a story that’s been hiding inside you for decades?  Göran Rosenberg wasn’t even born when his father stepped off the train in the small town of Södertälje, Sweden in 1947, having recently survived the Łódź Ghetto and the Auschwitz concentration camp.   Nonetheless, quietly and painfully, his father’s story had been waiting to be told ever since that fateful moment.  A Brief Stop on the Road from Auschwitz is that story, recovered from the darkness by this acclaimed journalist and author. Against all odds, the author’s father had survived the war.  Similarly, his [...]

The tree of trees... Author:  Mike Shanahan It may be the greatest story ever told.  If you’re really into the complexities of nature, there’s nothing better than the story of the fig.  From massive trees to diminutive epiphytes, the approximately 850 species in the genus Ficus cover much of the tropical world.  But the most fascinating part of the life history of the fig is the tiny fig wasp that it relies on for pollination.   Each fig has its own wasp and each wasp has its own fig, demonstrating one of the most amazing mutualisms in the biological world.  A [...]

A Fallen Nun, a Courtroom, and a Secret in Plain Sight Author: Catherine Breslin Unholy Child’s back cover blurb promises something taboo – sinister secrets erupting behind convent walls boiling over with hints of Satanism and Rosemary’s Baby. At least, when I first read the crumpling back cover, that’s what I expected. The real story, however, is something deeper, looking beyond horror into the soul of its characters and the motivations behind shame. The author has a point – one that will catch many readers who were ready for a late night B-movie vibe off-guard. It starts when Sister Angel [...]