8 THE REVIEW SUNDAY, JULY 4, 2004 SUNDAY MORNING POST Books Edited by Alister McMillan [email protected]

FICTION at the turn of the 20th century. has to wear an “exiguous veil” as she Yet even amid the battlefields of vocabulary, made-up proverbs – “he Christians, Muslims, Armenians and reduces the men to salivating wrecks. Gallipoli, there is redemption. The who seeks shade under red pines gets Birds Without Greeks co-exist, bound by history, She is devotedly pursued by her soldiers may be “covered in corpse- shat upon” – and kaleidoscopic prose. best-sellers Wings inter-marriage and friendship, until all childhood Muslim sweetheart, Ibrahim slime” but when the Franks (Allies) You sense his enjoyment through the by Louis de is disrupted by the first world war. the goatherd, who tragically becomes and the Turks meet as men rather writing (well, he did have a decade to (OF LONDON) Bernieres de Bernieres says he wanted to Ibrahim the mad. There’s the than as enemies in no-man’s land, perfect it) and his own idiosyncrasies Secker and write “a book with no goodies or garrulous Iskander the Potter and “everything changed between us and shine through. FICTION Warburg $220 baddies”, so the flaws of the good Abdulhamid Hodja, the imam, in love [we] no longer hated each other”. But A friendly Italian captain citizens of Eskibahce are exposed with Nilufer, a beautiful horse with “after this, the war became less holy”, Lampedusa is stationed at Eskibahce 1 SHOPAHOLIC AND SISTER Claire Scobie alongside their virtues. They can stone green ribbons in her mane. and what follows is tantamount to (de Bernieres obviously has a soft spot by Sophie Kinsella an alleged adulterer, Tamara, wife of Religion unites rather than divides. ethnic cleansing, with Turkish for charming Italian officers), but Latest in the series introduces a black sheep in the family. Birds Without Rustem Bey, their modern-thinking Muslim and Christian women are like Christians expelled to Greece and roundly lambastes Britain’s then- 2 THE DARK TOWER: SONG OF SUSANNAH Wings touches all rural landlord, “with gleeful cruelty”, sisters, their lives inextricably linked Greek Turks sent to Turkey. prime minister Lloyd George, who is by Stephen King the epic themes: love and war, the and yet band together when they and interwoven. They make promises As the Christians were the doctors called, among other names, a “f***wit”. Sixth instalment of the epic. danger of moral certainty and the are threatened. “by the Beard of the Prophet and the and merchants, the thriving town Ultimately a novel about the 3 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY paradoxes of the human condition. Rustem Bey, afflicted by an aching Hem of the Virgin’s Gown”. of Eskibahce falls apart. The Muslims constrictions of being human, by Marian Keyes It also bears de Bernieres’ literary loneliness, takes a Circassian mistress, Parallel to the unravelling of are left “helpless, no banker, no hemmed in by the trammels of The tale of three women involved in the signatures: vast emotional breadth, the indulgent Leyla, who “plays the their lives, de Bernieres charts the blacksmith, no shoemaker … no nationalism and religion, Birds publishing industry. dazzling characterisation, rich oud delightfully” and seduces Bey spectacular rise to power of Mustafa merchant, no spicer. The community Without Wings is a literary feast. 4 MONDAY MOURNING by Kathy Reichs historical detail, gruesome battle with garlic orgies. Their poignant Kemal (later known as Ataturk, father had lost its Christians and their “For birds with wings … fly where Tempe Brennan investigates the deaths of three young women. scenes, and a swerve between languid relationship is just one of those of modern Turkey), as war looms. drunken holy days and the joy”. they will and they know nothing … 5 THE INCREMENT by Chris Ryan sensuality and horror, humour and explored by de Bernieres, who paints Father Kristoforos, the Christian priest, Those left live “amid so much But we are always confined to earth … An assassin squad targets former soldiers. creeping melancholy. characters that haunt long after the portends the grim days ahead with absence”, and villages are transformed Because we have no wings we 6 THE NARROWS by Michael Connelly It follows some of the inhabitants book is put down. nightmares of God dying. As the war to ghostly husks. are pushed into struggles and Harry Bosch chases a mass murderer. of Eskibahce, literally the Garden of There’s the beautiful Philothei, a gathers momentum and the men are Despite the rawness of the content, abominations that we did not seek,” de 7 SHARPE’S ESCAPE by Bernard Cornwell Eden, a town in southwest Turkey Christian with an “angel’s eyes” who sent away, Eskibahce withers. de Bernieres excels in his inventive Bernieres writes. A Briton battles the French in the Peninsular war. 8 THE TORMENT OF OTHERS time in Glasgow, Gazza is searching for a sneaky of description. “The tropical air was silky and by Val McDermid SPORT TRAVEL Echoes of the past resound after two drink. He starts smoking at 28; cocaine binges oven-roasted, the stars bright as headlights and prostitutes die. Gazza: My Story soon follow. Tales from the Torrid Zone: arranged in such novel configurations you 9 THE LONELY DEAD by Paul Gascoigne with Gazza was a magnet for attention, either by Travels in the Deep Tropics needed time to adjust your mental compass,” by Michael Marshall Smith Hunter Davis performing magic on the pitch or by parading by Alexander Frater he writes of landing in . A former CIA agent investigates murders. Headline $250 around in plastic breasts off it. He burped into a Picador $235 In Africa, he gets involved in a television 10 JUST ONE LOOK by Harlan Coben microphone and, after being asked on live documentary, voyaging aboard a Catalina A murder of 20 years ago comes back to David Watkins Norwegian television whether he had a message Ed Peters Flying Boat from Alexandria to the Ilha de haunt those involved. for viewers, said, “Yes, f*** off”. Mozambique, dodging wild weather and wars. Recently asked what he When he explains his side of the infamous The grandson of a hell-fire A second documentary takes him to India to film NON-FICTION considered the England dentist’s chair incident in Hong Kong’s now Pacific Island missionary and the monsoon, but – he notes with characteristic 1 GAZZA football team’s strength, defunct China Jump club in 1996, it’s like a the son of one of the British humour – the weather refuses to cooperate with by Paul Gascoigne with Hunter Davies France striker Thierry Henry school kid wrangling his way out of detention. “It Empire’s last colonial the production schedule and a local fire engine The ups and downs in the life of the former replied: “Their desire.” was all a laugh, no more than us letting our hair doctors, Alexander Frater’s genetic passport has to be pressed into service. After which farce, England football star. And their weakness? “Their desire.” down before the Euro finals,” he pleads. He spurs him to wander the tropics as a privileged he deserts the artifice of television for the relative 2 PURPLE RONNIE’S LITTLE THOUGHTS Paul Gascoigne embodies this English became one of the players of the tournament. insider and passionate observer. Raised in what sanctity of print. ABOUT DADS phenomenon. Perhaps the most talented The perception that Gazza’s off-field games is now , he ranges around many of the Part of the fun of Torrid Zone is Frater’s huge by Purple Ronnie footballer the country has produced, he is better showed he was coping with fame was far wide of 88 tropical countries that cover one third of the bank of knowledge, which is frequently tossed Poems and observations on patriarchs remembered for his spectacular self-destruction. the goal. Gascoigne was, and is, crippled with globe, eye cocked for unusual details, ears into the text. He knows that leopards left their everywhere. 3 BEING JORDAN by Katie Price This biography represents the first time the neurosis. He still sleeps with the light on, and is pricked for salty conversation. The result – Tales prints in the wet cement of the Kandalama Hotel The tabloids’ favourite glamour model. 36-year-old has spoken about it in detail – having obsessed with death, blaming himself for the from the Torrid Zone – is one of the happiest in Sri Lanka while it was under construction, that 4 EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES now been sober for three months. He begins demise of three friends during his teenage years. memoirs cum travelogues of recent years. the first airline hijack took place in 1948 aboard by Lynne Truss with “Beer, Wine, Vodka, Cocaine, Morphine, As his spent fortune of £20 million A taste for adventure runs in the family. a Cathay Pacific Catalina on the way from Hong In defence of proper grammar and Paranoid, Anxiety” before a football has even (HK$284 million) and broken marriage testify, Maurice – Frater’s grandfather – and his bride Kong to Macau, and that coconuts from Jamaica punctuation. been mentioned. Yet by the end of My Story you “Gazza” consumed Gascoigne. Only now, in landed on the tiny island of Paama in 1900, to be somehow managed to drift as far as Norway. 5 FRIENDS ‘TIL THE END by David Wild wonder whether his career was not so much a quitting football, he believes he can save himself. met with a volley of missiles and threats. They A rollicking sense of the ridiculous means he Companion to the recently departed tragic waste as the salvation of Gascoigne. The turning point was his short stint at Gansu stayed 39 years, built a score of churches and – can lampoon a cruise ship bore or a self- American sitcom. Suffering nervous ticks at the age of 12, football Tianma in China. While little is made of his in the terminology of the day – converted the regarding backpacker with a couple of pithy 6 THE WORLD ACCORDING TO CLARKSON by Jeremy Clarkson became therapy for him. That he happened to be experience there, he says he realised the need to heathen. That neither had been abroad before sentences. But his genuine affection for ordinary The BBC presenter’s favourite machines. brilliant was a bonus. “escape from myself” and flee to a clinic in must have made for quite some honeymoon. folk and their tropical habitat shines though. 7 GRUMPY OLD MEN by David Quantick His tears at the 1990 World Cup unleashed Arizona. The spectre of Sars is his excuse for Frater grew up on a nearby island called Iririki Central to the book is Frater’s quest for a new A manual for malcontents. Gazza-mania. His account suggests a man-child failing to return to China. – his father labouring in the local hospital, his church bell for his grandfather’s former parish. 8 THE PLAYER by Boris Becker who never got to grips with his fame, living in the One of the most telling sections of the book is mother running a school. He returned as an Cast in the same east London foundry as Big Autobiography of the German tennis ace. shadow of an alter-ego. In an injury-ravaged a list of quotes from coaches, players, doctors adult to find it transformed into a luxury holiday Ben, its journey east is a chapter of accidents, 9 PURPLE RONNIE’S LITTLE BOOK OF career, he shone at international level as well as and celebrities. “If a snooker player or golfer resort. Less than a century had passed since his but one which ends with a rousing rendition of FOOTBALL by Purple Ronnie at Newcastle, Tottenham, Lazio and Rangers. Yet cried during a game, I think people in that sport forebears had ventured forth to fight the good Onward Christian Soldiers, the pastor invoking The popular poet takes on the nation’s alcohol – and its ability to help him escape – may realise there was a problem,” said Dr Raj fight with their bibles. God to “bless dem bell ia long name blong Jesus favourite sport. 10 MOTSON’S NATIONAL OBSESSION informs everything. Whether on World Cup Persaud in the Daily Mail. “Gascoigne could Frater by no means confines himself to the Kraes” and a triumphant peal that travels up to by John Motson and Adam Ward duty in Italy or in the changing room at half have been helped a long time ago.” Pacific, although it evokes his finest passages the heavens. Facts and figures from the beautiful game.

British hardback sales for week ending June 19.

paperbacks Compiled by Diana McPartlin THE NEW YORK TIMES FICTION Crossing the The Princess The Last Red The Angel Tree Kitchen The Number Lines Diaries: Give Death by Alex Privileges by Alex 1 THE DA VINCI CODE by Dan Brown by Melvyn Me Five by Paul Dingwall-Main by Mary Berenson The murder of a Louvre curator involves the work of Leonardo da Vinci and a Bragg by Meg Cabot Johnston Ebury $115 Higgins Clark Pocket Books secret society. Sceptre $100 Macmillan $85 NEL $100 Pocket Books $115 2 SONG OF SUSANNAH $100 by Stephen King Sixth volume of the epic Dark Tower series. 3 THE RULE OF FOUR by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason Part three in the trilogy – after Like, hello. Is it too much to ask This slick and well-crafted Scottish landscape gardener “Kitchen Privileges is a book There can be few people who Two students are ensnared in murderous The Soldier’s Return (1999) and that Mia gets the one thing for thriller is the second in Alex Dingwall-Main is hired by that I feel as though I have been still believe stock markets intrigue. A Son of War (2001) – traces the her birthday that she’s always Johnston’s series featuring half- Frenchman Regis Lautour, who writing ever since I was 12 years are open and fair, but even 4 THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN by Mitch Albom fortunes of a working-class wanted: one perfect night Greek, half-Scottish private wants to find “something old,” writes Mary Higgins Clark cynics will be shocked at the A man who died while trying to rescue English family during and after at the prom? I mean, Lana investigator Alex Mavros. The spectacular” for the courtyard in a letter to her readers in the revelations in this book. Alex a girl finds that all will be explained in the second world war. Crossing Weinberger is getting that, story begins in 1976, when five- of his house in Provence. As front of her memoir. Ever since Berenson, a New York Times the afterlife. the Lines covers the years 1955 and she’s not even striving to year-old Grace Helmer, the money is no object, Dingwall- she was a child she wanted to business reporter, looks at the 5 ANGELS & DEMONS by Dan Brown to 1959 and is loosely based on become self-actualised. She daughter of an American Main suggests he find the oldest be an author, but she wasn’t rise and fall of the markets and A scholar tries to save the Vatican. Bragg’s life. Like his central probably doesn’t even know diplomat, witnesses her father olive tree in the world, and published until she was in her tells a sorry tale: of financial 6 BLOWOUT by Catherine Coulter character, Joe Richardson, what self-actualisation means. being murdered outside their Lautour agrees. We then follow 40s and widowed with five statements designed to deceive Married FBI agents investigate the murders Bragg was born in Wigton in I’m telling you there’s no apartment in Athens. We then Dingwall-Main on a tour of the young children. She recounts investors to the tune of billions of a Supreme Court justice and two of the 1930s and went on to read justice in the world. America’s skip to 2001. Grace’s mother olive groves of France, Spain, her years growing up in an Irish of dollars; companies inventing his clerks. 7 GLORIOUS APPEARING history at Oxford. The crossing favourite princess is about to has committed suicide and left Italy and Greece. It’s an unusual neighbourhood in the Bronx, customers; and CEOs of by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins of lines occurs when Joe finds turn 15 and is still using the the daughter a note telling her book in that it manages to be where family was everything. unprofitable companies paying In the 12th volume of the Left Behind series, himself in a world of privilege, words “like” and “totally” so that she had an affair when irritating and delightful at the When her father died during themselves hundreds of the Second Coming occurs. completely different to the one much she sounds as if she has Grace was young, and that her same time. One problem is that the Depression, her mother millions of dollars in bonuses, 8 THE COLOUR OF DEATH by Elizabeth Lowell he grew up in. Bragg has taken Tourette’s Syndrome. The lover murdered her husband. there’s no urgent need for the took in boarders and put a sign then encouraging their Mistaken for a criminal, a jewel cutter great care with the nuances of disaster facing her is that her Grace returns to Greece to find tree to be found, which makes outside their home that read employees to buy shares, while is pursued by federal agents – and character, dialogue and setting. boyfriend, Michael – the person out the truth about her father’s the quest seem rather pointless. “Furnished Rooms. Kitchen they sell theirs. Berenson an assassin. But in spite of the excellent she loves most in the whole death. She hires Mavros to Another is that Dingwall-Main Privileges”. Higgins Clark recounts how the buying frenzy 9 THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB writing, the narrative drive is world, with the exception of help her, and the pair become always appears so smug and supported her family by writing of the 1990s had its roots in the by Karen Joy Fowler The tale of six people in a reading group. weak and seldom picks up her cat – has decided he’d tangled in a complex pleased with himself that he radio shows and spent a brief 60s, and how stock options 10 MONDAY MOURNING by Kathy Reichs enough pace. It’s described on rather go bowling than go to conspiracy involving dangerous verges on being nauseating. On spell as a Pan Am flight were the nail in the coffin of Tempe Brennan investigates the deaths of the back as “an enormously the prom. This book is slightly politicians and terrorists. If the other hand, he has a knack attendant. She began her executive ethics. He doesn’t three young women. important piece of literature more risque than previous you’re not familiar with recent for beautiful imagery, and such writing career by typing stories show readers how to beat the about post-war Britain”. Maybe, instalments in Mia’s diaries. Greek history and politics the a devilish sense of humour at the kitchen table. After six market, but he does explain NON-FICTION but Bragg doesn’t reveal much Her mother tries to have a “sex plot can be hard to follow. That (although the French don’t years and some 40 rejections how to understand accounting of interest for those who aren’t talk” with her, and Michael gets aside, it still works well enough think his jokes are funny) that she sold her first story for and its limits, and recognise 1 BIG RUSS AND ME by Tim Russert of his generation. to second base. as a thriller. you end up liking him anyway. US$100. patterns that can lead to fraud. The host of Meet the Press remembers his mentors. 2 DRESS YOUR FAMILY IN CORDUROY AND DENIM by David Sedaris The humorist’s latest collection of essays. 3 EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES by Lynne Truss The use and misuse of punctuation. BEHIND THE BEST-SELLERS 4 FATHER JOE by Tony Hendra A satirist recalls his decades-long friendship All is not quiet on the Western Front, afterwards, often by those who were trenches (and only a third of that time Ellis is keen to point out “this book is with an English Benedictine monk. 5 PLAN OF ATTACK as Richard Holmes takes aim at not present, reshaped attitudes. in the frontline) without attacking. not a TV tie-in”. Holmes, she says, by Bob Woodward A behind-the-scenes account of the Bush misconceptions of the soldiers’ lot Better, says Holmes, to look at the Their main enemy was the cold, “has a considerable reputation, he is a administration as it drew up plans to during the first world war. Let the diaries and letters of those who fought boredom, German snipers and the very well-known and liked historian. invade Iraq. battle commence, says Tim Bryan and, more importantly, when they odd artillery shell or grenade. But more importantly he is the first to 6 ALEXANDER HAMILTON were fighting. Holmes also finds a camaraderie put the ordinary soldiers’ experience by Ron Chernow Richard Holmes says the key to After years of trawling through the and spirit among the troops at odds centre stage. A biography of the first Treasury secretary history is that hindsight does little archives at London’s Imperial War with the picture of horror, destruction, “Generally, there is a massive and chief author of The Federalist Papers. for accuracy. Museum and the Liddle Collection at squalor, disease and unrest. Although market for war and history. But the 7 BATTLE READY by Tom Clancy, Today’s books and films often Leeds University in northern England, all these issues existed, to varying chief sales factor here is that it is a with Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz The evolution of the US Marine Corps, from portray British soldiers in the first studying personal correspondence and degrees, mutiny was not rife, nor kept remarkable book by a renowned the Vietnam era to the post-9/11 years. world war as loathing the senseless diaries of men who lined the 640km in check by draconian punishment. historian. For anyone interested in 8 CADDY FOR LIFE by John Feinstein slaughter, and doing anything to avoid of trenches, Holmes has largely Only 346 of 3,000-odd death sentences history, and especially war – an interest The story of Bruce Edwards, Tom Watson’s an attack that served only to move the triumphed in his quest to set the were carried out, Holmes points out. that spans many so-called markets – long-time caddie, who died in April. drinks cabinets of wealthy generals a record straight, taking as his focus the Tommy is written in a populist this book is unmissable.” 9 MORE THAN MONEY by Neil Cavuto few inches closer to Berlin or Paris. attitudes of the ordinary soldier. style, dispensing with battlefield Surely the fact that he’s writing about A financial journalist who has multiple Holmes says the popular attitudes The supposedly ignorant generals movements and tactics in favour of lot, in that case during Napoleonic war must help, especially now, with the sclerosis presents portraits of people in of today have clouded the views of the didn’t stay in the mess swilling sherry focusing on the ordinary soldier. times. 60th commemoration of D Day? “We business who have overcome obstacles. time. In his book Tommy: The British when Tommy went over the top. Many Holmes, himself, is a soldier, having One of his other roles, as a TV didn’t release the book to coincide with 10 ON THE DOWN LOW by J.L. King with Karen Hunter Soldier on the Western Front, the TV went with them and died, far more quickly risen through the ranks of the historian – conducting enthusiastic D Day or any other anniversary,” Ellis The straight black men who have sex with historian argues that what was deemed than in the second world war. Even Territorials to become a general. This walks across battlefields, among other says. “Although there’s one important men, and the health consequences for the a worthy war by those fighting it going “over the top” was not as is his second time in the best-seller things – adds to his selling power, a one coming up: the 90th anniversary of black community. soon became viewed as futile. The common as we think. Usually, charts for HarperCollins. His first was factor not lost on HarperCollins, the first world war.” Depression and literature written infantry spent two years in the Redcoat, a similar portrait of a soldier’s although publicity director Helen Lest we forget. US hardback sales for week ending June 19