Dido's crown by Julie K Rose #Full Review

I should've found time to write this review  earlier , but the hectic schedule of the last months and weeks didn't give me enough space to do it.

I shall start from the very beginning . Julie K Rose approached me via a mutual friend almost a year ago before publishing  Dido's crown.

This Historical fiction is very dear to my heart because I saw it grow from being a draft to a concrete published novel . This also been my first time editing and giving input on late drafts of a  fully-fledged published author . Julie was such an awesome person to work with .

Now , let's move to the Novel itself. This historical fiction takes place between the Tunisian , French and British suburbs, but most of the events took place in the thrilling and risky tunisian setting of the 1930s .

I personally see Dido's crown  as a complex and fast paced political intrigue with  an eager attempt to quench the wanderlust of the reader as well as a way to cross time and space and revisit a magnificent and complicated era  while adding a nicely thought affair in the midst of its hassle.

here is a blurb of the Novel :

"Set in Tunisia and France in 1935, Dido's Crown is a taut literary-historical adventure influenced by Indiana Jones, The Thin Man, and John le Carré.


Mary Wilson MacPherson has always been adept at putting the past behind her: her father's death, her sister's disappearance, and her complicated relationship with childhood friends Tom and Will.
But that all changes when, traveling to North Africa on business for her husband, Mary meets a handsome French-Tunisian trader who holds a mysterious package her husband has purchased — a package which has drawn the interest not only of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, but the Nazis as well.

When Tom and Will arrive in Tunisia, Mary suddenly finds herself on a race across the mesmerizing and ever-changing landscapes of the country, to the shores of southern France, and all across the wide blue Mediterranean. Despite her best efforts at distancing herself from her husband's world, Mary has become embroiled in a mystery that could threaten not only Tunisian and British security in the dangerous political landscape of 1935, but Mary's beliefs about her past and the security of her own future."

The author helped me see my own home country in a different light. The characters and events fitted nicely together as the intricate plot went on.  The main characters were well tailored by the author but the one that speaks to me the most must be Alain Saidini  because of his Tuniso-french background. His confidence and poise  mirrored that of Tunisian intellectuals from the 30s, also his fears and concerns made him a very relatable character, Alain was highly ambitious and driven  and in the same time a person who values family ties and that's how most tunisians are like ,until this day.

The mysterious package is something that the reader himself should discover on his own . A rise in the reader's Adrenaline is assured . The thrill of the chase and peek-a-boos with the Nazis and others, will follow the reader throughout the whole novel .

This book is simply awesome ,it has it all : a catchy setting , interesting characters and a mysterious package.

Don't hesitate to check the Author's website and order the book on Amazon , Indie Bound or any of the other bookstores mentioned on Julie's Website. 

Reading updates #3 : three reviews at once

- La derniere odalisque: 

This book is a biography of Lella Safiyé (Princess Safiyé) from the husseinite dynasty of Tunisia , Fayçal Bey (her grandson)  tells about her struggle from her early teenagehood in the rough caucasus mountains where she miraculously escaped the  murder spree in her village ,the harsh time she spent in Istanbul witnessing the decline of the ottoman empire and learning how to be a proper odalisk (concubine) and then , how she made it all the way to Tunisia and was treated as the daughter of Lella Kmar (Wife of Naceur Bey and former Odalisk from the caucasus as well ) . These are just snippets from her story , but to dive deeper into it was a complete roller coaster . This book showed me a side of history that has always been neglected by the history books of our schools  , a part of history that we hardly know anything about ...

- Banco : further adventure of papillon by Papillon (Hénri Charriere ) : 

This is  one of those off-the-beaten-track autobiographies , it  has been given to me by a dear  traveller friend that I highly appreciate :

Henri Charriere  aka Papillon is a french citizen who has been condemned to be imprisoned  in a french penal colony  because of a crime he never committed , sentenced at the age of 24 he gains his freedom after 13 years only to be submerged with the idea of revenge , to take down all those who wronged him and made him spend the years of his youth inside the walls of a prison and in the outskirts of a penal colony . In  order to carry on with his revenge plan Papillon  had to get hold of a certain amount of money ,so he dived in illegalities. One day, after years of failure , solitude and despair. someone enlightened his life .

This is one of the stories that shows how those who are supposed to protect (police,  governments ...) can one day frame those same people they claim to protect  and be the reason of their downfall . 

-The war of the worlds by Herbert G.Wells : 

Here is another Sci-Fi  made by Herbert G wells the precursor of the genre , a classic illustrated version of War of the worlds 

 The Story itself was simple , however  it is initially the source of inspiration of a lot of scientists , writers and filmmakers ,what makes it special is the classic illustrations and the fact  that Herbert G wells is a pioneer in the genre . 

The Story talks about a martian invasion on southern England and London, and how the unnamed narrator and his brother survived the attacks .

classics such as this , have a special part in my little bookish heart .

see you soon with other updates, 

I am currently reading The invisible man by Herbert G. Wells and Al jazia-al Hilalia by Mohamed  marzouki

Tag #4 : 15 Bookish facts about me

  I was Tagged by Yosra abdelkader briki , don't hesitate to pay her a visit on her booktube channel  here 

1/The more books I buy the better I feel .

2/ If I enter a bookstore or a Thrift shop (second hand bookstores) know for sure that I'll buy a book , no matter how penniless I might be , sometimes I even sacrifice the money of cab rides to buy it and then go back home on foot . (that's how much I am dedicated to books)

3/ I rarely check Goodreads or take into account other people's reviews , unless the statement or the review was made by an author that I highly appreciate . if it something recommended by Stephan king or Anne rice know for sure that it is a fantastic Book to own . otherwise no other reviews count for me .

4 / Paperback or Hardcovers? It doesn't matter .

5/Art work of a book do matter , but I couldn't careless about it as long as the content of the book is gripping and fantastic .

6/ I hate to see books that are badly treated and torn or even slightly folded in such or such page , PEOPLE THERE IS SOMETHING CALLED BOOK MARKERS and it can literally be anything from a piece of paper or a business card  to a proper bookmark or bits of highlighting papers from a stationery store . they are efficient and they don't ruin your books .

6/ I never take notes on the book itself or write on it or highlight parts of it , unless I am leaving a message to the person i am giving (sending) the book to and it's usually on one of the blank papers in the forefront of the book or in the back ...


7/ I am a daily reader , but it can vary , I can read anywhere from 4 pages to 200 pages per day depending on my mood and whether I have enough time or not . But a daily dose of reading is necessary to me .

8/I don't give away my books or lend them to anyone  , unless it's a book exchange that I wanted to make or someone that I highly trust when it comes to books (meaning a proper bookworm who will know how to treat my book and give it back on time) there are certain books that I will never ever give to anyone no matter how much I trust them .

9/ I rarely re-read books , and even if I do it's just specific passages or poetry verses .... the only exception for me would be  to re-read the Millenium trilogy for Stieg Larsson  in it's native language (Swedish)

10/ I would love to read arabic books : I just need to be directed to the right contemporary writers that are worthwhile .  the last book I read in Arabic was Sleepless nights  - سهرت منه الليالي -
by Ali douagi and this was a year ago

11/ Owning a very old edition of a book  for me , is indescribable, it's like I won the lottery ! In this matter I have one of the very first editions of Lasher and I also own a copy of Shakespeare's work from the 1800s a green Old school edition  by Ginn and Heath

12 / I am infatuated with old and rare books ; I would pay considerable amounts of money to own old  and rare editions . It doesn't matter how much they are worn and tattered . 

13/ Waterstones is a bookstore that I wouldn't mind spending all my life in . 

14/ I only read PDFs or epubs when I don't have the physical copy . specially if I am reading a trilogy or a serie and I happen to have missed a book from it or two ! 

15/ When I am immersed in the universe of the book I am reading , I  forget about everything around me including food and drinks , that's why I mostly drink or eat my snacks prior to reading ! 

Bonus bookish fact :  I am turning my niece into a bookworm and I am so proud of her ! Last time out of all of my books she picked the one dearest to me (Vampire : The twilight world its vampire anthology by Sir  Simon Marsden) and she told me to read to her from it , saying to me that one day she would love to have her own little library like auntie ,  This has been one of the most precious moments I had with her . 

Happy reading and enjoy your books and reading nooks 

I will leave you with this question : 

I am expecting to see your answers in the comments down below . 

The Lives of the Mayfair Witches Trilogy: Full Review

 I initially intended to  review  each book separately , but it felt unusual, because Trilogies leave such a severe weight on you and gets you hooked from beginning to end , It wasn't even possible to ponder on each book alone . 

the three books of the Trilogy are as follow : 

1- The Witching Hour

2- Lasher

3- Taltos 

To start off this trilogy has been a roller coaster of emotions , I initially bought Lasher from a thrift shop thinking it was a stand alone written by Anne Rice which is something unlikely to be true (because she is an avid writer of chronicles and series), only to discover after few days that It was part of a Trilogy named the Mayfair Witches . A former work colleague brought me the First book which he owned  (in French)  and concerning the third Book I had to deal with a PDF version of it because I still can't find a physical copy yet . 

The funny thing is that this trilogy criss-cross with the Vampire Chronicles which makes it even more alluring to me -Knowing that one of the Mayfairs was bound to turn into a vampire somewhere along the way- . This may sound confusing for those who are not familiar with the Universe of Anne rice 

Let's start first by clarifying certain points and presenting the Mayfair Family ,

1 -Family Tree : 

The Mayfairs are an Old family who hail from Donnelaith, Scotland and who nowadays live in New orleans . An eccentric family with lots of secrets and peculiar hidden genes and abilities to the point of being referred to as Witches . 

The female line is the  important side of the family  .  The main reason why they kept the family name "Mayfair" through centuries and ages, is the fact that the baby was baptized with the  Mayfair name even if the father doesn't hold the name . the legacy of the family will only go on to a Mayfair. If a family member doesn't hold the name then it's out of the question that , that person will  be given any ounce of the legacy (but s/he is welcome to live under the family's  roof). the peculiar genes are hidden in those highlighted in pink and Green . The ones in Blue will be dealt with further in this article . 

The Mayfair Queens/Witches are bound to a spirit called  Lasher ,this spirit is the reason behind their enormous wealth . 

An emerald necklace is part of the legacy which is passed down to the Heiress of the family which is the direct descendent of Suzanne Mayfair on the maternal line of descent of course (in this the current  Heiress  in the first two books was Rowan) 

The Witching Hour was a book concerned with the historical side of the Mayfair Family told by Scholars of the Talamasca .(which is an old occult order that observes supernatural and paranormal phenomenas ) This order has been previously mentioned in the Vampire Chronicles several times it is a vital part of the Trilogy as well . It is a book in which Michael and Rowan discover the history of the Mayfairs . 

Lasher  is the book focused on the character of Lasher that's to say knowing more about it through Julien and the spirit's own memory when  it became  flesh again . This book  highlights  the coming to the flesh of the Spirit Lasher and the outcome that this event had on the Family and on the Talamasca . 

Taltos is the Third and last proper book of the Trilogy (although there are three more books from the Vampire chronicles that criss-cross with the Mayfair Family and specially Mona Mayfair and her descendants .) this book was dedicated to the origins of the Spirit and the story behind this creature who can come back again from the dead through planning a very intricate bloodline that allows it to be flesh again . In this book we also get acquainted with the Peculiar character of Ash and few new Mayfair family members such as Mary Jane and her Granny . as well as new Talamasca novices. This book finally opens the portal to know enough information about the giant Helix and the Taltos as a race . 

Needless to say that all three books were emotionally packed to the brim , beautifully written -whether read in French or English- . It was quite gripping and tension filled . I personally enjoyed the three books from beginning to end . 

some parts were just unbelievably stunning and need to be  mentioned in this article . 

2- Call it coincidence (I think not) : 

I was flabbergasted when I came across the name "Stuart Townsend" knowing that, that person in particular does exist in real life and already played the Role of a main character in one of the movies based on Anne Rice's vampire Chronicles (He played the Role of Lestat in Queen of the damned)  which eventually pushed me to try to make sense of the situation and look up  details about this -coincidence if we can say so- and this is what I found on the personal website of the Actor Stuart Townsend .  

. 

Stuart Twonsend's Website 

During a visit to the author at her house in New Orleans, Townsend says that Rice gave him a copy of The Witching Hour and told him to turn to page 486.(in my copy of the book it was page 370) "So I did, and there it read 'The Life of Stuart Townsend'!" he says. "And I was like, 'Oh, Anne, that's so sweet that you put me in one

of your books,' and she said, 'Stuart, I wrote that book 11 years ago.'" Townsend grins and raises his eyebrows. "Kind of made me feel like I was on the right track, you know?"

it is one of those moments that renders everything magical and poetic to the core . 

3- poetry at its finest : 

What I also love about Anne Rice is that she mixes prose and poetry together and this is a central poetry piece to the trilogy which makes a lot of sense once you re-read it after you finish the whole Trilogy : 

One will rise who is too evil 

One will come who is too good. 

'Twixt the two, a witch shall falter 

and thereby open wide the door.

Pain and suffering as they stumble

Blood and fear before they learn.

Woe betide this springtime Eden

Now the vale of those who mourn.

Beware the watchers in that hour 

Bar the doctors from the house 

scholars will but nourish evil 

Scientists would raise it high.

Let the devil speak his story 

Let him rouse the angel's might

Make the dead come back to witness 

Put the alchemist to flight .

Slay the flesh that is not human 

Trust to weapons crude and cruel

For dying on the verge of wisdom 

Tortured souls may seek the light .

Crush the babes who are not children 

Show no mercy to the pure 

Else shall Eden have no springtime 

Else shall our kind reign no more .

4- Intertextuality :

Anne Rice also has the tendency to play with intertextuality ; Norse myth as well as Celtic myth was in play all the time , the references to other poets , artists ,  politicians , historical  figures was permanent 

" The bank of the Medici was then the greatest bank in the world. Everywhere in florence men and women were literate and thoughtful and talkative ; this was the city which had produced the poet Dante and the political genius, Machiavelli ; the city which produced Fra angelico and Giotto , Leonardo Da vinci and Botticelli . A city of great writers , great painters , great princes and great saints.... Perhaps a city unique in all the world ... The english king Henry VIII had abandoned the true faith ... the black plague was still with us "  the second book Lasher was by all means filled with such references and I enjoyed each and everyone of them . 

It is a trilogy full of surprises and fantastic references , and phenomenal vocabulary .

The rest is for you to discover while you decide to read the Lives of the Mayfair Witches . 

Asylum by Patrick McGrath #FullReview

Planning to Write this , I discovered that the book was turned into a movie -back in 2005- so I jumped and watched  the movie .

As always I am going to be discreet and spoiler-free so that you can enjoy it when you get hold of the book or watch the movie .

Asylum is a contemporary thriller by Patrick McGrath , It is "A New York times notable book of the year" .  It has all the elements  of a fantastic Gothic & thriller novel from the setting of the English countryside to the Welsh hills and moors , from the detached way of narrating to the strongly  passionate feelings communicated in it .  Asylum was a page turner , tension-filled , and it had such a chilling vibe to it . It mixed both , old school  and contemporary elements of the Gothic and Thriller genres .

Most of the Events in the novel took place inside an institution for the criminally insane as the title obviously suggests it . Edgar Stark has been incarcerated for killing his wife and disfiguring her  after discovering that she was unfaithful to him . A young Couple and their Child  moves in , to the estate of the Asylum ; Deputy Superintendent  Max  Raphael and his wife Stella and their child Charlie . 

The meeting between Stella and Edgar triggers a series of unexpected events which utterly changes the life of the whole family and the future plans of Max . 

In his Masterpiece, MacGrath ,chooses to keep you on your toes and eager to know more , at first , he gives you the impression that he is telling you a lot and that he is not leaving any space for suspense but you are mistaken my friend . He might foreshadow some acts or events but he never tells the whole things upfront or  straightforwardly . He might give you the impression that he is telling you everything plainly but he isn't. he tells too much and says nothing in the same time , which is such a gripping style . 

This Novel is beautiful inside out , The content was heartbreaking and hypnotic and the paper cover is as aesthetically brilliant as the content itself  .

Asylum is one of those rare contemporary books that succeeded in ensnaring me .

On The other hand the Movie Adaptation was poor . Well I didn't  have high expectations , but it  felt like a low budget movie , although the cast of the main characters was really good . The cast was as follow : Marton Csokas as Edgar Stark , Natasha Richardson as Stella Raphael and Ian McKellen as Peter cleave , and Hugh Bonneville as Max Raphael . In the making of the movie , they skipped a lot of events and they rushed and twisted others, the final twist was nice though ! The movie adaptation lacked the sense of mystery and suspense, It looked more like a romantic drama than a Psychological thriller . They could've  done better .