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This neat little book gives you enough practical knowledge of European art history to make your trip to the great museums and churches a lot more enjoyable. It connects yesterday's Europe with today's sights -- art, museums, buildings, and people. An essential tool for any traveler's backpack or suitcase.
Book Description
Rick Steves' Europe 101 gives you a practical grounding in art history to thoroughly enrich your sightseeing experience. Throughout the book you'll find handy lists of sights that allow you to use your newly acquired knowledge to plan your upcoming trip. Rick's unique approach, along with maps, timelines, and illustrations, makes this "professor in your pocket" an essential tool - whether you're a first-time visitor to Europe or a seasoned art traveler. Organized chronologically from prehistoric Europe to the modern world, this new edition is completely updated with new illustrations, photos, and maps. "Humorous and historical perspective covering a mere 5,000 years of Western civilization." - Boston Globe
Customer Reviews:
Excellent resource.......2007-09-12
If you plan to travel Europe this book is a must have, especially if you are interested in history and the museums. It gives tips on how to get tickets without standing in long lines and other tidbits a tourist would not know. I found it to be very time saving and helpful. It definitely will increase my enjoyment while I'm on vacation.
Rick Steves' Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler.......2007-07-30
I love reading the Rick Steves' travel books and was very pleasantly surprised by my new understanding of European History and how it relates to art after reading this book. Rick Steves puts everything into perspective and connects art and history in a clear and concise manner. As someone who didn't appreciate European History as a student, I have found this book to be a great tool to re-educate myself and feel I now have a better understanding of the art I will see while traveling in Europe!
You should Buy it!!.......2007-06-09
I was searching for a book like this for months. Already a fan of Rick Steves, I picked this book up and was more than happy with my purchase. This is a fantastic book to learn history or to learn about art. I used it to read while traveling Europe, but would read it as a leisure read as well. The photos are impressive, but more impressive are the diagrams and timelines to help meld it all together.
A touch of culture and history.......2007-05-18
Yes...if you want to travel to Europe, you should know what is written in this guide.
I found it very usefull and interesting, I am not a guy that are used to read about history and art.
Could Have Gotten 5 Stars, Except..........2005-10-04
If the entire book had been written like the first half I'd have given this book 5 stars without hesitation. Unfortunately, as others have observed, when he got to the Modern World Rick blew it.
The book is subtitled "History and Art for the Traveler." For the first 2/3rds or so of the book Rick stuck to the subject and the information was great. A wonderful overview of the early history of Europe and the evolution of art and architecture from ancient Egypt up until WWI. You don't get a lot of details, but as an overview it is well-written and fascinating. Just the sort of background that a traveller needs to really appreciate what he is seeing.
Once he got past WWI, though, it seems that Rick just couldn't stop himself from tossing in his personal political observations. Of course, politics and history are closely tied, so some political information is useful and necessary to understanding history. Good historians always include some political information. Sadly, Rick does not provide us with some political information. What he does is infuse all too many passages with his personal politics. At one point he includes a several-pages long dissertation that is nothing but a political rant--completely out of place in a book that is SUPPOSED to be about history and art for the traveller!
My other complaint about the book is that in some ways he is a bit of an art snob. He basically says that you don't have a right to criticize art if you don't understand it. He offers an analogy, saying that you can't appreciate the beauty of a '56 Chevy if you don't know a Volvo from an Edsel. I'm sorry, but that is simply not true. It is quite easy to have a deep appreciation for a '56 Chevy without know anything about Volvos or Edsels, or any other cars for that matter!
If no other car had ever existed, the '56 Chevy Belair would still be a thing of beauty. And you most certainly don't need to know anything about engines or transmissions to see that.
Having offered my complaints, I still give it three stars, because there is still a lot of useful information here. I would read up until the section on the Modern World. From there, skip to the description of Britain. Then read the section on art appreciation.
Even with its short-comings I think this book is worth the cover price. It's a good book. If Rick had stuck to the subject it would have been a great book.
Book Description
This memorable anthology reveals the soul of one of the oldest cultures in Europe, visiting Ireland’s iridescent green hills, rural pubs, Dublin streets, hidden islands, and mossy Celtic ruins. Experience the magic of Ireland in this engaging illustrated collection.
Customer Reviews:
Uneven, but enough to make this anthology worthwhile.......2005-12-18
I am giving one less star than the other commentators here not out of contrariness but simply to let readers know of the very uneven quality of the 44 entries, most of which are excerpts from longer works by established writers, although a minority appear to be written for this anthology. Not to say that the latter suffer necessarily; the best essay in here, and the only one that examines the other side of the tourist's encounter, is Janine Jones' "Tea With Mr. Curtain." Jones ponders what to do when the more unsavory side of a revered local man is revealed to apparently only her "privileged" view as a visitor. She opts for reticence rather than revealing his secret side to the rest of the village that she will soon leave but he never will.
The familiar authors mingle with the unknown, and to the editors' credit, they offset their knowingly but fulsomely lavish encomium of the oul' sod's charm prefacing this collection with a final section highlighting the shadowy scandals of an Ireland beyond the postcard views too often limiting many of the writers here included. The best sections are this last portion, for its frankness, and the beginning that in its "Essence of Ireland" does set out neatly such observant scenes as that of a kayaker, Brian Wilson, who finds his moored craft suddenly whisked away under the local Conamara customs of flotsam and jetsam belonging to those who live by the sea's bounty; Rosemary Mahoney's look (from her excellent "Whoredom in Kimmage: Irish Women Coming of Age") at how the Legion of Mary's volunteers work in inner-city Dublin; David Blaker's decision to call himself a Jew when hitching rides in the North to avoid uneasy conversations; and David W. McFadden's meeting with an amateur archeologist in the Tipperary town of Cahir. The second section is most disappointing: the contributors are either too blase or mundane about their activities, or what they report matters little to engage the imagination of the reader.
Valuable essays in part three about destinations are those of Katharine Scherman on Skellig Micheal; poitin-making by John McLaughlin; Thomas Flanagan on the real Mayo that inspired his "Year of the French" novel; and Jonathan Harrington's brief but moving tale of finding and meeting distant relatives one uncomfortable night. In the last section, Scott Anderson exposes the racketeering and an even more dangerous climate of intimidation that because of its underground impact on both sides of the sectarian divide has followed the decline in paramilitary violence; Martin Dillon gives a literally awful anecdote from his "God and the Gun" about a priest forced to hear the confession of a man the IRA is about to execute; Fintan O'Toole offers a typically nuanced examination of the Bishop Casey-Annie Murphy scandal.
The listings at the back, with succinct advice for tourists, are helpful and cogent, if by now of course dated a bit. The bibliography is well-chosen. Finally, sidebars in the text give additional observations from other texts, and these snippets are placed often to play off the longer essays in nimble fashion.
A great book!.......2001-08-25
I really enjoyed this book on Travler's tales from Ireland. It had some great stories. You really got to know about the country, and it's people from reading this. I highly recommend it.
The Sub-title says it all........2000-08-17
This book consists of a wide variety of stories from the humourous to the profound to the historical. There are stories that you want to sit down with a friend and read it to them: specically, "A Pub Fairy Tale" by Pamela Ramsey tells of a visit to an Irish pub by the author who wanted to take in the "ambiance" of the music and dancing. She hoped that she would be asked to dance, but as closing time drew near, her hopes seemed slim. Then an energetic old gentleman finally asked her, and she describes it this way: "I could feel the other dancers watching us, nodding, laughing, giving us encouragement, but the old man and I had eyes only for each other. We were two odd strangers caught in a moment of tenderness. A moment of magic. I was Cinderella, the belle of the ball, dancing with my Prince - an old, almost-blind man, wearing a black beret." Beautiful. Another story tells of the estrangement of a son and his father when he married outside the faith, and how, when the father died, a reconciliation of sorts was established with his brother with they go hiking on the hills where there father had hiked with them, and how he came to understand his father's secret strength and connection with the isle: "Walking the Kerry Way", by Tim O'Reilly. This brief description of Mr. O'Reilly's story does it a gross injustice, because there is a depth of feeling that only the author can convey. The brief biographical descriptions at the end of each story are informative and to the point. At the end of the book, there is an extensive, "The Next Step" which includes a number of websites, and a good bibliography. The book is well put together, and succeeds very well in conveying "true stories of life on the emerald isle."
Descriptions pull you into the landscape.......2000-05-14
Like other books in the Travelers Tales series - this book gives excellent insight into the Irish way of life and provides excellent reading (I am slightly biased, having written one of the short pieces that is included - titled Cycling to Dun Aengus). The overall quality of the book is excellent and the descriptions pull you right into the landscape and geography of Ireland - from sitting in smoky pubs to driving past weather beaten coasts. Some of these pieces are also hilarious. Highly recommended not only as a prerequisite to a visit - but for a great read. TJLMullen@cs.com
Terrific read on Ireland.......2000-04-22
I'm on my way to Ireland in a few days. This is just a note to say that I found this book on Ireland, to my surprise as so many nice things can be, enormously sensitive and moving and classy. Classy because the type style, the paper stock, and the interior arrangement of the stories and back-of-the-book tips and advice show a lot of editorial thought, being so well done. I was deeply moved by the selection of the tales, each its own chapter, and I definitely felt a sense of coming to know Ireland in a way no other book I could buy would bring me. Lots of laughter and tears and thoughts arriving as I stared out a window, enveloping the mood of a story I'd just finished. They were wonderfully written for me, to my standards, which are impossibly high -- I admire the best, even if I can't write at that level -- and overall I sensed that the editing was careful, thoughtful. There'd been plenty of work put into this volume. The end of the book with all the tips was very enjoyable, and I've read it through twice so far as I sense it will all come true for me, all prove to be good advice, on this, my first trip to Ireland.
Book Description
On a journey of discovery, Warren and Gerda Rovetch both creaky themselves, explore the hidden places of Great Britain's last wilderness, the rugged and startling coast of Scotland's North West Highlands.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2004-08-11
This is an interesting and well written guidebook. It was mentioned on NPR I think once and it was well deserved. Finally a guidebook for active but not agile among us. A must have for any trip to Scotland.
An expressive, and readable Scottish Highlands guide.......2003-09-18
The Creaky Traveler In The North West Highlands Of Scotland by experienced world traveler Warren Rovetch is a personal memoir and engaging travelogue of Britain's coastal wilderness. Penned with insight, charm, and vibrant impressions of culture, natural beauty, and the unique feel of the land itself, The Creaky Traveler is a very highly recommended, expressive, and readable Scottish Highlands guide for vacationers and armchair travelers alike.
Good little guide............2003-02-16
THE CREAKY TRAVELER provides an amazing amount of detail (including maps) about a small part of the northwest highlands of Scotland. Mr Rovetch has a friendly and somewhat avuncular writing style which verges on the pedantic at times. He obviously kept a diary of his travels from which this text has been extracted (the minutia could only be recorded not remembered). I found some of the detail annoying for "armchair travel" but useful for objectively planning road travel in remote Scotland. After using it to plan a trip,THE CREAKY TRAVELER is the sort of book one reads a chapter a night on the road to scope out the next day's adventures.
Rovetch and his wife Gerda who prefers the sobriquet "G" are in their late sixties-early seventies and still mobile, though as he says "not agile." Although Rovetch provides helpful hints for "older" folks, younger adventurers may find many of the suggestions useful. I bought the book because I have been seriously contemplating visiting the highlands when I travel to the UK this summer. Rovetch has convinced me road travel is the only way to go, and road travel in northwest Scotland cannot be knocked out in a few days. Also, if you truly hope to "see" anything, high summer is probably not the very best time to go.
Rovetch suggests limiting the miles covered to under 20 per day given the condition of the roads (the path is narrow and the way is hard) and the joy of slowly savoring one of the world's most beautiful rural areas. Rovetch and G made their several week journey in May when the countryside was filled with new lambs and few tourists. The places they stayed were picturesque and relatively pricey. This is a good guide for the practical traveler.
Sparkling gem of a book.......2002-12-25
Yes this is a travel book with advice on how to get there and what to see, but really it is a book about our nature in seeking the unusual by seeing the common in a new way. It also happens to be just plain good writing-- a joy to read and to savor, like the travels in the wilds of Scotland that the book describes.
Average customer rating:
- From a former student's vantage...
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Vienna Voices: A Traveler Listens to the City of Dreams (Writing Travel)
Jill, Knight Weinberger
Manufacturer: Parlor Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1932559892 |
Book Description
Description A work of creative nonfi ction, VIENNA VOICES: A TRAVELER LISTENS TO THE CITY OF DREAMS offers a nuanced portrait of the enigmatic "City of Dreams," whose intellectual and artistic culture reached its height at the end of the nineteenth century, only to be eclipsed in the twentieth by the collapse of the Habsburg empire and the rise of National Socialism. Inspired by Jill Knight Weinberger's twenty-year acquaintance with the city and the story of her husband's family, who as Viennese Jews were forced to fl ee in 1938, the book portrays two spheres of acquaintance with Vienna. There is the city of legendary charm and reverence for the arts, the city of Mozart, Schubert, Klimt and Freud; there is also its darker character, hedonistic and intolerant. Weinberger family history, historical anecdote, and personal observation are woven into a segmented structure that allows the reader to discover Vienna much as Weinberger did, in a juxtaposition of "voices" heard in the city's poetry, everyday language, history books, period documents, and as recalled by its citizens, past and present. About the Author Jill Knight Weinberger (PhD, University of Connecticut) is an Associate Professor of English at Central Connecticut State University, where she teaches courses in creative writing and American literature. Her travel writing has appeared frequently in the New York Times, Boston Sunday Globe, and Los Angeles Times. In 2000, the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation recognized her writing with a Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism. Series: Writing Travel Edited by Jeanne Moskal
Customer Reviews:
From a former student's vantage..........2006-05-17
Weinberger's glimpse into Vienna's rich cultural and historical life serves as a launching point for researching her in-laws' past. Though well-off and industrious throughout the late thirties, the onset of World War II forced them to flee, uprooting their lives and sense of identity like thousands of other Jews in the city.
Weinberger's smooth writing style makes it easy to envision sitting in one of the city's countless coffeehouses on a mild spring day. Yet simultaneously, it is impossible to ignore its undercurrent of war-related anxiety, a constant reminder that a war continues to ravage its victims' lives long after its end.
Although Weinberger's work might be classified as travel writing by some, she encompasses aspects of many other genres -- history, memoir, nonfiction, humor -- creating a memorable read.
Average customer rating:
- Best book on Rome & Hadrian's Villa in English
- not a novel
- As good as a vacation...
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Rome and a Villa
Eleanor Clark
Manufacturer: Zoland Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1883642515
Release Date: 2000-02-05 |
Book Description
IN 1947 A YOUNG AMERICAN woman named Eleanor Clark went to Rome on a Guggenheim fellowship to write a novel. But Rome had its way with her, the novel was abandoned, and what followed was not a novel but a series of sketches of Roman life written mostly between 1948 and 1951. This new edition of the essential classic Rome and a Villa includes an evocative introduction by the preeminent translator William Weaver, who was close friends with the author and often wandered the city with her during the years she was working on the book.
Once in Rome, the foreign writer or artist, over the course of weeks, months, or years, begins to lose ambition, to lose a sense of urgency, to lose even a sense of self. What once seemed all-consuming is swallowed up by Rome itself; by the pace of life, by the fatalism of the Roman people, to whom everything and nothing matters, by the sheer historic weight and scale of the place. Rome is life itself - messy, random, anarchic, comical one moment, tragic the next, and above all, seductive.
Clark pays special attention to Roman art and architecture. In the book's midsection she looks at Hadrian's Villa - an enormous, unfinished palace - as a meta-phor for the city itself: decaying, imperial, shabby, but capable of inducing an overwhelming dreaminess in its visitors. The book's final chapter, written for an updated edition in 1974, is a lovely portrait of the so-called Protestant cemetery where both Keats and Shelley are buried, along with other foreign notables.
Customer Reviews:
Best book on Rome & Hadrian's Villa in English.......2004-03-12
"You walk close to your dreams"--that's the first sentence of Eleanor Clark's chapter on the fountains of Rome. Her book is lyrical but informative, and for some readers, perhaps too heavy with information, but I have found it indispensible both while in Rome and later back in the US thinking about where I had been. Orignally published as separate articles in The New Yorker magazine, each chapter focuses on a particular subject. One of my favorites is the section on Protestant Cemetery (actually the cemetery of the non-Catholics), where Keats, Shelley, Gramsci and many other non-Catholic writers, politicians, diplomats, and artists are buried. This is not a typical guidebook, however, and anyone who buys it in order to get maps, pictures, and restaurant tips will be disappointed. Nevertheless, it is an excellent guide to the city--it is thoughtful, it is full of strong opinions, and it is sometimes very funny, too. Eleanor Clark was married to the writer Robert Penn Warren, whose career overshadowed hers. Those who know his work but do not know the work of Clark may be surprised to find out just how good she is.
not a novel.......2002-03-28
this book is deceiving...i admit, some will find it interesting, but clark jumps around with no transitions. it is more of a journal, or a collection of essays. she does describe in detail a number of things in rome, yet if you are looking for a novel or a piece of literature which is cohesive this is not the book for you.
As good as a vacation..........2000-05-07
If you need to escape from the drudgery of your everyday life for awhile than this is the book for you.
Clark's masterpiece is as good as a month in the country. And not just any country either. All of Italy is opened to you by the mind and imagination of Eleanor Clark. She covers the territory from the haunted villa of Hadrian to the dangerous hills of Sicily and the cool depths of Saint Peter's Cathedral. You will meet with the ghost of the Emperor himself, a modern gangster cum matinee idol and the pilgrims of a Papal Jubilee.
Clark's prose is a whirlwind that leaves you breathless. She throws off sparks in all directions like a Catherine's Wheel. You won't "get" all of this book on the first go round but it is well worth a second and a third reading.
Book Description
A Traveller's History of Ireland gives a full and accurate portrait of Ireland from its prehistory right up to the present. The story opens with mysterious, early Celtic Ireland where no Roman stood, through Saint Patrick's mission to Ireland, which began the process of making it "an island of saints," to the legendary high King Brian Boru and his struggle with Viking and Irish enemies alike.
It moves on through the arrival of the Norman "strongbow" in the twelfth century, and the beginnings of the difficult and tragic Anglo-Irish relationship. The book then moves into modern times with the great revolts of 1798, the horrors of the potato famine, and the careers of the leading constitutional nationalists, Daniel O'Connell and Charles Parnell. The book ends with a description of modern Ireland and of its two separate Catholic Nationalist and Protestant Unionist traditions.
"This book will be appreciated by visitors who want more historical background than ordinary series guidebooks supply... Highly recommended..." -Library Journal
"For independent, inquisitive travelers traversing the green roads of Ireland, there is no better guide than A Traveller's History of Ireland." -Small Press
Customer Reviews:
Not a traveler's history, but OK.......2006-10-20
This interesting little book is a history of Ireland, pure and simple - there is nothing particularly different for the traveler than any other Irish history book. As a history book, I did find this book to have a good deal of information, covering everything from prehistoric Ireland to the contemporary scene.
Now, as already said, this book has nothing in particular to offer the traveler, so if you are looking for that, you will be disappointed. As a history book, this book is somewhat disappointing because the author does not maintain objectivity about his subject. For example, when discussing the massacres of Protestants in 1641, the author minimizes the claims of losses and challenges the objectivity of the witnesses. But, when he comes to the massacres committed by Oliver Cromwell in 1649 he does not similarly challenge the historic record.
Well, am I saying that this is a bad book? No, in point of fact, I did find this to be a highly informative and interesting read. The author does a good job of covering Irish history in a smooth and interesting manner.
So, if you are looking for a good history book for the traveler, then don't get this book. If you are looking for an objective and clear-eyed book on Irish history...then don't get this book. But, if you are looking for a short, but highly informative book on Irish history, then you will enjoy this book. Just know what you are getting.
Needs less history, more travel.......2001-07-20
Starry-eyed and with a deep-seated love of the history of the place even before I had set foot there, I travelled to Paris after graduating university, armed not only with the obligatory budget guide to hostels and el-cheapo cafes, but with a last-minute find: "A Traveller's History of Paris". It was fabulous. Not only could I bore my travelling companion to tears photographing every angle of every building, but I could also talk her ear off from Notre Dame to the Louvre, recounting the historical anecdotes and trivia that went with each site.
I was looking forward to much the same when I ordered "A Traveller's History of Ireland". And from the point of view of history, this book certainly strives for thoroughness. However, in the end I left this one at home because it told me very little about specific histories of specific sites that I intended to visit throughout Ireland. Certainly it makes an effort, with the historical gazetteer at the back, to link the history to the geography; however, as a traveller, I much prefer to have the *places* enumerated and detailed than the periods.
As a history of Ireland, this book is not even that inspiring. Rather dry and sometimes pedantic, it lacks the lyrical energy that so informs the Irish love-affair with the written and spoken word. To get a sense of the flavour of Ireland's history, you'd do far better to read such personal accounts as Frank McCourt's deservedly popular memoirs, or the alternately funny and heart-rending novels of Roddy Doyle. For the romantic, browse Yeats' poems; for the ancient, explore the rich Irish folklore and mythology. Any of these will give you a better feel for the country and its spirit than this book, detailed and scholarly as it is.
I recommend this book mostly for that detail and scholarly approach. The title is misleading, though - this is not a book written with the traveller in mind.
Book Description
The tragedy of the famine, seen through one girl's eyes
During the terrible years of the "great hunger," thousands of Irishpeople faced death from starvation and disease. The faminebegan in 1845, and by 1850, a million people had died and afurther one and a half million had fled the country, manyjourneying across the Atlantic in leaky, overcrowded sailing shipsto make new lives in America.
Told in the voice of twelve-year-old Mary O'Flynn, this is the storyof the courage and determination with which one family survivedthis appalling ordeal. Uniquely illustrated with authenticphotographs of landscapes, interiors, and genuine period artifacts,Mary's quiet, brave voice tells us what it was like to livethrough the greatest tragedy in Ireland's history.
Book Description
Sara Walsh was born in 1919 in the west of Ireland, in a land of storytellers. In prose that is neither history nor memoir but something larger and brighter than both, Remembering Ahanagran captures her memories of her early years in Ireland, her migration to the United States, and her marriage to Harry White, the Harvard-educated son of Russian Jewish emigrants. Her son, eminent historian Richard White, in collaboration with Sara, forces history as it is traditionally written into conversation with personal recollections.
Customer Reviews:
Workmanlike look at Irish immigration in the 1930s.......2006-01-08
This is the same book published in hardcover with a different cover and the subtitle "storytelling in a family's past."
I did not find White's actual content all that engrossing. His historian's determination to separate fact from his mother's "storytelling" embellishments or lacunae follow the usual patterns of such explorations into the clash of contrasts. The Irish mom-meets-Jewish American dad that gave birth to White appealed to me, but reading the pages of life in Chicago in the 30s vs. his father's military stint made this book little different than a self-penned history of one's family by the designated genealogist in the clan. White does write considerably better than such amateurs, but what he writes about does not rise above the mundane or the all-too-familiar tales of peasant agitation, the old IRA, and the leaving of the village for the big city.
His eye occasionally gleans the telling detail, regardless. A petition for citizenship reveals that the husband does not know his wife's birthday, and his guess is off three years. His mother is asked as a 16-year-old at entrance to the country if she was a polygamist. The legend of St Rita, patron of the Chicago parish his family lived in tells in its own moral that God shapes you up only then to kill you off. Jack Benny and Father Coughlan were the radio shows one never missed on Sunday.
One detail shows an error on White's part: on pg. 23 he claims that his relatives had their baptismal names "Gaelicized" by the priest as Helen-Hellena and William-Guilielmo, but surely this is the customary Latinization found on many Catholic documents rather than a return to the Irish which would make Eileen and Liam?
This book reminds me of a few others that have recently delved into the Irish-meets-American immigrant encounter. Thomas Lynch's "Booking Passage," also looking at North Kerry, would complement White's book. His style in its spareness yet its eloquence reminds me of Henry Glassie, the folklorist who compiled "Irish Folktales" and chronicled a Fermanagh community in "Passing the Time at Ballymenone." Finally, books like David Monagan's "Jaywalking with the Irish" and Steve Fallon's "Home with Alice" similarly compare Irish American memories with extended Irish residences.
A son rediscovers his mother & father & all the family.......2002-02-07
this was recently read on our WPRadio Chapter - A story that a son rediscovers the journey of his mother, a most naive Irish girl who lands in Chicago, about all those she lives with and then later of his father - who she only met 2 times before he proposed and she accepted - he tells it so tenderly. the father's family is Jewish and hers, Irish Catholic- and in that era, a forbidden match. but his mother Sarah finds her way in life overcoming many losses of relations with their disapproval- on both sides - he discovers who they were and writes it with a way of seeing then and now and all the weaving of the many characters that we all find in our family history. I loved it and want to buy a copy to keep and reread.
Book Description
In the late autumn of 666 A.D., Fidelma of Cashel - an advocate of the Brehon Courts, sister to the King of Cashel, and religieuse of the Celtic Church is at a crossroads. Needing to reflect upon her commitment to the religious life and her relationship to the Saxon monk Eadulf, she leaves Eadulf behind and joins a small band sailing from Ireland on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. James in modern-day Spain. Her first surprise on-board is the appearance of Cian, her first love, a man who had deserted her ten years ago, and who stirs up memories she'd rather forget.
As if this wasn't complication enough, on the first night out the ship is tossed by a turbulent sea and a pilgrim disappears, apparently washed overboard. But the appearance of a blood-stained robe raises the possibility of murder and death continues to dog the tiny band of pilgrims trapped within the close confines of the ship. Battling against the antagonism of her fellow pilgrims, Fidelma is determined to solve this most perplexing of puzzles before the ship reaches the shrine and the killer, if there is one, disappears forever.
Customer Reviews:
Sister Fidelma Sets Sail.......2004-10-09
I freely admit that Peter Tremayne is not a good writer. At his worst he sounds like he is across the room shouting the narrative at you. His detective, Sister Fidelma comes across like a mixture of Perry Mason, Kung Fu and Sherlock Holmes, with poor old Brother Ealdwolf her happy bumbling Watson. However there are simply not enough books about Dark Age (he would dispute the term) Irish judge magistrates in a religious order.
In this book where we have Sister Fidelma leaving Ealdwolf behind as she ponders her dedication to law and religion, she sets sail with a group of contentious and mismatched pilgrims. And, lo and behold, she finds one of the pilgrims to be a blast from her own past. And he hasn't changed much at all. Then a woman disappears and is presumed lost overboard and Fidelma begins to investigate that and other strange happenings on a small boat.
Add Saxon slavers (Wo-DEN, Wo-DEN), heavy weather at sea and a dreadful ship wreck resulting in a rescue that further complicates the case.
You can tell that Tremayne is really trying to give Sister Fidelma more depth and character and because he is doing something different I'm inclined to give him an A for Effort.
Bad prose, bad characterization, silly plot.......2003-09-05
This was my first Peter Tremayne purchase, and it will be my last. Mr. Tremayne doesn't seem to know if he is writing a historical mystery, a fantasy novel, or a really bad romance. I finished this book because I couldn't believe it was so bad--it gradually assumed a kind of horrible fascination for me. The prose style is clumsy, the diction overblown, and the motivations are silly.
If you want historical mysteries, stick with Brother Cadfael. If you want hokey but fun fantasy, read Barbara Hamblyn. If you want romantic mysteries, read Elizabeth Peters et al. Or read Lindsey Davis' "Falco" mysteries for a bit of all three.
A Medieval Nautical Mystery!.......2003-05-06
In this story Sister Fidelmas is making a pilgrimage to visit a Saint's shrine in Iberia. She is without the faithful Eadulf, and , in fact, she has deliberately made this trip in order to try to assess her feelings for Eadulf and to asses the validity of her religious calling. In order to get to Iberia she must take ship. She books with a group of pilgrims that are going to visit the same shrine that she is going to, but what an ill-assorted group they are. There are a lot of tensions in the group, and it's not long after they get out to sea before murder occurs. We meet a lot of wonderful characters in this book, and the sea theme is good. Fidelma does manage to figure out the murderer, but not before other bodies turn up. In fact, she narrowly misses being one of them herself.
Sister Fidelma is Tops.......2001-11-13
This series has always been one of the best of its genre, and, unlike other similar series, it shows no sign whatsoever of losing steam as more books are written. In fact, this was one of the best Fidelma mysteries. As always, Fidelma is positively Holmesian in her deductive abilities, and she is a much more multi-faceted character than the illustrious Mr. H. Also, Tremayne always creates memorable characters, both the foils and the criminals, and, for the most part(certainly here), cracking good mysteries. Also, there was a nice teaser at the end that leaves the reader definitely anticipating the next entry in the series. (...). Anyway, a great read.
Great historical mystery.......2001-10-18
Sister Fidelma of Cashmal, daughter and sister to kings, takes a pilgrimage to Iberia to visit the Shrine of St. James. She needs a respite from her royal sibling and from the Saxon monk Eadulf. She knows she has found her life's calling as a religieure, but hopes this odyssey will help her sort some mixed feelings especially her feelings about Eadulf.
Alas, poor Fidelma received no respite on her trek as her luck deserts her from the start when she meets first love Cian, who unceremoniously dumped her years ago. Soon two women are killed and attempts on Fidelma's life occur. With the ship's captain blessing, Fidelma begins investigating the homicides.
In the eighth installment of the Sister Fidelma historical mysteries, readers obtain a glimpse at the heart and soul of the heroine that paints a vivid picture of life in eight-century Ireland. The who-done-it is a marvelous piece of misdirection, as the villain remains hidden until the end. When revealed, the audience will feel pity towards the culprit. ACT OF MERCY is a fantastic Dark Ages who-done-it.
Harriet Klausner
Book Description
This unusual study combines two books in one: the 1794 autobiographical travel narrative of an Indian, Dean Mahomet, recalling his years as camp-follower, servant, and subaltern officer in the East India Company's army (1769 to 1784); and Michael H. Fisher's portrayal of Mahomet's sojourn as an insider/outsider in India, Ireland, and England. Emigrating to Britain and living there for over half a century, Mahomet started what was probably the first Indian restaurant in England and then enjoyed a distinguished career as a practitioner of "oriental" medicine, i.e., therapeutic massage and herbal steam bath, in London and the seaside resort of Brighton. This is a fascinating account of life in late eighteenth-century India--the first book written in English by an Indian--framed by a mini-biography of a remarkably versatile entrepreneur.
Travels presents an Indian's view of the British conquest of India and conveys the vital role taken by Indians in the colonial process, especially as they negotiated relations with Britons both in the colonial periphery and the imperial metropole.
Connoisseurs of unusual travel narratives, historians of England, Ireland, and British India, as well as literary scholars of autobiography and colonial discourse will find much in this book. But it also offers an engaging biography of a resourceful, multidimensional individual.
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