Leslie Thomas - The Adventures of Goodnight and Loving

 this review was written by Ro Bennett and read live on the bookshow 30th April 2014:

Product Description

When George Goodnight, a lawyer on the staff of a London newspaper, finds his marriage has gone sour, his family holiday is cancelled and his car, broken down on the motorway, has been stolen, he walks through a gate in a fence on a summer's day in the middle of England. What he doesn't know, as he takes his first light steps across the sunlit meadows near the tiny village of Somerbourne Magna, is that he is embarking on a course that will take him far away from the country, the surroundings and the way of life he has always known. He is embarking on a journey that will eventually take him to the other side of the world.

Author Leslie Thomas shows himself to be a master of the sustained narrative novel of adventure and romance as he evokes his hero's fitful progress round the world. Along the way George has close encounters with storms at sea and in the air; with poverty and despair; with true love and exotic passion. He spends Christmas in prison, encounters a substitute for the son he never had and tracks down a girl who was swopped at birth for some rare stamps. Always he moves on.

Sometimes touching, sometimes hilarious, sometimes alarming, the adventures of George Goodnight and his shadowy alter ego, Oliver Loving, represent stages in what is both a quest for excitement and love and a haunting evocation of what happens when a man starts running away from life and can't stop. The descriptions of the cities and villages George travels to and the extraordinary cast of people he encounters are sparkling and authentic. This long, swirling novel, with comedy in its buttonhole and pathos at its heart, is a tour de force and wonderfully enthralling read.

Well this was a long book with small print - but I agree with Barbara Simpson who recommended it that it is well worth reading. It’s sheer escapism, it makes you laugh and gets you thinking. All the characters are believable, the situations fascinating and imaginative, with excellent descriptions, humour and pathos.  a real page turner. 

George’s pseudonyms Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving were actual people with very interesting, suspense filled biographies. There’s a lot about them on the internet. They were cattle barons in Texas in the 1800s.  Goodnight and Loving moved their cattle through dangerous territory as the Texas Panhandle was still heavily populated with bandits from Mexico, Apache, and Comanche.  Their 2,000 mile path through New Mexico and Colorado became the legendary Goodnight/Loving trail. They lived through the Civil War, Goodnight who was in the Texas Rangers rescued Ann Parker who had been captured by Comanches as a child, but she died of a broken heart as her infant daughter died and she missed her husband and two sons. Loving was eventually shot by Comanches and Goodnight took his body from New Mexico back to Texas for burial. Goodnight who smoked 50 cigars a day until he switched to a pipe lived to 93. 

There is actually a fictionalized account of their cattle drive called Lonesome Dove.

Ro Bennett

Simon Mawer - The Girl who fell from the Sky

reviewed live on bookshow by Brian Lowen on 29th august 2013

Marian Sutro is half French and half British, and as she speaks fluent French she is recruited  by the British Secret Service to go undercover in France during the second world war.

The story takes us through all her training in a remote house in Scotland before she is finally accepted as being suitable to be an agent working with the Resistance in France.

She soon finds herself parachuting into south-west France, having been trained in sabotage, how to perform under interrogation and how to kill.

Her real destination, however is occupied Paris, where she must seek out an old family friend, Clement Pelleteir, a nuclear Physicist, whose expertise is in urgent need back in England.

She makes contact with the local resistance group and arranges drops of supplies from England. She eventually gets to Paris and finds Clement and also Yvette, with whom she trained back in England. The group that she was part of in Paris have all been captured, so Marian tries to arrange for her to escape back to England with Clement, who has agreed to go.

The story gives a good idea what life must have been like in occupied Paris with very little food to eat and always looking behind you to check if you were being followed. You are not able to trust anyone and Marian has to use her training in how to kill.  Life was much easier in the countryside where at least you had reasonable food, but all life’s little luxuries had disappeared.

A good story, but it did not grip me as much as similar stories by other authors on this subject, ie Ken Follett and Leslie Thomas.

Leslie Thomas - Ormerod’s Landing

book reviewed live on bookshow by Brian Lowen 13th June 2013

 

Historians of the Second World War have hitherto omitted to mention that the first British raid on German occupied France took place within four months of Dunkirk.

The landing took place at the small fishing village of Granville on the Normandy coast.

The landing party consisted of a Detective Sergeant of the Metropolitan Police, a young French woman and an ugly mongrel called Formidable. They were considerately brought ashore from a nearby island by the Germans themselves.

So goes the blurb on the cover of this book and you know then that you are in for another hilarious heart-warming tale from LT.

George Ormerod was the police Sergeant in question and while the war is being lost all around him, he remains obsessed with the tracking down of the murderer of a young woman in Wandsworth. He discovers that the villain, Albert Smales was part of the expeditionary force that fought in France and Ormerod finds out that he is in a military hospital in France and this is how he gets to go to France, thinking he is being sent to track down Smales, but the real reason is to help the attractive young Marie-Therese Velin to start up resistance groups across France.

We follow them as they blaze a trail through Normandy, eventually finishing up in France.

Leslie Thomas takes us through the other side of war as seen from the civilian point of view.

War has not yet really touched the sleepy countryside of Normandy and Marie-Therese has difficulty in stirring up any emotion amongst her fellow Frenchmen who are quite content to carry on their normal rural existence.

Leslie Thomas has that knack of telling a story that includes all the right ingredients – thrills, love, humour, pathos and local interest. A rollicking good yarn and thoroughly recommended.

Leslie Thomas - That Old Gang of Mine

review live on show by Brian Lowen 26/7/12
Another hilarious tale from the pen of Leslie Thomas.
The scene is set along Ocean Drive, South Miami, Florida.

It is in this area that many elderly folk while away their latter days, living in cheap hotels and snoozing in the shade under the trees along the waterfront. A few of them get together to try and relieve the boredom of their life by trying their hand at a little crime.

They infiltrate a charity do at a rich couple’s ocean front property with the intention of robbing the safe. They think they have found the safe in the floor of the bedroom situated over the main lounge where the party is taking place, but when they start undoing the large nut in the floor, you can guess what happens next if you have ever watched that episode of ‘Only Fools and Horses’ when Del Boy, Rodney and Granddad try their hand at chandelier cleaning.
I wonder if the script writer for that show had read this book! ? O’Sullivan

That caper is an hilarious failure but things look up when the attractive granddaughter of one of the group and an ex-cop join the gang and they successfully rob a bank. Some of them get
second thoughts though because they are not real criminals at heart.

The local Police Chief is going spare trying to track down this gang who are causing chaos on his normally quiet patch.

The story comes to a great uproarious finale when the gang try one last raid at a famous film star’s soiree where the Police Chief is one of the guests to this party in a huge riverside mansion with a river running through the lounge.

A great book that you wish would not come to an end. Thoroughly recommended.

show 18th November

Guests Brian Lowen & Maggie Perkovich.
Books being reviewed: Maeve Binchey’s Minding Frankie, Ava Gardner Love is Nothing by Lee Server, The Watchman by Chris Ryan, In My Wildest Dreams by Leslie Thomas.
Also we will be looking at the results of the ‘radioscillybookshow’ survey. Carol & Nigel kindly let me leave the blank pages in the Airport Lounge, over the latter weeks of the summer, for people to comment what their favourite read of the year had been.

The Book with the most hits was Steig Larssons Millenium Trilogy.
Second Was 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop & Khaled Hosseini 'Thousand Splendid Suns'.

Leslie Thomas - In My Wildest Dreams

Review by Brian (Biggles) Lowen on show 18th Nov.
The book recalls his life from birth to this second marriage when he has just written his first best seller – The Virgin Soldiers.

It is divided into four parts:-
1. Home
This describes his early family life in Newport, Monmouthshire. His father was a stoker on board ship and away a lot and usually drunk when at home. He was eventually lost at sea when his ship was torpedoed. His mother had poor health and died when he was young. He was then sent to Dr. Barnardos Home with his brother.

2. The Homes
Describes his life at Dr. Barnardos with 150 little urchins under the rule of the gaffer and his wife, the matron. He later studied shorthand and typing and dreamed of being a writer.

(page 222)

3. Virgin Soldier
Called up for National Service, put into the Army Pay Corps, and sent to Singapore. He quotes his national service number which all began with a 2. Mine, being a regular, but only for four years in the RAF, began with a 4 and I can still remember it.

It is in Singapore that after trying for many years he eventually loses his virginity! The time spent here was the basis for his first best selling novel.

4. On the Streets
Back in civvy street. Goes into lodgings and gets a job as reporter on the Willesden Citizen. He makes extra money by sending articles off to other papers.

(page 386 can omit)

Then he gets a job at the Exchange Telegraph, a sort of central distribution point for news (like Reuters). Then comes his first marriage and their honeymoon in Scilly. They travel on the De Havilland Rapide – the only aircraft to get woodworm!

He eventually fulfils his ambition and gets a job as a reporter on the London Evening News. There is a good description of the scruffy press room at Scotland Yard.

(page 444)
He attends the infamous press conference that Harold Wilson held on Samson.
He writes a play called “A Piece of Ribbon” which is accepted by the BBC. His first book is published – “This Time Next Week” which is about childrens’ homes. His next book is “The Virgin Soldiers” which is his first best seller.

A hilarious read of Leslie Thomas’s full and interesting early life.

show 18th Nov 2010

Grab your cuppa tea it’s the Bookshow on radio scilly 107.9fm. On the show this week is Brian Lowen and Maggie (Vera Lynn) Perkovic
Books being reviewed are:
Maeve Binchey’s Finding Frankie, Ava Gardner Love is Nothing
The Watchman by Chris Ryan, In My Wildest Dreams by Leslie Thomas
Also we will be looking at the results of the ‘radioscillybookshow’ survey. Carol & Nigel kindly let me leave the blank pages in the Airport Lounge, over the latter weeks of the summer, for people to comment what their favourite read of the year had been.
The results of the survey are on the blog

22nd July show

On the show today we nearly had a lone guest but then Maggie Perkovic (aka Vera Lynn) came in at the last hour to review another book about the war (hence the nickname Vera Lynn). Brian is going to review a couple of books which I have read myself (and reviewed one of them on show) but the other I was waiting for Brian to read it so we could discuss it.
So books under the cosh are: Arrivals and Departures by Leslie Thomas, Wolf Rock by Peter Tonkin & Dead Tomorrow by Peter James. And now 'The Fancy' by Monica Dickens (Charles Dickens grandaughter)
Don’t forget to add your favourite book of the year to our bookshow survey up at the heliport lounge.
Some of the amusing quotes from the Leslie Thomas book:
'It was Edwards lot as public/company liaison, to listen patiently to customer complaints about in-flight movies, the accents of the cabin staff, the engines were too loud, that none of the windows would open & that children should be sent to play outside.
"Do you like being old?" Pearl asked a resident of an old peoples home
"Me, like it", retorted Sargeant Morris "no, I dont madam, I can think of better ways of spending the rest of my life than being old!"
Its a really lighthearted book, with light humour some amusing observations like a street sign advertising: The 'Impact Driving School'.

Leslie Thomas - Arrivals & Departures

Review by Brian Lowen on show 22nd July 2010
Arrivals and Departures by Leslie Thomas
Another gem of a book from Leslie Thomas. Full of colourful characters you get to know and believe in.

The story centres around the little village of Bedmansworth which is close to Heathrow airport and suffers all the noise and fumes associated with a large airport. L T describes the conditions here brilliantly as the residents suffer in silence as each aircraft roars overhead.

The main character is an elderly American lady, Pearl Collingwood, who comes to England with her daughter ostensibly as tourists, but her real purpose is to research her deceased husband’s former life whilst stationed in England during the war. On their way by taxi to a London hotel she pretends to be taken ill and they divert to the little village of Bedmansworth and put up at the local inn. Pearl insists on staying on here much to the consternation, but later amusement of her daughter Rona.

Pearl soon becomes involved in the village and makes herself at home in her new environment while she starts her research into her late husband’s life, and loves, in this part of England. Her daughter meanwhile happily whiles away the time pursuing her hobby of sketching. When she meets Edward Richardson it is love at first sight for both of them, but at a distance, as Edward is married, but not happily. Edward is the operations manager of a large airline stationed at Heathrow and his job entails him flying off to all parts of the world to sort out problems as they arise and we follow him on some of his journeys. Edward makes arrangements for Rona to pursue her hobby by sketching in the terminal building. Their romance continues at a distance, hardly daring to touch one another until finally they fall into each other’s arms and spend one night of passion together, even though they realise it cannot go any further as Edward is still living with his wife Adele even though it is a stormy relationship.

Meanwhile L T brings other village characters into the story with a mixture of pathos, humour and unrequited love. I love the vivid description that the author gives to everyday things – read page 6 &7.

Pearl is later killed in a road accident and the funeral is held in the local church. She is buried in the graveyard, strangely close by the grave of the lover that her husband had when he was stationed here. Rona decides it is time to return home to America, but the night before she is due to leave, Edward arrives home to find a note from Adele saying she is leaving him.

And so we reach the final scene of the story with Edward saying goodbye to Rona at the airport. Read p.371 Well, do they get together? I can’t spoil the ending, but could just say all L T stories usually have a happy ending!
review by Brian

27th August show

This was part two of two weeks ago when we had to cut the shfow short because I had long overdue family arriving. so guests were again: Babs Simpson, alison Crane and Brian Lowen.
Alison reviewed Annie Proulx - Close Range (I was a bit confused with this book as there were several titles referring to Close Range by Annie Proulx, they all have something else tagged on after ‘close range’ like Wyoming stories or Brokebeck Mountain…which one is it I don’t know)……and also Kate Atkinson Case Histories.

Brian reviewed Soldiers and Lovers by Leslie Thomas & Seventy two virgins by Boris Johson (where did he find them I wonder??)
As one reviewer on Amazon said: ‘Readers who have previously been taken in by his highly cultivated "bumbling, public-school educated, bit of a thicko but basically decent chap" image will be pleasantly surprised!’ ( That is me I’m afraid to say – I did a double take when I saw who had written the book – not THE Boris Johnson……………..)
'a rip-roaring knockabout farce'

Babs reviewed unequal stillnes by francesca kay.

Leslie Thomas: Arrivals & Departures

Reviewed by Showhost
I fancied lighting the mood so decided to read what I thought would be a humorous book after so many heavy books. So, off to the charity shop where i found a Leslie Thomas book (he of 'Virgin Soldiers' fame). The book was published in 1992.
This book is based around Heathrow and a little village near Heathrow, its residents and those who work at the airport. It highlights the way in which the airport itself is a town within a town. An elderly American lady and her daughter who should have been staying a few weeks in London to see the sights, end up in the little village of Bedmansworth. At first the elderly lady seemed ill but her daughter soon realised it was all a scam, her mother had actually wanted to stay in the little quaint village, over the top of the local pub. Pearl, the elderley lady became a valued member of the village and her daughter Rhona eventually struck up a relationship with a married man, Edward Richardson, who worked for the airlines. The story fluctuates between Edwards job, and incidents that happen, his unhappy wife, the residents and their narrow lives and the Americans.
'It was Edwards lot as public/company liaison, to listen patiently to customer complaints about in-flight movies, the accents of the cabin staff, the engines were too loud, that none of the windows would open & that children should be sent to play outside.
"Do you like being old?" Pearl asked a resident of an old peoples home
"Me, like it", retorted Sargeant Morris "no, I dont madam, I can think of better ways of spending the rest of my life than being old!"
Its a really lighthearted book, with light humour some amusing observations like a street sign advertising: The 'Impact Driving School'.
Thomas's characters are always well written and almost recognisable in real life, like parts of people you know. You get feelings for the people, like the busybody who wants to oppose everything, that this is a person you could like or dislike.
He creates believable situations and researches his subject matter well. You feel for the characters,