show 5th November

Guests this week are Babs Simpson and Corinna Christopher.
one book under review: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates :
Do NOT read if you are having marital/relationship problems; this book may convince you to embrace the single life! This novel has now been made into a film starring Kate Winslett and Leonardo diCaprio.
and one with a very local connection:
Mike Williams the Secret Channel (…During the Second World War, under great secrecy, an elite force of men and women were gathered on the remote coastline of the Scilly Isles….)...any fan and reader of Douglas Reeman's exciting books will be won over by Mike Williams' first novel. A real page turner of a story of wartime secret operations based in the Scillies.

I tried to find a home page for Mike Williams so I could email him and ask what books he liked to read and explain about the radio show and how we were going to discuss his book - but I could not find one or an interview with him so if anybody knows pass it on.......

Mike Williams - The Secret Channel

Review by Babs Simpson on show 5th Nov.
the Secret Channel and the Channel of Invasion are books by Mike Williams telling the story of the Naval Base on Tresco during the Second World War in the form of fiction which is most evidently based on the actual events. He has created a believable lead character in Lieutenant Richard Tremayne, a boat captain for one of the so-called mystery ships that operated from Tresco Channel. Their mission was to supply the Resistance in Brittany with equipment as well as taking agents of the Special Operations Executive in the UK to France. In addition, they rescued downed airmen who had escaped in Europe and brought them home, plus members of the French Resistance and their families who had been betrayed and were in mortal danger. Theirs was very dangerous work. They operated, mostly under cover of darkness, in waters that were patrolled by the Germans and in sight of the French coastline, also very heavily defended. Some of the boats used were French fishing vessels, repainted as necessary with ever-changing designs decreed by the occupying Germans, so they could mingle unobserved with those French boats allowed to fish off the Brittany coast.
Later in the War, HMS Godolphin, as the Tresco base was called, was heavily involved in the D Day landings in 1944 and the second book, channel of Invasion, is based on that time.
The books are well written with a feeling of real authenticity. The author himself served firstly in the Royal Navy as an Intelligence Officer, then in the Royal Marines and his knowledge of both services is apparent throughout.
The stories are very exciting in their accounts of naval engagements and land skirmishes, the awful repercussions of the Blitz on England and the great camaraderie that existed in Wartime Britain. There is also a touching love story and the various locations on Scilly are well described and again authentic.
I would thoroughly recommend these books to anyone who is interested in Scilly's recent past, anyone who, like me is always eager to learn more about WW11 and anyone who enjoys a well told, exciting and believable story. I suppose I would compare them to Alastair MacLeans novels but far more interesting with the Scilly connection.
Apparently there is a follow-up, The Channel to Freedom, due soon and I'm looking forward to it. The books are published by Thorogood and available from Bourdeaux Bookshop of St Marys as well as other outlets.
by Babs Simpson, IOS.

letter from author

Great news, I finally received an email from Mike Williams author of Secret channel & Channel of Invasion and here it is:

Hi,
I picked up Babs Simpson's very kind review of my books.Please do thank her for me - I'm most grateful. Please tell her she's made an old man very happy! (I'm 77 in a few weeks' time)
Please also tell her, the third part of my trilogy - The Channel to Freedom (also Thorogood Publishing) is due out in May 2010.

I noticed that you ask what books I read - and mentioned you had no contact home-page to e-mail, hence this note from me, this evening.

My tastes are pretty wide-ranging, but essentially I enjoy books that -
Are written in elegant/good English
Are difficult to put down, because of built-in 'cliff-hangers' and mounting tension
Have a high measure of authenticity (i.e. I need to feel that the author has 'been there' and/or 'done it'.)
Have good, absorbing and exciting plots
Contain believable characters who are, above all, real and ring true
Are 'atmospheric'

So, for some titles of my favourites -

The 39 Steps - John Buchan
Riddle of Sands - Erskine Childers
Dame Stella Rimington's novels
Past imperfect - Julian Fellowes
Snobs - Fellowes
Some of Charles Dickens novels (for characters and sheer 'story'
Hornblower stories - CS Forrester
Historical novels by Bernard Cornwell
The Richard Bolitho novels by Alexander Kent
How's that for a start?

I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours aye

Mike

Show 19th Nov & letter from Lindsey Davis

Welcome to the bookshow on radio scilly 107.9fm with my guests today ro bennett a firsttimer & Malcolm Martland an oldtimer….books under the cosh are: Saturnalia by Lyndsey Davis Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson, The time traveler's wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
Ro, you are reviewing the book by Lindsey Davis, this is the first time that one of her books have been reviewed on the show so I emailed Lindsey's website and got a reply. I get really excited when I receive a reply from one of the authors whose books are being reviewed as I know how busy they are and its great that they will take the time, so here it is, from Lindsey Davis:

'oops - this got a bit lost, but hopefully I am just in time...
You wrote that tomorrow radio Scilly is to review one of my books and asked a couple of questions.
I began writing about ancient Rome because a teacher at school had introduced me to archaeology, at that time mainly the archaeology of Roman Britain and Greece, though Roman archaeology is of course very special and that's how I approach my work (rather than from classical authors, which seems a bit of a cliché by comparison.) I began because nobody else was writing fiction set in this period and I wanted to do something original. That situation has charged rather over the past 20 years! I won't say all the other authors are cashing in, but they are certainly able to do it because I went through the long process of persuading publishers that this would work. It wasn't easy.
I don't read ancient world novels myself, because it's work. I read a lot of non-fiction history and biography, booth Roman and from the Seventeenth Century on English History. Then I read good modern crime novels if I have time and opportunity not enough, sadly.
The different jackets you have seen on Amazon are for the English and American editions, which are by different publishers. They are not meant as fancy alternatives. The novel will eventually be translated into Spanish, so there will be yet another cover then.
I hope this answers your questions. Best of luck for the broadcast.
with kind regards,
Lindsey Davis
www.lindseydavis.co.uk

The only other author so far who replied was Simon Kernick. But no, hold that I have just had a reply from Mike Williams author of the Secret Channel and The Channel to Freedom. It's all great stuff.

In 1999 Lindsey received the Sherlock Award for Best Comic Detective for her creation, Marcus Didius Falco.
'Falco wisecracks his way through the empire's sleazy underside'

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Steig Larsson. Malcolm, I am so glad that someone is reviewing one of these books,as its constantly, over the past months in the top ten & in fact had 3 books in there a few weeks ago! Tragically this Swedish author and journalist died of a heart attack, aged 50, in 2004.

Mike Williams - The Secret Channel

book reviewed live on bookshow by Brian Lowen 29th Nov 2013 

This book gets a bit of getting used to as every time you pick it up you have to remember that the cover of the book is upside down and back to front!

The story is set mainly on Tresco during the Second World War and tells the tale of the secret trips made by adapted fishing boats from Tresco channel across to Brittany in France to take out and bring back agents involved in the underground resistance warfare against the Germans. Tresco was also a base for MTBs (Motor Torpedo Boats) and MGBs (Motor Gun Boats) which operated from here against the German EBoats.

The hero of the story is Richard Tremayne, the commander of one of the boats who is struggling to get over the loss of his wife who has been killed in one of the bombing raids on Plymouth. He is helped by a pretty young wren and this provides the love interest in the story.

There are good descriptions of the actions that the boats are involved in as they cross the channel with their secret agents but it all seemed a bit glossy to me and I found it difficult to gel with the characters.

The boats steer strange courses through the many rocks of Scilly when to me it would have seemed to be a lot easier and far less dangerous to go straight out of the Northern end of Tresco channel rather than weaving a way through the Northern Rocks. It seems as if the author is determined to show off his knowledge of the islands of Scilly.

Some parts of the book are more like a travel brochure as Richard and his girl friend explore the other islands on their days off. Maybe I am being too harsh, because I live here, but I found this all rather unnecessary.

A good story though if you like tales about the war.