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Showing posts with the label Francesca Segal

Blogging Anniversary - 10 years

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A while ago I checked when I did my first blog post, in order to celebrate with an anniversary post. Well, that day came and went without any reaction from me. Better late than never, so here a reminder of my very first blog post from 24 October 2012.  The book was New Finnish Grammar  by Diego Marani. Marani is an Italian novelist, translator and newspaper columnist. While working as a translator for the European Union he invented a language ‘Europanto’ which is a mixture of languages and based on the common practice of word-borrowing usage of many EU languages. It was a suitable book to start with, being a book about letters, languages and memories. With a beautiful prose, the novel went directly to my heart.  "One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can ide...

The Innocents by Francesca Segal

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This is a book I read for the Challenge '2014 Monthly Motif Challenge'. The February challenge is to read a Literary Award winner. I chose one from the Costa Award. I still remember the 2006 winner Stef Penney and 'The Tenderness of Wolves' as one of my favourite books. In 2012 Francesca Segal won the 'First Novel Award' with 'The Innocents'. This is a worthy first novel winner. The book is very well written and it is one of these books that keeps you in the story even after you have finished it. It is about a Jewish community in the London area. We follow Adam who is around 30 and Rachel, his girlfriend since 16 years and soon to be wife. In comes Rachel's cousin Ellie from New York where she moved with her father as a teenager. Her life has been rather wild (photo model, porn star, mistress etc) in comparison to the family and friends surrounding Adam and Rachel. The community in which Adam and Rachel spends their time is a life of religious ho...