Teaser Tuesday - Hornet Flight, A Tale of the Danish Resistence WW II

This is the Hornet Moth, a single engine biplane that was used in espionage for England in the early part of World War II. In Ken Follett's Hornet Flight, Churchill was losing one British bomber after another in flights across the North Sea to strike northern Germany. At that same time--1941--just across the North Sea in Denmark, German occupation of this small country was becoming more threatening. As in other European countries, local government officials tried to appease, and in some cases collaborate with, the Nazi occupiers, putting many Danish people in danger of losing property and even their lives. A quiet resistence movement soon began operation in Denmark with everyday citizens attempting to sabotage the Germans. Hornet Flight is the story of one part of the Danish Resistence.

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.





Horent Flight
by Ken Follett

" Would you mind making a drawing of that radio equipment you were describing to me earlier?" Poul's tone was casual, but his body was stiff with tension.

Harald had wondered whether that subject would come up again. "Sure." pp. 108-9

Book description from cover: It is June 1941, and the war is not going well for England. Somehow the German's are anticipating the RAF's flight paths and shooting down British bombers with impunity. Meanwhile, across the North Sea, 18 year old Harald Olufsen takes a shortcut on the German-occupied Danish island of Sande and discovers an astonishing sight. He doesn't know what it is, but he knows he must tell someone. And when he learns the truth , it will fall upon him to deliver word to England--except that he has no way to get there. He has only an old derelict Hornet Moth biplane rusting away in as ruined church--a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely ever to get off the ground--even if Harold knew how to fly it.

Teaser Tuesday - Jackdaws by Ken Follett

The day was gone
The night came on
The monks and the friars, they searched till dawn
When the sacristan saw
On crumpled claw
Come limping a poor little lame jackdaw
(legend of the Jackdaw of Reims, the bird that stole the Bishop's ring)

"Exactly fifty (English) women were sent into France as secret agents by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. Of those, thirty-six survived the war. the other fourteen gave their lives. This book is dedicated to all of them." Preface -Jackdaws by Ken Follett

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.




"Paul had heard of Felicity Clairet. She was something of a legend among the small group who knew the secret of the Allies' clandestine war. . .survived undercover in France longer than anyone. . .code name Leopardess, and people say she moved around the streets of occupied France with the silent footsteps of a dangerous cat. They also said she was a pretty girl with a heart of stone. She had killed more than once." p. 57

Book Description: On the eve of D-day in WW II, a ragtag gang of all-female British agents parachuted behind German lines in occupied France. Code named Jackdaws (for the jackdaw and Bishop of Reims legend), the saboteurs were sent by the SOE to blow up a key telephone exchange and Gestapo stronghold in the Cathedral at Reims. Their aim was to cripple vital communication lines between the Nazi forces before the D-day landing of the Allies. Even though led by the fearless Major Flick Clairet, could six relatively untrained women escape German capture, interrogation and death--and complete their mission?

(Image credit: jackdaw by http://www.hampshirecam.co.uk)

Teaser Tuesday - Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Book one of Ken Follett's Century Trilogy begins on June 22, 1911, coronation day for King George V at Westminster Abbey in London. To the northwest of London in the mining town of Aberowen, South Wales, 13 year old Billy Williams went down in the pit for the first time. On nearby Ty Gwyn (Welsh for White House) estate, Earl Fitzherbert and his family live in wealth and priviledge by licensing the mineral rights to rich coal seams beneath the Fitzherbert farm lands. Fall of Giants is the story of five families--American, German, Russian, English and Welsh-- intertwined and conflicted by class, ideology, nationality,and world views in the leadup to World War I and its initial conflicts. ("Barmouth Evening" by Welsh artist Christopher David Williams, 1873-1934)

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host Miz B over at Should Be Reading as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.


Fall of Giants
by Ken Follett

December 24, 1914, battle trenches near Ypres on France and Belgium border, Welsh Major Earl Fitzherbert:

"He spotted two sergeants, one British and one German, deep in conversation. He tapped the Brit on the shoulder. 'You!' he said. 'What the devil are you doing?'

The man answered in the flat guttural accent of the Cardiff docks. 'I don't know how it happened,sir, exactly. Some of the Jerries got up on their parapet, unarmed, and shouted, ''Happy Christmas,' then one of our boys done the same, then they started walking towards one another and before you could say chips everyone was doing it.' " p. 384

Book Description: As with this description of the WW I Christmas Truce of 1914, Follett tells the stories of five very different families as they live through the drama and separations of the First World War and the corresponding fight for worker rights and women's suffrage. Follett commented in an interview that his approach to historical fiction was to not take liberties with historical facts for the sake of advancing the story. In actuality, he had eight historical scholars of the period fact check his writing before publication. This attention to detail adds great richness and believeability to the stories of individual characters.

When I came to this Christmas Truce account in Fall of Giants, I was delighted. It reminded me of the 2005 Academy Award-nominated film Joyeux Noel which tells the powerful story of other soldiers who spontaneously decided to lay down their arms--for just one night--and walk out to meet each other in No Man's Land between the trenches and wish each other a "Merry Christmas." Here's the trailer:



Another example of how literature, art, music, and drama ties all the great stories together and helps us make sense of it all.

Tuesday Teaser - The Holy Thief by William Ryan

It is 1936 Moscow. The Stalinist reign of terror is just beginning in Russia. Religion is forbidden, but the Russian Orthodox Church's great art treasures was being pillaged by the government and its criminal element, for sale to dealers and museums in other countries to fund the revolution.

Kazanskaya, Our Lady of Kazan, a 19th century Russian icon is missing from a "deconsecrated" church in Moscow. A young woman's tortured and mutilated body is found on the altar of a Moscow church. How is her murder, and that of several other people in the same manner, connected to the stolen Russian icons? Who is responsible for both crimes? Those are the questions answered by British writer William Ryan in his excellent first novel, The Holy Thief.


Teaser Tuesday is described by its host Miz B over at Should be Reading as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may be your meme. If you want to play, just click on Miz B's link for the very simple rules.


The Holy Thief
by William Ryan

"Koyla smiled. 'Would you like to know the name of the Chekist commanding the search party? The one who took the icon from us?'
Korolev nodded, half suspecting he knew the answer."
p. 204

Book Description: This novel is first of all a police procedural. A crime is committed. The local police are called out to investigate and solve the crime. As in any police department there are competent, sometimes even brilliant, investigators, and there are slackers and dishonest cops. And there are commanders with hidden, often political or personal, agendas.

This novel is interesting and original in that the investigation is set against the paranoia, fear, and confusion of a country being overrun by a repressive Stalinist government. Captain Alexei Dimitrivich Korolev of the Criminal Investigation Division (much like Scotland Yard) is the good cop assigned to solve the murders. In doing so, he must maneuver between the political NKVD State Security and the Thieves, a prison based mafia responsible for much of the Moscow crime--with the blessings of the NKVD. Korolev must also deal with a fearful, distrusting public as well. All this intrigue makes for an exciting read.

The main thing that I enjoyed about this book is its consistency. It may have been 1936 in a dictatorship, but good police work is the same as in a modern city--investigate, follow the leads, keep good records, build trust, think of justice for the victim, and try to stay clear of the politics. That's what Captain Korolev did.