Tag: Read

#TopTenTuesday Food, Glorious (And Not So Glorious) Food

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Top Ten Tuesday newTop Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post. Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists. Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s topic is Books That Make Me Hungry. I’m not sure all the food mentioned in the books in my list whet my appetite but all the books certainly feature food in one form or another. Links from the titles will take you to my review.

20200717_093842-1Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees – in which Edith Graham, teacher turned spy, sends coded messages from post-war Berlin hidden in recipes

Feast of Sorrow by Crystal King – Roman gourmet, Marcus Gavius Apicius, is obsessed with sampling fine meals from exotic places

A Ration Book Christmas by Jean Fullerton – with not always enticing alternative versions of recipes due to wartime rationing

Summerland by Lucy Adlington – in which refugee, Brigitta, experiences for the first time some British ‘delicacies’ and her dictionary proves unequal to the task of translating Toad in the Hole into German

A Clean Canvas by Elizabeth Mundy – in which Hungarian cleaner, Lena, attempts her mother’s recipe for goulash

The Olive Garden Choir by Leah Fleming – “secrets, love and redemption under the Greek sun” and recipes for some of the mouth-watering traditional dishes served at the local taverna

An Edwardian Christmas by John S. Goodall – a feast is prepared for the festive luncheon (see below)

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – in which a pork pie is stolen

V For Victory by Lissa Evans – in WW2 London even a tin of corned beef or peaches counts as a treat

The Blue Carbuncle by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – in which Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate the theft of an item destined to be served for Christmas dinner

#BookReview V For Victory by Lissa Evans @DoubledayUK

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V For Victory BT Poster 2Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for V For Victory by Lissa Evans. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Doubleday for my digital review copy via NetGalley.

V For Victory CoverAbout the Book

It’s late 1944. Hitler’s rockets are slamming down on London with vicious regularity and it’s the coldest winter in living memory. Allied victory is on its way, but it’s bloody well dragging its feet.

In a large house next to Hampstead Heath, Vee Sedge is just about scraping by, with a herd of lodgers to feed, and her young charge Noel (almost fifteen ) to clothe and educate. When she witnesses a road accident and finds herself in court, the repercussions are both unexpectedly marvellous and potentially disastrous – disastrous because Vee is not actually the person she’s pretending to be, and neither is Noel.

The end of the war won’t just mean peace, but discovery…

Format: Hardcover (304 pages)         Publisher: Doubleday
Publication date: 27th August 2020 Genre: Historical fiction

Find V for Victory on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

I very much enjoyed Lissa Evans’ Old Baggage when I read it back in 2018 and I’ve had the follow-up book, Crooked Heart, in my TBR pile ever since. Although V For Victory can be enjoyed as a standalone, it continues some of the storylines and features some of the characters from Crooked Heart. So I simply had to squeeze in reading Crooked Heart before starting V For Victory (although I haven’t yet managed to squeeze in writing my review).

The formidable Mattie who played such a starring role in Old Baggage doesn’t make a physical appearance in V For Victory but her influence is still felt through her precocious godson, Noel, and some of the girls who belonged to The Amazons but are now grown up. In particular, air raid warden Winnie Crowther steals many of the scenes in the latter part of the book. She’s a young woman Mattie would be proud of for her bravery and “gumption”. Winnie also represents many of the real life women who stepped in to perform unfamiliar and often dangerous roles during World War 2.

For those who have read Crooked Heart and had their heart stolen by Noel, prepare for a repeat experience. I also enjoyed getting to know the characters living in Green Shutters, the lodging house run by Vee Sedge – with help from Noel and his newfound culinary skills. Never one to miss an opportunity, Vee has enlisted some of the lodgers in tutoring Noel providing him with an eclectic pool of knowledge.

The author’s skill in combining humour, interesting characters and intriguing storylines whilst at the same time presenting a realistic picture of wartime London – “The dismal grind of London life, the V-2s still slamming down, the queues for fuel, the frozen rubble” – is in full evidence in V For Victory. By the end of the book, all the threads have been beautifully woven together to create a moving and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

In three words: Funny, moving, joyful

Try something similar: Dear Mrs. Bird by A J Pearce

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Lissa Evans Author PicAbout the Author

Lissa Evans has written books for both adults and children, including Their Finest Hour and a Half, longlisted for the Orange (now Women’s) Prize, Small Change for Stuart, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Costa Book Award, and Crooked Heart, longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Old Baggage was a sell-out Waterstone’s Book of the Month and Their Finest Hour and a Half was adapted into a star-studded film with Gemma Arterton and Bill Nighy.

Connect with Lissa
Website | Twitter

V for victory full tour