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Plenty of twists and turns

26/8/2014

Comments

 
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Goldmine Experience 
by Jan Eriksen
    

The main character in this story is Julia Wells and she is an extremely likeable person – well drawn and with a personality that is endearing. She is a teacher and loves her job but after losing her husband she is lonely and is looking for some special relationship. She believes the best in people and so does tend to be taken in by some very dodgy characters. She has some apartments which she rents out and is lulled into believing that her tenant Dieter a South African is a person who will look after the place and who may be someone she would like to know better. Sadly she is misled and eventually she has to ask Dieter and his friend Al to leave. 
   One of the good attributes of this story is the setting. Coromandel and the small township of Thames are where Julia lives and the descriptions of the bush and the surrounding areas are well done. There are some mysteries inherent in the story and when a particular ring is found in the apartment after Dieter leaves this brings a new dimension to the story. When Al’s murdered body is found the plot thickens.
   Something I didn’t understand because I saw Julia as a sensible woman was her relationship with Ken. He is a farmer and has little to say, has a lifestyle that is foreign to anything Julia has known – which could be the attraction – but he is so lacking in any social niceties it stretched my credibility to understand why an intelligent woman would have anything to do with such a dull person.
   The book would have benefitted from editing. Description, action and dialogue could be tightened. I would also implore writers to be fussy about their covers. This book has a wonderful strong title in gold but the background picture does nothing to entice the reader and make no mistake a book is judged by its cover.
   That said the descriptions of the Goldmines and the tourist business surrounding the goldmines is interesting. It is a story with plenty of twists and turns and has an exciting outcome.


Review by Rae McGregor
Goldmine Experience, by Jan Eriksen
Publisher: Archway Publishing
ISBN-10: 1480800767; ISBN-13: 978-1480800762
Available as both a paperback and an ebook from Amazon, Goodreads, other online retailers, Archway Publishing.
For more details see website www.goldmineexperience.com


Comments

Stories fascinating and thoroughly readable

6/8/2014

Comments

 
Sark Trilogy  
by Chris Davies Curtis    
   So You Want to Live on Sark
   From a Feudal Isle to Aotearoa
   From Queen’s Nurse to Godzone 


In this set of three autobiographical memoirs the Author tells us in a very entertaining and very readable way her adventures over 50 plus years that took her from one side of the world to the other in search of adventure and a different way of life.
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The first, So You Want to Live on Sark (134 pp), tells how the Author, as a young English Registered Nurse, and her husband move to and run a guest house on Sark, a tiny island in the English channel and near the coast of France.

It describes how the couple not only ran the guesthouse, but also acquired a collection of hens and goats to provide them with fresh eggs and milk, and a donkey for transport. Not only that, the Author also found time to be the island’s District Nurse, and had to hastily brush up on midwifery skills as the need arose.

I particularly liked the stories about the donkey – a necessity on the island as no cars were allowed and transport was either by horse or tractor. Pedro came to the island in very poor condition but as he regained his health he had some very endearing characteristics.

From the Feudal Isle to Aotearoa (170 pp), tells of the author, her husband and young son leaving Sark and emigrating to New Zealand for a period of several years. Together they toured the country and eventually settled in Auckland where the author worked as a District Nurse, mainly in the Far North.

The transition from Book 1 to Book 2 was very smooth. Not so much between the second and third.

From Queen’s Nurse to Godzone (150 pp) takes us back to London prior to her marriage, and describes her training working as a Queen’s Nurse, and eventual courtship. I found this transition not as smooth as it was between Book 1 and book 2 and felt the first 6 chapters fitted neatly into the beginning of So You Want to Live on Sark.

Chapter 7 brings the reader back to New Zealand in the 1970's and here we are given glimpses of being a District Nurse in the Far North.
This Reviewer, with a nursing history and belonging to the same era, found the stories fascinating and thoroughly readable. I look forward to reading more from the same Author.
Review by Merilyn Mary
So You Want to Live on Sark
   Publisher: Mackay Books, 2010. Illustrated by the author; ISBN 9780958291491. 
   Paperback available from Wheelers NZ or through the website 
www.chrisdaviescurtisbooks.com
   Second edition available from Amazon.
From a Feudal Isle to Aotearoa
   Publisher: Chris Curtis Books, 2011. Illustrated by the author. ISBN 9780473185890
   Paperback available from Wheelers NZ or through the website 
www.chrisdaviescurtisbooks.com  
   Second edition available from Amazon.
From Queen’s Nurse to Godzone
   Publisher: Chris Curtis Books, 2012. Illustrated by the author. ISBN 9780473200381. 

   Paperback available from Wheelers NZ or through the website www.chrisdaviescurtisbooks.com  
   Second edition available from Amazon.
Note: The 3 books have now been combined in a single volume, To Sark and Beyond. Available from Amazon.
Comments
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