Wonderful Britain

Midnight's Smiling, A Romantic Novel, By Alexandra Connor


This is a Romantic Fiction book, with a wealth of social issues bubbling under the surface, that kept me wanting to read on to the end as quickly as possible. Michael,the boy from the top of the hill, who wants to carry on his father's GP practice in the slums of Salford, between wars and after the Second World War. Quiet, taciturn and unassuming, he takes an Anglo-Indian wife who craves respectability and acceptance. Harry,the boy from the slums determined to better himself, trains to be a doctor, but has no desire to help his own people, striving to be the best plastic surgeon and earn his place at the top of the hill. Against the odds, the two become friends and Harry soon outshines Michael, using him and his family mercilessly to further his own ends, although he sees nothing wrong in his actions. He determines never to marry and have a family, whilst Michael has two daughters, one who is content to continue in the role as lady of the house, the other who is determined to follow her Father into the medical profession, still a predominently male profession, but as a Pathologist. Mel fights her male peers and rises to the top in Pathology, but by now has begun an illicit affair with Harry, which results in an unwanted pregnancy, which Harry refuses to acknowledge. Mel and her child are estranged from the family when she refuses to tell them the identity of the Father. The truth does however surface in a truly dramatic fashion, with devastating consequences. Harry is forced to review his life and the means by which he has attained his current status, therefore recognising how badly he has treated and used people, in his bid to escape from his roots. A line from the book has Mel talking to Harry, saying "You can't bear the idea of losing anything. You want, you want, you want. You want what is yours, not what you've earned". Overall a powerful saga of passion, ambition and triumph.

A Killing Frost, A Crime Novel, By R.D. Wingfield

This is the first "Jack Frost" casebook I have read, although I have all the others on my book shelves, waiting for a rainy day. I have watched all the "Frost" programmes several times and never tire of them. You don't really need to have seen them though, as the book is so discriptive and attentive to detail, that you can almost smell that awful anorak; musty from having been wet and dried on the body so many times, with the aroma of grease and fat from Jack's continual fry ups in the police canteen, that he rarely gets to finish! Working in a continual maelstrom of mess and disorder, the reader really does begin to wonder how on earth he will ever get to solve a case. The bodies seem to mount up at an alarming rate and the reader is drawn from one plot to another, as Jack strives to keep Superintendent Mullet at bay, who is just itching for an excuse to have Jack transferred. Jack always seems able to get one over on Mullet, despite often sailing pretty close to the wind, although he has a powerful ally, in the area commander, who enjoys basking in the limelight of Frost's bravery medal! Frost, however, can be quite sensitive when dealing with victims families, and there is a well hidden softer side to this seemingly bumbling character. Rapists, Pedophiles, missing people, a butcher who has lost his mind, all feature in this episode and fit neatly into a great page turner, that I was reluctant to leave, until the last clue had been solved.