Wednesday 13 February 2019

Best Sellers

I ordered two novels from the library because they got such good write-ups in the Press and endorsements from other novelists. I tried hard but I couldn't finish any of them even though the plot in both cases was intriguing.
For me, I have to be interested in the story's main character. It is not enough that they have a problem to solve, are in danger or part of an intricate spy plot. If a character doesn't gel with me, I can't muster up enough interest to finish the novel. In addition, I like well-written stories. Having said that, I have to admit that both of the above novels were well written. Both were translated but still managed to catch the authors' style. I take off my hat to the translators. Having worked as a free-lance myself many years ago, I know how difficult it is. But the stories themselves dragged on and on. In both books, I skipped several chapters, skimmed over the rest, and discovered that I had not missed much in the story. A disappointment all round.
As I am about to go on a short trip to the UK, including a visit to London, I did not want to start another long novel, so I went through my Eric Ambler collection and pulled out The Schirmer Inheritance. This is not one of his best known books but I have always enjoyed it. It is short (195 pages) and to the point and I am drawn to the main character, a somewhat naive young lawyer sent to Europe to find the heir to a huge fortune. It was written in 1953 and for that reason alone is a gem! It is hard for us to imagine that in those days, most communication was via letter and not telephone, and train was the favoured mode of transport.
Although often called a master spy story writer, in fact Ambler very often placed his main characters in a strange and difficult situation and had us all glued to our seats while they extricated themselves. He is still well worth a read today.
And I will have finished the book tonight before I leave for my UK trip.  I plan on visiting the book market on London's South Bank. Maybe I'll find some more gems there.


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