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#HistFicThursdays - Circus Bim Bom by Cliff Lovette - Author Interview

Today's #HistFicThursdays blog is a fantastic interview with  Cliff Lovette ,   as part of his  Yarde Book Promotion  tour! Read on to find out about his influences, inspirations, and the emotional rollercoaster on which  Circus Bim Bom carries readers away. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb Soviet circus performers arrived in America hoping to build cultural bridges. Instead, they became unwitting pawns in a Cold War game of international intrigue. When the first privately owned Soviet circus arrived in 1990 in America as the Soviet Union disintegrated, its elite performers expected to build cultural bridges through spectacular shows. Instead, this prestigious troupe faced a perilous journey through Cold War America. Circus director Yuri had to navigate treacherous waters where American mobsters, Soviet agents, and political forces circled like predators. Young aerialist Anton dreamed of becoming a clown against his family’s wishes, while forbidden romanc...
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Book Review - The Fall of Roman Britain - John Lambshead

This book looked absolutely fascinating and it didn't disappoint! The journey followed through the pages demonstrates a multidisciplinary assessment of Roman Britain: its fall, and the gradual shift away from all things Roman.


The different approaches - scientific, historical, linguistic - merge and blend as succinctly in the text as they did in the evolution of culture from Brythonic, through Roman, and into Saxon. The distinct and maintained differences between cultures was fascinating to read about. This book is clearly well-researched, and the author supports every theory he puts forward. I appreciate too that he makes the point all these theories are just best-fit conjecture.

I loved the layout of the book, like a series of essays each with their own argument to establish and conclusion to reach. This prevented an overwhelming presentation of facts, but managed each subtopic as a self-contained and effectively structured assignment. The ultimate conclusion ties up the contents of the book, leading one chapter into another.

There was obvious excitement and personal engagement with the text as Lambshead addressed the topic of Tintagel, and I would have liked to have had more of that throughout the book, but it maintained (as was probably more appropriate) a more measured explanation.

This was an intriguing book - well written and with clear presentation - which is a multidisciplinary masterpiece, addressing a fascinating and often overlooked period in British history.

Thank you to Pen & Sword Books for providing me with a review copy!

You can get a copy of The Fall of Roman Britain via Pen & Sword, or on Amazon.

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