It's always easy when imagining history to assume that people spoke and acted differently from the way they do now. And, of course, that's largely true, in the sense that the language is permanently changing and that different fixations worm their ways into our day-to-day lives. But that's not to say attitudes have changed all that much. According to many, many Facebook memes, Cicero once wrote, "Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book." I am not a Classics scholar so will hold my hands up and say that I haven't verified whether this quote is accurately attributed, or whether someone else wrote it. But the fact remains: people don't change. Everyone looks back on a previous time and thinks things were so much better then. The film Midnight In Paris explores this perfectly. So, it's always wonderful when you find a historical series which doesn't take itself too seriously and, in the process, is acciden...
Today, I'm delighted to be shining a spotlight on Helen Hollick's brilliant book, A Meadow Murder , as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club tour! So, let's meet the book... "As delicious as a Devon Cream Tea!" ~ author Elizabeth St John "Every sentence pulls you back into the early 1970s... The Darling Buds of May, only not Kent, but Devon. The countryside itself is a character and Hollick imbues it with plenty of emotion" ~ author Alison Morton *** Make hay while the sun shines? But what happens when a murder is discovered, and country life is disrupted? Summer 1972. Young library assistant Jan Christopher and her fiancé, DS Lawrence Walker, are on holiday in North Devon. There are country walks and a day at the races to enjoy, along with Sunday lunch at the village pub, and the hay to help bring in for the neighbouring farmer. But when a body is found the holiday plans are to change into an investigation of murder, hampered by a resting actor, a wom...