Diary – DaneCobain.com

Title: Mill Girl

Author: Sue Reid

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 224

Rating: 3.5/5

I read this book because it came with a whole bunch of others that I bought as a job lot on eBay. It stood out because it’s part of a Scholastic line that focusses on historical fiction, and it’s also pretty cool because it takes the form of a diary.

We’ve got a young female protagonist living in Victorian Manchester and who works in a Mill, and so you know going in that she’s going to have a pretty tough life. At the same time, the book’s clearly aimed at younger readers and so there’s nothing here that’s so intense that it would stop a parent from reading it to their kids.

But to be honest, the point here is more to educate kids about what it was like back in the day, and I think it does a pretty good job of that. Even though it’s written the way it is, in an episodic format based on diary entries, the author actually manages to do an impressive job of worldbuilding, and so it’s easy to feel as though you can smell the city.

Plus I’m originally from the Midlands, which makes me an honourary northerner. I was always going to like it. A nice find!

Learn more about Mill Girl.

Leopoldo Duran – Graham Greene: Friend and Brother | Review

Title: Graham Greene: Friend and Brother

Author: Leopoldo Duran

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 354

Rating: 4*/5

Leopoldo Duran – Graham Greene: Friend and Brother

I put off starting this book for a long time, but I’m not sure why. As soon as I started reading it I was hooked, and I read it in the space of three or four days. I guess I should start with the background information.

The book is basically a non-fiction piece about Graham Greene, who just happens to be one of my favourite writers of all time. Duran is a priest who was friends with Greene for many years. The two of them went travelling together many times – always with a “Third Man” – and Duran was present at his deathbed when the author died.

But this isn’t a biography, which is a good thing – Greene wouldn’t have liked that. Instead, it’s a collection of reminiscences interspersed with diary entries from Duran and letters that Greene sent him, as well as quotes from his books that put everything into context. The result is a beautiful tribute to Graham Greene and his body of work, and it’s fascinating to see how different things came about.

Graham Greene

I was particularly impressed by how Duran managed to stay somewhat impartial throughout – at least, as much as that is possible in a book like this. But while he does mention his own history as a priest and the books that he’d written himself about Greene and his work, they’re only brought in to back up the point that he’s making or to provide some additional context to the reader.

It might not follow a narrative as such, but that doesn’t matter. If anything, it works best how Duran has laid it out, with different chapters and different sections that are dedicated to different topics, from Greene’s battles with the mafia to his thoughts on his own work and his relationships with friends and family members. It’s not a book that just anyone can enjoy, but if you’re a fan of Graham Greene and his literary work then I’m sure you’ll have some fun.