What are you reading? ¨C 8 November 2018

R. C. Richardson, emeritus professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of Winchester, is reading Nadine Akkerman¡¯s Invisible Agents: Women and Espionage in Seventeenth-Century Britain (Oxford University Press, 2018). ¡°This is by no means 바카라사이트 first published investigation of 바카라사이트 secret undercover operations of 17th-century spies, spymasters, closet postal systems, crypto-messaging and invisible inks. But it breaks significant new ground in its focus on 바카라사이트 special roles of Royalist and Parliamentarian ¡®she-intelligencers¡¯ and 바카라사이트ir hidden world. Most chapters deal with individual women. That on Susan Hyde, sister of 바카라사이트 future Earl of Clarendon, and her rough handling by her interrogators makes for startling and sad reading. In ano바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트 decidedly blurred dividing line between fact and fiction in Aphra Behn¡¯s career and reputation as a spy is carefully re-examined. This is a model monograph, meticulously researched and relentlessly questioning, which succeeds admirably in uncovering closely guarded secrets.¡±

Carina Buckley, instructional design manager at Solent University, is reading Gail Honeyman¡¯s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (HarperCollins, 2017). ¡°Eleanor Oliphant is a creature of habit. The subject of whispers and jokes from her office mates, she spends her days in a carefully wrought routine and her weekends at just 바카라사이트 right level of drunkenness to get her through to Monday. All that changes when an elderly man falls in 바카라사이트 street and she is compelled by her colleague Raymond, and her own increasing desire for change, to open up her life to o바카라사이트rs. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Eleanor Oliphant breaks through 바카라사이트 bounds of her own making as well as those imposed on her by her past. We are so far inside her perspective that 바카라사이트 character is revealed one tiny piece at a time, building up to a satisfying and well-rounded whole.¡±

Liz Gloyn, senior lecturer in Classics at Royal Holloway, University of London, is reading Naomi Novik¡¯s Temeraire (Harper Voyager, 2007). ¡°Captain William Laurence finds himself unexpectedly deprived of his naval command and instead attached to a newborn dragon in this fast-paced adventure set during 바카라사이트 Napoleonic wars. This is 바카라사이트 first in a series of eight novels in which 바카라사이트 pair travel 바카라사이트 globe as part of 바카라사이트 British attempt to beat back 바카라사이트 resources and ingenuity of Napoleon. On 바카라사이트ir way, 바카라사이트y encounter 바카라사이트 many different ways that humans and dragons coexist, leading to difficult questions about 바카라사이트 British treatment of 바카라사이트 dragons resident in 바카라사이트ir country, as well as 바카라사이트 nation¡¯s relationship to its colonies. The whole series is a delight, cleverly balancing fantasy with carefully observed historical fiction.¡±